February 15th, 2019:

	I am glad this weekend is a LONG weekend, as I'm more than a 
little burned out on this whole customer service thing.  I've been in this 
role for eighteen years (as of this past Wednesday), and have dealt with 
my share of difficult customers.

Many of our customers are under extreme amounts of pressure to get things 
done under an extremely tight deadline, and nine times out of ten, we're 
able to accomodate them.  There's that tenth time where something happens 
and we're not able to accomodate.  Most times, it's a short-shipment from 
a vendor or another branch, a courier delay, or someone just plain 
dropping the ball.

Today's incident is typical of that tenth time.  Parts for a customer's 
order were held up on the West Coast due to inclement weather, and didn't 
arrive this morning.  When the customer called this morning about his 
order, he wasn't too happy to learn he wasn't getting his parts for the 
weekend.

After giving him the bad news, I gave him the courier's tracking number so 
he could see for himself.  Flights were grounded and no freight had left 
the terminal.

He was understandably livid, but he decided to take out his frustrations 
on me, rather than curse his bad luck.

After eighteen years in my sales role, I've developed pretty thick skin 
and tend not to take things personally.  I can endure a lot of abusive 
behaviour, but even I have a breaking point...

I patiently listened to his ranting for ten minutes, calmly attempting to 
explain that things are out of my hands and beyond our control.  
Ordinarily, we'd offer to fly the parts in from another location and pay 
for Saturday delivery direct to his location, however none of our other 
branches carried these particular parts.

He continued his tirade, convinced that this was somehow our fault and we 
somehow dropped the ball:

Customer: You know, when I'm paying to have shit flown in Next-Day Air, I 
*expect* it here *the next day*.

Sparc: I understand that, however this is a courier and airport issue, not 
a (company) issue.

Customer: Listen, these were vital, and I don't need to hear about your 
fucking screwups.

Sparc: As I've explained, everything is held up due to a snowstorm in BC.  
No freight is moving in or out of that terminal.  There's nothing I can 
do.

Customer: I told you I don't want to hear excuses.  I want to hear 
about what YOU are going to do to make sure this shit doesn't happen 
again. 

Sparc (annoyed): Sir, short of sacrificing a goat to appease the weather 
gods, there's nothing we can do.  We don't control the weather, and I 
don't have a direct line to my close personal friend the Vancouver airport 
manager to release THIS ONE PLANE so you can have your parts.

Customer:  LET ME TALK TO YOUR MANAGER!

Sparc:  Hold please.  (Boss), (customer) wants to complain about me.

Boss (laughs):  So I hear. (sighs).


So, he complained to my boss about the situation and about my attitude 
problem.  My boss heard most of the conversation, and once again had my 
back.

Boss:  ... I understand, but I heard Sparc IPX mention to you several 
times that it's a courier issue, not us.  I'm not sure exactly what you're 
expecting us to do about the airport closure.

(pause)

Boss: No sir, as Sparc IPX explained to you, this was our only branch that 
carries these parts.  If any of our other branches had them, he would have 
offered to have them sent on a Saturday Delivery direct to your location, 
on our account.

(pause)

Boss: No sir, they are the ONLY branch that carries these parts.

(pause)

Boss: No sir, I have no idea when the airport is going to open the 
runways.  

(pause)

Boss:  We have no way of knowing that.  I suggest you take it up with the 
courier company as Sparc IPX mentioned.  They should be able to give you 
an estimate.  From there, you can make alternate shipping or delivery 
arrangements.

(pause)

Boss:  There's no need for that.  It's not in our hands, we have no 
control over the weather.

(pause)

Boss: Listen pal, short of sacrificing a goat to appease the weather gods, 
as Sparc IPX suggests, there's nothing we can do.  If you have an issue, 
take it up with the courier.  We did our part, it's entirely up to the 
courier and the airport.  If you feel that's not acceptable, you're free 
to source these from an alternate vendor.  Goodbye.

(hangs up)

Boss: What an asshole.

So, yeah.  Customer service.