Sometimes, I find it hard to absorb the cliché of "angry customers barking at the poor customer service employees". And in some cases, I don't.
My nature has always been to take my work and my output quite personally. I know this is bad because it can ruin me, and my personality, also, how the working environment is around me. This is why I pick my workplace carefully.
Ever since I was young, I knew I had the talent, the knack, and the extreme liking for inventing/creating things. It's like making inanimate things come to life! It's also like pulling the thoughts out of your head and transforming them to become tangible and usable. This is what makes up my passion for life. I have always been ambitious since I was a kid, but I never dreamt of working for a big company.
It's true that when you're born in a third world country, you dream of establishing a name big enough to be noticed, in another country of higher social status. Ergo, you start in your own place, and make your name big. Though this is second nature for ambitious people like myself, I have never dreamt of working for a big popular company. I used to think: "the bigger they are, the smaller you become"
During college days, I've seen my friends go gaga over the forms that were sent to us at University of the Philippines Diliman; and how big companies come to us like our school is a shopping hub for pure blooded geeks. I see them as hungry predators looking for fresh minds, fresh energy to run their big companies. It's gonna strike you like lightning when you hear the big 0s (zeros) that they're gonna pay you. But, then what?? Are you sure that you're going to be noticed once you're in and make your ideas come true there?
One thing that I've always practiced was "staying low". Low as in low profile, low as in humble. Though my ambition was big, it was huge in fueling my passion.. My needs, not my wants. I wanted to be in a place where I'd be content and happy while making an impact. I wanted to be where I could move freely and my ideas flowed with me. I did not want to be in big buildings where your clothes would be monitored; you'd be required to put on makeup, or your space tidied and reorganized by a night cleaner. I wanted to have more of a "homey" feeling where my innate creativity and skill would flow freely. Because of this, I've joined many workplaces, where all of them have contributed greatly to my knowledge, and there were also people of my kind who advocated freedom and knowledge as the source of success and fuel to their passion.
Another thing is, that when companies grow big, sooner or later, there tends to be more bad products than there were to begin with. The market is an evolving public. Consumers have adaptability that makes it harder for one big company to survive without good frontliners, without constant rebranding or good marketing strategy. I don't want to bear the name of a big company that holds a negative image at the back of it all. And, most importantly, I don't want to be one of their frontliners.
I am awed by customer support teams: they are the frontliners of every company. They take in calls and answer in canned responses. They try to help you but won't pursue it if it fails. They are buffers. Buffers for the angry customer. They take in all the negative responses and all the folly of the ignorant public.
Some friends in customer support tell me about their protocols once in awhile. I worry about their health because, they stay overnight for the job, and restlessly sleep through the day. On top of the health toll, they are required to exert extra patience. This is why I avoid being harsh when communicating with a customer support representative. Of course, there is an exception. When services just don't work for you and support just can't fix things for you, you need to bark, and bark really loud and often. Perseverance is the key. This is the only way your case would become exceptionally, very important.. then the team behind the frontliners will have to attend to you.
Of course, however, it saddens me to be angry at them. I know, I know, you're just good people working for bad companies. Moral is? Don't just pick a company that pays big, or whose name sounds big. Stick to where you wanna be happy. Work becomes play when you love what you're doing. And with patience, all of this will pay off in the end.