RANT!

JimH · Posted: Dec 01 2007 Post subject: RANT!

[rant]I call a customer service line a couple of times a week. I get a recording if they are busy it tells you that a customer service rep will be with you in a few minutes. Today I call and the recording tells me that a customer service ADVOCATE will be with you shortly. I know some middle management puke probably spent a coupler of months coming up with this new term/label, sent out memos, had training sessions with the ADVOCATES to make sure they used the correct phrasing, etc! Does it make the service better, NO, does it make ther service faster, NO. ALL IT DOES IS STROKE THE EGO OF THE MIDDLE MANAGEMENT PUKE WHO HAS PROBABLY RISEN TO HIS LEVEL OF INCOMPETENCE, SOMEONE NOT SMART ENOUGH TO SPEND THE TIME DOING THINGS TO MAKE HIS OR HER DEPARTMENT A BETTER FUNCTIONING TEAM. I never stopped being amazed by this B.S. back when I worked for a corporation. If you are a CEO reading this I hope you give this some thought. Time is money and some managers spend time doing everything but managing.[/rant]

Please feel free to add your rant.
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Mississippi Smoker · BBQ Fan Joined: 30 Mar 2007 Posts: 158

Tell use how you really feel.

But I am with you on that. I am working inside a corporation as a contract employee. We have to work overtime to spit shine everything to impress some manager who is coming down to discuss how to save money.

So I know what you are talking about rising to their level of incompetence.

RANT ON!!!!

Teleking · Posted: Dec 01 2007 Post subject:

Just keep reading Dilbert. Wink

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JimH · Posted: Dec 01 2007 Post subject:

necron 99 · Posted: Dec 01 2007 Post subject:

Matt Groenig's pre-Simpsons "Hell" series are great too - the "Work is Hell" one still pretty much holds true today.
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Smokinfunk · Posted: Dec 01 2007 Post subject:

JimH - the one that really chaps my ass (being an ex-IT guy) is that if I have to call Tech Support because some piece of computer hardware or software isn't working right, and I can't figure it out myself, is that first I have to navigate through layers of a stupid automated menu system to even talk to a human. Then when I finally get a human it's often somebody who barely speaks English, or who's accent is so thick that we both keep asking each other to repeat everything slowly. (Don't get me started on my thoughts about overseas outsourcing - that'll be saved for a different rant). And finally, when we both understand exactly what my problem is, it becomes glaringly obvious that this so-called "expert" isn't 1/4th as knowledgeable as myself, and is flipping through a binder (or the computerized version thereof) looking to match my symptoms with something in the book, and reading me a scripted answer. Usually my problem isn't in the book, if it was, I'd usually have already figured it out myself. This means that higher-than-publicly-available-knowledge is required by the Tech Support person in order for them to actually THINK and apply logic to help me. But there's no page in "the book" for actual "thought" and logical deduction. So this person goes through a litany of solutions to try, the first one is always "are your drivers up-to-date". And I began the introduction to my problem by listing all the steps I've already gone through, updated drivers being the first one. So this person continues by then asking me to perform THE EXACT SAME FREAKING STEPS I ALREADY TOLD HIM/HER THAT I'VE DONE. When he/she finally runs out of answers in their book, I get a lengthy apology and am asked to hold while my issue is escalated to "Tier 2 Tech Support"...WHICH IS WHAT I ASKED FOR IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My wife will tell you that when she overhears that I'm talking to Tech Support she'll just go ahead and bring me a Makers Mark on the rocks because she knows I'm going to need it by the time I'm off the phone.
Evil or Very Mad

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Harry Nutczak · Posted: Dec 02 2007 Post subject:

you guys remind me of the latest commercial airing for the "bank of Scotland"

there is a guy choking at the dining table and one of the guys associates starts explaining the heimlich maneuver while the guy is still choking.

finally a parson comes from another table and does the heimlich to save the guys life. and the original explainer says "see, just like I explained it"

Point of story;
just do it instead of talking about how to do it.

Or,
Take action first, instead of yapping about how to take action.

The reasons you guys ranted about are the same reasons I left the chaos of corporate America.
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Smokinfunk · Posted: Dec 02 2007 Post subject:

Harry - I respect what you're saying but I'm not sure how it applies to my scenario. If I were to open my own IT consulting business the most I could do is to make sure that my own Tech Support staff are knowledgeable and are not blindly parroting solutions out of some "idiot's guide". But this would not have any impact whatsoever on the situations in which I myself have to contact another entity for support. Unless you mean that by "just doing it" I would raise the bar and others would follow. That's already happening - many firms have excellent Tech Support, yet still many more do not, and they never will as long as they outsource in order to pay dirt cheap rates. So some firms keep a higher bar, but this has no impact on the others! And as long as the popular "How to Manage/Run a Corporation" books du jour keep preaching cost-cutting, outsourcing, with the primary goal being to add value for shareholders at the expense of customer satisfaction, this situation will not change. These days, all the MBAs are taught that if they raise the shareholder value, they'll be able to ask for even more millions when their current CEO contract expires and they again enter the market for their next contract. The whole upper management culture is all about "me, me, and further, me".

So I fully understand, respect, and cheer your decision to eschew corporate America, but many of us are stuck there without the viable option to leave, because of many and varied life circumstances, so sometimes "just do it" is not an option.

Unless I completely missed your point, which may be entirely possible given that I'm pretty passionate about the issue raised in my previous post - and passion often leads to tunnel-vision.
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WSM 22.5", Digi-Q ATC, Cyber-Q ATC
Brinkmann Cimarron Deluxe offset smoker
Weber One-touch 22.5" grill
Weber One-touch 26" grill
============================

If God hadn't meant for us to eat animals, He would not have made them out of meat!

JimH · Posted: Dec 03 2007 Post subject:

JimH · Posted: Dec 03 2007 Post subject:

Smokinfunk · Posted: Dec 03 2007 Post subject:

Yep - because they've already written you, the individual, off as the last thing they need to worry about in order to get that next bonus.
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============================
WSM 22.5", Digi-Q ATC, Cyber-Q ATC
Brinkmann Cimarron Deluxe offset smoker
Weber One-touch 22.5" grill
Weber One-touch 26" grill
============================

If God hadn't meant for us to eat animals, He would not have made them out of meat!