Mental Crush

[fkofilee]

I have an interesting thought and one that I wondered if people had any advice.

 

I work within a Support Environment assisting customers with issues on their Telecoms based products. B2B. 

Broadband, Phone Lines,  Mobile Apps. Help companies stay connected. 

 

Yesterday I had a phone call with a customer, They had sent in a request to action next day by 4PM. 

They called yesterday to reach me to query as they hadnt recieved an email confirming it would be done. We send emails saying "Thank you for getting in contact your case ref is xxxx"

But nothing Human. 

 

I answer the phone, check the case - Tell him its been allocated and will be dealt with by an engineer accordingly. 

He asks for a timeframe and i explain that they will be completed accordingly by the time he has requested - 4PM. 

Essentially the call isnt anything special - Just try to explain it will be dealt with. 

 

Customer hangs up. Calls back instantly 10 mins later and asks the same question again in which we get a notification accordingly. 

I pick it up and email to confirm if will be done. 

 

The response - "I recieved a cold response and didnt feel very welcome over the phone. 

"I am disappointed in the attitude from the call"

 

Yes we all get customers like that.... 

 

----------------------------------------

 

Ill be honest - I am quite direct in my approach in life but its just a personality thing... 

But the reason for the thread is this... 

 

Is this a warning sign that I have run my course with the Telco Industry? Im consistently having these issues and it feels like my brain cant take much more of these people.

Part of the reason these days that im miserable isnt because of COVID but because of people crushing my spirit and sense of humour... Should it be time i look for a new career path? Im early 30s. Is it too late?

 

FKO

[unclebulgaria67]

Don't we all go through these periods in any career ?

 

There are only so many challenges or new opportunities within any organisation. So it can become a daily routine of the same tasks, dealing with similar customers etc etc. You could look at project ideas at work and submit these in the hope it will open up opportunity to spend time doing something else.

 

My advice for what it is worth, is to look at hobbies and interests outside of work. Then work will become purely a way to earn the money to pursue the hobbies and interests.

 

Given Covid-19 and a damaged economy, changing jobs at this time is very risky, unless you stay with same employers.

 

Age is not an issue, so if you wanted to change, invest in an education course, if that will help you towards more interesting job roles.

[fkofilee]

Hi UB

 

Thanks for your advice I appreciate it.

I will take a look around at courses. 

 

FKO

 

[ContentCreatives]

I so resonate with your situation. I worked with a bank till I was 32 and was so burnt out I had zero enthusiasm for life. I then ran my own retail business for 4 years before again being burnt out through the relentless irritation the customers evoked in me. When I realised work was a miserable experience, I knew it was time to pack it in. Had 2 other careers that ended similar ways - all my initial enthusiasm for the job drained way. Then a few years ago I started an unexpected path that became super exciting and endlessly evolving. I'm currently loving the new career I'm carving out for myself but realise that the fact it keeps changing is part of the reason why that enthusiasm stays high. 32 is still super young and you have plenty of potential career paths ahead of you. However, as UB says, Covid is a rather large consideration at this time for taking the risk of completely switching. I'd suggest listening to podcasts/reading books on people who have made a successful career change. Even if their situation might not be 100% relevant to you, you might be inspired in unexpected ways. 

[fkofilee]

You know when there is only so much of you that you can give to society to help them?

That's how I feel like I'm completely disenchanted helping people because they are so ungrateful. I try to go above and beyond for everyone I can but they just dont give you respect...

 

I see these people who get abused for asking to do XYZ and I feel like them.

Ive been in the Customer Services / Support Game for nearly 11 years and its corrupted me to a point where I just dont care anymore  

 

I appreciate the idea of podcasts - Thank you very much

 

[ContentCreatives]

I hear you! My experience (which may not be the same as yours) is that when that sort of resentful rot starts to set in, you don't get back to the mindset of where you were at the start. It may not look like it right now, but this realisation could actually be one of the best things to happen to you and set you off on a series of new adventures that reinvigorate your joy in what you do. 

[unclebulgaria67]

2 hours ago, fkofilee said:

I see these people who get abused for asking to do XYZ and I feel like them.

Ive been in the Customer Services / Support Game for nearly 11 years and its corrupted me to a point where I just dont care anymore  

 

I appreciate the idea of podcasts - Thank you very much

 

 

The podcasts and any other form of learning is definitely the way forward.

 

Have you thought that you are selling yourself short in regard to the high quality service that you are providing your customers ?

 

I had a situation awhile back, where I had a customer in a very difficult situation, where their health was making them hold a very negative outlook on life.  They used to phone me most weeks, telling me every detail of their daily heath battles, some of which was quite difficult to listen to and they complained that they thought they deserved more money to pay for various help etc etc.   And I would explain clearly that they were already receiving all money they were entitled to and anything more would be subject to a pending decision that I had no control over.  

 

On a particular day, this customer phoned and I picked up the call, For some reason the customer thought they were speaking to someone else on my team and not myself.  Because the customer thought they had someone new to listen to them,  I decided that I would use a sales technique to help build trust in the customer service that was being provided. Rather than offer empathy and explain, I gave it the full sales pitch explaining the wonderful service that was being provided, the amount of time and effort dedicated to provide the service and went into detail that the money being paid was the maximum level available based on the current available information.     The customer gave a far more positive response, saying how wonderful it was that they were being looked after and  asked why my colleague (me) had not given them this information.   I then said,  actually "you are speaking to the same person who always runs through the service details being provided, but this time I decided to take a different approach selling the features and benefits of the service being offered."   

 

Applying a more positive sales approach to a customer service call made a difference,  the customer was happy with what was being provided and they no longer had a reason to phone every week to try to seek more money than was available.

 

Sometimes taking a different approach is worth a try.