What do you do for work? Sick of customer service

[T_Bone_TL]

It seems like it would be easy to help people who were so lacking in knowledge. Like their problems would be simple ones.

Nope. Most of the problem with helping this sort of customer is between their ears, not on their computer, and it's hard to fix their computer if they are stubbornly insisting that the problem is the computer, when it's not. They lack knowledge precisely because they are unwilling to learn, so being in the position of attempting to teach them is, indeed, frustrating. Not shockingly, they "know it all" and/or "fear exposing their ignorance" by being willing to learn, so they are not willing to learn, and as a result stay ignorant. It's no fun at all unless you are at an adequate remove where their incompetence and willful ignorance does not impact you, which is sadly rare if you are also in a position to witness it.

People who are willing to admit "I don't know" are help-able. They can learn things, and their ignorance can be cured. Of course, I have personally found that as I cure a bit of my ignorance I find more and more things I'm ignorant of, not all of which I have time to learn, but if/when I need to learn them, I will cure that ignorance and find yet more stuff I'm ignorant of being ignorant of now. So the more I know, the more I know that I don't know.

 

[Honkey tonk]

Owner operator Truck Driver , its not for everyone , I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

 

[ElectroVibe]

I've always dreamed of being a big truck driver. But the thing about it is, I'm not that knowledgeable about tools and machines, which I think would have to be a requirement.

 

[Splash7]

I learned a long time ago that the best job is the job you love and have fun doing. Finding that job can be hard. When I became a photographer I had so much fun that getting paid seemed like a fringe benefit.

I have been in customer service all of my life. I was a Personnelman in the Navy, back in the 70's. You spend the majority of your time taking care of sailors and their various problems. After discharge, I fumbled around with various jobs until I found my dream job as a professional photographer. After you learn the job, all the rest of your work is customer service. I hear people complain about dealing with customers all of the time. Until you have spent a career dealing with bridezillas and their persnickety mothers, you have nothing to complain about, believe me.

After I retired, I was sitting in my easy chair one day and my wife walked by and asked me what I was doing. I told her I was retired and I was "taking it easy for awhile". She said, "No you're not. You're not hanging around here all day, getting in my way". So I went down and got a job a Lowe's. Spent 14 years there doing customer service, of course. Pretty easy job. Pretty good benefits, too. If you can stand retail.

Now, I spend a lot of my time in IT. My one customer constantly expects me to "fix" the problem with her tablets. She refuses to remember what I showed her to keep her from having problems. Wives are the worst customer service jobs out there.

If you want to move to a job that doesn't require customer service, I would expect some sort of IT position that keeps you locked away in the basement. I don't know if any of those are out there. The other option, as other's have suggested, is a new job. Which can be daunting.

If I were you, I would learn to find ways to make your customer service events fun. It may sound silly, but if your are having fun, it's not really like working.

 

[Honkey tonk]

I've always dreamed of being a big truck driver. But the thing about it is, I'm not that knowledgeable about tools and machines, which I think would have to be a requirement.

When started driving I thought because I knew a good bit about cars I would know about trucks , they are so different.
If your driving for a company your most likely driving New stuff , maintenance free for the driver. Pretty simple job
The new trucks almost drive themselves. Like driving a really big Honda
That said 80 hour weeks, deadlines and wheather.
Owning your rig let's you go when / where and haul what you want

 

[Skip Chucker]

Fwiw, I haven't met an upper management person yet that understands how a retail automotive repair shop really works. Yes, they have an MBA and they know numbers, but I've got the real world experience that they don't.

I'm sure the management folks say something similar about you. In reality, if they could operate successfully without either one of you, that person wouldn't have a job...

I deal with this frequently in a bit different setting. I'm a military officer. The NCO who thinks they know better than the 2ndLt or Ens is very misguided. the 2ndLt isn't there to ensure day to day operations have successfully (in fact, that's the NCOs job), they're there to ensure their Marines/sailors/soldiers/airmen/coasties are trained, equipped, housed, fed, and paid so they can execute their jobs, and that they do so in accordance with Title10/32/(insert some of the other weird ones) of the USC and the UCMJ.

Caveat that with the fact that I'm also a pilot, so we're the ones who execute the real world mission as well.


And I really like to play the bass- like the rest of us.

 

[Stan_da_man]

This is about the worst possible time to be changing careers. LOTS of skilled people looking for work.

Who sit at a computer all day...

 

[LBS-bass]

Hey TB,

I'm curious what other people here do for work.

I've been in IT for four years now. I spent two years as internal IT at a window factory, and I'm on my second year at an outsourced IT company providing IT service to several customers.

Bottom line for me: the customer is NOT always right!! It's my least favorite part of IT, and it applies to both internal IT and customer facing. People want their cake and eat it too. My job is to fix people's problems, but sometimes there is no real "problem" to fix in a technological sense, and it's something the user/customer is doing wrong.

So, what's wrong with that? Can't you just help them out?

Yes!! I would love to! I have no problem whatsoever taking literally an entire day teaching someone who genuinely doesn't know how to do something. I mean this genuinely, not sarcasm. It's when people are deliberately obtuse and refuse to accommodate any time for me to help them.

When customers can't be bothered to make time for me to help them, refuse to believe it's something THEIR doing WRONG that could be the issue, or want things that are impossible, I tend to start reaching my limits. Didn't I get hired to be the technology professional? But you don't like my professional diagnosis and don't want to hear what I have to say to fix the issue? Then why hire us to begin with!!!

When I think the problem is someone's process, I'm always careful not to phrase things in a blamey way. I try to say "well, take me through your process and let's see what comes up" or something similar, not just "well I'm sure it's something you're doing wrong." I'm a patient person, and I put A LOT of effort into being consciously empathetic with people, trying to understand where their frustration comes from. But it feels like some people don't REALLY want to be helped, they just want someone to have a bad day at and dangle their paycheck over their head. "If you can't fix my problem, I'm going to suggest we don't use your company for IT anymore, but I'm not going to let you onto my computer to fix the problem!! MWAHAHA!!"

What doesn't help, is the worst customers are always people who have "pull" at these companies, higher up managers, CFOs, etc. of whom I'm supposed to be afraid, according to every boss I've ever had, because they can make or influence the decision to stop writing my check.

I'm starting very much to feel like IT, esp. customer facing IT, is a job where you can work your absolute hardest, do everything right, and still lose.

So, that ^^^ I want to get away from. What jobs do you guys do where you can put in an honest day's work without having to sift through a pile of bullpoopie egos to fix simple problems? I want to know about different jobs people are doing where your well being and livelyhood doesn't depend upon the unstable mood of a power drunk, technologically incompetent CFO.

This is obviously partly a vent/rant thread, but I am genuinely curious about careers that minimize on "customer service."

Thanks for hearing me out

When I retired from a job with a hopelessly inept, micromanaging boss, I started a pet sitting business. Generally in that business I have to interact face-to-face with human clients exactly once, in a meet and greet where I get to know them and their pets, and we discuss their needs and how I can help them.

After that, it's just responding to work requests, caring for animals and getting paid. I don't have to work for anyone I don't like and, indeed, I soon found that I had plenty of work just taking care of the ones closest to me and it was easy to turn away the problem children, distant locations, or unappreciative clients. The ones that were left were the ones that treated me well, cared enough for their pets to want to put them in the best possible hands, and didn't mind paying for that, although my rates were always competitive and even low compared to most of my competitors.

If you really don't like having to constantly deal with people and if you like animals, there are worse ways to make a living. You do have to assume that eyes are on you when you are working, because people have nanny-cams and home security systems, but as long as you're being cool with the pets, that's not a problem.

COVID caused most of my business to drop off. Not sure how well I would do starting this business in this climate, but I have not advertised for new clients because I decided to fully retire and just help out a few people here and there.

 

[Richland123]

I recently owned an insurance agency for 7 years which I sold last October. Being your own boss is fine up to a point except when you have to answer to a parent company as a contractor (not a franchise but similar) that sets all the rules and changes them whenever they want to make it harder to do business. I had no benefits, had to pay all the rent, utilities, employees and other bills on time, make sure I did continuous education and training, worry about making the next sale, working for commissions, and dealing with customer problems all the time. Employees were no fun at all either.

I finally had enough, sold the book of business, and the stress is off me. I am now looking for a new job and at my age, I get told I am over qualified often. I hope for something good to come along.

 

[5andFretless]

I'm the Plant Manager of a manufacturing facility that caters to the US defense industry. I have a BS in Applied Mathematics and an MBA.

Before this I spent 22 years in the US Navy submarine service as a nuclear power plant operator and retired as a senior chief.

 

[TheDirtyLowDown]

Hey TB,

I'm curious what other people here do for work.

I've been in IT for four years now. I spent two years as internal IT at a window factory, and I'm on my second year at an outsourced IT company providing IT service to several customers.

Bottom line for me: the customer is NOT always right!! It's my least favorite part of IT, and it applies to both internal IT and customer facing. People want their cake and eat it too. My job is to fix people's problems, but sometimes there is no real "problem" to fix in a technological sense, and it's something the user/customer is doing wrong.

So, what's wrong with that? Can't you just help them out?

Yes!! I would love to! I have no problem whatsoever taking literally an entire day teaching someone who genuinely doesn't know how to do something. I mean this genuinely, not sarcasm. It's when people are deliberately obtuse and refuse to accommodate any time for me to help them.

When customers can't be bothered to make time for me to help them, refuse to believe it's something THEIR doing WRONG that could be the issue, or want things that are impossible, I tend to start reaching my limits. Didn't I get hired to be the technology professional? But you don't like my professional diagnosis and don't want to hear what I have to say to fix the issue? Then why hire us to begin with!!!

When I think the problem is someone's process, I'm always careful not to phrase things in a blamey way. I try to say "well, take me through your process and let's see what comes up" or something similar, not just "well I'm sure it's something you're doing wrong." I'm a patient person, and I put A LOT of effort into being consciously empathetic with people, trying to understand where their frustration comes from. But it feels like some people don't REALLY want to be helped, they just want someone to have a bad day at and dangle their paycheck over their head. "If you can't fix my problem, I'm going to suggest we don't use your company for IT anymore, but I'm not going to let you onto my computer to fix the problem!! MWAHAHA!!"

What doesn't help, is the worst customers are always people who have "pull" at these companies, higher up managers, CFOs, etc. of whom I'm supposed to be afraid, according to every boss I've ever had, because they can make or influence the decision to stop writing my check.

I'm starting very much to feel like IT, esp. customer facing IT, is a job where you can work your absolute hardest, do everything right, and still lose.

So, that ^^^ I want to get away from. What jobs do you guys do where you can put in an honest day's work without having to sift through a pile of bullpoopie egos to fix simple problems? I want to know about different jobs people are doing where your well being and livelyhood doesn't depend upon the unstable mood of a power drunk, technologically incompetent CFO.

This is obviously partly a vent/rant thread, but I am genuinely curious about careers that minimize on "customer service."

Thanks for hearing me out

I'm an electrical engineer who writes software for the semiconductor industry. One thing I've noticed regarding the IT team in our company is that they almost never get positive feedback. Think about it: how many times have any of you, anywhere, called up your IT staff out of the blue and said "the network is really flying today, and my computer seems faster than ever after the lastest patch you installed!" That never happens.... which is really sad. We who depend on these professionals perpetually take them for granted and mostly just complain when things break.

I think that alone makes it really challenging to be in IT. Sure, you can do it if you're young and eager and full of the optimism that having a first fulltime job brings... but I would suspect that it's hard to keep solving problems for disgruntled clients for long without the resentment building up.

Regarding a career; my advice is to think of it as three overlapping circles: One for the things that you are really genuinely good at, one for the things you love to do, and one for the things that you can monetize in some way. The contents/size of these circles change over time, as you and the world change. My advice is to try to find something inside the space where they all three overlap for your career. Where two of them overlap you might find your hobbies, or side-hustle gigs that you can do to help pay the rent. Education helps expand the set of things you're objectively good at, and can sometimes surprise you by uncovering things that you love.

That happened for me -- I discovered four decades ago (at the end of the punchcard era, in a Fortran class) that I loved writing software. I hope that I can keep doing that whether I'm working or not. I also hope you can find a way to take your technical problem solving skills and monetize them in a way that isn't as thankless as some IT jobs can be. Good luck with that, and with the road ahead!

 

[Billy Bob Bass]

Hey TB,

I'm curious what other people here do for work.

I've been in IT for four years now. I spent two years as internal IT at a window factory, and I'm on my second year at an outsourced IT company providing IT service to several customers.

Bottom line for me: the customer is NOT always right!! It's my least favorite part of IT, and it applies to both internal IT and customer facing. People want their cake and eat it too. My job is to fix people's problems, but sometimes there is no real "problem" to fix in a technological sense, and it's something the user/customer is doing wrong.

So, what's wrong with that? Can't you just help them out?

Yes!! I would love to! I have no problem whatsoever taking literally an entire day teaching someone who genuinely doesn't know how to do something. I mean this genuinely, not sarcasm. It's when people are deliberately obtuse and refuse to accommodate any time for me to help them.

When customers can't be bothered to make time for me to help them, refuse to believe it's something THEIR doing WRONG that could be the issue, or want things that are impossible, I tend to start reaching my limits. Didn't I get hired to be the technology professional? But you don't like my professional diagnosis and don't want to hear what I have to say to fix the issue? Then why hire us to begin with!!!

When I think the problem is someone's process, I'm always careful not to phrase things in a blamey way. I try to say "well, take me through your process and let's see what comes up" or something similar, not just "well I'm sure it's something you're doing wrong." I'm a patient person, and I put A LOT of effort into being consciously empathetic with people, trying to understand where their frustration comes from. But it feels like some people don't REALLY want to be helped, they just want someone to have a bad day at and dangle their paycheck over their head. "If you can't fix my problem, I'm going to suggest we don't use your company for IT anymore, but I'm not going to let you onto my computer to fix the problem!! MWAHAHA!!"

What doesn't help, is the worst customers are always people who have "pull" at these companies, higher up managers, CFOs, etc. of whom I'm supposed to be afraid, according to every boss I've ever had, because they can make or influence the decision to stop writing my check.

I'm starting very much to feel like IT, esp. customer facing IT, is a job where you can work your absolute hardest, do everything right, and still lose.

So, that ^^^ I want to get away from. What jobs do you guys do where you can put in an honest day's work without having to sift through a pile of bullpoopie egos to fix simple problems? I want to know about different jobs people are doing where your well being and livelyhood doesn't depend upon the unstable mood of a power drunk, technologically incompetent CFO.

This is obviously partly a vent/rant thread, but I am genuinely curious about careers that minimize on "customer service."

Thanks for hearing me out

Sorry, this all sounds very familiar to me heh, heh.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

IT team in our company is that they almost never get positive feedback.

Exactly one PhD recipient stopped by the office after defending and thanked us.

That was over 5 years of running a system with 500+ users, primarily graduate students and professors.

Only other somewhat positive interaction I can think of was when a dejected doctoral candidate was dragged in by a high ranking professor. File deleted. Important research data. Weeks ago. Must be permanently lost, right?

Would you like the backup from two weeks ago, 3 weeks ago, a month ago, the month before that, 6 months ago, a year ago...?

Surprised them (what in heck did they think they were paying us to do?), saved dejected student's bacon, but I don't rate it with the simple thank you on the way out the door by the freshly anointed Doctor.

 

[Blackjac97]

I don't know how old you are, but have you considered military service?

Plenty of opportunities for IT folk these days (according to commercials I've seen on TV LOL) If you have college behind you, consider going in as an Officer.

No, I'm not currently in. I retired after 20 years in 1996. I was Enlisted, not Officer.

But, here's the reality. 20 year retirements in companies are mostly a thing of the past. They even were when I joined the Navy as an Aviation Electricians Mate in 1976.

So, here's your bottom line choice. 20 years is gonna come and go, no matter what. You still want to be bouncing around, job to job, in a gig economy 20 years from now, or do you want to commit to 20 years and earn a guaranteed income month after month?

That retirement income is the only thing (and liking aircraft LOL) that made me join at 18. By 38, I was getting a monthy check that continues today at 63.

Man, if you're a sight reader in music, join any of the services as a musician. 20 years in music. Retire and get a monthly paycheck. There's a thread or three in here with current, former, and retired musicians from the military ranks.

Anyway, just wanted to throw that out.

I tried one customer service job after I retired. Wasn't for me. Some folk just pissed me off and I won't restrain myself when a level of stoopid has been passed. Call it a character flaw LOL.

I have tossed it around in my mind, but never seriously considered it. I've honestly never even had anyone tell me any of the benefits as much as you just have. I'm 28 now, is there a hard age limit on it?

 

[Blackjac97]

This is about the worst possible time to be changing careers. LOTS of skilled people looking for work.

Yes, I definitely hear that. Right now, I think being employed at all beats the alternative. I do NOT want to deal with the unemployment BS that some of my family members are going through. But, it also has me feeling a little trapped. As soon as the dust starts to clear though, I'll be seriously looking.

 

[Blackjac97]

It seems like it would be easy to help people who were so lacking in knowledge. Like their problems would be simple ones.

Nice, normal people, yes.

 

[DirtDog]

Goverment scientist, working in defence R&D. Great gig. Still some “customer service” aspects to deal with, though. There’s always someone who is funding our work in one way or another.

 

[DirtDog]

village idiot

I’d like to see your latest performance appraisal!

 

[Blackjac97]

There are jobs out there. You have on the one hand folks laid off via covid, and on the other hand folks dead from it in the worst (but most etymologically correct) form of predecessor, and also people who have moved or re-evaluated their lives due to it leaving openings behind as well.

I'm presently self-employed / contracting (over-educated low-voltage electrician) but have already turned down 3 jobs this year because they were not safe and I'm not immortal. The last job I worked on was sketchy as heck with maskless morons, and I opted to stop doing those.

That may speak to not leaving right now if your current job offers a fairly safe work environment unless your proposed new job also does, or you may be immortal. In any case, there are plenty of jobs in a variety of fields out there, from what I see right now.

I'm definitely not immortal. The job is mostly safe right now, but there is one customer that I still end up going on site to service their tech 2-3 times per month. But, they are our customer that has had the most confirmed cases as well. They have had 8 or 9... That they've told our company about. Lots of immortals there, or people only just putting on their mask as I approach their desk, multiple buildings, sprawling factory, it would be very easy for someone to leave me out of contact tracing.

I hate that I get asked to go there, and is another big source of frustration with my job at the moment.

 

[Blackjac97]

I worked in 2 CNC machine shops, one from 1986 until August of 1998, then I went to another shop until June of 2014. The hours were very long in both but I actually enjoyed what I was doing. Lots of laughs as well. Politically correct did not exist in those shops and everybody was in the crosshairs. Made for some hysterically funny moments!

After than I was a contract worker at one of the major automotive companies where I worked in the quality department taking care of getting replacement parts for the prototype builds we did. I really enjoyed that job. Then in mid 2019 I was "volun-told" I would be part of the procurement group. Started off okay but then it got real stressful real quick. Got let go in March (as others did as well) due to the virus coming to town. My original plan was to work until March of this year then retire. But when I was let go the unemployment numbers were exploding and I said I've had enough of the daily grind and decided to retire.

Life is good, I'm never bored, lots to do, I know how to occupy myself and sleeping in is great!

Stinks you had to go a year early, but I'm glad you had that option. I know a couple people personally who did something similar. Must feel good to get out!