Rude People??

[iKristin]

I am so curious as to how people are raised to be rude to others when they don't deserve that kind of treatment?? Have you ever been treated rudely for no reason at all? Or just because you were doing your job??

For example...I work selling cell phones for a major company and we are given a list of numbers once a month to call current customers and check on their service to take sure everything is going ok for them. Not sell them anything, just to make sure they don't need anything fixed and to make sure that their service is working out for them. It's a quick call and we're not telemarketers. Well...I just made one of those calls and a lady who had to be in her 40's went off on me!! She yelled at me telling me I wasting her time and that these phone calls are a waste of time to her. I explained that I was just checking to make sure everything was going ok for her and she continued to be rude and yell so I of course hung up on her (she deserved it). This lady seriously made me teary eyed and I wanted to cry

I just don't understand where people get off treating people like crap for no reason at all. I think those people need to be forced into manner school.

 

[golfgal]

While I don't agree with being rude in general, people are inundated with telemarketers these days and quite honestly your company should email people vs calling them because most people WILL assume you are tying to sell them something. Even being on the do not call list doesn't prevent you from getting telemarketers from companies with which you do business.

 

[iKristin]

Well the do not call list does prevent from any sales or business calls but since our company is only calling customers and only to check on their service not to sell anything, which we state as soon as we call them. We ask for the customer we're needing to speak with and then say "hi this is [name] and i'm just checking up on your [company] cell phone service to make sure everything is working out great for you!" and if they say everything's fine then we say "alright, thank you. You have a great day" and hang up. It's so quick, no sales nothing. But being rude about it is really stupid. Even for a telemarketing call. I'm not rude to telemarketers if they call. I just say "no thank you" and hang up before they can even say anything else.

 

[RadioNate]

.Doesn't matter what your intention (or in this case your companies.) I'm sorry.

Being called monthly, even to see if everything is ok is, well, annoying. I understand that you are just trying to do your job and I try REALLY hard not to be rude but when this happens daily from all different sorts of companies and non-profits occasionally there is a casualty.

I'm currently dealing with this with our bank. They call daily, during work hours, for my husband. They won't talk to me because the "offer" is for him. I assume they are offering him some sort of credit card or line of credit. But the fact is they are NEVER going to reach him at this number during work hours. I tell them this and they still call daily. Unfortunately, one day I likely will go off on one of them.

Again, I'm sorry because I do know you are just doing your job but the fact is that companies need to realize that their customers don't want to be called.

If the occasional person being rude to you is going to reduce you to tears, I think I'd start looking for another job because unfortunately, you're a prime target.

 

[iKristin]

No we don't call monthly. We are given a short list of about 15 customers to call once. We never call them again once they've been called....But for an income of over 50 grand a year, i'll take this job and the rude customers...Not my fault you dropped your phone in water or you dropped it and the screen broke. Be more careful with your phone.

 

[~disneydiva~]

Our cell phone company does that. I actually like it. They don't call every month. Last time they called they actually saved me a trip to one of their stores by answering a question I had.

 

[iKristin]

That's exactly why we do it To save people money and save people trips to the store. Especially where I live, most of our customers are 20 minutes or more away from our store.

 

[Scurvy]

I hate it when people call me about things like that. I am polite, if short, because I understand they have the right to call. But I'm not stupid - if I'm having a problem with my phone or my service I know to call Customer Service about it. It's not like I'm going to wait for them to call me before I try to fix the problem. So while I'll be polite if I'm unfortunate enough to get a call like that - and I am, fairly often - I may not be able to keep the annoyance out of my voice. If someone is going to call me and waste my time then they are just going to have to deal with the fact that I'm annoyed.

(I don't get what someone dropping their phone has to do with the situation, honestly.)

 

[golfgal]

That's exactly why we do it To save people money and save people trips to the store. Especially where I live, most of our customers are 20 minutes or more away from our store.

Again, people don't want unsolicited phone calls. An email conveying the same message and a like to tech support would do the same thing and people would not feel like you are infringing on their time. A simple header like "Thank you for your loyalty" or something would be something I would open and read and probably smile at while drinking my morning coffee but call me at dinner time and you will get a "not interested" and a hang up.

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

i think it's because there are SO many telemarketers out there people are just sick of calls from anyone but friends/family/work.

i got a phone call a few months ago telling me i was a "finalist" for something and there were 3 different prizes i could choose from. got all the way to the end when they told me "so you're going to be recieving such-and-such magazine for so much money a month in order for you to be entered into this" and that's when i said "Wait no...i'm not paying for anything, take me out of this please."

got the EXACT same phone call today, and i told the woman i already got this call and she said "no it wasn't from us, it must have been someone else"(with the exact some prizes? i doubt that) and when i said "well i'm not signing up for any magazines" she said "no you don't have to" and then she hung up on me!

so people are just really weary on stuff like that now.



however in other circumstances i've had people be rude to me for no reason. both my DFIL and DSIL are constantly rude to me for no apparent reason. no one ever says anything to them about it, and no one listens to me when i say anything about it, so i just try to ignore them as best i can whenever i'm around them.

 

[LiLIrishChick63]

No we don't call monthly. We are given a short list of about 15 customers to call once. We never call them again once they've been called....But for an income of over 50 grand a year, i'll take this job and the rude customers...Not my fault you dropped your phone in water or you dropped it and the screen broke. Be more careful with your phone.

i...don't understand what this has to do with your original post??

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Unless I ask you to call me to follow up, don't. Just brought my car in to Toyota over the weekend. He said they would be emailing me a survey, and I might possibly receive a phone call survey. I said that was fine. I received a call today and was more than happy to spend the 2 minutes with the person on the phone.

I understand you have a job to do, but unless you're calling to confirm a doctor's appointment or actually have some business with me, don't call us, we'll call you. I have your number and I know where to find you. Your job entails you coming into people's homes (in a manner of speaking) uninvited. They might have just gotten their baby to sleep, they might be in the middle of a huge fight with their spouse or teen, they might work the overnight shift and be exhausted -- you don't know when a good time to call is, so don't expect people to be happy to hear from you. Rude, maybe, but I think these calls are rude. JMO.

 

[Diva of Dragons]

One thing you have to do is not take it personally. Her anger is her "stuff". I hate when companies cal me, for any reason, but I would never take it out on the hapless employees. Just say, "next".

 

[MushyMushy]

No we don't call monthly. We are given a short list of about 15 customers to call once. We never call them again once they've been called....But for an income of over 50 grand a year, i'll take this job and the rude customers...Not my fault you dropped your phone in water or you dropped it and the screen broke. Be more careful with your phone.

I know this is your company's policy and not yours, but why on earth would you guys need to call customers to see if they have problems? If they broke their phones, you'd think they'd be calling you, not the other way around.

I hate unsolicited phone calls.

 

[Jill in Chicago]

I think there are a lot of really angry people out there. They are tired and stressed and they snap. You, on the phone, are an easy target for them to yell at.

Repeat to yourself that this is your job. This is what you have to do.

Sorry people are mean to you!

 

[Heidict]

I get those types of people at work also. They call with an attitude and no matter what you say or do they are just going to keep on being rude. I just tell myself that they are miserable people and that some people just aren't "happy" unless they have some sort of drama or issue in their life.

Plus I also figure I'm fortunate that I only had to deal with them for 5 or 10 minutes and feel so incredibly sorry for the people that actually have to live with them.

In your case, I could deal with one phone call, knowing that you are just checking up on me after I purchased something for you. Now if you were to call every month or so (which I know you are not) then it would get annoyed and I would tell you to take me off of your call list.

If you are an annoying telemarketer that won't leave me alone then I will just say "no, not interested" and hang up. Well, that is unless I feel like having fun with them and that usually in-tales giving the phone to my 4 year old daughter and letting her chat with them for a bit.

Sorry you have to deal with people like that. Try not to take it personal.

 

[diznygirl]

Unless I ask you to call me to follow up, don't. Just brought my car in to Toyota over the weekend. He said they would be emailing me a survey, and I might possibly receive a phone call survey. I said that was fine. I received a call today and was more than happy to spend the 2 minutes with the person on the phone.

I understand you have a job to do, but unless you're calling to confirm a doctor's appointment or actually have some business with me, don't call us, we'll call you. I have your number and I know where to find you. Your job entails you coming into people's homes (in a manner of speaking) uninvited. They might have just gotten their baby to sleep, they might be in the middle of a huge fight with their spouse or teen, they might work the overnight shift and be exhausted -- you don't know when a good time to call is, so don't expect people to be happy to hear from you. Rude, maybe, but I think these calls are rude. JMO.

Ain't that the truth! I received a call and it wasn't a good time. I very politely let them know - could I have a number to call them back? No, of course not. They needed to speak with me right then and there and why did I pick up if it wasn't a good time? Because I was waiting for the doctor to call about my sick child, and since I was busy with the plunger (!) I didn't check the caller ID when the phone rang. Seriously - NOT A GOOD TIME!

I tried to be polite - honest I did!

I used to work for a survey company, so I try to be understanding. Sometimes the person on the other end is too. Sometimes they are the rude ones.

 

[iKristin]

I'm glad some of you understand what I mean lol. I love to follow up with customers that I just sold cell phone service to just to make sure that the phone is doing everything they need it to do and to make sure everything on their service plan is what they need. You would be surprised how many people (about 75%) don't know ANYTHING about their cell phone service. They just pay it...without realizing that they're paying $25 bucks a month additional because they don't have texting or you know? things like that! I just want to check on my customers and make sure they aren't overpaying or not satisfied with the service I provided them. It's one thing to be a telemarketer, but it's another thing to do what I do which is checking up on my customers.

And what I meant about the water and dropping the phone thing, I was mentioning it about rude people once more, guess I didn't finish the post lol. What I meant was that people come in and act rudely towards me because they dropped their phone in the water and it's not covered under warranty only insurance...Things like that. Or that they went over their minutes so it's my fault and so I get yelled and cussed at. People are crazy...I've only worked here for a little over a year but I've had to call the cops to my store 4 times due to crazy upset customers. Not something to go crazy over.

 

[JoiseyMom]

I deal with rude people all the time over the phone . I do customer service for a company that sells via the internet. We sell espresso machines, and all related items plus parts. The web site says all part inquires and orders for parts must go through the site. We cannot take any questions over the phone. There are just too many parts to do this over the phone. Our tech staff answers the part questions via email, this way we have a written record of what part they were told to order. Our parts are non-returnable.

I get LOTS of part calls. And I tell them that as per our website..yada yada yada. Most people are fine with that. Others...OMG. They insist on speaking to our tech staff. Well if you want to talk to a tech it is a $85/hour charge, since that is what they are billing for repairing machines they are being taken away from. Some people get very rude, it is amazing.

Then there are the people that bought their machine from Starbucks, and want free technical support from us . Umm..I don't think so. It is crazy!!

I thought it was bad when I was in regular retail brick and mortar store!! LOL!!

 

[cheermom1]

I agree with you op, I work for a newspaper and we call people who went on vac. or their subscription is about to end so they can either take it off hold or renew. This saves them time and money or an interruption is service. I get the get a real job, and can I have your home #??? What? I mean really? I could understand more if I was calling about somehting they had NO ties to at all but they have the newspaper and I'm trying to help them out?? why do they have to be so rude about it?

If you no longer want the paper then say so but you don't have yell at me or call me names or belittle me. I do have a real job just like you and I'm doing it to the best of my ability and I'm human just like you.