A certain kind of magnet

It has come to my attention - not for the first time - that I seem to attract people with SUPER bad customer service skills. I kid you not!

The most recent example of this odd and disagreeable sort of magnetism was yesterday, when a person in a customer service position accuse me of the following:

Lying

Being disloyal to my father/employer.

Being a time waster

Intimidating her staff

Lying again.

Misrepresentation of my needs.

and being a coward.



What the heck!

It's not often that I am at a loss for words, particularly when confronted. And here was a case where I was so caught off guard by ludicrous behavior that I was simply silent on the other end of the line.

And this is not, I repeat NOT the first time I have had a downright MEAN customer service person attend me and call me names with full on accusatory tones.

They also attack me with sarcasm, condescension in tone and remark, snippyness and stupidity.

This same person then sent me an email about three hours later to simply say, "I apologize for my miscommunication. Would you consider our offices working together in the future?"

My reply was kind, humorous and concise. It was also in the negative.

So I ask this question of the universe and my intelligent readers, as Muad'Dib did of me in the car: Why do I attract these situations? What is there to learn? I myself have been trained from before I entered the work force to have fantastic and pleasant, bend-over-backward customer service skills. So what gives?



To illustrate my point: I have been making phone calls to an executive in every state in our beloved union, hoping to confirm contact information for the state leadership of a particular association. This task was part of my job, hoping to bring supporters to a campaign in which my boss is involved.
Having finished these calls last week, the leader of the Utah branch was surprised to receive a call from the leader of the South Carolina branch of this association of which they are both members. This leader of South Carolina is also a big wig in the industry, as well as the national association.
And this leader of South Carolina had called the leader of Utah to say:
"I had the most pleasant call from a lady out your way last week. I understand (insert campaign name here) was looking for contact information. Whoever you had doing these calls was wonderful. She was upbeat and capable. I have rarely had such a pleasant phone conversation." and the like.

So why? WHY in the name of all that's eight legged and crawly am I tortured so?!

P.S. Just to clarify, it's not the people I try to serve that are big meanies, it's the people I pay to SERVE ME!