do you have the guts to say "I am mad at you!" to your boss/supervisor/team lead
By pinks17
@pinks17 (2192)
Philippines
July 4, 2008 2:05am CST
Well I had this one call from a customer and he is really insisting that he don't have an internet connection and for that he wants to cancel his dsl service.So as a tech.support you don't want to lose one customer and will think of ways to help him and not to cancel the service.The customer has to browsers:mozilla firefox (which he normally use) and an internet explorer which he is not aware that he has it.Now on the onset of the call he kept on insisting that he don't have an internet connection and kept on yelling at me.Now I asked him to pull up the internet explorer and asked him to access google.com..he is online.He thought that he is not online bec.he is used to using mozilla firefox and don't use the internet explorer (I.E).So to make the long story short my call for that customer took around an hour and a half just to pacify him and make sure that there's nothing wrong with his connection.Normally the call for one customer should not last for 13 minutes,as a rule for our company..we should finish each call in 13 minutes or less but this lasted longer than I expected bec.of some yelling and you need to explain to the customer so that he could understand that there's nothing wrong.You need to pacify the customer so that you can finish the troubleshooting but the customer is so hard headed and pain in the - - -.So I have to maintain my pace and composure and of course though you are really mad and as much as you want to argue with the customer you cannot do that.So I need to take a deep breath and press the mute button to exhale my anger and get back to the customer sounding as calm as the sea.
So once again..our call should not be more than 13minutes or else you are doomed.lol.Now here comes my supervisor and asked me if my call is already a "callout call" I told him no.So he made this "tantrum-like" gesture and said "that call is already long and you should escalate it to another dept so that you will cut down your time".The problem is that..deep inside me I am really mad at the customer and you are suppressing that feeling bec. you can't be mad on the phone then our supervisor will add up to the problem by doing that tantrum gesture..not understanding that the customer is a difficult customer and you have already lost your patience already and if you could just get the customer from the other line and show him that you are already boiling mad but then again you can't be mad.After the call I cried..cried as if somebody hurt me and my supervisor and officemate went to me and said that comforting words just to pacify me..guess what...it didn't work..I just stopped crying and took my break and take in calls again praying that I will not get difficult customers.SO when we had our lunch our supervisor joined us and asked me if I'm already okay and guess what I said "I am mad at you" with all sincerity I said that.I just have to be honest and I know by telling him that it will lessen my anger for that moment.All my officemates were shock at that moment when i said that i was mad at my supervisor.They stopped from chatting,and had to munch or eat their food and the looks on their faces...they were really shocked. lol. I told my supervisor the reason why I cried at that moment.I told him that I am really having a hard time explaining to the customer and really pissed off and that you can't be mad at the customer and all I need to do that moment was to be patient and be calm so that I could explain very well to the difficult customer that there's nothing wrong with his connection. Well anyway..our supervisor said sorry to me.I was able to explain to my supervisor that he doesn't have to add up to the situation bec. I've lost my patience and its really difficult for me that I can do anything on what I fet that time and all I needed from him was understanding bec. that was my only call that lasted for an hour and a half.sigh..I don't know if there are people here in mylot that could understand me why I uttered those words to my supervisor..
6 responses
@academic2 (7000)
• Uganda
4 Jul 08
If my grounds are strong and compelling and I know he is wrong, I wont allow my boss to get away with anything silly he tries to do to me- i will stand my ground and where need be yell if am enraged-I mean bosses should try to be courtous hoever bssy they think am-I am a supervisor myself, but i allow the sentiments of my surbordinates to take the better of them and infact I do tolerate their critisms.
1 person likes this
@salonga (27775)
• Philippines
4 Jul 08
We can always say what is in our mind and heart but in my case I always do as much as possible in a way that will not trigger a fight. There really are some uncontrolled moments in our lives and if those are brought by other people's misbehavior then we can always tell them what we feel about them but not to the extent of going down their level. In my case, if I get mad, I never yell, I always look at the person's eyes directly and in a very clear, and well enunciated way... I will tell him that I am not pleased with what he did then would tell him the reasons why and would tell him that I am angry with his actions and I demand apology. If still he would react negatively... I would leave him and will not talk to him forever.
1 person likes this
@danishcanadian (28953)
• Canada
5 Jul 08
I have the guts to say a lot of things to a lot of people,. If something is on my mind, it is going to come out of my mouth. If it doesn't, then I am just letting stupid people control me, and giing them more power over me than I should have.
@zeroflashx2 (2491)
• Philippines
5 Jul 08
Sorry to hear about that experience. I've been in tech support before as well and I really hate getting those calls. As for your boss, it's ok, I'd really understand if you say that to him. But he's just doing his job trying to implement the policy. However though, he should have talked to you immediately when you finished the call and stay with you and talk at once. At least he said sorry. 
Sometimes, in our jobs especially in our industry we just have to suck it up. On the brighter side, we get good calls as well right? There nice people out there as well. As a friendly advise, you could try and manage your emotions well. It helps quite a lot. Take care and don't smoke! 
Sometimes, in our jobs especially in our industry we just have to suck it up. On the brighter side, we get good calls as well right? There nice people out there as well. As a friendly advise, you could try and manage your emotions well. It helps quite a lot. Take care and don't smoke! 
@gitfiddleplayer (10362)
• United States
5 Jul 08
If you can't tell your boss how you feel then when they are upset their feelings don't matter either. You did the right thing, it sounds out of character for you, but you stood up and didn't let your feelings get pushed aside. I'll bet you opened the gate for other people who were too afraid to say what they felt. Don't feel bad for what you did, feel proud. If the situation arises again, lets hope that it doesn't, you'll be in a better position to deal with it and your boss will know that you are best possible candidate to do that. Maybe this would be a good time to update the rules on phone calls that last longer than 13 minutes.
@benhilo (871)
• Tripoli, Libya
5 Jul 08
Yes if they are wrong, out of line, being abusive ect.. most certainly I would tell them off. Hey was looking for a job when I found this one. I have a tendency to work more than one job including being self-employed so I am not worried about where my next meal is going to come from. I am tired of all the injustice that goes on in the work place just because you are doing your job. Case in point, I worked in Des Moines Iowa for a large insurance company in the annuities department as aget this "senior customer service tech". As far as I was concern I met my department goals if not surpassed them. There was a "girl" working in our department as an "initial processor". Basically she opened the mail! She spent more time on the phone with her boy friend than doing her job. I happen to know this because she was in the cubicle on the other side of me. If she didnt open the mail in a timely fashion, clients who were waiting for a response from the company would have to wait that much longer. Contrary to popular belief there were people like me who cared about the customer. So any I approached her one day and said in she could spend less time on the phone she could do her job better! I knew what it took to do the job because it was mine before I was promoted. Anyway she reporter me to my supervisor that I sexually harassed her. The result was they gave me a verbal warning written! Because I felt that they were wrong (the company), I hung the written verbal warning up on my cubicle wall with a little picture and caption which read "Bad Boy of the Annuities Department". Subsequently I was first ask to remove it from my wall. I refused because it was not manditory and besides I was not guilty of the offense. Further I wanted my fellow employees to see how one of there own was treated. Next thing you know I was called in to see the head of HR who had with her some "outside consultant" to convince me to take the written verbal warning down. After an hour and a half of discussions they agreed with me that they made a mistake, that that verbal warning should not have been written. So I ask that it be removed from my file. They said they would and I asked to see my file they refused. But still they asked me to remove the warning from my wall. I say was it mandatory or company policy? No it was not they replied. There is more to this but lets just say I finally relented and took the verbal warning written down made 60 copies for all the employees of the department. Then left at the end of the year which was about a month and a half later. By the way, you might say why didnt you take the issue to your immediate supervisor. Well the truth be known I tried but every time I went to see her was either out getting something to eat or on the phone with one of her children! This a true story! I did why job well and my fellow employee knew it. Heck I knew my stuff so well there was a lady there who worked for eleven years there and was asking me how to do certain transactions that we should have all known. Sorry for the long story but in short yes I would let them know and in more ways than one!
