Customer Service Tip #421

When discussing accessories, be sure to advise customers of the correct method for wearing them. Do not say, "We have a beaded lanyard that you can wear around your waist." Any customer who follows this advice and attempts to squeeze their waist into a lanyard will become most unhappy. Remember, lanyards should be worn around the neck area.

Customer Service Tip #346

When speaking to customers about different time periods, be sure you use the correct units of time. For example, do not say to a customer "you can get your phone replaced once every twelve years." Rather, you would indicate to the customer that they could get their phone replaced once every twelve months.

Instead of plastic containers, I take Mason jars to work. Generally, they are filled with creamily delicious milk. I never imagined there being any problem with this. After all, it's milk in a jar. Is that really an exciting or unusual occurence?

Then, my trainer asked, "What are you doing with that jar? Is that a Mason jar? She has a Mason jar, like your granny used to."

My bewilderment stemmed from two main factors. First, neither of my grannies had ever had Mason jars. Second, I didn't see in what way a jar could grab so much attention.

This is a strange world in which to live: a world in which jars provide links to the past and amusement for the present.

Beginnings

Customer service is filled with mobs of wildly different people. My current training class is an excellent example of this. A motley assemblage of people has been hired.

There are people without call center experience and people with years of it. Some have degrees, some do not. There is an ancient plumber and a young college graduate. Many people are trying to build careers, some are not.

No matter our differences, we are all hunting the elusive Michigan paycheck, a rare beast that is always in season yet often bounds off into the woods, just out of reach.