What Customer Service Workers Never Told You At Work

Whatever definition you want to give to the role of being a customer service worker, it cannot be as simple as knowing that this job is all about interacting with some kind of patron or client. It could be in retail or in a restaurant, the role still means that your job is to make sure the customer is placated and engaged by your product or services. And this job description comes with some struggles.

1. We have to work terrible hours

We are not like regular employees when it comes to the number of hours we have to put in. Sometimes we have to work night, holidays and weekends, which is opposite to the popular 9-5 job.

2. We don’t really have an opinion

In business it is a common term that the customer is always right. Yet this may not be the truth. The customer can be wrong. And it is difficult for the customer service representative to have an opinion on whether the customer is wrong or not. It is all about keeping our jobs, right?

3. Everyone thinks our job is easy

People tend to talk to us without offering us or the job title we hold the respect we deserve. We often get spoken to as if we are children because they feel we are working low-level jobs.

4. We can get pretty tired of being in the same post every day

Being in a small cubicle or a small store space can be frustrating for someone who wants more out of the world. As we become used to the small space we have to work in, we find out that our world of work can be pretty mundane.

5. Our engagements in the workplace can become dramatic

We are close to our coworkers. In terms of proximity, they are not far away. When you work in customer service you start having some sort of attachment with your coworkers. They could become your friends and cliques could emerge from that. Yet there is more to it – as there will always be one enemy that will be there to trigger some office drama.

6. We don’t have the brightest workmates

You don’t need to be an expert to work in customer service. Working in customer service doesn’t pitch you in the same tent with the brightest persons. Sometimes it is uninteresting to know that your coworkers have to be retaught every little thing. Many of them are not ambitious and have little to no work ethic.

7. We have to deal with slow days sometimes

We are not always engaged with clients nor have work to do. Such low days can be boring, slow and frustrating.

8. We have to deal with insensitive customers

It is frustrating to deal with insensitive customers who want to pile up their frustration, anger and disappointment at you. There will always be a customer who thinks they are treated unfairly and you are the one responsible for all the wrongs in their world. Customers should understand we are only employees and it is someone’s business and not ours.

9. We can’t enjoy holidays

We have to work all the time. It is about the customer and making sure they are happy while we work. So while others would be celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, we will be at our jobs making sure the business does not fall apart without us.

10. We are relied upon to have an answer to every question

This doesn’t make our jobs easy. We have to answer every question. Most times people who we deal with do not have smart questions but dumb questions that simply frustrate us more.

11. We are always under-staffed or over-staffed

It could be with the scheduling or managerial nonchalance but we are constantly understaffed or overstaffed.

Original article appeared in lifehack.org