Recently, I was talking with a clinic’s office on the phone. I had trouble getting the information I needed. Until I stopped myself, I started thinking that they were trying to be intentionally difficult. It seemed that the person had set up arbitrary walls to keep me from talking to the right person.

I realized that my experience with past businesses that have unreasonable call centers led me to expect that all phone services want to avoid helping. I have called phone company A and they have many levels of menus that all lead to the same place: not talking to a human. If I do reach a human, they forward me through several offices who each provide minimal information. Credit card company W has many ways to get lost on their customer service number.

In my recent experience, I’d been hit by the unreasonable thought-virus: The expectation that service businesses are unreasonable and provide as little service as they can. The virus goes to the level of expecting to be abused; that it is a normal way of doing business.

The thought is a virus because it can be spread. A service professional who’s had experience with unreasonable systems, will help propagate their own version of the same negative experiences.

Organizations that have good customer service help the virus go away, but it is a difficult thought to clear up.

Internet mega-services company G is really helpful. Every time I have a question, I get to someone knowledgeable right away. They help me with my questions and give some extra information for the likely next questions I’ll have soon.

I wish there were a lot more G’s and a lot fewer A’s and W’s.

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