Busted!

I had an issue that had to be corrected relating to a payment my company made on behalf of another. Its complicated but it doesn't matter.

The company I had to deal with, the receiving company, likes to treat all call to 10-15 minutes of the same "hold" music before one is actually able to speak with someone in customer non-service. I mean, the music is the same song every time. And I call the company 2, 3 even 4 times per week, sometimes more. Believe me when I say I know the tune. But that doesn't matter either.

One particular women with a "fuck you" attitude who is no doubt pissed off that her Harvard Law degree hasn't panned out to more than this $7.37 and hour job, seems oblivious to the fact that without people calling the company, she isn't really needed. I mean, really. If you're job is to answer phones and sort of deal with issues on people that call, shouldn't you be happy when they call? Without calls you're without a job. Although it sets the tone here, even that doesn't matter.

Furthermore, all of the drones in sector 7 that answer the phone at this particular company have a habit of putting you on hold (again with the muzak) for every single little thing. Its almost as if when you call, there isn't a computer in front of them and they have to look something up in the server room. Something like "I'm calling on invoice number 201456 and......." then they say, "Please hold" but before you can continue, its the music. Then they come back and you continue with "Payment of $1,246 was incorrectly referenced to......" "Please hold". Argh!!! Very frustrating. I don't get why they do it.

This particular call necessitated me going into some complicated detail to explain what happened but before I could finish a sentence I got a, "please hold". This happened twice after which she came back 60 seconds later so that I could again try to explain it to her. I imagine during these hold times, she looks over at her coworkers and giggles, "I'm going to win the bet. I'm sure I can get this guy on hold 5 times."

So, as I'm explaining for the third friggin' time she says "hold on". A coworker of mine was right near my office as I exclaimed, "Jesus! Why do I have to go on hold every three words with this goddamn company. Every fucking time!" As the words were still forming somewhere near my uvula, it dawned somewhere in the back of my dark brain there was no muzak.

Ooops.

Of course, Mrs. Cheary Customer You Can Bit Me overheard my diatribe. "I DIDN'T PUT YOU ON HOLD!"

I responded, "Well. This time you didn't! If you would only let someone finish their sentence before putting them on hold maybe callers wouldn't always be so frustrated."

The amazing part was that this totally unaccommodating and gristly and abrasive lady's personality got worse! I didn't think it could, but it did.

Long story short: I had to speak with her supervisor. We weren't going anywhere at that point. Then I faxed over the appropriate documentation and hopefully the issue is resolved.

I'm really not that embarrassed at my outbreak. I think it needed to be said if I was thinking it. Its very frustrating to deal with them and perhaps she, the least friendly of them all there, needed to hear the venting.

The problem as I see it, is that I deal with them multiple times per week and there are only 5 or 6 different voices on the other end. Hopefully, it will be a while before I get her again.