11.24.2008

Common Courtesy

For the most part, I try to stay as friendly as possible with customer service personnel. I really do. I say "thank you" a lot, I attempt to ooze every last bit of reluctant warmth I have into my phone conversation. I even wish them a good day back.
That being said, I hate it when Travelocity/Delta screws up my flight. yet again. forcing me to stay on the phone with them for an unnecessary half hour.
Why would they change my flight from something that made sense to something that didn't make sense? How can I depart Salt Lake at 4:30 p.m. and get to Atlanta at 10:00 p.m. when the connection flight in Atlanta leaves at 7:00 p.m.? Whyyyyyy?
Fortunately, the customer service guy on the phone from (you guessed it) India was super friendly. But at one point, I caught myself getting frustrated and basically asking them why the F--- they would change a correct flight to an incorrect flight. He then promptly reminded me that it was Delta who changed it, not Travelocity, and he was only here to facilitate me.
That made me feel really bad. Even though I know it's not the poor guy on the other line's fault that my flight got messed up, I held him personally accountable. I latched onto him as my emblem of despair. In my mind, he was the exact person who flung this entropy at me. Oops.
This was a friendly reminder to myself of the fact that I should not hold grudges against customer service representatives because really, they had nothing to do with the shitty service their--or other--companies provide. They are just the one responsible for fixing all the damn problems.
My apologizes, guy in India. I hope you're reading this.

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