Key 5
Imagine you want to buy a laptop. You do your research and read the reviews. You make your choice. You pay your hard earned cash, and wait for it to arrive. You were not in. It went to a neighbour. The neighbour is not in. You wait until the neighbour is in to collect it. You open it up. You are pleased. You want to read your emails. Access your documents on cloud. But you cannot access your accounts. You check your user id. You check your passwords. Still no access. You go to another computer. You are able to access your accounts. You go back to your new computer and still it doesn’t work. You change your passwords. Still nothing. Eventually you notice that when you ever you hit the key 5 the black dots in the password box do not advance. Key 5 does not work.
A Key 5 moment.
The world now divides into two types of reactions. Both are frustrated and annoyed. But the first type of reaction is pragmatic. These things happen. Spend the angry energy in returning the computer. The second type reaction is take it as a personal customer service affront. How could this company do this to me? I will never buy one of their products again. Why can’t they organise themselves properly? Now I waste my time returning the item. I have to wait for my money to be refunded? Why? The product did not work. This is not my responsibility.
Highly intelligent and reasonable people become angry and aggressive to call centre personnel. They vent their frustration in a way that they would never do face to face or in their workplace.
Customer service is customer care. If the product does not work – the assumption is that there is no care. We are not cared for.
Being cared for is a highly unique and individual experience. Some people feel that their parents, families, spouses, partners, or children do not care for them in the way they want.
Customer care can be used as a displacement activity to vent old wounds of not being cared for. Another way to think of it is as a parent child relationship. The parents have not produced the goods. The goods are faulty – like the care. If this lack of care wound has not been attended to, repeated vents of frustration and anger are sought out. Customer care is a good channel for venting. A Key 5 moment.
Copyright Adrian Scott North London Counsellor Blog 2013
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Disclaimer: This weblog is the view of the writer and for general information only.
This article is designed to provoke argument and critique.