there’s a saying that goes, “you’ll realize the value of something once it is gone,” or something like that.  in my case, although i’m not in the graveyard shift anymore, i can’t help but compare the kind of customers i’m dealing with now than with my previous companies.  in other words, i miss the american customers.  yeah i know, i used to despise, curse, and call them horrible names before, but now that i’m dealing with my fellow countrymen, i couldn’t have imagined that things would turn out like this.

 

most american customers don’t know that the person they’ll be talking to at the other end of the line will be someone outside their homeland.  naturally–and sometimes–they’ll demand to speak with one of their own.  i mean, if i were in their shoes, i’ll be surprised myself.  even though it doesn’t give them the right to be “racist” sometimes and undermine filipino intellect and filipinos in general, i have come to understand that they are that way because they know little about our culture and vice versa.  but after having come across filipino customers who i consider my “brothers,” it saddens me to realize that we have a long way to go in behaving like civilized people.

 

just where exactly am i coming from?  comparing filipino and american credit card holders (which i’ve had the opportunity of dealing with both), i’m sorry to say that filipinos have a lot to learn in handling and managing their finances.  what i really, really, and i mean really hate the most are those customers who do name-dropping just to get their request processed without going through the proper channels.  one classic example:  “hey, i’m a close personal friend of your CEO, so i don’t care if your card delivery procedures take 10 days, you should honor my request immediately and have my credit card delivered to me today or i’ll personally bring this matter to him!”  another one goes:  “if you don’t waive the membership fee, i’ll talk to my friend who is the VP of your company and have you fired!”  believe me, there are lots and lots of people who claim that they are “friends” or “relatives” with the company’s higher ups and use them to make mundane requests.  and what’s the company’s policy when it comes across customers like those?  drop everything and attend to that complaint.  i mean, it’s absurd enough to even give in to the customer’s oblivious request, but for management to play hostage to the customer just because he or she knows someone from the company?  c’mon!!  imagine the kind of work we get done with that policy.  i mean, i don’t have anything against providing good customer service.  but the bottomline is you can’t please everybody.  if you try to do so, you’ll end up pleasing no one at all.

 

another example, and one i find utterly annoying is the type of filipinos who belong to the upper echelons, wealth-wise.  now tell me, how would you react to something like this:  “i’m a platinum credit card holder.  i have a PHP500,000 credit limit.  you should waive my membership fee because i’m a VIP.”  i mean, my god!  you have money to pay for your purchases amounting to the thousands, and yet you don’t have the nerve to pay your annual membership fee?  i ought to shove that credit card up your ass!

 

in the short time i have worked for the local call center, i have come across the weirdest and most insane requests.  i thought american customers were loonies.  but at least they have an understanding of the system (or at least most of them) and once procedure has been explained to them, they comply.   as a customer myself, i make it a point to follow procedure and not use shortcuts or bully my way into getting what i want.  unfortunately, filipino customers in general aren’t as mature as their american counterparts.  and until i see an improvement in that kind of behavior, i’m wishing that i’m still working for a US based call center.

 

and don’t even get me started on local filipino management…  that’s another mouthful right there.