{"id":1891,"date":"2011-02-25T10:27:54","date_gmt":"2011-02-25T15:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greatsociety.org\/?p=1891"},"modified":"2018-10-30T15:41:08","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T19:41:08","slug":"customer-service-transcripts-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/?p=1891","title":{"rendered":"Customer Service Transcripts #12"},"content":{"rendered":"

Haven\u2019t done one of these<\/a> in a while! I stopped partly because these started to depress me. These are real calls. Looking back on them, for me, is more scary than funny. The other reason is that I ran out of ones that are anonymous. I have lots more, but the really juicy ones are tough because they tend to involve names and personal details — like the guy who just screamed his Social Security number over and over again until I hung up on him, and the lady who couldn\u2019t spell her own name\u2026<\/p>\n

Today, though, I got a real doozy of a call. So here it is for your enjoyment. A lady struggling with our online membership application form. This lady was an American, so no language barrier. And remember that all these options she struggled with are drop down menus.
\n<\/p>\n

Cust: Okay, I\u2019m looking at the application. I see the area for my name, but it asks for a prefix. What\u2019s that?<\/p>\n

Me: Um\u2026what?<\/p>\n

Cust: Prefix. What\u2019s a prefix?<\/p>\n

Me: It\u2019s\u2026a drop down menu, ma\u2019am.<\/p>\n

Cust: A what?<\/p>\n

Me: A prefix is \u201cMister\u201d \u201cMissus\u201d and so on.<\/p>\n

Cust: Oh\u2026 I don\u2019t see that on that menu thing you said. Drop\u2026down?<\/p>\n

Me: What do you see?<\/p>\n

Cust: Mr, Ms., Mrs, Dr\u2026 (she spells them out: “M-R, M-S, M-R-S…”)<\/p>\n

Me: Uh-huh.<\/p>\n

Cust: Which one do I pick?<\/p>\n

Me: Huh?<\/p>\n

Cust: I don\u2019t understand this.<\/p>\n

Me: You know. You don\u2019t have to pick one.<\/p>\n

Cust: Oh. Okay. Then there\u2019s suffix. What\u2019s that?<\/p>\n

Me: (after putting the call on mute and screaming) That\u2019s like \u201cJunior,\u201d or \u201cSenior\u201d and so on.<\/p>\n

Cust: So you only use that if your last name is Junior or Senior?<\/p>\n

Me: \u2026..yes. That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

Cust: Now, on \u201ccurrent employment field,\u201d what\u2019s that mean?<\/p>\n

Me: It\u2019s a drop down menu, ma\u2019am.<\/p>\n

Cust: Oh, I see\u2026 (she reads off the list of 20 or so fields then she gets to \u201cother.\u201d) Um\u2026 What\u2019s \u201cother\u201d? How do I know if I\u2019m \u201cother\u201d?<\/p>\n

Me: Do any of the other fields fit?<\/p>\n

Cust: Um\u2026no.<\/p>\n

Me: There you go.<\/p>\n

Cust: Okay. It also says \u201cHighest degree earned in psychology.\u201d I put down my Master of Fine Arts. That counts, right?<\/p>\n

Me: Sure!<\/p>\n

Cust: The option under that says \u201cGeneral setting.\u201d What\u2019s that mean?<\/p>\n

Me: In reference to your degree in psychology. It\u2019s asking where you\u2019re practicing, or if you\u2019re teaching, and so on.<\/p>\n

Cust: (she reads all the options from the dropdown). Um\u2026 What\u2019s \u201cother\u201d?<\/p>\n

Me: We just discussed that, didn\u2019t we?<\/p>\n

Cust: Right! If I don\u2019t fit any of the others.<\/p>\n

Me: Yep.<\/p>\n

Cust: I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Me: Okay.<\/p>\n

Cust: So\u2026which do I pick?<\/p>\n

Me: Um\u2026\u201dother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cust: Oh! Right!<\/p>\n

Cust: Now, for the question about licensure, it asks yes or no. I don\u2019t know what that means, but I put yes. Is that okay?<\/p>\n

Me: Yep!<\/p>\n

Cust: How do I submit it?<\/p>\n

Me: What\u2019s at the very bottom of the page?<\/p>\n

Cust: (it takes her 30 seconds to find it) It says \u201cReview Form.\u201d<\/p>\n

Me: There you go.<\/p>\n

Cust: And that will submit it?<\/p>\n

Me: That\u2019ll let you review it if you want to make any changes, then you can submit it.<\/p>\n

Cust: But\u2026 If I want to make changes, I can do it now. Why do I have to make changes later?<\/p>\n

Me: Well\u2026it\u2019s just to make sure that you got everything right.<\/p>\n

Cust: Did I?<\/p>\n

Me: I\u2019m sure you did!<\/p>\n

Cust: Okay\u2026.okay\u2026 Oh! Wait! How do I sign it?<\/p>\n

Me: You click that thing towards the bottom that says you agree to all the terms and what not.<\/p>\n

Cust: That\u2019s\u2026not a signature. How do I get my signature on it?<\/p>\n

Me: It\u2019s what they call an \u201celectronic signature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cust: So\u2026if I click that, then my signature will automatically appear?<\/p>\n

Me: No\u2026it\u2019s in lieu of your signature.<\/p>\n

Cust: In\u2026what?<\/p>\n

Me: Instead of.<\/p>\n

Cust: Instead of what?<\/p>\n

Me: Instead of your signature.<\/p>\n

Cust: What is?<\/p>\n

Me: Clicking that button.<\/p>\n

Cust: Is that legal?<\/p>\n

Me: Yes.<\/p>\n

Cust: That\u2019s scary. The internet can be scary, can\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Me: The phones, too, sometimes.<\/p>\n

Cust: Yes! Yes! Okay. I think I\u2019ve got it now.<\/p>\n

Me: Excellent.<\/p>\n

Cust: I\u2019ll call back if there\u2019s trouble.<\/p>\n

Me: No need to do that.<\/p>\n

Cust: Okay\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Haven\u2019t done one of these in a while! I stopped partly because these started to depress me. These are real calls. Looking back on them, for me, is more scary than funny. The other reason is that I ran out …<\/p>\n

Customer Service Transcripts #12<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[265,263],"class_list":["post-1891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crazy-customers","tag-crazy-customers-2","tag-customer-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1891"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1896,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1891\/revisions\/1896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}