The Customer Service Shortage

Everywhere you look today there are shortages.  It doesn't matter what it is or if a shortage makes zero sense, there it is, but there is more than shortage of goods these days, there is a real shortage on services as well.  I'm currently sitting here on hold.  I've put the phone down to let my arm rest and switched it over to speaker so if by some miracle someone at customer service happens to pick up, I'll hear it.  But I know they won't pick up.  You see, this particular place has a mandatory minimum 30 minute wait time on their customer service. If I told you the name of the place you'd know exactly what I mean. Every 10 minutes the muzak switches to a ringing for a few minutes that no one answers.  I know this because I watch the timer on my phone and it never fails to go down in that order.

 

Have you noticed the sharp decline in customer service out there for most of the major companies?  I have.  There seems to be a severe shortage of politeness, helpfulness, and just general availability.  So many business' customer service is just abysmal.  DHL's customer service is the worst, if you can get in touch with them at all, and Etsy's customer service is non-existent.  They have your money, so what do they care if you ever get what you ordered.  Try and reach out to them and you'll just be told to take it up with the seller.  More and more, I'm going back to small business owners like Ivory Sheep and Boho-Chic because they provide excellent customer service, in many cases they're even better than the service of the brands they carry.  In a world where everyone turns on each other over the stupidest things, it's nice to find places where someone has your back.

I'm still waiting, by the way, still listening to that same awful muzak on repeat, that's why I thought I'd use some photos from my vacation last year in this post, to remind me of a happier place and time, and maybe to mentally travel there while I wait....and wait.....and wait...................for 35 minutes now with three teaser rings and no answer still.

Update:  After an hour and fifteen minutes my phone died.  Guess I'll have to try again another day.