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Edited on Mon Sep-10-07 06:31 PM by hlthe2b
but is there a difference in approach or ABILITY to help? Typically, I find that women (and I am female) assume the first two to three levels of customer support. It becomes wearing after awhile, knowing that you've spent 30 minutes on hold, then another 20 minutes trying to get the first "nice" lady to understand the issue, before being bounced off to the next level. When that ends up being another "nice" lady, but who clearly has no authority to do much more, yet wants you to again start over in the 30 minute explanation process of the issue, it becomes increasingly frustrating. While not all companies remain so sexist in their customer support hiring and promotion, the fact is that many companies still have males in managerial (authoritative positions), while women fill the bulk of first line calls. The purpose of these front line staff is to deal with the uncomplicated calls that require virtually no training in many instances. So, for those of us who NEVER call unless it is complicated, this sort of sets us up for frustration and unfortunately, just hearing a female voice kind of conditions you that this is likely to be a long, drawn out experience before one can hope for resolution. Not fair, at all, but true.
This isn't to excuse rude behavior, by any means, yet I do think it explains why people may often unload with women that they perceive as being a barrier (or part of multiple barriers) to getting any kind of true resolution to their issue. :shrug:
Part of the solution could clearly be to provide additional training so that even the front line staff may be able to assume more authority to provide assistance to those who call. Most companies don't want to do so, however.
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