I hate stupid people

][cEMAN** · 22-07-2005 05:13PM

Agreed. People like Ruben tend to get into management and think "Hey I must be smart to get here", when in reality they only get promoted because they can't do the job they're in.

Why promote someone who's really good at the job they do, into a job with more responsibility (it's fake) and less work for more pay? It's better to keep them in the job they're already doing, and try to find some way of paying them less, or making them do more for the same wage.

Ever hear the term "It's nothing personal it's just business"? It's really "It's nothing personal, it's just me fucking you up the ass and calling it a job".

drdre · 22-07-2005 07:32PM

i also hate stupid people because they are so stupid:D

Capt'n Midnight · 22-07-2005 07:45PM

Blingarella wrote:

:Stupidhead - "I want your product!
Me - "Certainly, What spec?"
Stuidhead - "I want that one"
Me - "Yes, Ok....how much would you like to spend on it?"
Stupidhead - "I want it"
Me - "(gggggrrrrr) I need to know your budget so I can assign the appropriate inclusions"
Stupidhead - "Why? Can I not just have it"

On the other hand a question I use for screening cold callers of software solutions is "how much would this system cost roughly - €3,000, €30,000, €300,000 ?" and if they can't telll me how much a typical system for X users costs within a factor of three, bye bye. There is no way I'm going to give the time of day to someone who knows so little about the bottom line, and the experiance has tainted my opinion of many vendors.

DonkeyStyle \o/ · 22-07-2005 08:08PM

The only solution to this is buzzword-bingo.
Taking the píss out of the customer without them knowing makes you a much more patient person

Nightwish · 22-07-2005 08:19PM

stupid customers are the reason I'm going to have a coronary before I'm 25. I try avoid answering the phone in work cos its always people asking to reserve stuff, even though we've a seperate dedicated phone service for that. Or when they ring up I'm faced with some of the following stupid questions-
"How much does a microwave/lawnmower/random product cost"?
which I reply "Which one"?
"I don't know. What one is in stock"?

"Why can't I get a refund on a product, which I have no receipt or packaging for"?

or in store, they come up to the till, without their catalogue numbers with them-just saying "Can I have the blue suitcase? You know, the ones for 40 euro" :mad: :mad: :mad:

or- they want to view 5 different cameras, and don't buy any of them..........and, they destroy the packaging so they can't be sold

or-they never check if something is in stock, even though theres stock checkers in store

angelofdeath · 22-07-2005 08:28PM

argos eh?

yeah people are inherently stupid, but i can live with that because most of the time im free to sit and browse boards, yes now and again i have to deal with some ignorant/dumb/stupid assholes, but a small price to pay for not having to work a laborious job

Pighead · 22-07-2005 08:41PM

Jesus lads take some chill pills,I say hurrah for stupid people! Without stupid people, what would we do for mindless entertainment? We love stupid people because they have no fear, no common sense and have no idea when to stop.They also make us feel like geniuses

Ever since Jackass first hit the UK screens, stupid people have been coming out from the woodwork with very dim lightbulbs flashing in their heads. Jackass proves that stupid people have a chance of getting rich, just by being themselves. All they have to do is get run over by a steam engine like they did the week before, but this time with a friend filming them on a handheld video camera.

And they do all this for us! Why don't you love them?Maybe its all of you who are stupid.Duh.

Nightwish · 22-07-2005 08:43PM

angelofdeath wrote:

argos eh?

yeah.........unfortunately

stagolee · 22-07-2005 08:59PM

last time i got an annoying call it was from some stuipid ignorant bastard that within a couple of minutes of talking to him i realised was probably the most ill mannered trumped up , full of himself twat that i had had any form of contact with all year.
i just about managed to get off the phone without telling him what i thought of him and spent the rest of the day in a foul mood imagining him calling to the office in person and me beating the bejaysus out of him with a pc keyboard, smashing a monitor over his head and then strangling him with a mouse cord.
later i found out that he is the bloke that owns the company that i work for.
i hope i never have to talk to the arsehole in person :mad:

CuLT · 22-07-2005 09:06PM

' wrote:

[cEMAN**']Agreed. People like Ruben tend to get into management and think "Hey I must be smart to get here", when in reality they only get promoted because they can't do the job they're in.

Why promote someone who's really good at the job they do, into a job with more responsibility (it's fake) and less work for more pay? It's better to keep them in the job they're already doing, and try to find some way of paying them less, or making them do more for the same wage.

Ever hear the term "It's nothing personal it's just business"? It's really "It's nothing personal, it's just me fucking you up the ass and calling it a job".

If you're REALLY smart you'll pretend you're stupid enough to get paid more

nlgbbbblth · 22-07-2005 09:39PM

Cungi wrote:

They do say the customer is always right but thats not true. The customer's a feckin eejit who hasn't a clue what they want.

Exactly

That statement is so patently untrue. I hate when people say it and firmly believe that those who trot it out deserve to be spayed.

Suaimhneach · 22-07-2005 09:43PM

Ah, its very easy to say that when you don't deal with stupid people for a living.

I work in Market Research [yes, I am one of those people] and I get stupid people all the time.

Me: Would you like to do a survey?
Fool: A survey?
Me: Yes, a questionarre
Fool: I can't I'm deaf
Me: Okay, sorry to have bothered you, bye now.
Fool: Okay, bye

And a multitude of other stupid replies. "I'm going to a funeral" / "I am going on holidays, forever"

It's so easy to just say "No, thanks, I dont want to do a survey, can you take me off your list, thanks"

Fools.

angelofdeath · 22-07-2005 09:46PM

the customer is not always right, the customer who thinks he knows more about what you're professionally trained to know about, but clearly doesn't is always wrong

^my moto

alleepally · 22-07-2005 09:49PM

Jesjes wrote:

Ah, its very easy to say that when you don't deal with stupid people for a living.

I work in Market Research [yes, I am one of those people] and I get stupid people all the time.

Me: Would you like to do a survey?
Fool: A survey?
Me: Yes, a questionarre
Fool: I can't I'm deaf
Me: Okay, sorry to have bothered you, bye now.
Fool: Okay, bye

And a multitude of other stupid replies. "I'm going to a funeral" / "I am going on holidays, forever"

It's so easy to just say "No, thanks, I dont want to do a survey, can you take me off your list, thanks"

Fools.

Your right. I know plenty of people who take great umbrage when telephone marketers ring and get all uppity about it. I always say to them that the person at the other end of the line is only doing a job and you should treat them with respect and just say you're not interested.

I've never been worked in that type of job but I'd say it's not easy.

alleepally · 22-07-2005 09:51PM

angelofdeath wrote:

the customer is not always right, the customer who thinks he knows more about what you're professionally trained to know about, but clearly doesn't is always wrong

^my moto

You are right of course and the skill is being able to skillfully steer the stubborn minded around to the right way of thinking. It's a skill that can't be taught, imo.

pred racer · 23-07-2005 01:06AM

To all the helldesk people out there, surely you have also been on the other end of the phone, talking to some twit who doesnt know what they are talking about, and no matter what question you ask just trots out some prepared bullsh1t.

or are you guys/gals the type that wont help no matter what.

or the type that transfers you around until you give up.

or the type that wont answer the phone.

or the type that makes you wonder if they have to pay for your faulty product themselves, as they work so hard to find excuses not to give you a refund/replacement.

Dont get me wrong Ive been on your side of the fence too (my phone doesnt work, is it plugged in? of course its plugged in, oh its working now!!!!!

but in the last couple of years most companies could rename their helplines as an anger inducement lines. Are yez instructed specifically not to help?

Mabye its my phone manner, I always start out politely but normally that is like putting a sign on my head saying ass rape me.

iF i do ever actually get help, I normally ring up a supervisor or comment line etc and reccomend the person, and always ask for them by name in future!

jetsonx · 23-07-2005 01:23AM

pred racer , you left one out there!

I really love the helldesk staff who let on you've got "cut off" when they have a problem they cannot answer. So they give you all this stock bullS*it they have
for every customer, fumble for awhile and then just hang up...

having worked in customer services a few years ago...i know the joe public
can be bad to deal with but hanging up on customers which you are meant to be helping....argh!

pred racer · 23-07-2005 02:35AM

Yeah and when you ring back, even though its obviously the same person they let on to be somebody else!

Im not slagging off your justifyable rants guys as I say I was once in a public service company myself its just the standard of customer service/help has gone rapidly downhill, companies strive for your hard earned euro and then ensure you will never buy from them again by staffing their customer service lines with idiots. You cant help me if you dont speak english!

Reaver772 · 23-07-2005 04:27AM

To all the helldesk people out there, surely you have also been on the other end of the phone, talking to some twit who doesnt know what they are talking about, and no matter what question you ask just trots out some prepared bullsh1t.

-Most helpdesks have a script and the minions are ordered to follow it no matter what or elses lashed by the overseers.

or are you guys/gals the type that wont help no matter what.

- Only if they have just started the job and haven't had the life sucked out of them

or the type that transfers you around until you give up.

-They can see on your history log that your problem is beyond them/ your an annoying fecker/ or they want to go out for a smoke.

or the type that wont answer the phone.

-Usually not enough people work in the call center so the queue is 30mins long

or the type that makes you wonder if they have to pay for your faulty product themselves, as they work so hard to find excuses not to give you a refund/replacement.

-Shifting the blame onto something else gets rid of you faster.

Dont get me wrong Ive been on your side of the fence too (my phone doesnt work, is it plugged in? of course its plugged in, oh its working now!!!!!

-Im pretty sure that this is the reason why there are restrictions on guns in Ireland

but in the last couple of years most companies could rename their helplines as an anger inducement lines. Are yez instructed specifically not to help?

-Short answer - yes. Long answer - all management care about is stats, a lot of call centres monitor every second of an employees time and targets are set for length of calls, bathroom breaks, first time fixes, the stats are all that matter and are usually unrealistic and they are all management care about

Mabye its my phone manner, I always start out politely but normally that is like putting a sign on my head saying ass rape me.

-Starting out politely will increase your chances of getting your problems sorted but the person on the other end of the phone has to listed to people complaining, whinging, threatening and being ignorant all day, its a law of physics the **** rolls downhill and they are higher up then you are.

iF i do ever actually get help, I normally ring up a supervisor or comment line etc and reccomend the person, and always ask for them by name in future!

-Thanks and praise go upwards not down the hill, its another law of physics.

-Thats my experience of working in a call center a couple of years ago and every time i have to ring one it seems that its still the way!

pred racer · 23-07-2005 04:38AM

Surely someone eventually has to see that if you offer meaningful customer service, that word will get around and people would buy their products.
Also it used to be about brand loyalty, ie they look after you, you buy more of their stuff.

to get back on thread, another couple of immutable laws.

Never make something idiot proof, or someone will make a better idiot.

Never bring a stupid fooker anywhere with you, you will always meet one when you get there!!!

Reaver772 · 23-07-2005 05:36AM

pred racer wrote:

Surely someone eventually has to see that if you offer meaningful customer service, that word will get around and people would buy their products.
Also it used to be about brand loyalty, ie they look after you, you buy more of their stuff.

Unfortunatley a lot of companies seem to think that if they spend enough on advertising it will work, if your keep on throwing s**t eventually some of it will stick. If you dont know a lot about a product or service its easier to fall for it until that is you feel the pain when you try to sit down and realise that you just got shafted.

_Kaiser_ · 23-07-2005 12:25PM

Having worked in various support-type jobs in 2 IT callcentres for 8 years now, here's a few things that joe public should bear in mind:

1. Screaming/threatening/abusing the agent will get you nowhere. I tend to go very "formal" at this stage and become very repetitive. Threatening to pull your account won't help either - I'm not in Sales so it's not like I see any of that money anyway.
If you're polite and reasonable and accept that the person answering the phone doesn't actually run the company, you're much more likely to get them to WANT to do whatever they can to help and in fact, they're more likely to extend themselves too.

2. Most of the time the support/help we can offer is determined by the warranty status/procedures in place and the current focus of management. Bear in mind that the agent has no control over these things.

3. Stats and targets - What it's all about (to management anyway). Everything is measured: call duration, fix rate, cost of parts sent etc and yes cust sat is in there too believe it or not. As someone else mentioned, a lot of the time these targets are unrealistic for the reality of the situation but what do management do? Make them even harder to achieve.

4. Flavor of the month - Every month/quarter, management decide they're gonna tackle something differently. Maybe this month it's going to be the fix rate so agents are "encouraged" (read ordered) to sort the problem out no matter what... course this works till the beancounters decide it's costing too much, so then it becomes about driving the costs down (send only what's really needed, call them back rather than sit on the phone for an hour etc).
Again, agents have no control over this and they are rated on how well they adhere to these processes/requirements.

5. Other departments - Speaking from a tech support background, bear in mind that we only deal with technical problems.
If you're unhappy with customer service, or your order got messed up, or your sales rep hasn't called you back, there is very little we can do aside from try to transfer you to the right person to speak to.
In addition, a lot of the time those other departments use completely different procedures/tools and these are not always visible to the Support teams, which is another reason why we can't always help.

6. Hold times. In my experience, callcentres are always understaffed for the volume of calls that come in. Add to that the extra workload that agents are required to take on -wihout extra pay I might add - and it's no wonder that the average person lasts no more than 6 months to a year in the enviornment.

I'm of the firm belief that everyone should "do some time"

in a customer service/call centre job at some point in their lives. Would make things soo much easier for BOTH sides..

joejoem · 23-07-2005 12:34PM

I feel pretty stupid today, brain no work good

][cEMAN** · 23-07-2005 02:19PM

Yeah sadly I work in a callcentre as well, and what Kaiser is saying is true for 99.9% of all callcentres. The .1% difference are in those new callcentres starting up, who haven't been penalised by the company for which they are doing support, simply for 'caring' for the customer.

Get it into your head, sadly support centres are like any business. You could be the person calling's mother and they still can't do anything more for you.

I've continually tried to get things sorted for people and are met with

"The calls being sent back to you to do more t-shooting before we send an engineer."
"But what else needs to be done?"
"<Insert random test here>"
"But that won't tell us anything and you know it"
"Not my problem - we have to do it, you know that"
"FUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!"

or

"So when are we getting more people on the team?"
"We're not"
"But you've got 5 people doing the job of 12"
"Yeah, and we're currently overstaffed"
"WHAT?! ARE YOU FECKIN' KIDDING ME?!?!"
"Nope. We're currently listed as overstaffed for the contract. We may even be losing more people if you don't all meet <insert random pointless fecking stat that management have deemed that which must be achieved for that month>"
"OMG....what kind of idiots run this place"
"Hey i'm just a manager, what can I do?"
*lifts gun and continues to randomly blow people's heads off before blowing own head off and the media dub me as going 'postal'*

If we tell you that we have to do this or we can't send an engineer - don't spend more time whining. You're just wasting your own time. We can't send someone until it's done. We can't change that.

And do we intentionally stretch out the call as if we pay for it ourselves? Simple answer - yes. We have to intentionally stretch out the calls. Don't blame us - if we don't ask EVERY single question and do EVERY single thing (even though we know it won't make a difference and it kills us to have to do it), then 1) you don't get your engineer, and 2) we get fired.

We have a thing in our call centre that i've been fighting against since it started. A guy can call in and have a broken part in his PC/printer. Say it's a printer and a part is broken in it. We still have to ask them what OS they're running, their driver type, how they're connected, what paper they're using etc etc ad infinitum.

It's a fecking broken part!! We don't need this. But if I don't ask you I get disciplined for it?!?!

And it's not a case of "Well if you don't like it get another job". I can't. I've been looking for years. This city has no jobs. People are leaving because of it. And I can't move because 1) I like being with my family here, and 2) I've been rooted by buying a property as an investment for my future that I can't sell for a couple of years until it matures.

But if you feel you want to waste your time even further, ask to speak to a manager. There are the rare times they CAN do something to help you, but otherwise, they'll just give you some random prepared speach about how they can't do anything, and pass you back to me so I can continue doing what I started doing. It's just wasted your time really.

Wacker · 23-07-2005 05:39PM

I used to work in a newsagent in Dun Laoghaire for about three years. I came across some amazingly idiotic customers, and we used to catalogue our favourite stupid questions/requests. My favourite went as follows:

It was around the end of January 2002, while both the Punt and the Euro were legal tender. By then, hardly anyone was paying with punts any more, as people had been pretty good at getting to the bank and changing their money. Anyway, this girl of about thirteen came in, buying some sweets or whatever. I asked if she wanted to pay with pounds or euro, and she gave me a really funny look and said pounds. When I gave her herha(in euro, obviously), she looked at them and said "What the hell are these?"
She had never heard of the euro, a month after its launch, when dual pricing had been in place for years. That must be hard to beat.

nlgbbbblth · 24-07-2005 02:08PM

pred racer wrote:

iF i do ever actually get help, I normally ring up a supervisor or comment line etc and reccomend the person, and always ask for them by name in future!

By which time they probably don't work there any more.

Ring a call centre one hundred times, you'll get one hundred different people.

Femelade · 24-07-2005 02:11PM

maybe stupid people hate you?

nlgbbbblth · 24-07-2005 02:13PM

Wacker wrote:

I used to work in a newsagent in Dun Laoghaire for about three years. I came across some amazingly idiotic customers, and we used to catalogue our favourite stupid questions/requests. My favourite went as follows:

It was around the end of January 2002, while both the Punt and the Euro were legal tender. By then, hardly anyone was paying with punts any more, as people had been pretty good at getting to the bank and changing their money. Anyway, this girl of about thirteen came in, buying some sweets or whatever. I asked if she wanted to pay with pounds or euro, and she gave me a really funny look and said pounds. When I gave her herha(in euro, obviously), she looked at them and said "What the hell are these?"
She had never heard of the euro, a month after its launch, when dual pricing had been in place for years. That must be hard to beat.

That girl sounds like a complete LOSER

I hope you shouted LOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEER at here.

Questions I got when working in a bank around that time

- Is America in the eurozone?

- A guy rings up around three months after euro notes/coins launched. In a panic. Going to France the following day.'I need 10,000 French Francs tomorrow morning'
'Er..You can't buy them anymore - not since the end of last December'
'So what am I going to bring? What currency do they use there?'
'Euro. France is one of the participating countries in the eurozone'
'Euro?! I thought the euro was for Ireland only'

Rubens · 24-07-2005 02:46PM

Wacker wrote:

Anyway, this girl of about thirteen came in, buying some sweets or whatever. I asked if she wanted to pay with pounds or euro, and she gave me a really funny look and said pounds. When I gave her herha(in euro, obviously), she looked at them and said "What the hell are these?"
She had never heard of the euro, a month after its launch, when dual pricing had been in place for years. That must be hard to beat.

Eh she was a thirteen year old girl why should she know about "dual-pricing" ????

nlgbbbblth · 24-07-2005 03:07PM

Rubens wrote:

Eh she was a thirteen year old girl why should she know about "dual-pricing" ????

there's always someone who comes on and tries and defend the indefensible
:rolleyes:

I hate stupid people

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