Just Venting

[Almond_Joy]

So I get a call for a customer who was working with my manager at like a quarter to 5. This person needed something done this Friday and was told we need 3 days advance notice to make it happen. She hadn't set a date until today so she called today. Of course my manager would be out all this week for training.

 

The only people trained to do what this woman's asking are the people in our dept. I'm dept admin so I'm not qualified to do it myself. I go to one of the salespeople, explain the situation. I ask her to just take the name and number of the woman now so she's got someone to start working with on this tomorrow. The woman flat out refuses to take the call. She doesnt say put it in my voicemail or ask me to take her info and she'll follow up tomorrow. She just doesn't want to deal with it.

 

Just ticked me off because

A) this work is her freaking job. I didnt ask her to do anything that's not expected of her already, and

B) We're in a service industry! Guess what comes first? CUSTOMER SERVICE. You need to be willing to at least talk to a flippin customer, even if it's to take a message.

 

And usually I do a better job not showing my frustration but this was too much. I said thanks and went to finish the call....there was nothing to thank her for, I was obviously upset by her response. I hope she's irritated or at least reconsiders how she could have handled this. I can't stand someone who actively REFUSES to do their job when asked. We all have work we dont want to do in our role but it's part of the role. If you dont want to do the job in its entirety then find another d**n job. Ugh!

[pink_sugar]

When your manager returns, explain what happened. Meanwhile, is there anyone else who can do the job?

[veggirl]

Is your manager still reachable by email? I would email and say that this customer called and needs X done by Y, no one would take the call and so what should you do?

[GemmaUK]

Or...aside from responses you have had here...

 

Are you able to communicate with someone else, organise it and have them sign it off in your boss's absence?

 

I don't say 'can't' to a customer..ever!

I never say 'I don't know'

I do say 'let me find out and get back to you by 'x' even if I have no answer by then you will know I am still working on it as I will update you.

[UpwardForward]

I work w a person who doesn't want to deal w the customers either. That's just the way it is.

 

On the other hand he is able to far surpass what others can do in his specialization and other responsibilities

 

Some people just hate to deal w people. And do better in production, etc.

 

I don't mind at all trouble shooting unreasonable or demanding customers when I am there - or when my people call me to do so.

 

Some of us have it. Some don't. Imo, we all excel in different areas.

[Almond_Joy]

Thanks for the responses.

 

I was able to find another person in the dept. to do the work - that was never a concern on my end. It just really makes me angry when someone flat out refuses to do their job. I work for a sales dept. - for the salespeople, talking to clients is not optional. They bring in new business, but they also maintain existing client relationships. Both aspects are required components of their job. But when there's no money to be made from serving the clients, these salespeople find a miliion reasons not to talk to them. So I guess this was just the straw that broke the camel's back for me, because nearly all of them pull this kind of stuff on a frequent basis.

 

My mgr knows about them but she can't hire and train new people fast enough to manage out the people who don't do their job. So for now we're stuck with them.

[GemmaUK]

Hmm..there's a few in our sales team like that.

 

As much as possible I go to the helpful ones - these are the folk who realise we 'all' have a job to do to contribute the 'the business'. The team players.

 

Some of the type of people you're talking about just agree to help with no intention of helping at all.

In hindsight it's better and at least more honest to get a 'no, I'm not helping'.

 

These folk often won't even take responsibility for their own accounts and orders and will literally just blatantly ignore queries on them.

 

Myself and my boss have a great way to get these people to actually jump to it and eventually respond to queries on their own accounts and orders.

See, we have ultimate say on the commissions they get paid.

 

If they don't answer a query on that £12K order and why it appears to have made a pathetic margin then we just deduct £12K from their figures.

Bizarrely, this is the point that they respond.....strange coincidence huh!?

 

In most cases we only threaten to deduct it and we can usually see what the problem is....but they don't know that...so they have to step up and battle it out but also provide a reason why they weren't prepared to take responsibility for their own work the first moment we query something.

 

I love the evil side of my job! Mwahaha!

[Almond_Joy]

Hmm..there's a few in our sales team like that.

 

As much as possible I go to the helpful ones - these are the folk who realise we 'all' have a job to do to contribute the 'the business'. The team players.

 

Some of the type of people you're talking about just agree to help with no intention of helping at all.

In hindsight it's better and at least more honest to get a 'no, I'm not helping'.

 

These folk often won't even take responsibility for their own accounts and orders and will literally just blatantly ignore queries on them.

 

Myself and my boss have a great way to get these people to actually jump to it and eventually respond to queries on their own accounts and orders.

See, we have ultimate say on the commissions they get paid.

 

If they don't answer a query on that £12K order and why it appears to have made a pathetic margin then we just deduct £12K from their figures.

Bizarrely, this is the point that they respond.....strange coincidence huh!?

 

In most cases we only threaten to deduct it and we can usually see what the problem is....but they don't know that...so they have to step up and battle it out but also provide a reason why they weren't prepared to take responsibility for their own work the first moment we query something.

 

I love the evil side of my job! Mwahaha!

 

Lol sadly I've come to love that side too. My boss never wants to do it, but she complains about them and I tell her bench 'em! Cut their commissions! It's the only message they understand when they're like that. So sad.

[Leigh 87]

I think it's disgraceful.

 

Plenty of hardworking and eager people such as myself are desperate to get jobs and we would be very willing to actually do our jobs even if it meant unpaid overtime, if that is what it would take in order to fit in every customers needs.

 

Such is the job market! Plenty of ungrateful folks out there who aren't willing to do their jobs properly and hundreds of people like myself who are all lining up for their jobs.