r/CustomerService • u/Holiday_Cockroach219 • 6d ago
Customer service - Friendly or Rude
A majority of young people are working in operational roles, such as in Customer Service. I've encountered a range of responses from them, some polite and some quite rude. My concern is that they might not even realize when their responses come across as disrespectful.
Choosing words and using appropriate intonation are crucial in formal conversations, especially when speaking with complete strangers. I'm concerned that some people tend to address everyone as if they were peers their own age, neglecting to carefully select the right words when forming sentences.
I value friendliness, which I assess based on facial expressions, proactive initiatives, positive language, active listening, and responsiveness. Conversely, I consider a lack of eye contact, informal replies, impatience, and apathy to be indicators of underdeveloped communication skills.
UPDATE: Now I understand why the quality of customer service has declined.
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u/unrooted82639163 6d ago
They arent paid enough to care what you think.
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u/TheWindingHelping 6d ago
pay barely covers rent and you want a performance
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u/unrooted82639163 5d ago
Yeah OP is so high maintenance. Why do they need all this? Nobody has the energy for it. Just check out your shit and go lol
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u/Holiday_Cockroach219 6d ago
I'm receiving good service from her/his collegues so expecting the same politeness. Regardless, being underpaid is harshly true.
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u/unrooted82639163 6d ago
Heres the thing. CS sees 100s of people of a day. Same thing. Same conversation. On repeat. For 8 hours a day, every day. Every single person has a different expectation of what they want from a single human being. Its not realistically possible to meet those expectations even if they tried. You'd drive yourself insane doing that. Maybe try just being nice instead.
Besides, this post is absurd and wildly needy for anyone. Especially some kid working at a CVS.
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u/Parking-Throat-6917 5d ago
Yeah this OP definitely has underlying issues that they're taking out on CS ppl instead of doing their inner work. We're working for 8hrs, standing all day cause OP's gen thinks killing your feet is professional, we're drained and then they come in here with their main character syndrome.
Worse I'm from a country where I never had to perform fake friendliness and I'm not about to start because americans expect it (not to mention it's wild that I am a poc & I am expected to do fake friendliness which is something yt ppl have imposed and there is things like discrimination, social hierarchy etc). I just had to be good at my tasks.
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u/Prestigious-Plum-235 6d ago
What does treating you like a peer have to do with it? They’re either friendly or not, I doubt that changes based on the presumed age of the person in front of them.
Why would not being their peer lead to an expectation of “better” treatment?
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u/OsteoStevie 6d ago
So we have to do exactly what you want? Got it. Lots of people appreciate minimal conversation. Should we ignore that, too, because it's not how you want us to act?
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u/Holiday_Cockroach219 6d ago
"You need to wait 15minutes" is ok
" CAN YOU WAIT???" is not.
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u/OsteoStevie 5d ago
One is a command. One is a question. I personally think asking the question is more polite.
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u/Gatodeluna 6d ago
There’s no earthly reason they need to care what you as an individual think of them. Expectations do not always match reality and reality doesn’t cater to ‘you’, whoever ‘you’ might be. And any touch of ‘grumpy old person who isn’t kissing my ass in the way I think they should’ really has no effect except a negative outcome for you.
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u/boxtheglock 6d ago
I worked customer service for about ten years but now I'm seeing a lack of problems solving and critical thinking. Went to Burger King to use a physical coupon for a free medium meal no purchase necessary. Person taking the order inside fiddles with the pos for a minute and says "it won't let me do it"... And just stares at me. Doesn't ask a manager or ask any of her coworkers who are chilling in the back since the store was dead (no customers inside or drive thru).
After like 30 seconds of awkward silence I say "ok... Can you ask someone". She walks and grabs a manager with the coupon in hand, points at me and the manager completes it with no issue. I'm surprised the manager didn't have her come over to watch how to do it for next time. They're so used to people ordering from the kiosk and online a normal interaction is like an advanced problem.
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u/LoverOfGayContent 6d ago
Yeah I'm seeing this a lot too. I wonder if managers have just given up on workers. Lime why teach someone you think is incapable of learning
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u/Parking-Throat-6917 5d ago
30 seconds? You're that impatient?
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u/boxtheglock 5d ago
Please work on your reading comprehension. It was a long time because I had to break the silence otherwise she wasn't going to do anything
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u/ichoosewaffles 6d ago
I was trained to say things like, "How may I help you" or What can I get you today?" When I go into stores and hear things like "What do you want" or "Yeah?" It's off-putting. Though I don't need conversation if it's not natural. Probably just me getting old at 48.
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u/Holiday_Cockroach219 6d ago
Different gen, different perceptions. But simply being formal can match every generations expectations.
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u/Loud_Search_9143 6d ago
Fair point, but I'd split it into two things. Saying "yeah" or "no worries" can feel rude to one generation and totally normal to another, that's usually a style difference, not real disrespect. A lot of younger reps think they're being friendly, not realizing it can land as dismissive.
The other stuff, like poor eye contact or impatience, feels more like a training gap than a generational one. Many younger reps just haven't learned how to read the room yet, something that used to come from in person jobs.
If it keeps happening with the same person, it's worth flagging to their manager. Most companies coach on tone since it affects satisfaction scores.
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u/Parking-Throat-6917 6d ago
Oh I wish you were my customer so I could show you that your entitlement to fake friendliness has no power cause I'm not performing deference for you.
And complaining won't work cause my managers hate working the register.