Ramblings 19 Jun 2007 07:07 am
Can I help you?
There are certain places that I try to avoid dealing with at all costs; the RMV, Credit Card companies, Comcast, etc. I find that the people that are providing “customer service” are usually more irritated about the conversation than I am. More often than not I will hang up just to end a phone call rather than talk in circles for another 20 min and then I take a shower to try and cleanse myself.
The other day I found myself on the phone with the cable company discussing their relocation process for customers. I had been billed but not automatically charged for my old address and I had been billed and my autopay was pending for the new address. Unfortunately, in limbo was my actual outstanding balance that needed to be paid. I tried to question them as to why my checking account couldn’t simply be switched from the old account, which it had auto-paid sufficiently for the last year, to the new account. They told me no. That’s it. No. Which isn’t so much an answer to my question as it is an ideology with them.
Anyway, that’s not the point of all of this.
I stopped in at my local Comcast office on Saturday to drop off eRock’s old modem that has been residing in my trunk for the last two weeks. I pulled into the parking lot at about 1:40 and noted that their closing time was 2pm. Thank god, I have 20 min to spare and I am not that guy that walks in 2 min before closing. Well I might as well have been that guy. Upon entering the office I noted the two people at the counter and the four people in front of me. Shortly after my entrance another 5 people came in. I start to feel a panic welling up in my stomach. Not so much for me, but because I can sense the stress and frustration coming from the lone customer service rep (CSR) in the office seeping through the thick Plexiglas. ANYWAY. The gentleman is arguing with the CSR in broken English and she is able to dispatch him in no less than 10 min. Another person comes in. Oddly enough, nobody on our side of the glass seems tense and the CSR has found her groove and is movin through the line. Now I am next up. The two gentlemen in front of me were asking about getting another box but because they were not in the local area they couldn’t get it there. No problem, the CSR started to research where they could get it. In the interim, the rest of us in the lobby are watching the gigantic wide screen TV that they have set up in the lobby to kill the time. It keeps cycling through CNN and the same stories are repeating. Then it happens. The tall, bald guy 3 people back has a brilliant idea. In one motion he takes the Universal remote in his hand and changes the channel to ESPN. The other dudes in line with remotes are cursing themselves for not thinking of it. I am smiling because I think it was an awesome move and lightened the atmosphere even more. So we channel surf as a group for a few min and talk about Barry bonds being in Boston. We laugh. We cry. We shared a moment and then finally it was my time at the service window.
But wait.
One of the two guys in front of me starts looking around; his partner asks, “What’s wrong”? They have a brief discussion of who had the car keys last. He can’t find them and starts to move to the door to look outside. It’s Justin’s time to shine. “They’re in your back pocket” I say casually. He checks. Sure enough, there they are. There is jubilation and pie. They exit and I step to the window, the CSR looks at me, I state my purpose, she smiles and I have the nicest interaction with a Comcast employee to date and leave five minutes later with my mission accomplished and my blood pressure normal. Score.