I Don't Agree With That in the Workplace (1/2) By 'Ull un

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Whether you've been guilty of it yourself or experienced it as a consumer, it seems to be that an epidemic of ineptitude is sweeping the globe. The virus appears to care not about the host in which it embeds itself: ask for assistance face-to-face or even better, pick up the phone and enjoy a dose of sloppy customer care in the comfort of your own living room. I called four different doctor's surgeries to make an enquiry this morning and I was in a good mood when I dialled the first number. Of course, the subsequent exhibition of rudeness and incompetence changed that rather quickly.

Upon attempting to ask the simplest of questions to one of the three guilty office receptionists, I was lavished with an exasperated what? snipe closely followed by a passionate effort to remove me from the end of her phone line before I had even finished asking my question in full.

Now, I could understand if this person was actually a Navy Seal or an ice cream machine repairperson and had woken up to find herself at the helm of a doctor's administrative quarters but clearly, this was a person lacking any sort of inclination to help me. When my ordeal was over, I looked down the list of information I had been writing throughout the process. It's a sorry statement but I have to say that the most information I received with the least aggravation came from a recorded message. Is it unethical to wish for a mechanical revolution to wipe away all of the people whose business practices just plain stink?

The Office, in my opinion was successful as a comedy because of the realism attached to it and as we know, the majority of good comedy is born out of real-life experiences. I used to work with morons like David Brent, I had to get along with pests like Gareth and of course, I had to traverse the virtual minefield of the mighty cliques.

The job I had was both physically and mentally challenging to some degree. It involved some warehouse work, lifting, carrying and what have you with a good sprinkling of computer work and technical gadgetry to learn about into the mix. Sometimes, when my body was tired, my head was spinning, and I still had to face a torrent of ridiculous or unanswerable questions, I like to think that I still managed to get the job done.

I probably fell short of my own expectations a few times or perhaps, despite my best efforts, the customer was not satisfied. Even if I couldn't provide the right result, I tried to soothe the blow for the disgruntled customer with a smile and some kind of reassurance, however hollow it seemed to them. I know you can't win 'em all, but I had a go and I know that a lot of people appreciated that.

My experiences in that environment made me a more understanding consumer. I never liked shopping anyway but I began to remonstrate with whoever I was with if they argued or unnecessarily berated an assistant. You can tell when someone's trying for you. Unfortunately, those people seem to be disappearing and even considering my own experience, some instances of shoddy service still piss me off.

It's a shame that one of the few times you'll receive excessive attention from a store assistant is if they stand to gain a handy commission from being involved in you buying something. In the UK, in general there's just not much of an incentive. The monetary standard afforded to an hour of a person's time is, in my opinion, appalling. The extreme logic to apply in this instance I suppose is, If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

Ironic really, because I've received customer service so bad in certain establishments that short of picking their arse and throwing their shit at me, I don't know how much more offended I could have become. I've been shortchanged by a considerable amount of money, queried it and been accused of not giving the right money, asking for money that wasn't mine in other words. This could easily be taken as a mistake on the businesses part, they were busy etc.

However, as I knew I only went out with one note and paid them with it, my own conscience was clear. Anyway, I was made to wait a good ten minutes until the store closed and shown up royally in front of other customers, treated like a thief and almost didn't get my money back because they would not admit to a mistake. I won't name the place, ahemThorntonsonWhitefriargate! Besides, I'm not even sure the place is still in business, wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't.

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