Having vented my spleen thoroughly on the subject of service people who are inattentive, incompetent, or just in the wrong line of work, I believe it’s time to tell the other side of the story.
As a service person, what is maddening to each of the Teeming Millions?
I have been a gardener off and on since 1961. Things I consider irritating in this field are:
–Customers who call me to do one thing, and when I get there, they say they want something else. Now I’ve brought the wrong tools, and have to do the work with makeshift tools or not at all!
–Customers who call me to work in the front yard, without telling me they’re going to have a garage sale there that same day.
–Customers–husband, wife, and/or kids, for example–who are in the middle of a vicious squabble when I arrive. Sorry, I’m not participating in someone else’s family quarrel.
–Customers who pay me with postdated checks. Why not wait until you have the money to pay me, for God’s sake?
–Customers’ neighbors–or visitors–who make a lot of noise–playing a stereo at high volume, for example. More than once I’ve been driven away from a yard by this.
–Customers who underpay, overwork, and watch every move I make–like I’m going to steal from them or something. (One housework customer whined that she could do in half an hour what it took me four hours to do. Her husband and little kids were present, so I didn’t speak my mind: I felt like yelling, “Well, then, DO it yourself, dammitt!” :mad:
Well, enough. Post here what you, as a service person, find maddening or even slightly annoying about people you do services for–who drive you straight up the wall. 
(To the moderator: If this thread belongs in The BBQ Pit or In My Humble Opinion, by all means please put it there. :))
We’ll keep an eye on it and see how it develops.
dougie_monty, I feel for you.
I was a waiter for many years, and there are a few things that to this day make me a bit angry:
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Customers who see an empty table and ask how come they can’t just sit there instead of waiting. Do they not understand that just because there is a table, there might not be a waiter for the table?
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People who assume that they are the only table in a waiter’s section. Yeah, your $2 tip is going to make my entire night!
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People who are bitchy to you for no reason. If you’re in a bad mood, stay home.
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People who ignore you or speak to you and then “dismiss” you. OK, this is a restaurant, but that doesn’t mean you are excused from being civil.
That’s all for now.
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In college, I worked night audit at a hotel. People would call down to the front desk. I swear this is exactly how 90% of the conversations would go:
Guest: “I need a wake up call in the morning”
Me: “What time?”
Guest: “Well, let’s see, I have a meeting (appointment, flight etc…) at 8:00a.m. and we’re ten minutes from there and I need 20 minutes for my shower and…”
OK now, they know they are calling cuz they want to get up in the morning, yet they are continually surprised by the question. I would have to listen to them logic their way thru what time they needed to get up as if no one else was calling the hotel or waiting to check in etc…
Yeah, it annoyed me then, but I really am over it now.
I worked in a bookstore, but I bet these occur in other service areas…
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The ones who talk down to service staff. For no apparent reason except that they think they have a right.
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The ones who fling their money/credit cards on the counter at you. I find this extremely rude.
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The ones who expect you to mind-read and then blast you when you can’t. Real story: I had a woman come up to me who said,“I’m looking for a book. I don’t know the title or the author.” Okaaaay…any info you might have? Publisher? Nope. ISBN? What’s that? Okay, tell me what it’s about. I dunno it’s about a man and his dog. After 15 minutes of looking up my catalogue, she goes - “Gee, you don’t know your books, do you?” I felt like I was trapped in a really painful Monty Python sketch. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry or to slap her. Silly bunt.
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The ones who think the rules don’t apply to them.
“Whaddya mean I can’t return this item? You never told me that!” It says so on the receipt. It says so on that sticker on the item. It says so on the hugeass posters we hung around the store. -
The ones who return items weeks (sometimes months) after they bought it, realising it’s ‘the wrong one’. I can understand if it’s an appliance or some complicated piece of equipment. But how hard is it to know at the point of purchase that a book is the wrong one for you? We do make exceptions for books meant as gifts, but buddy, that paperback looks a little mangy and dog-eared. Besides, you took a month to decide it was the wrong one?
Ahhhhh, customer service. Been in it for too long now.
I work for my local government, in water billing. Here’s the deal: if you ask me why your bill is high, the answer you’re going to get from me is, quite simply, “I don’t know.”
Why don’t I know? Because I don’t live in your house, that’s why. Unless your bill was a high estimate (which does indeed occur, although we do try to catch those and adjust them before the bills go out), you’re not getting billed for water that didn’t go through your meter. Yes, the computer billing system we’ve got right now is giving us fits–you’ve heard about it on the news. Yes, the lady on the news had a bad bill. But that doesn’t mean that yours is wrong too, okay?
Oh wait, you just remembered–your toilet ran for two weeks. Non-stop. Well then–that’s why your bill is high. A standard toilet (the non-water-saver kind) uses seven gallons in a minute and a half. Non-stop toilet running for two weeks is going to give you a booty-kicking bill. And no, we’re not going to adjust it. We’re responsible for getting the water to your meter. Your plumbing is your responsibility. One of my co-workers explained it this way: if you go to a gas station and fill your tank, then run out of gas a mile down the road because you’ve got a hole in your gas tank, are you going to go back to the gas station and demand your money back?
One more thing: if you ever have to call the water department for anything…don’t ask me for a glass of water. 
Been there,done that,have the t-shirt.
I work in the Fraud department of a major credit card issuer. Yes-hardygrrl’s in a call center/cube farm taking tons of pleasant customer calls.
Here’s a few random gripes:
If you’re stupid enough to write your PIN on the credit card,please turn over your financial affairs to someone with a brain. They can handle the money while you go look for shiny things to play with.
Your cardmember agreement states we,the bank,have the right to monitor your account for fraud. Therefore,if you never use the card but one day drop 2000+ at the mall,you can expect a phone call from us to verify the actvity.Yes,it is OUR business because news flash-IT"S OUR MONEY. We just loan it to you.
When we ask you to verify information on the account before we discuss it with you,don’t argue,m’kay? Federal law prohibits us from revealing account information unless we are sure we have the true cardholder on the phone. Otherwise I could call American Express right now,claim to be Mrs Bill Gates and get his information.
Don’t call and pretend to be your husband/wife/mother/father/etc. I will catch you and what’s more…I’ll enjoy nailing you with your lies. I have databases that can verify name/address/phone number/social security number…I can pull your credit report…I can find that one piece of information you DON’T have and tell you what a lying ack you are with a smile.
Don’t put your kid,wife,SO on the account and when they max out the card start crying fraud. If you put them on your account you’re liable unless you are willing to press charges.
BTW…calling me a bitch does not get you better service. I have the right to hang up on you as long as I warn you twice to stop using profanity.