{"id":1031640,"date":"2023-02-02T23:55:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T07:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zeislerconsulting.com\/?p=2873"},"modified":"2023-02-02T23:56:38","modified_gmt":"2023-02-03T07:56:38","slug":"i-told-the-agent-i-was-sorry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/i-told-the-agent-i-was-sorry\/","title":{"rendered":"I told the agent I was sorry"},"content":{"rendered":"
I was on the phone with an agent on a support line the other day and I told her that I was sorry.<\/p>\r\n
No, I didn\u2019t apologize\u2026<\/p>\r\n
I\u2019d<\/em> done nothing wrong\u2026 Yes, I was upset, I was disappointed, I was frustrated.<\/p>\r\n But I\u2019d treated the agent with the utmost respect and courtesy and didn\u2019t take it out on her. Such is the subtle difference between saying \u2018Sorry,\u2019<\/em> and apologizing<\/em>. You can be sorry for someone\u2019s circumstances for which you have no responsibility. On the other hand, you should apologize if you<\/em> do something wrong. In this case, it was the former, not the latter.<\/p>\r\n So I did<\/em> tell her that I was sorry\u2026<\/p>\r\n I was sorry that she had to work for a brand and leadership that so distrusted and disrespected their own agents that they refused to allow her to address my issue\u2026 leaving her unarmed and unauthorized to do what, from the Customer\u2019s perspective (and hers as well, based on her guarded words) seemed the most obvious and clear thing to do to make things right.<\/p>\r\n What a truly horrible employer this was, to not only do its Customers so badly, but also to make making it right so incredibly impossible for their own employees<\/em>. Tell us\u2014your customers<\/em>\u2014to go to hell, sure\u2026but what about those poor people you cynically call your \u201cteam\u201d? You invested in them\u2026told them they\u2019re terribly important to you, spent time and effort teaching them about your policies and your procedures and tools. Heck, you pay<\/em> them to disappoint your Customers.<\/p>\r\n So I\u2019m sorry\u2026 I\u2019m sorry I have to deal with your terrible brand, yes. But I\u2019m also sorry\u2014more so, in a way\u2014that your boss would put you in the position to make you enforce your company\u2019s terrible policies, offer no way out for your Customers, then on top of it put you<\/em> in the position to have to suffer the abuse you likely encounter from less magnanimous Customers who likely do<\/em> take it out on you. Oh sure\u2026I imagine this poor agent spends most of the day simultaneously defending a policy she disagrees with while enduring the slings and arrows of Customers who just want the same thing that she\u2019d<\/em> want if in her Customers\u2019 position.<\/p>\r\n