Working at Comcast has brought me all types of experiences, but certainly on a positive balance (hey, i get paid for this!). Sometimes a customer wants to make you feel like crap, but others make your day as well.
Other than greeting, saying goodbye, or repeating the things that we MUST remind to everyone, we are SUPPOSED to talk about the customer's issue and/or concern only. When we need to wait about a minute or so, we usually ask about the weather or something that will not require a long answer ONLY while we work on something else or when we need to wait a few minutes. That's ok, but what about if someone wants to talk to you about something else?
An old woman was talking to me about her weight loss and illnesses while I worked on fixing her cable:
"I'm sorry to hear this, if I knew about this, I'd be happy to assist you, but as I don't know about medicine..."
I really don't wish this to anyone, but I guess that anyone who is not made up of rock would at least try to say something similar. We were almost done with the call, as I was about to transfer her to another department when she told me that her AC was not working, and that added to her illnesses, and her loss of weight which doctors cannot explain...
"I'm sorry to hear that ma'am, are you eating well?"
"Oh yes! I love food, especially Italian food"
And that was when the story began, for more than half an hour I was given a trip to bed, sort of. Her stories about her trips to Italy, her like of wine in moderation, hotels she visited, nice waiters she had, among other things were really interesting. Her voice was the voice that my mom never had for bedtime stories, as it made me want to go to sleep. When she paused for a moment, I took time to say:
"Yeah, I've been to Rome once, but not Tuscany... No, I've never been there... Yeah, we should drink in moderation..."
I felt this woman like a source of positive energy flowing through the phone and relaxing my whole body. I felt that this was a woman you could trust, was alone and needed to be listened. The fact that she seemed to have her dogs as her only companions made me feel sorry for her. I wish I could've contacted her and have her try our Omnilife products which I know she desperately needs, and not for the business, but for the satisfaction of being able to help someone. I've visited old people in asylums, and she would've definitely been the best so far, I wish I could listen to her stories again, they remind me about peace.
My only concern was about what to do, should I let her continue talking indefinitely? Later on in the day I was told yes.
When I was about to transfer her, she asked me if I was on the Memphis office, then told her that I was in Monterrey, Mexico, and gave an honest thank you along with compliments. I never expect compliments or anything more than an ordinary thank you, but they do make me feel useful, especially when a few people don't just want for you to be American, they want for you to be in their local office and sometimes even the last person they talked to.
Most calls are quite ordinary and I forget them all, but there are a few people that I'll never forget.
