The seven-word response I NEVER want to hear again.
18“Thank you so very much for that.”
In a 46 minute call to try to get something straightened out, I got that response more than 61 times - from multiple CS meatbots - as I answered multiple variations of what were effectively the same effing questions over and over and over. I’d rather deal with Comcast’s Chatbot. I’d rather take a week corresponding via email. I’d rather have a colonoscopy. I’d rather eat a large portion of awful potato bits that were deep-fried in canola, which induces a much more uncomfortable version of colonoscopy prep for me. I’d rather deal with not having the vendor provide a solution.
I may need to rant more farther down.
Please note that no Meh CS person has ever uttered those seven words to me. (Thank you, Meh, for having email-centric support with people who actually seem to understand the complaint. That is unbefuckingbelievably rare and treasured.)
And now I have this inescapable feeling of dread that I already know what the first response to this rant will be…
- 11 comments, 23 replies
- Comment
Thank you so very much for… this.
@shahnm
@narfcake @shahnm Thank you. I needed that.
@narfcake @shahnm @werehatrack cats communicate on a level beyond words. Sometimes lucky humans can learn a bit of this to communicate with other humans, and of course cats. But can never reach true enlightenment. Only cats achieve that.
So is this a misplaced blame for thr goat or just a rant? Unsure
@tinamarie1974 Yes.
@narfcake @tinamarie1974 Correct.
@narfcake @tinamarie1974 @werehatrack Oh so it’s MY fault now?
@narfcake @pmarin @werehatrack well, since its not in the correct thread is it your responsibility to take blame?
“I got that response more than 61 times”
Can we assume at least 62?
And please leave the colonoscopy comments out of your rants. That’s my bag 
Or since my ostomy reversal surgery, no longer my bag. Heh. I intend my puns.
Sorry you had a shitty experience. My comments are all in jest. Or ingest. Or whatever
Sincerly,
;
@capnjb Well done, sir. Well done.
“TYSVMFT.” Hmmm. On the other hand you could use back to them. It’s a passive aggressive “Fuckyouverymuch” which a friend of my husband’s used to say really fast with a big grin on his face when he was was feeling ornery.
Worse than Comcast??? That’s scary
@ladyhawke001 what is worst than CommieCast/ Xfinity?
@ladyhawke001 @mycya4me I was attempting to get assistance with an unusual off-script tech issue with my cell service after prime support hours, and the public-facing call center staffer was at Level -3 for skills. Each swap to a different person and each step “up” a level elicited the exact same questions and responses as they each went through precisely the same script (often word for word) with the same lack or results and progress, until one of them finally said “We have no idea what’s causing this issue, but we will follow up with you on Monday with a solution.” Monday came, and I got a call saying that they were not sure how the problem had come about, but they were sending us replacement SIM cards as a first attempt at a fix. (The problem was that I’d discovered that there was a local business phone number that we could not call because both of our phones responded with “number invalid”, which is an error message that the carrier did not have documented in their support droid expert support system. I could call it with no problems using Google Voice from the same phone.)
OBTW, that was two weeks (ish) ago, and I haven’t seen any SIMs.
@ladyhawke001 @mycya4me @werehatrack I am reminded of two “unrelated” things:
“shibboleet” (tech support dream)(I just needed to read further down this page to see I’m not the first.)@ladyhawke001 @werehatrack Being that I am a Level 2 Hardware/ Hands On tech. (corp) I do loathe the Voice response “Bots” the other day I had to question it birthright & other foul things before I got through to a Real Person. The person said they had to call back the next day. Never did. So I had to call back & wait till a Live person came on.
@ladyhawke001 @mycya4me @werehatrack at one time long ago when I was more easily worked-up about voice bots I told the bot a bunch of stuff of a very creepy but not sexual nature. Then realized by then it had connected me to a nice young woman. Still feel bad about that.
@ladyhawke001 @pmarin @werehatrack Well, It understood I was upset with it! So it said it would connect me to some one that could help. after a bit I got connected to a Human male, when he found out that the help I needed was not within his sphere, He said he would try to get someone for me & would be with me till he could connect me with someone that could help. I gather he got a report that I was upset Bot. Yes I feel sorry that I lost my cool, But then it was ONLY a Bot & not a Human where I would really be embarrassed.
I took an online instructor led course and I swear it was taught by a call center worker. Put up two exercise pages, read them exactly, then say “put it in the chat when done so we can move on”. For 9 hours over 2 days.
I had to ask my IT person to release the practice exercises email from spam quarantine because it started with “Please kindly” and ended with “best regards”
Sounds like it bothers you more than it should
@medz That was the other logical probable first response to the rant, given where we are. Entirely appropriate AFAIAC.
I find that’s often a taught phrase for offshore. I don’t know that the phrase itself is their fault. Individually. In fact the fact that you heard it so much pretty much confirms that it’s training/the company’s setup.
@unksol And that is much of why I despise it.
@werehatrack I know. Just saying. I try not to hate the people just the bad system design. Which is a management issue.
They offshored alot of our SEs once and seem to be doing it again. And a common turn of phrase they seem to have is “please do the needful” when asking us to update something. But that’s internal technically so. Just a phrase they use. No one told them to so. I’m sure I’m Spanish mine is way worse.
Our customer service can’t be offshore/no idea if that’s just a common phrase to acknowledge your answer instead of just saying “thank you sir”.
I mean you would want them to acknowledge they heard you right?
But then there is crawling up the chain to get an answer. That happens on shore or off shore in almost every system. IDK. Just saying.
I try to be nice to customer support cause I know it’s not their fault but sometimes I just need a
/image https://xkcd.com/806/
As scapegoat, allow me to say I am SO sorry.
I noticed this creep up even among local news people when passing off from weather to news desk or between 2 news people. Some in particular use the Thank You SO much all the time. Maybe it bothers me more than it should. But I can’t help feeling Something went terribly wrong.
@pmarin I’m tired of this trend in the news - the anchor asks the specialist or correspondent something, and before answering, that person ALWAYS says “That’s a great question!” Well, of course it is, you planned and rehearsed this interview already.
@Kyeh This AM in news heard this at least twice. One was local news where at least one crew seems to use it all the time. But then on a major network overnight news (insomnia…) same thing. SO annoying.
I think it’s OK to use if sincere “thank you SO much for driving me to the hospital so I didn’t die”
But not, “looks like another clear day, temperatures in the 80s” … “thank you SO much for the weather report you do every 10 minutes”
… when a word or phrase is repeated so many times, it loses meaning …
@PocketBrain So true. Man, the 80’s had such great music!
/youtube Missing Persons what are words for official video
@pmarin @PocketBrain
Nice post-Zappa music. And Terry Bozzio is a drum god.
“Thank you so very much for that.”
@2many2no @pmarin @PocketBrain
Or it becomes a meme…
Here’s one where, if I may say so,
/giphy “we feel your pain”
@f00l Anything containing “thoughts and prayers”.