Yay, It's Monday

[rowyn]

I think I got up too early this morning. I'm tired. And now I've eaten lunch, which will doubtless make me more tired. But it gives me an excuse to use my "tired" icon, so it's not all bad.

I may have to go buy an overpriced Diet Coke from the vending machine downstairs to keep going through the last half of the day. Well, 2.5 hours, rather. I guess that's not that long.

I've been rather unfocused on work today, but at least (a) there is plenty of it to do and (b) I am not stressing out over it. Eh, it's only work. It'll still be here tomorrow if I don't do it today.

Of course, some things that should have been done last Friday or Thursday have now been shuffled on to my "to do sometime before I retire" stack, which is a subpar response. That's the trouble with putting something off: after I've done it once, it's easier and easier to keep postponing it. There's an email in my inbox from last August. My boss needs to get me some information before I can do anything with it. She's said she would a few times, but nothing's come of it. I should just give up and move it out of my inbox.

But the two recent tasks aren't as bad as that. They're just complex "why did this happen" questions from customers who don't want to do things in the usual manner. It's my job to deal with customers who have bizarre and difficult problems. I wasn't hired for this job, mind you. In theory, loan officers are supposed to deal with the problems of their customers. However, I happen to be very good at figuring out why things happen the way they did, and then explaining them. Remember, the punishment for doing something well is always more of it to do.

I don't mind so much with the customers who are polite and easy to deal with. One builder regularly calls me directly with any questions he has on his various loans, and I like talking to him because he actually knows what he's doing. It's the ones who stubbornly cling to their misconceptions that really get to me. With one woman last year, I explained in exquisite, excrutiating detail the exact reason for every so-called discrepancy on her loan. Her repeated response was "Well, I don't know about all that. I just think it's wrong." What am I supposed to say to that? (She refinanced with another bank. Thank heavens. Let them deal with her from now on.)

Back to work for me.

Comments

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Hmm, you know what they say, write about what you know-- that could make for an odd campaign. Galactic Bank Finance Investigators.

Okay, maybe not!

[rowyn]

...

I'll take that one under advisement.

In Defense of Irate Customers Everywhere

[telnar.livejournal.com]

I have more sympathy than you do for the lady who just thinks it's wrong.

Every now and again, I find myself expressing variations on this sentiment to customer service people:

"I don't care which of your policies called for this result or whether that policy was correctly applied. What I care about is that the result is unacceptable and unreasonable in this case."

For example, most credit card agreements allow a bank to impose a fee and a penalty interest rate on any customer who is one day late making a payment. However, a bank which raised an otherwise good customer's interest rate from 0% to 21% for being 2 days late with a payment, would not be generating good will.

Chances are that the actions of Toddler Bank were more reasonable than that here, but then she is just wrong on the facts. I don't think that there is anything wrong with the world view that it's ok to hold it against businesses that they are doing something you don't like even when they are "right."

Re: In Defense of Irate Customers Everywhere

[level-head.livejournal.com]

Hello, Telnar!

The tone I took from Rowyn's description is that, after the explanation, the customer still did not understand the events that took place.

In some cases, folks will listen toa long explanation with the sole intent of getting past it so that they can restate their original incorrect assertions. In my own interactions, I encounter a number of those folks.

They don't want information -- they're just waiting for their turn.

===|==============/ Level Head

Ignorance is not an Excuse

[telnar.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. In my customer service world view, the customer should at least understand what happened before dismissing the justification as irrelevant.

I guess I've been fortunate -- I've seen more people be annoying because of premises I see as unreasonable than out of ignorance that they are unwilling to consider fixing.

Re: Ignorance is not an Excuse

[rowyn]

In this case, Level_Head has the better reading of my post. This woman was disputing such facts as how much interest had accrued on her loan ("But after 60 days had past, I paid 30 days' worth of interest. I should be current! Why do I have to pay *another* 30 days' worth of interest?") and the justice of the bank imposing late fees upon her when she was a mere 50 days late in returning renewal documents to us. I had no sympathy for her whatsoever.

This was not a good customer we were hoping to retain. This was a whiny deadbeat we were grateful to see the back of.

Re: Ignorance is not an Excuse

[level-head.livejournal.com]

There are certainly both kinds. And there are reasonable, understanding customers as well.

I enjoy being able to convert one of the two former kinds to the latter, and have been successful on a number of occasions. Not every time, of course. Some obstinance is a Force of Nature. ];-)

"Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain"

===|==============/ Level Head

Re: In Defense of Irate Customers Everywhere

[rowyn]

Yes, that sums up the most irritating sort of customer quite nicely. Thank you.