I had an experience in the past couple of weeks where I felt my husband and I received poor customer service. And honestly. It was no fault of ours. The salesperson was new to her job, but she had been doing similar work for years. That means she should have been well informed about the information we were discussing. The only part of her job that was new and unfamiliar was the company she now worked for. And her surroundings were different. I’m sure the commute to work was different. But the work was the same.
However. When this individual realized the product we were looking for was not her preferred product, she got all flustered. In her previous employment, she was responsible for selling her preferred product, which is similar but not identical to what we wanted. And she voiced her frustrations to us. She said she didn’t want to work with the product we were looking for. It was too hard. And then she entered my date of birth incorrectly into the website. When the error was discovered, it was too late to update it. She would need to make a call to another company the next day to make the change. Because it was the end of the workday and she had another client waiting, she didn’t have time to even begin work on my husband’s information. She said she would call us the next day to complete the work.
She didn’t call the next day. And then it was the weekend. She didn’t call on Monday, so I left a voicemail for her. No call on Tuesday, so I sent her an email. You see. We’re on a strict deadline, and we don’t want to wait until the last possible minute to complete this enrollment. Time is ticking by. She finally called us back eight days after our initial meeting. Oh. She apologized profusely. And then she started working on my husband’s information.
All was going well until she hit the enter button to complete his enrollment. She received an error message and didn’t know how to correct what shouldn’t have been an error. Honestly. This time, the mistake wasn’t her fault. Nor was it ours. But it was too late in the day on a Friday to call someone somewhere else to correct the problem. So once again, we’re waiting. And time is still ticking by.
Oh. There is much more to the story that I could share. There were several more missteps on her part that I just won’t go into. I just won’t. I don’t want to nitpick over words and incomplete training or frustrations, but it was frustrating. To say the least. To say that she was ill prepared for our appointment and seemed to have little regard for details is an understatement. On my end, I had thought of contacting her manager to discuss the situation. But I kept stalling. Now I’m glad I did, because when she finally returned my call and was able to finalize my situation she was very pleasant. But does that make all the other words and attitudes on her end null and void?
It isn’t my goal in life to cause someone to get in trouble at work, but I did see several opportunities for improvement at that workplace. I guess I’ll not share those thoughts at this time. I really don’t want to be seen as a troublemaker. But I do expect a salesperson to be ready to sell all the products their company offers. Isn’t the customer always right? I recall that motto being thrown around a lot in the past.
As I’m writing this, I just hung up the phone with this particular salesperson who thought she had fixed the remaining problem. And the problem was fixed. But when we received the information for one final review, there were two huge outstanding errors. We were told it was the other company, not our salesperson, who had entered the information incorrectly. After all the hassles we’ve been through with this person, we didn’t really believe her. It just didn’t ring true. But we could be wrong. And we’re still waiting for resolution.
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you. Matthew 7:12
I have to ask myself. What do I expect of myself in that situation? How should I respond when I’m on the receiving end of someone else’s bad day or incompetence? Do I exhibit the love of Christ? Or do I stir up even more anxious thoughts and feelings in them by calling out their mistakes? When is it appropriate to share my concerns with their manager, and when should I be silent about such matters? I need to make sure my attitude reflects the attitude of Christ at all times.
How should a Christian respond when they’re on the receiving end of poor service?
First of all, I’m not sure the salesperson had a full understanding of what to say and what not to say to her clients. She didn’t filter her words, which could have gotten really ugly if we had gone down that path. As Christians, we don’t have to start the fight. We need to know when it is appropriate to confront the misbehavior and ill spoken words and when not to. Basically, we need to choose our battles. That doesn’t mean we should never speak up about any mistreatment.
Being the recipients of inexcusable behavior allows people of faith to show the love of God. We can display godly actions and words while presenting the truth. Oh. It may not be easy in the heat of the moment, but we can exhibit kindness and speak correction all in the same breath. We have to stop and ask ourselves if we really care about the person who’s been poorly trained or having a bad day. If we were in their shoes, would we act any differently than they are? And we have to remember that they too were made in the image of God and are loved by him just as we are. But God is a God of justice, not just of love.
Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. James 1:19-20
And another thing. We shouldn’t keep score. Oh. We may have to recite all the wrongs committed against us when we report inappropriate behavior, but we can’t hold a grudge or try to even the score. We always have the option not to do business with that individual or company again and part ways amicably.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
But our story isn’t over, and the problem still isn’t solved. We’re still waiting to hear back from her, but she’ll be on vacation during Thanksgiving week. I just have to roll my eyes and sigh at this point.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. Colossians 3:23
Mercy for the Day 