So I flipped out and now feel bad

[Chickee]

Don’t feel bad, Barry. This is the world we live in now. I had a costumer service rep for an international bank telling me, really insisting to me, the the Netherlands were in South Africa! I give up.😹

[llew]

It's happened to probably everyone Barry. I've had confrontations with folks over issues that shouldn't have happened and returned later to apologize because of feeling bad about it. I'm older now and realize if I get really mad or agitated over something I'll wait until I cool off before any type of confrontation. If that takes five minutes or five hours or five days...it doesn't matter. There are only two kinds of people...those who have and those who will? Don't sweat it?

[Street Glider]

Originally Posted by TBman

sort of....

My son bought me a Craftsman 4 drawer rolling tool cabinet for Fathers day. Today I took it out of the box to put the casters on it and planned on getting some liners for the drawers. I started putting the casters on with the supplied bolts and one of the casters didn't have the holes drilled. Yes. These are made from what appeared to be hardened steel.

I contemplated drilling the holes myself but I doubted that my drill bits would survive. I also started wondering why should I have to.

So being in a bit of a bad mood (understatement) I called the customer service and told the young man on the other end what happened. He happily proceeded to tell me that he would give me the number of the vendor who supplied the casters to obtain a replacement.

I went ballistic.

I said, I'm not going down your supply chain to get a part for a product that has your name on it. You do your job, I'm not doing it for you.

Yada yada yada. He repeated himself as if I was deaf and I repeated myself with even more colorful adjectives than what the situation really called for, but I made my point and he agreed, but he said it would have to wait until Monday as the part department is closed and he can't contact them. Fine, I said forget it, I'll take it back and get a full replacement.

So I stuffed the thing back in what remained of the original box with some of the styrofoam packaging and the casters, parts and directions and drove back to Lowes.

Lowes doesn't even blink. They gave us the money back (my son had paid cash) and we just bought a replacement. We brought home the replacement and I put the thing together without a problem.

Sometimes I overreact, but its better for my blood pressure to let it out,

What you need to do in such instances is understand that the CS rep who answered the phone is only trying to help you through the established procedures the company has in place, which he also probably didn't have any input on.

Take a breath, count to three, and think about how lucky you are to not have a job where people complain to you for eight hours a day...

[Jeff Scott]

I'm going back and forth with a mason/concrete contractor who recently poured a new 100' concrete driveway, along with other things like a 40' sidewalk and a 5'x7' pad behind our house. The contractor, himself, generously left a long trail of his stocking feet all along the side of the house in the new concrete, along with several long gouges at the bottom of the new driveway, made by one (or more) of his crew dragging the metal legs of their wheelbarrows along the new concrete. The contractor doesn't seem to make a big deal of it all, saying the footprints and gouges will wear off. Huh? These are indentations into the concrete, so how will they wear off?

We still owe him about 30% of the job's cost. Not sure he's getting any more money; I have considered asking if he guarantees the marks will "wear off", and if he insists they will, then I'll tell him he can have the full amount of money but not until the marks have disappeared (worn off?) without a trace of them. I bet he won't be saying the marks will wear off, then! The other option we are going to give him is to tear out the messed up concrete and start all over, at his expense.

[Jeff Scott]

Originally Posted by Chickee

Don’t feel bad, Barry. This is the world we live in now. I had a costumer service rep for an international bank telling me, really insisting to me, the the Netherlands were in South Africa! I give up.😹

Shades of that scene in the China Syndrome.

[Mary]

Bob, I wholeheartedly agree. The technicians often manage the pharmacy. It's great when they do it with such grace. Our daughter has the same job and is able to comfort others who are just plain are fed up with a mental caretaker responsibility or sick and fevered themselves... or both.

I volunteer in an ER. I can talk about frustrated, fevered, sick people who don't feel good or older folks who are confused why a trusted doctor sent them to the ER. I find it a joy to be the chosen one when the nurse is at her wits end with several patients and just needs someone else to step up to the plate make a call, save time and sooth the moment. I am the one who will try to make it easier on the nurse there and for your wife when they get to her window.

[Gdjjr]

I'll try to be succinct- I read, a long time ago, way before the internet, in the Houston Chronicle, an article about the education system and what employers were looking for- I don't recall the details, but, "better training" comes to mind-


Think about that. Training vs proper education. (proper education is a whole different game) Pavlovs dogs come to mind when I think about training-

I'm old school and come from the customer is always right- that ain't necessarily so- that depends on the customer- the variables require thinking, not training - I call it corporate think- although the thinking involved is minimal, and comes from, usually, a formally "trained" person -

I've had my fair share of run ins with the "trained"- it's an easy battle because they can't (or won't) think- outside the box- it ain't allowed in training- training results in reaction- response is arrived at by thinking through- big difference-

I do get belligerent- I have a problem with ignorance- I'm not formally educated beyond the 9th grade (circa early 60's), but, I can read, and write and do rithmetic- and think!- for myself - I was formally trained in Failure Analysis, and am quite good at it- that training required all the evidence being considered prior to making a decision- as in A.L.L. - the anecdote to CS problems is proper education- training to react is a failure in that arena-

[Gasworker]

I googled “what is the male version of Karen”? Good news, it’s not Barry. :-)

[imwjl]

Originally Posted by Riverwolf

Customer service is going the way of the Dodo bird.

Not in my opinion. You can choose outlets for products like this with excellent customer service. I realize a pay what are generally little bits of money or time but for this topic - tools - two area hardware stores and the farmer's coop I belong to are excellent.

Overall I urge kindness and decency to first line workers. My job is infrastructure manager but I support around 575 of our nearly 1000 associates who are first line workers. Most all do their best, and in many places they're not considered to be the precious resource or for me, precious people we depend on.

Fortunately there's a trend where the first line worker compensation has been improving and I believe that will help us as consumers. With our first like workers a year+ making 10% to 15% more, turnover is lower so overall training sticks.

The places where poor customer service will still get to me are usually our insurance carriers and one of the two health care places we're tied to because I know they're getting decent wages in decent facilities. I still try to remember that person on the phone is likely not the root cause of the absurdity.

[Neil K Walk]

LOL, Barry. You're hardly "falling down" a la Michael Douglas. People's BS meters are taxed heavily during these times. It's OK to vent as long as you know you're just venting. Step away from the torches and pitchforks.

BTW, mental health awareness was in May. I think too many people blew it off.

[Cecil6243]

Too make a long story short I had a local outlet for a major supplier of agricultural products tell right to my face I was crazy for wanting to purchase a particular product to fertilize my commercial fish ponds. Never mind I have a degree fisheries science, successfully raise fish, and have twice been president of our state aquaculture association. This product it produced to fertile corn crops, but I found it spectacular for fertilizing my fish ponds.

After being insulted I fired a letter to the regional headquarters. No response. Then fired a letter to the national headquarters basically making my case and asking why they don't respond to letters.

Finally got an apology from the idiot that called me crazy (he knows nothing about aquaculture), but will I ever attempt to purchase anything from this company? Hell no! It's amazing how just one low level person can ruin for a large corporation.

[James_214ce]

" Ain't no substitute for arrogance " Joe Perry Project


LOL - frustrations tend to pile up when you are a nice guy, and sometimes you just gotta vent to relieve the pressure.

[tinnitus]

Originally Posted by Jeff Scott

I'm going back and forth with a mason/concrete contractor who recently poured a new 100' concrete driveway, along with other things like a 40' sidewalk and a 5'x7' pad behind our house. The contractor, himself, generously left a long trail of his stocking feet all along the side of the house in the new concrete, along with several long gouges at the bottom of the new driveway, made by one (or more) of his crew dragging the metal legs of their wheelbarrows along the new concrete. The contractor doesn't seem to make a big deal of it all, saying the footprints and gouges will wear off. Huh? These are indentations into the concrete, so how will they wear off?

We still owe him about 30% of the job's cost. Not sure he's getting any more money; I have considered asking if he guarantees the marks will "wear off", and if he insists they will, then I'll tell him he can have the full amount of money but not until the marks have disappeared (worn off?) without a trace of them. I bet he won't be saying the marks will wear off, then! The other option we are going to give him is to tear out the messed up concrete and start all over, at his expense.

Most contractors won't accept credit cards, otherwise I'd suggest disputing the charge. Maybe try small claims court. Did anyone else hear him acknowledge that he caused the (supposedly temporary) damage?

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Jeff Scott

I'm going back and forth with a mason/concrete contractor who recently poured a new 100' concrete driveway, along with other things like a 40' sidewalk and a 5'x7' pad behind our house. The contractor, himself, generously left a long trail of his stocking feet all along the side of the house in the new concrete, along with several long gouges at the bottom of the new driveway, made by one (or more) of his crew dragging the metal legs of their wheelbarrows along the new concrete. The contractor doesn't seem to make a big deal of it all, saying the footprints and gouges will wear off. Huh? These are indentations into the concrete, so how will they wear off?

We still owe him about 30% of the job's cost. Not sure he's getting any more money; I have considered asking if he guarantees the marks will "wear off", and if he insists they will, then I'll tell him he can have the full amount of money but not until the marks have disappeared (worn off?) without a trace of them. I bet he won't be saying the marks will wear off, then! The other option we are going to give him is to tear out the messed up concrete and start all over, at his expense.

Pictures? Surface marks will wear off, they can also be rubbed off/blended in a bit with a mason's stone and water.

[Neil K Walk]

Originally Posted by Jeff Scott

I'm going back and forth with a mason/concrete contractor who recently poured a new 100' concrete driveway, along with other things like a 40' sidewalk and a 5'x7' pad behind our house. The contractor, himself, generously left a long trail of his stocking feet all along the side of the house in the new concrete, along with several long gouges at the bottom of the new driveway, made by one (or more) of his crew dragging the metal legs of their wheelbarrows along the new concrete. The contractor doesn't seem to make a big deal of it all, saying the footprints and gouges will wear off. Huh? These are indentations into the concrete, so how will they wear off?

We still owe him about 30% of the job's cost. Not sure he's getting any more money; I have considered asking if he guarantees the marks will "wear off", and if he insists they will, then I'll tell him he can have the full amount of money but not until the marks have disappeared (worn off?) without a trace of them. I bet he won't be saying the marks will wear off, then! The other option we are going to give him is to tear out the messed up concrete and start all over, at his expense.

I've been through several instances like this over the years, which has motivated me to learn how to do a lot of residential stuff on my own. I've found that contractors can be real shysters when giving a quote but once the laborers show up unsupervised it's too late to tell them to pack it up go pound salt.

My experience with a driveway paving project was similar. At the time I was a stay at home dad with two toddler boys who got along like cats and dogs. When they would go down for a nap I would have to be quiet or they would wake up in a fowl mood. The project required a 50% down payment and took two days.

On the second day just as they were halfway through the final trawling the 10 pad project it started to rain. Six of the pads were perfect but they had only gotten started at the base of my driveway when one of them decided it was time to quit. Not only did they leave without knocking on the door but one of them decided to walk through the completed part of the job. To make things even more frustrating it stopped raining after about 20 minutes.

I was livid and called the owner but did my best not to blow up in front of my toddlers. He offered to waive the other 50% of the job and I called my father in law who came over with his trawl and we finished the job ourselves. We never saw the guy again and for my part I didn't give him a negative Yelp.

BTW, I have a particularly low opinion of large plumbing franchises. My eldest had (and still has) a habit of flushing things down the toilet to watch them go down. This had the tendency to make me turn beet red and transform our garage into a smelly indoor swimming pool. So I called the place with the biggest ad in the yellow pages and the shuckster who showed up quickly proclaimed that he would have to dig up my front yard and remove a mature maple tree for the whopping cost of $15,000.

I hesitated and told him that I would have to inform my wife who was at work. Apparently he took that as a sign of weakness and an opportunity to increase his badgering. I was not about to authorize it since I knew that the area he wanted to dig technically belonged to the township and I had just watched Verizon lay fiber optic cables there and damage to that area would likely cost me another $25K in fines. His "mansplination" that the roots to the maple tree in my front yard were the culprit made me recall a maxim I'd learned in the Navy: "if you can't dazzle them with your brilliance then baffle them with BS." That was how I knew he was more full of excrement than the puddle in my garage.

When my wife answered the phone she was (understandably) in the middle of something and told me to call her father to back me up. When the plumber heard this he assumed that my gonads must not be in my possession and snarkily said "what's daddy going to say?"

Long story short, I kept my calm and told him in no uncertain terms that I disagreed with his prognosis. He refused to leave until I paid his $75 trip fee which IMO was money well spent because I was really starting to get angry.

An hour later, my wife's uncle called and gave me the number of his plumber. Two hours later he showed up with a snake and fed it into a pipe sticking out of the ground next the house. After about 15 minutes he pulled out a little green army guy who had become wrapped in toilet paper and the waters receded. He charged me $100 and we lived to flush another day.

So yeah, I have a real low opinion of small businessmen who are really full of themselves (among other things.) I have a sneaking suspicion that the proctologist who gave me such a hard time is probably in politics right now.