Customer Service Rep Career

Customer Service Rep Career

The Real Poop

Houston, we have a problem. This guy wants to order the Javanese tiki torch in blue, but we only have one in red left. What do I do? (Source)

You swipe your Visa at a local gas pump and next thing you know someone in Greasy, Oklahoma, has been buying up big screen TVs and MacBooks with your credit card.

Prepare to spend the next hour sitting through a phone maze of voice-activated, pre-recorded connections shouting "Customer Service Please!" over and over until you are released from the purgatory-esque waiting pen of hold for an actual human to answer.

If you work as a customer service rep, guess what: You ARE that human. That's right, you're the voice at the end of the line when things go wrong.

Accidentally get charged six times for one mocha latte Frappuccino?

Disconnected from HBO for being late on your cable bill the night before the Game of Thrones premiere?

"Customer service please."

Your eighty-year-old grandpa tries ordering your graduation present online but doesn't know how to buy things on the internet.

"Customer service please."

That's right; the job of a customer service rep is never easy. Be prepared to handle more problems than a nuclear waste manager at Chernobyl, or a plumber inexplicably charged with rescuing a princess...combined.

But first things first...exactly how much money do you get for staying on the phone all day, listening to people whine and moan about Zombie slippers that came in the wrong size and broken light sabers?

A little over $30,000 a year.

That's a bit better than a barista or folding jeans at the gap, though not by much.

On the plus side though, you won't need any sort of advanced degree or training for this job. Once you're out of high school, you're ready.

What you will need are excellent people skills, a modicum of problem-solving savvy, and oodles of patience.

The ability to think on the fly and handle a variety of kvetching styles (from the very young to the very old) is also a plus. Being able to speak more than one language could be a huge advantage, especially if you can switch into fluent Swahili right when someone who only speaks English is having a tantrum and you want to really tick them off.

You may be fielding calls about anything from people asking for credit line increases on their bank cards, to people with complaints about their TV dinner who have decided to call the number on the box that promises a customer service representative standing by to hear their concerns (that's you).

"Customer service please. My mac and cheese was hot when my Salisbury steak was cold, and my dinner was ruined. I demand a refund." (Source)

While a few places (like large department stores), still have in-person customer service departments, most of the jobs in the field can be done on the phone. You can work in the privacy of some telephone conferencing room over in Omaha or Buttsville.

That means that the irate, dissatisfied customers can't see you stick your tongue out, roll your eyes, and make stinky faces at them. They can't track you down in the parking lot somewhere and make threatening comments about wanting you to process a return for their toaster a day after the warranty expires.

They can't even do very much if you "accidentally" disconnect them and they have to sit through the phone tree all over again, just to get another customer service person that will make them tell their whole sad story over again from the beginning.

How supremely evil of you.