OF AND
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LABOR
I've been thinking about getting another job. Although the international customers I hear from are satisfied and happy with what they get from the company, the level of expectations of US customers is so high, that if anything goes wrong, they want compensation for their "pain and suffering." I think this perspective is way off, and I think it's getting worse.
One guy called and tried to return a down jacket after using it for 20 years and using it four times a week. He admitted this. He worked at some sort of outdoor facility where it was often cold. He said that he was no longer satisfied with the jacket because it didn't keep him as warm as it used to. We had to say no.
Sometimes customers break things after they buy them and then want to get them replaced. It often happens that someone buys a pair of sunglasses, breaks a lens, and then calls to see if they can get it replaced for free. It seems to me that it's their own damn fault, but of course I can't say that.
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Lots of people get their kicks talking about underwear. |
There was one man who bought a leather jacket and soon after returned it, saying that it "didn't hold up." The jacket he returned had all kinds of punctures and abrasions, but only on the left arm. The guy wrote his complaint on business stationery for his attack-dog training school. We turned him down.
A lady on the East Coast ordered something that was delayed by a UPS mixup. She was really nasty. I explained the situation to her and she said, "I didn't order from UPS, I ordered from you!"
It seems the younger they are the worse they are. Lots of people say, "I think you should compensate me." I ask them, "How would you like to be compensated?" and they reply, "I don't know, that's your job." The online computer catalog customers are more easily irritated than others. But once you fix their order, they're happier. They seem to have a big urgency thing. Their pendulum swings from angry to happy. There's no middle ground with them.
Some credit card orders are just plain frauds. We got an order from Nigeria for ten pairs of boots, and a few large orders from Belarus. We checked it out with the banks and found out they were fraudulent. It's scary because some of the orders have all the information and numbers they need, including the correct phone and address of the real cardholder.
Often calls are just pranks or obscene. Usually they're guys. One guy wanted to see if we carried bicycle shorts with longer legs. He was very polite. He started explaining that he was an exotic dancer. "I need them for my job. I dance for women. Would you ever be interested in seeing...?" I hung up on him right there.
Lots of people get their kicks talking about underwear. It's bad enough at my company, so I can only imagine what it must be like to work at the Victoria's Secret phone office! There was a guy who said he couldn't have his underwear too tight because he was too sensitive and it made him excited. He called repeatedly over a period of months. He always wanted to know details about the dimensions of underwear. Finally, one of my coworkers talked to him on the phone and said, "Oh I know exactly what you mean. My husband has the same problem because he's so big." The guy hung up and never called again.
There was a woman who called in always talking about her husband being "big" and having trouble with underwear. She would call many times in a single day, trying to reach different phone workers. She would just talk on and on about it. We discovered that if a man answered the phone, she didn't want to talk, so if she started calling, we'd move a man to the phone, and she'd stop bothering us. The scary thing is that this woman is walking around somewhere among us.
Sometimes we ban customers. One man would order things one at a time. For instance he would order a pair of socks, then over the next few days he would order ten more of the same socks, each in individual mail orders. He was totally serious, and he also liked to talk on the phone a lot, talking in circles twenty minutes at a time. He got banned because he was taking too much of our time.
Then there are people who buy and return and buy and return. We've banned customers who regularly order a whole bunch of stuff, and then return almost all of it. One lady would order about 20 dresses and then return 19 of them, some of them still unopened. We called her and she said she "just had to find one that fit right."
Overall I'd say I've noticed a change in recent years in the customers. People are more impatient now. They expect so much for nothing. They can be so unreasonable. It's always someone else's fault and it has to be made good. They're into instant gratification. It's very reasonable to return something if it arrives too late, and have the return shipping paid for. But many customers get into this "what can you do for me" attitude. You offer them something to appease them and they say, "Is that all you can do for me?" It feels like a bidding war.
UNION-FREE IN REDMOND
Facilities management at the Microsoft Redmond campus was contracted over last May to Atlanta-based company, Johnson Controls, Inc. (JCI). Apparently the transition has not gone completely smoothly. Some service, facility, and maintenance workers at JCI have complained about lack of things necessary to complete their daily tasks: proper maintenance vehicles, tools and supplies, and support from management. As a result, some on-site employees of JCI have been talking about forming a union. Managers from the JCI transition team gathered their employees together at a meeting and told them that "forming a union is not the answer and can complicate things beyond repair." One JCI manager informed employees that Microsoft had brought in JCI because "they were impressed with our union-free approach." Employees were then shown Union Vs. Union Free: What Is Best For You, a short video that is the Reefer Madness of the anti-union sentiment. No word yet on the current job status of JCI employees who had been talking to local unions. (Raptorial)
EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Classified staff belonging to AFSCME Local 931 conducted a vote of confidence in the university administration. The administration lost 216 to 14. Classified staffers, who include many non-teaching workers at the university, have been stung by more than 100 layoffs in the past five years due to what AFSCME charges is poor financial management on the part of current university president Mark Drummond. Drummond is due to step down next year, but according to administrative plans, he will receive another two years salary after that at $110,000 per year so he can "retool" himself. (Washington State Employee)
MONTANA ACTIVISM
This year is Union Summer in Montana as AFL-CIO interns have set up shop in Missoula to right the wrongs of employees. Workers at Grouse Mountain Lodge and two nursing homes owned by Lantis Enterprises claim they have been harassed by management and fired or forced to quit for union organizing attempts. The managers deny this. The AFL-CIO has moved in and let its interns renew some old-fashioned tactics against employers who intimidate workers, including picketing, boycotts, and door-to-door canvassing. Montana was once a union stronghold. Butte, Montana was one the largest cities in the US to be governed by the Socialist Party, according to Jerry Calvert in his book on Montana labor history, The Gibraltar. (The Missoula Independent)
OREGON UNEMPLOYMENT
In a blow to workers, the Oregon Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that workers who are locked out of their workplace by their bosses during a labor dispute may be denied unemployment compensation for their lost wages. The case was brought to court by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555 in connection with the 1994 grocery labor disputes at Fred Meyer, Safeway, and other grocers. (Northwest Labor Press)
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