It Happens to All of Us

Buddhism tells the story of a woman whose small child had died. Stricken with grief, she carried the child from house to house asking for medicine that would help. One household told her to go see the Buddha. The Buddha told her that he did have a cure, but that she would need to collect mustard seeds from every house in the village that has not experienced death. Well, as you can imagine, every house she visited had known death and she was able to let go of her grief and accept her child's death as part of life.

What does this have to do with customer service? Well, how many times have you told yourself you have the "customers from hell" or the "worst job in the world"? The thing is, all of your coworkers have the same job and the same customers. Are they all unhappy? When I worked as a Customer Service Rep I noticed in the break room how it was always the same reps who seemed to have "the hotline from hell" or all the bad customers. When I became a supervisor and started to monitor their calls and those of their coworkers I noticed a big difference in how the customers were approached by the different reps. The ones that often complained were defensive, quickly aggitated, and easily frustrated. The ones that never seemed to complain were patient, courteous, and helpful.

We all have the same customers, we all have the same job. Don't feel like your customers are the worst, or you somehow are cursed with the bad customers. If you feel this way, look at your own service and be the rep you want when you call a customer service number.