Do Computer IT Tech Support Job Have Angry/Rude Customers?

TroydonAnabolic on 30/09/2019 - 17:01

Does Computing Tech Support Job Have Angry/Rude Customers like a typical Call Center for customer service have?

Was wondering if anyone here has experience working in both or one of either role who could relate, or provide some insight.

I currently work as a customer service representative for a Telco company and experience rude customers on a regular basis(like 5+ per day on average), probably alot of them being trolls which make it 10x worse knowing this. I do not really want to deal with this anymore, I do not think I am cut out to handle it.
I feel like it is starting to f*** up my head in the last couple months, makes me feel like getting violent, and helpless as I cannot do anything about it.

The tech support role if it is in-person, would it be similar to this? I imagine it may not be as bad since billing is not involved as much but I imagine with computers breaking down it could probably lead to customers taking it out on me.

Also further, usually people seem to have more dignity when dealing with people in person like supermarkets etc since most of them would not make a scene in front of everyone(then again tech support is pretty private). And of course, there would probably be the occasional oddball that would not care of people noticing this.

I do understand sometimes employers can be similar sometimes, however with employers if you are lucky you may get good ones that do not harass you, with customers it is impossible, there will always be horrible people out there.

I would also like to know how tech support call centers compare too.

I am ideally looking to start a job as web developer/(game developer really but since there are a lot more job opportunities in Web Development and it is easier to learn), however, since the highest qualification I have is a Cert IV in programming it can be very difficult to get into it. I would need to probably have exceptional talent and great GitHub Repositories and even then will not have the same chances against the 100s of others with BCS degrees.
Anyhow, I want to get a skilled job in IT not only because It will secure me a visa to stay in Australia(NZ Citizen here), the money, I also enjoy working with technology.

I do want to avoid working with customers at all(or most) costs, but since the IT support position may be easier to get into based on my research, it is something I may have to consider if I am not able to get a developer job(or at least until I have built up my skills through self-study, project building, or undertaking a Diploma to improve my chances, a Bachelors degree is not really an option based on my finances).

So yeah basically would like to know how it is like for most people working in IT Desktop/Software support roles both in-person and call centers.

Education & Work

Comments

  • AdosHouse on 30/09/2019 - 17:20
    +125

    Simple rule, if you have to deal with people, you will have to deal with arseholes.

  • EightImmortals on 30/09/2019 - 17:22
    +25

    "I feel like it is starting to f*** up my head in the last couple months, makes me feel like getting violent, and helpless as I cannot do anything about it."

    There is one thing you can do about it. You can CHOOSE to stop reacting to them. The world is currently full of self-entitled tools and it's only getting worse. You cannot change the world but you can change yourself. That way the worlds idiots will not (profanity) up your head as you will have their their power over you away from them. Once you have learned that technique you can employ whenever you cross paths with a jerk, for the rest of your life. Win/Win! And don't forget to not be a jerk to other CSR's, wait staff etc when YOU are the customer. :)

    • Zedsdeadbabyzedsdead on 30/09/2019 - 20:57
      +2

      +100

    • TroydonAnabolic on 01/10/2019 - 08:47
      +2

      This is good, very hard to do but I never take out my frustrations of the company onto staff when I contact customer services, I do not get the logic

      • WhyAmICommenting on 01/10/2019 - 17:09
        +3

        Logic is usually out the window if they've been on the merry-go-round and explaining the issue to the nth person before talking to you. Not sure this fits your scenario though.

  • pegaxs on 30/09/2019 - 17:22
    +12

    What job doesn't have rude, arsehole customers?

    • ssquid on 30/09/2019 - 21:06

      Community Service.
      They don't want the crims dealing with the public so they get to mow lawns at the cemetery or do landscaping in public parks. Lucky SOBs.

  • spackbace on 30/09/2019 - 17:36
    +9

    There isn't a single customer-based job where you don't have to deal with idiots and arseholes. None.

    If you can't handle it, look to other professions where you're not dealing with customers.

    • brad1-8tsi on 01/10/2019 - 07:28
      +1

      And even then you have that group of colleagues or bosses that make you wish you owned a gun…

    • TroydonAnabolic on 01/10/2019 - 08:48

      was hopeful… but I will not be surprised if you are correct.

  • qwerty on 30/09/2019 - 17:38
    +2

    Theres a whole reddit site devoted to it - have a look

    https://www.reddit.com/r/talesfromtechsupport/

    of course they get rude customers

    • Switchblade88 on 30/09/2019 - 18:42
      +56

      Possibly shouldn't comment TLDR if your own post is longer than the OP's??

    • subywagon on 30/09/2019 - 20:09
      +11

      Too long didn't read…

    • Changskies on 01/10/2019 - 07:27

      Finest example of an irony! Yeah nah but this guy has a good point

    • TroydonAnabolic on 01/10/2019 - 08:53

      The long post is very insightful, it gives me a bit of hope to work tech support.

    • dogboy on 01/10/2019 - 09:24

      TL;DR

    • idonotknowwhy on 01/10/2019 - 14:36
      +1

      That made me LOL.
      I saw the comment below about this being a TLDR, but your comment was too neg'd to see.
      So I clicked expand and this massive wall of text appeared!

  • Randxyz123 on 30/09/2019 - 18:22

    Anyhow, I want to get a skilled job in IT not only because It will secure me a visa to stay in Australia(NZ Citizen here)

    https://www.vsure.com.au/employing-nz-citizens-australia/

    Unless you want to get an AU citizenship why are you trying to get a skilled visa?

    Start applying for dev jobs. I wouldn't bother with bachelors

    • TroydonAnabolic on 01/10/2019 - 08:57
      -2

      I am on the SCV already, I just want to make sure I have a PR so I can eventually get a deposit for a house, so If I ever got kicked out of a job I can get the government benefit to pay mortgage until I can find another one.

      • chriskq on 01/10/2019 - 15:07
        +2

        Government benefit to pay mortgage? You're not talking about work for the dole are you?

      • Deridas on 01/10/2019 - 15:40
        +1

        Trying to get PR so you can get Newstart to pay the mortgage if you're out of a job…

        Facepalm to all Australian Taxpayers.

        • [Deactivated] on 01/10/2019 - 15:56

          I think the OP is dreaming about this in the same way he's dreaming about getting a job as a game developer, or - being blunt - even in web development (starting from zero experience and already being at least in his 20's, I'm guessing). If you are working in tech support the odds are that you aren't exactly the most capable of developers anyway, and these days even capable developers are often competing against $5/hour wonders from India / Ukraine / etc.

    • TroydonAnabolic on 01/10/2019 - 08:58

      Yeah anyhow I wanted to learn more online before applying, however I think I have reached a point I cannot handle taking abuse from customers anymore.

      • ozbjunkie on 01/10/2019 - 18:29

        Yeah inescapable abuse is pretty much impossible to handle without mental or emotional damage.

        When I come across an (profanity), I try not to let it bother me, "I only have to deal with his crap for this limited time, that guy has to be him for the rest of his life".

        But that doesn't help when it's one after the other.

        I'd suggest you try to remember that many people out there are just having a hard time and at their wits end… But that's only half the truth. The whole truth is that many people are just dicks.

  • [Deactivated] on 30/09/2019 - 18:27
    +1

    If the agitation or pain is truly affecting you deeply, consider having a look at videos by 'Eckhart Tolle' on YT.
    In particular search out titles that include his talks on 'pain body'. (If you can't bare any advice from a spiritual point of view disregard my suggestion).
    But again, if you are truly suffering why not give it a chance? Worked a treat for me.

    • kusama on 30/09/2019 - 20:46
      +3

      I’m reading ‘the power of now’. Helped me out so far halfway.

      To the op, I’ve had rude customers in IT service desk but nothing that wrecked me. Just had fun with it I guess, was a while ago so can’t recall anything bad. My boss would let me hang up on some one rude, these days I would say call me back when you fix your attitude.

    • Zedsdeadbabyzedsdead on 30/09/2019 - 21:02
      +1

      Well said Chris and Jaybot. Tolle gives great "suggestions" as he would say:)

  • serpserpserp on 30/09/2019 - 19:05
    +1

    Many moons ago I worked in a call centre doing ADSL/VOIP troubleshooting for an ISP. 9/10 customers problems could be fixed by power cycling their modem/router, at least 50% of callers asked to do just that would give some sarcastic lip about how they already did that (lied) or how could that possibly fix their problem.

    So yeah, most people calling up are rude.

    • AdosHouse on 30/09/2019 - 20:11
      +2

      I remember last time I had to call up about an ADSL line problem, and when they guy started asking me to pull up information from the modem, and doing ping tests, etc, you could hear him die on the inside like it was going to be a massive task walking me through how to do these things. You could hear the excitement in his voice when he realised that I not only knew what I was doing, but I was also polite and patient with him because I knew he had a stupid checklist that he has to click through (even though I had already done most of the stuff).

      • ssquid on 30/09/2019 - 21:01

        Tip: if you request your call not be monitored, they don't have to follow the script because the QA team aren't allowed to listen to the call recording (so the CSR can't be penalised for not following correct procedure).

        • serpserpserp on 30/09/2019 - 21:28

          But the person answering the call has no idea if it is monitored or not.

          • ssquid on 30/09/2019 - 21:33

            @serpserpserp: They know because it's the first thing the customer says to them, "I don't want this call recorded."
            The CSR doesn't do anything in response and the call is still recorded (it's always done for every call automatically), but if QA happen to pick that recording for "random" assesment they have to stop listening as soon as they hear the customer's request.

            • RecklessMonkeys on 01/10/2019 - 09:55

              @ssquid: So the response to "I don't want this call recorded" is to record it anyway?

              • ssquid on 01/10/2019 - 11:54

                @RecklessMonkeys: Exactly. Everything is recorded regardless, completely automatically.

        • AdosHouse on 30/09/2019 - 22:25

          That is a handy tip.

          I was always under the assumption the computer program forces the screens to be followed in order. Guess not.

    • TroydonAnabolic on 01/10/2019 - 09:00

      Oh yeah I get that sarcastic lip on how they reboot the mobile device (and Lie) then next moment it works.

    • ashanrath on 01/10/2019 - 16:09
      +1

      Having been on both sides of this fence, I find it incredibly more frustrating to be the customer who actually has some level of tech expertise.

      Being forced to wait on hold for 45 minutes just for someone to walk you through a power cycle and phone line check, only for them to not know what to do when you tell them you're on HFC and do not have a phone line attached. Not to mention that it was their DNS server that was dead, and if they knew what they were doing could have checked the same thing in 30 seconds. But no, gotta follow that checklist before you can even think of escalating.

      I'm not bitter, promise. :)

      • serpserpserp on 02/10/2019 - 18:11
        +1

        Oh no, had the same problem when I moved from Optus Cable to HFC. Nice chaps on the phone, but completely useless. Although the guy that I got escalated to was a complete tool and I ended up solving the problem and then walking him through how I did it so he could note it down for the team!

  • brokenglish on 30/09/2019 - 19:32
    +1

    From experience (based on what you wrote), you’re simply not cut out for the job. Every job will have some a holes. Either you need to change job or change your perspective.

    Find one where you can limit the amount of a holes you interact with. Customer service for you seems to be a no no. It’s really bad for your mental health in the long run.

  • Donaldhump on 30/09/2019 - 20:04
    +3

    people dont ring up because they are happy generally.

    dont take the abuse personal, accept the world isfull of gronks.

    • BiotBargin on 30/09/2019 - 21:51
      +1

      Problem i find is that it wears you down over time and you do get sick of it - constant negativity.

      I've worked in places where people are demanding, rude etc but at least they would talk to you or show some appreciation every now and then. The place i currently work i am just an obedient servant - service me now attitude and a lot of I.T. people would experience similar situation. Basic respect isnt hard, the I.T. people giving the service have to do it. I.T. people are technical people not psychologist - we dont analyze you, we analyze your device or process.

      The other amusing side is if its I.T. there doesnt seem to be a definition of rude or abuse - its a free for all, its your fault … not their ignorance, refusal to upskill or your constant patients in trying to show them how to perform a basic task over and over again - some of this basic competence is part of their jobs! If the I.T. person is incompetent, they get the flick in the next wind change :)

      • Donaldhump on 30/09/2019 - 22:33

        i worked in a tobacconist when i was 15 (yes probly illegal), but it was 40 odd years ago. i got call a fh,a fc,a fw all because their smokes weren't in or too $$, you get the picture….

        i couldnt care less after the first week, they dont know me, they are clearly morons with no manners raised by pigs.

        i let it bother me for one week, after that i just said have a great day, it annoyed them more i think.

        try to filter it out, its not personal they are just raging and alot of the time they may have reason to be angry and its the front line staff that cop it.

        ive seen passengers in airports go balistic because their flight is cancelled. the workers behind the counters cop it, but they learn not to take it to heart

        watch some of this

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o3sJ9KRoiQ

  • p1 ama on 30/09/2019 - 20:37
    +4

    I currently work as a customer service representative for a Telco company and experience rude customers on a regular basis(like 5+ per day on average), probably alot of them being trolls which make it 10x worse knowing this. I do not really want to deal with this anymore, I do not think I am cut out to handle it.

    They're not being rude to you personally, they are being rude to the company who's screwing them over. How customers treat you will begin with how the place you are working at is viewed by their customers. Work for a place that is well liked by their customers and you will generally deal with pleasant people, work for a place that's sh!t to their customers and you will general get that sh!t thrown back at you, it's unfortunate that you're the face of a company whose decisions you might not endorse or agree with, but you can choose where you work. That's my advice of working with customers in my youth.

    • serpserpserp on 30/09/2019 - 21:33

      Work for a place that is well liked by their customers and you will generally deal with pleasant people, work for a place that's sh!t to their customers and you will general get that sh!t thrown back at you

      Not always the case. People are calling pissed off because something is wrong, otherwise they wouldn't be calling. Most people making that call also immediately have it in their mind that it is the Telco/ISP who is in the wrong, when very often it is a hardware/user fault.

      When I was ready to leave my call centre job I just randomly disconnected rude people. Must have been fun for them to wait in the queue again for an hour.

      • p1 ama on 01/10/2019 - 00:19

        Not always the case. People are calling pissed off because something is wrong, otherwise they wouldn't be calling. Most people making that call also immediately have it in their mind that it is the Telco/ISP who is in the wrong, when very often it is a hardware/user fault.

        I never said that they have to be "in the right" - I said a company that is well liked by its customers. I would say that all of the major telcos are hated by their customers, regardless of whether they're in the right or not.

      • TroydonAnabolic on 01/10/2019 - 11:31

        I agree with this, And I guess this is how it normally ends for people who cannot put up with it… I too have began to Terminate calls and chats randomly and with withstand minimal offence before terminating.

        • serpserpserp on 01/10/2019 - 12:04

          And I guess this is how it normally ends for people who cannot put up with it

          I was lucky that I was just doing it to save money to move to another city for a sweet job that was starting the following year. I had got pretty immune to it right at the end, but I just thought I have nothing to lose here so I wasn't going to put up with the nonsense which is call centre work.

          The people I worked with had become so jaded and depressed. The ones that had worked there for 5+ years looked like their soul had been destroyed. Actually the ones who worked there even longer I was really sad for because when they started, night time and weekend shifts paid so much money that they could earn a 100k p.a just working graveyard 3 or 4 nights a week. Then as the government slowly changed conditions to favour the employer, they had to work more and more to earn the same wage to the point where they were doing full 5 days of graveyard just to earn the same coin.

          The bosses in those places are also the worst people, the good ones usually get stuck just under them but can't crack that narcissist circle.

          • TroydonAnabolic on 01/10/2019 - 12:20

            @serpserpserp: I'm guessing it mainly applies to people who do not have what it takes to take it with the right mindset, and are susceptible to being mentally affected by it, such as myself.

            • serpserpserp on 01/10/2019 - 15:40

              @TroydonAnabolic: Oh it still got to me, but I wasn't really upset by the people (although at the time I thought I was) I was kinda just upset that I was doing this 4pm to midnight shift 5 days a week (including weekends, I think I had Mon-Tues off) that sort of put me out of kilter with the rest of the world. I was staying up to 2 or 3am and waking up at 2pm in the end which just wasn't agreeing with me. I needed the money, but I should have used that time to live it up a bit more.

    • ssquid on 30/09/2019 - 21:59

      It's not always the company, sometimes other CSRs are incompetent and actively fob customers off ("It'll fix itself within 24 hours, trust me") and when customers inevitably call back because their problem hasn't been resolved, a new CSR cops the consequences.

      • p1 ama on 01/10/2019 - 00:20

        It's not always the company, sometimes other CSRs are incompetent and actively fob customers off ("It'll fix itself within 24 hours, trust me") and when customers inevitably call back because their problem hasn't been resolved, a new CSR cops the consequences.

        Problem with the company culture then, which again, is a company problem.

  • Donaldhump on 30/09/2019 - 22:47
    +9

    but when telstra bills you incorrectly for 9th month in a row and you spend 40 minutes on hold talking to an overseas worker with poor english reading off a script, sometimes you just need to go bezerk.. even though unprofessional.

    combined with the endless IVR options

    we have all been there

    i think there should be a rule if your overcharged for the 3rd month in a row your rewards is the difference *2

    • TroydonAnabolic on 01/10/2019 - 11:34
      -1

      That is true that sometimes it is the Telco at fault, which is the minority of the cases. It does not justify taking it on the call center staff who did not make the system how it is. And even then, you cannot really complain, Telstra have the best systems, technology, and coverage and yet they have a whole lot of complaints. The world is not perfect, systems cannot be perfect, I do not think if you made a new system it would not result in errors and flaws in its operations, which will result in aggravated customers, people need to understand this and accept this fact and im sure they try to reduce it. Perhaps sometimes things are worded in a way to make sales which tactics I would not really agree on and some of the rules may be a lot more strict than others, but yeah, people should not take it out on front line staff who are here to help them.

      • geoffs87 on 01/10/2019 - 12:25
        +3

        Agree, and disagree.

        While it may be the companies fault not the service rep's fault - i'm yet to come across a decent service rep who bothers to take any ownership or show any care in your issue.

        Example - i'm dealing with an issue with Telstra at the moment, I've spent over 15hrs on the phone to countless service reps, and it was only the 15th hour when someone actually took carriage and did what they promised. Most of the reps promise resolution within 24hrs which was clearly just to get you off the phone. Some of them have said they'll escalate and call you back, they never do - how can you expect the customer to friendly and peachy when the service they get from the platform AND customer service reps is sub-par?

        So while you, Troydon, may be an exceptional service agent, many are not - and that (along with the terrible systems that customers are calling about in the first place) is what makes customers rage. Of course, unfortunately you cannot directly resolve this - but maybe it will take someone like you to work with your management to try and make things better?

        I worked for a major stockbroker in the call centre/trading floor for a number of years, most of them as a manager taking complaints etc. Whilst my team were focused on better customer outcomes, very rarely did you have an irate customer that couldn't be placated pretty quickly - and we're often talking about issues (through system or user error) resulting in tens of thousands of $$ losses.

  • [Deactivated] on 30/09/2019 - 23:29
    +4

    Life is full of rude and angry people. You can't change them. What you can change, is how you respond to them. In the words of a holocaust survivor:

    Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

    Edit: The quote is from Victor E. Frankl, a neurologist and psychiatrist who survived concentration camps. He wrote a book titled " A man's search for meaning", which I would recommend to anyone stuck in a funk. For those who don't have time to read, here's a 6 mins synopsis.

  • brad1-8tsi on 01/10/2019 - 07:34

    If it's affecting you mentally then your employer has a duty of care to provide you with a safe workplace. Maybe they can give you some training in dealing with difficult people or how to be more resilient.

  • newjerseydamo on 01/10/2019 - 08:18

    Honestly it sounds like you have bigger issues, where some trips to a psychologist or therapist on learning techniques on how to deal with these sorts of people to de-escalate, or to help it not bother you so much.

    It doesn't matter what sort of job you do, or even what you do in life, ultimately you're going to cross paths with someone in the general public, and more than likely, one is going to be rude.

    Best to learn the life skills now on how to deal with that, either passively, or assertively, now, rather than letting it make you act out in violence, either to yourself or others.

    • TroydonAnabolic on 01/10/2019 - 11:57
      +1

      That is true and does happen, however, if my daily life revolves on taking shit 8 hrs a day 5 days a week then it becomes part of life which I am not the kind of person whom can handle this type of life anymore. Yes, I may have psychological issues, which further prooves I cannot do this job as I cannot get another mindset to deal with this.

      If I had another job which involved not dealing with shit a lot less often then Yes I will happily go ahead with it.

      Work from home with with an IT job would probably be something ideal for me but is obviously something really hard to make reality, even just doing IT from an office I usually do not see staff at my office dealing with it and based off the responses I can see in this thread I am convinced in general dealing with more internal clients is a lot easier, I think I will give it a go unless I can get a programming job.

      • tessel on 02/10/2019 - 06:42

        I see people saying you can choose how to react. I believe this is true, to an extent. If someone is coping shit all day, everyday, then it is bound to affect you. May be later than sooner but eventually it happens.

        I've also seen people who change because of their job. They say they don't take it to heart, they go home and forget it all but sadly they can't see how the job has eroded them down over the years and they've actually become very unhappy people, much like the customers they've been dealing with.

        Look after yourself, get a plan and work towards it.

  • FrugalFrella on 01/10/2019 - 08:21

    Yes and No.
    Working at a small MSP only managing smaller businesses we generally dealt with nicer people rather than assholes so it was pretty rare to get someone straight-up pissed off.
    Experiences probably get worse the larger the company you work for gets

  • RecklessMonkeys on 01/10/2019 - 10:59

    I don't know if your company provides any training , but this may (or may not) help -

    https://www.callcentrehelper.com/acknowledgement-statements-….

    In short - acknowledge how the caller is feeling.

    Do not just try to tough this out. Try having a chat with some like-minded colleagues.
    In the mean time, if you have a passion for programming, then get stuck into it.

  • Skramit on 01/10/2019 - 11:02

    I work in IT and never have angry customers because I treat them with respect and have empathy for their situation.

  • Baysew on 01/10/2019 - 11:59

    A call centre job would be the best job in the world if it wasn't for having to answer the phone.

    • TroydonAnabolic on 01/10/2019 - 12:04

      Just the talking to people part of it makes it the worse part hah.

      • squall3031 on 01/10/2019 - 12:30

        Of course. The job does your head in.

  • squall3031 on 01/10/2019 - 12:29

    I work as an IT Support face-to-face with customers and the one i really hate is a customer that keeps coming back, needy, and love to talk about insignificant s***s which I don't want to know and like to blame someone when that customer has no idea what he/she's done to the PC.

    The lovely ones are those who don't come back 3 or 4 times in a week.

  • Normalise on 01/10/2019 - 12:32

    If you work as internal IT then you immediately cut down on the rude and angry lot as you speak to internal staff, you know their name and they know yours so it's sort of a two-way street as in, if one party decides to be a dick then guess who has your details and can take it up with management?

    But as a developer, you cut down speaking with customers like that and are less customer-facing.

    You get assholes in all roles, main thing is knowing how to deal with it and where to act like a rock and where to act like water.

  • Thundaja on 01/10/2019 - 13:16
    +1

    Mate this will be buried, but I hope it helps. For context, I worked for Telstra for 5.5 years in retail sales, TechBar, and complaint handling/resolution. Keep in mind that Telstra is arguably the most hated of all the telcos (sometimes for a good reason), so I definitely coped my fair share of abuse.

    1. Take a break. Take some time off. Take a holiday. Spend some “you” time at home. Anything that gets you away from that environment for a while.

    2. Talk to your boss about your situation. Large companies like telcos get right on this thing as soon as you mention it is affecting you mentally or physically. They need to protect themselves which means helping you. If you’re boss sucks, go around them. The point is to make sure it’s documented somewhere.

    3. Use the EAP. This is free and is there to support staff no matter what they’re going through. Use it, then consider on-going counseling. You can get a mental health care plan from your GP to get some subsidised sessions with a psychologist. Even if you use it as a venting session, it helps.

    4. Consider changing roles if it is an option. You’re currently in a call center - people tend to think they can be assholes with greater impact if they can’t see the other person. Consider making the move to a retail branch. I got tired of sales, so I spoke to my boss and split my time across both sales and TechBar. Being face-to-face with people might be a bit better. This is coming from a classic introvert too.

    5. It’s easy to say “try not to take it personally”, but the truth is: it’s hard. Every horrible interaction with a customer would stay with me for the rest of the day, and in some instances, for much longer. I had people tell me that they’d hunt me down, wait for me in the car park, kill my family (etc), often all over a mobile phone. Fun fact: one of those was simply because I didn’t have the right colour iPhone 5c in stock that they wanted. This leads me to:

    6. Try and take joy on the positive interactions instead of the bad. One of the reasons I eventually moved into handling complaints was that (surprisingly) it led me to more positive interactions with people than not. I was good at cutting through the Telstra red tape and knew how to work the system to fix a customer’s issue. I had people going from all guns blazing, to writing letters to my boss about how much I’d helped them. imagine this was easier in person than over the phone however.

    7. Be part of the work “culture”. Obviously one has to exist for this to work, but try and be social. I was an introvert, so this was really hard, but being part of the store culture really made a difference when it came to support after dealing with someone horrid.

    Lastly: the sad truth is that any job is going to have you deal with unpleasant people at some point. My suggestion would be to take a break, and consider moving to a customer facing role - where people are assholes, just not as much if they can see your face.

    Hope that helps.

  • windale on 01/10/2019 - 13:24
    +1

    I once worked on a helpdesk for some transport management software in the UK. There was an awful bully of a customer called Keith who used to rip one up anyone he called. He was extremely impatient, demanding and swore at you. Everyone was scared to take his calls and everyone jumped over themselves to try and please him. I once said to him during a call after he swore at me several times. "Keith, I would appreciate it if you did not speak to me like that or else I will just hang up". he grumbled a bit then apologised and from that day on whenever he called he asked for me and we actually became quite good friends on the phone. Stand up to bullies, it confuses them. I must say it was many years ago before things became all politically correct.

    • TroydonAnabolic on 01/10/2019 - 16:51

      Guess you would have to go through the same phase with a few ten thousand assholes before you might befriend some of them lol. Maybe after about 10 years that could be achieved or the customer base will go up and more will be introduced. The only thing is if you are not strong enough you might be mind f(profanity) zombie by then.

  • getjaleel on 01/10/2019 - 13:29

    There are two parts to your answers.
    1) Yes, I've dealt with customers who think they know everything and they call out for help out of frustration and use the rep as a punching bag to vent out their anger.
    2) The other side is when you are a customer and before you rage out on others even if its woolies or coles as an example. Your inner consciousness will hold you and handle the matter more politely and get things sorted out for any situation that you may have not been happy with. Long story short you will act more responsible and put you professionalism at its best.

  • Brendoo on 01/10/2019 - 13:30
    +1

    It depends on the tech support job.

    If it’s internal to a company (or a outsourced support for a corporate customer) and the people calling are always only employees of that company then you’re pretty safe from abuse because the caller would be formally cautioned or fired if they abused you.

    But if customers or members of the public can call then you will absolutely cop abuse. e.g. tech support for an internet provider, especially with the NBN being so unreliable.

    My tip - do whatever you can to get out of a front-line call centre job as soon as you can. It’s a tough job for lower pay with little thanks and often a ton of abuse.

  • field1985 on 01/10/2019 - 13:32
    +3

    Tech support roles do not have anywhere near as angry/rude customers as a typical Call Center Service Rep.

    I've worked as both. Call Centre's are a nightmare where you are a punching bag for the customers abuse.

    IT Support (at least in the corporate role I worked) was done with service tickets, no phone calls (praise the lord!)
    - I don't talk to the customer unless I want to
    - The customer is normally very happy to have their problem looked at/resolved
    - If a customer is rude/aggressive, I bump their ticket down the queue (they wait longer)

    I never had any personal abuse in the 3+ years in the role but I would get messages of thanks almost daily.

    • TroydonAnabolic on 01/10/2019 - 16:27

      Okay, great advice there, sounds like I can go for the in-house tech support ones if need be. Yeah I would not think to be rude with our corporate tech support for the sake of my job(not that I would be rude anyway to other contact centers).

    • p1 ama on 01/10/2019 - 16:41

      IT Support (at least in the corporate role I worked) was done with service tickets, no phone calls (praise the lord!)

      There's also a selection bias - people who have "made it" into a corporate role usually have some bare minimum level of manners and tact which allow them to get that far. There's also the fact that people in a "work environment" generally behave better than when they are not in a work environment and also, I assume that you were on-site support. People are much less likely to be rude face-to-face than when on the phone.

  • FareEvader on 01/10/2019 - 15:32
    +1

    Maybe it isn't for you as some people do enjoy a customer-facing role. Better to know early on in your career what you like and don't like rather than having a mid-life crisis later on.

  • DarthAntz on 01/10/2019 - 15:43

    In regards to wanting to study, don't worry about what you don't know. Apply for the study you want to get into. There was recently the udemy dump on here, plenty of programming tutorials on there to get you started. Lots of jobs for Full Stack and JavaScript, get your interest in early and do self study to support you.

    I worked in training with a call centre, and they had good support for it, but its not going to be 100%. A friend who worked there had other unhealthy parts of his lifestyle (smoking cones, unhealthy diet, video games as the primary respite) and that combined with toxic customers didnt help. As per the comments above, getting outside and going for that walk daily will help you decompress each day. You'll need healthy habits to counter the toxic elements of your day.

    And other advice I got from these people that stuck with me was thinking about how grateful they became in feeling more honest and polite about themselves, knowing they were more successful in conflict resolution after dealing with people who didnt have this life skill daily. Their polite language got them better communication relationships because they thought more about what is being said and what to say in a given situation.

    You're getting a good life experience out of this job, its up to you to use it. Manage your time better and do what you want to do.

    Great advice from others in this forum too, can't upvote you all

  • Jimmycfc on 01/10/2019 - 16:47

    Of course - i would say try aim for a company thats dealing with internal end users, they should be nicer as they are dealing with the same company. E.g. Bunnings calling Bunnings IT department.
    I would not work for an ISP or something like that.

  • ozbjunkie on 01/10/2019 - 18:33
    +1

    I used to work in a cafe, it sucked, I didn't like it, but the boss had my back.

    This old lady walking out pointed at me and said "that boy was very dude to me"
    Boss come up, puts his hand on my shoulder
    "Why were you rude to her man?"
    I reply
    "Because she is an old bitch"
    He looks at me sternly
    "Indeed, she is an old bitch"

    Good boss.

  • mezje on 01/10/2019 - 19:59

    People get frustrated at things they don't understand. People also suck.

  • YellowDieselGolf on 01/10/2019 - 20:00
    +1

    Corporate IT gig: you may deal with some rude people, but they’re generally not directing it at you.

    Public facing IT gig: no thanks.

  • Gon-Ad on 01/10/2019 - 20:35

    Hey mate, having been in this industry for the last 10 years (started application support, moved to senior then lead support analyst and now a regional support manager), I can tell you that yes you'll get arseholes but they are very few and far in between. I guess you could call me lucky, but having worked for 4 different software companies now, we rarely got angry/rude customers. Maybe it's also because I've been lucky enough to support products that are good.

    Key takeaway here from me is find a support role for a product that's actually good so you don't get many angry people (hard but possible).

  • tessel on 02/10/2019 - 06:29

    Do you exercise? Jogging, bike riding, something like that? I work in a similar environment but also have the joy of being threatened with physical harm both in workplace and outside, rare but does happen. I find jogging helps me immensely. Also, reducing caffeine and sugar intake may help.

  • DonWilson on 02/10/2019 - 08:48

    Almost everyone is pleasant to me as a self employed home/very small business call-out guy. Every couple of years there's someone unpleasant but they are pretty rare.

    I'm guessing most of the angry customers you get come because you represent Telstra to them and people (profanity) hate Telstra. Whenever one of my customers needs to deal with a Telstra rep I always tell them they're going to get better, quicker service if they keep it simple and to the specifics of the problem at hand but they do love going off on Telstra reps as if they're talking directly to the entity Telstra itself.

    -edit- that said: if you're the kind of person who looks down on people who can't/won't do simple computer things they could figure out by reading the instructions, turning it off and on, googling it etc. then don't get into a support job. Those people never last more than a few months because they tend to take other people needing/wanting help as a personal attack on them.

  • ldt on 02/10/2019 - 09:36

    Absolutely! I don't see it as much as I used to, as I'm no longer on the front line, but I see it a lot.

    After working in IT Support for 10 years, I've developed a couple of ways to deal with it.
    1. Don't take it personally. These people aren't angry at you specifically. Empathise and help them deal with it.
    2. Build a relationship with them (if you can? It's difficult if you only deal with them on the phone). When something goes wrong and someone likes you, they're much less likely to be angry/rude.
    3. Make sure they have confidence in you. If something has gone wrong, if someone has confidence in you they will trust you're going to fix it for them, and won't get angry.

    It's not easy, and I work with plenty of people who struggle with this side of it. At the end of the day, if it really bothers you, IT support is not the right job for you.

  • Nebuchadnezz on 02/10/2019 - 10:39

    Hi Mate,

    I actually just created an account to answer your question.

    If you work in IT support try and work for an internal IT Helpdesk (e.g. supporting internal employees not external customers)

    Don't get too put off by horror stories, sure… maybe once a month if was unlucky had a unpleasant call. But from your previous experience this would be easy to deal with. If it's an internal employee they also have to report to HR and if you have a good relationship with your boss can decline the call.

    The worst calls I ever had were people who accidentally called the wrong number (the public!!)

    Most of the time people were actually very friendly at the two companies worked for, and it made the job pretty fun at times BUT this was because people who work in an internal company probably have to call again and want to be on good terms ^__^

    IT Helpdesk is also a good stepping stone if you want to move further into the IT field, took me a few years but finally moved onto a great role. Another word of advice is try and do a good job and be friendly, being on an internal helpdesk is a great way to long game "interview" for internal roles that come up.

    I'd recommend getting your Comptia A+ & Network+ which you can learn/pass in a few months easy.

    Feel free to reach out if have any questions but plenty of resources out there.

    Best of luck!!

  • knk on 02/10/2019 - 12:46

    I previously worked at an MSP, now operate as a very small MSP / IT Consultant. While I can't chime in regarding the telco side of things I can weigh in on the IT side.

    Disclaimer - I generally work with companies that range from small businesses at 5 employees to ones up to say 50-60. This means you get to know everyone, you're not really just a number like you would be working on say kmart's helpdesk.

    Anyway - business owners. Can be hit and miss, some are very demanding, some are disrespectful and it's going to largely depend on the attitude the business you're working for and how they dictate their terms, what they accept etc. Ideally, you shouldn't even have to deal with them as level 1 support unless they're having a level 1 issue. My previous employer would kiss each and every client's ass no matter what demands or how low profit a customer they were. This caused some customers to take advantage, and were very demanding disrespectful and rude when something didn't work. On the flip side, doing my own thing I set realistic expectations, SLAs proper terms etc and don't have any issues for the most part. Where clients have become problematic, I've fired them.

    Staff of clients - Usually pretty nice unless they're in a position of authority or just a dick of a person. You'll get the occasional person on a power trip who gives you a hard time when something doesn't work, but for the most part people are nice albeit there is often a false sense of urgency pushed upon you to resolve people's issues. Try telling someone that their email not working is subject to their 24 hour SLA, it won't fly.

    If you do end up at an MSP or IT service provider, you'll find that as I said above everything is going to be largely variable on how your employer handles things and how they vet their clients before taking them onboard. At a business who wants every single client they can sign, has no structure, no uniformity and will do a bunch of bandaid fixes to make things work? Bad time. At a real managed service provider who standardizes their stack, has uniform standards across multiple clients, proper support channels etc then you'll likely have a less stressful and more enjoyable time at work.

    If you do go into this line of work (outsourced IT, not internal IT), try and find somewhere that does not accept break/fix (hourly, no agreement) customers - Every time you walk into these businesses it's going to be a mess or bits and pieces you're unaware of and technology you likely haven't touched = stressful.

    Personally, if I were to do things over again I would not go into IT. Maybe I'm older now (29) and have been doing this for a while, but if my business failed I'd make a shift to something completely unrelated at a paycut if I had to. It's a largely unfulfilling career in my opinion.

  • jedimaster on 02/10/2019 - 16:18

    i would for a MNC IT company(a major backup vendor) and we rarely get rude customers as we deal mostly with IT admins from other companies but there are the odd few some times.

  • ldq on 02/10/2019 - 19:59

    I'd done a few years of internal desktop support, mostly face to face, industry and government. There were difficult cases, but few and far between. It had been an overwhelmingly positive experience and I do miss some aspects of it - like going places, getting to know everyone, actually resolving problems (albeit mostly trivial) and getting positive feedback. Loved my clients and ended up getting a much better paying job through being known to clients.

  • penguin286 on 02/10/2019 - 21:44

    Dunno, from my experience the worst part about dealing with customer is simply not having the knowledge or power to resolve their issue.

    Once they flip into the angry pissed off mode and you know it's not reasonable, you begin to think they're whiny kids.

    On the flip side, if my company supplied a faulty product and caused great inconvenience - I'd feel damn bad.

  • dagatkabawud on 02/10/2019 - 23:37

    I was a helpdesk for an I.T. service provider. Our clients were small and medium companies and some big ones. The people calling in are mostly employees of these companies. Im glad to say that i was never cussed or shouted at ever.

    I worked as a customer service before so i know how you feel. Work your way up to helpdesk if you want and i guarantee you that its heaven.

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