Does the phrase "I'm Sorry" mean anything anymore?
As I interact as a consumer in the current business world with different providers of products or services, I am amazed at how major corporations and sometimes smaller businesses hire employees just as sacrificial lambs to throw to ravenous unsatisfied consumer wolves. These corporations which are many times massive, set up an obstacle course for dissatisfied patrons either by their phone system or website. We pay hard earned money for utilities, restaurants, housing, you name it with the na?ve expectation that you will receive exactly what you paid for. Well it doesn't work like that anymore. The corporate attitude in America today is "be happy we did anything at all for you". Its easy because many times they have a monopoly/market share in a particular geographic area.
Let's take cable service for example. One day my wife and I looked at how much we were paying for cable TV and the package we had selected. The price greatly exceeded the entertainment provided. We boldly decided to cancel and just keep internet service and stream our video. Have you ever tried to get rid of cable? Three hours of my Saturday was spent listening to "I'm sorry but I can't help you, you will need to talk to _______" Well after talking to several "______"s, I hung up. I told my wife, "we're going to the cable store!" So we grabbed the modem and headed to the store. Upon arrival we had to take a number and wait in line. When it was our turn, I stormed up to the desk and the man greeted me with "let me guess, you want to cancel your cable?" I said "how did you know?" he responded " i saw it on your face because it happens all the time". He quickly disconnected the service and sent me on my way. I couldn't do his job...his employer set up a system where he took the brunt of every dissatisfied customers anger.
Many people still work from home due to COVID 19 so internet service is a necessity-a WORKING necessity. For the last three weeks we have had outage issues in my area. You would think in three weeks any technical problem could be resolved. Nope, not at all. So I have to stop work at 1pm on Tuesday when the service goes out. After multiple phone barriers were hurdled, I got a LIVE person. She told me "I don't see any outages in your area, we should send a tech out to check your signal". 'Okay so how soon will that be?" she says "Thursday, I'M SORRY nobody is available until then". At this point I don't have the luxury of the meltdown and tantrum I normally throw. I said "can I try a new modem?" she says "sure". Off to the store I go again with my wife. She goes along to keep law enforcement from getting involved if I start to get out of control. We get there and there is a guy at a desk right inside the door with a whole rack of new modems. I hand him the old one, he gives me a new one. I race back to the house thinking I still might get some work done after all. We set up the new modem and nothing. I call my provider and get the voice message "we've detected an outage in your area"..........
So now I decide to bag it for the day and get some take out. My wife orders our meals and I leave to go pick it up. I get there and walk in the door. The workers do not notice me so I get in line with three people in front of me being waited on. When the crewperson finishes with the last person, she doesn't look up and furiously starts working on an order. Soon I realize it's my pickup order. She finishes it up and quickly shoves it towards the cashier. She now looks at me and says "can I help you?" I looked at her and said "that's my take out order from 30 minutes ago" She looks at me and says "I'm sorry" so I asked what is the point of me ordering takeout if I have to come in and wait in line? She looked at me with a vacuous stare and said hollowly said "I'm sorry".............
I'm sure at this point you are all reliving my experiences with those of your own. My story may have triggered some. For that all I can say is
I'M SORRY.....................:)