The Oxford Dictionary added the term “First World problem” to its online lexicon two years ago last month. I was reminded this past weekend of what that concept means in terms of customer service.
Need a thought that ties those things together? Unless you’re on the receiving end of a call from a meddlesome bill collector, be nice on the phone to people trying to help you.
Phone menus asking us to press “1” for the concepts of either English, yes, no, wait, don’t wait, and other commands have been a reality in our lives since about the late 1980s. So, when you get a living, breathing person on the phone when you need a hotel room booked, that rattling in your car engine checked out or any other first-world problem, be grateful and sweet like that pumpkin pie you know you’ll devour after Christmas dinner.
For readers who aren’t hip, or at least paid to research how to be hip, a “First World problem” is a slang term that defines various topics of irritation that gain such status in say, the U.S., western Europe and Australia. My own sampling would include bad Internet connection speeds, long lines at Walmart on Black Friday, and your favorite gourmet coffee flavor being temporarily out of stock.
It’s caught on in pop culture, too, as the concept has been featured in songs by underground nerd-hop rapper MC Frontalot and Weird Al Yankovic. In a nutshell, acting a fool for not getting some of these things while still enjoying the basics of food, shelter and water is someone with too many First World problems.
A loved one of mine got the brunt of such “problems” when, in the process of trying to help those who needed assistance on the phone, customers were rude, nasty and full of cuss for not getting a price that didn’t even exist. Folks, there’s no such thing as a free lunch anyway, so to speak. Jawing your way to a deal doesn’t.
I do understand the general malaise in customer service as a whole in modern-day America. An easy example is food outlets of varying spreads — I outright avoid going to certain food service venues due to sloppy service. Voting with your feet and your wallet gets better results these days than voting at the polls, doesn’t it? And there’s plenty of surveys to show there’s people bigger than you and me watching.
This summer, 10,000 customers in the U.S. were surveyed by research firm Temkin Group on the best and worst national and regional companies on things like trust, doing the basics well, etc. The best? USAA bank, Amazon.com, Chick-Fil-A and Publix. The worst? It shouldn’t surprise you that cable TV and health care didn’t fare well — Comcast, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Time Warner Cable, Coventry Health Care and Charter Communications. The results ran in Forbes magazine in July.
The magazine’s advice was to stick to businesses that treat you well (see my food-related comment) and keep them on their toes by reporting feedback good and bad. My reminder today is to keep it classy on the phone, too. We need to keep the good customer service reps on the job as long as possible — lest you have to press ‘1’ and cuss at a machine.
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Danny Barrett Jr. is a reporter and can be reached by email at danny.barrett@vicksburgpost.com or by phone at 601-636-4545.