#292549 - Tue Apr 04 2006 01:09 PM
Re: Things which irritate or annoy you.
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Forum Champion
Registered: Wed Dec 03 2003
Posts: 9455
Loc: Virginia USA
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Skunkee, I've actually extended a vacation to look for a lost pet that I had taken with me. I even lost a job because of it but I didn't care, I had to find my cat! I scoured my friends neighborhood looking for her at all hours of the day and night, even knocking on doors. I never did find her and I never forgot her. This was in the days prior to micro-chipping so I'll never learn of her fate. My Junior, the wanderer, has gone missing a number of times. Once when we returned to the US from Europe he disappeared while we were in transition back to New York. We were staying with my in-laws and my husband had to report here by 20 October, I elected to stay in Pa. to look for Junior. Housing necessitates that spouses are present to sign for quarters so I was forced to come up to NY without my cat. My mother-in-law happened to see a sign posted at her local Post Office with a description of a found cat matching Junior. She contacted the number and was told that the cat would come and go but would return at night for dinner. Later that evening my MIL called back to the woman, who incidentally only lived a mile up and across the road from her, saying "he's here, come take a look" Sure enough, it was Junior! I was never so happy to get a phone call from my MIL!! That weekend I drove the 7.5 hours back to Pa. to retrieve him, oh the stories that cat could tell! Turns out that the woman who took him in didn't want to let him go, she actually teared up when my MIL took him away. He has that affect (or is effect?) on many people, he just has such a great personality. To have a neighbor who hates to fly offering to fly to the US from Belgium for him tells you what a great cat he is! I can't imagine life without him, so I would never understand how someone could just give up after only 10 minutes of searching and say "Oh well" and leave it behind. Shame on them!
Edited to add a hyphen - <- see there I go again!
Edited by BurgGurl (Tue Apr 04 2006 01:11 PM)
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>^..^< "The big yellow one is the sun."
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#292551 - Thu Apr 13 2006 12:14 PM
Re: Things which irritate or annoy you.
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Administrator
Registered: Sun Dec 19 1999
Posts: 38004
Loc: Jersey
Channel Islands
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When people write 'congradulations', instead of 'congratulations', I have seen it done so often and it grates, Aaagh!
I tried entering congradulations in Google, and the top line asks if I really mean congratulations, but then goes on with lots of entries.
Edited by sue943 (Thu Apr 13 2006 12:15 PM)
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Many a child has been spoiled because you can't spank a Grandma!
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#292554 - Thu Apr 13 2006 05:19 PM
Re: Things which irritate or annoy you.
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Forum Champion
Registered: Mon Apr 22 2002
Posts: 5007
Loc: Western Australia
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Another annoying thing (well two really) are telephone calls. The first annoying one is people selling you things. They always always rings when your at your busiest - usually at tea time!
The second annoying telephone calls are "cold calls" when there is nobody there when you pick up the phone!
I heartily agree. I don't know if you are able to do anything about them in England and America, but I reduced the problem here in Australia by registering with ADMA (Australian Direct Marketing Association) as a person who did not wish to be contacted. Merchants who are members of ADMA won't contact you if you are on the "no contact" list. Unfortunately, non-members will still contact you.
I used to get at least a dozen of these calls per day. Since I registered with ADMA (via their website), I now only get about one call a day.
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Don't say "I can't" ... say " I haven't learned how, yet." (Reg Bolton)
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#292556 - Fri Apr 14 2006 04:54 AM
Re: Things which irritate or annoy you.
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Administrator
Registered: Sun Dec 19 1999
Posts: 38004
Loc: Jersey
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I can count the number of these calls that I have ever received on my fingers, and probably have spares.
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Many a child has been spoiled because you can't spank a Grandma!
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#292557 - Fri Apr 14 2006 05:57 AM
Re: Things which irritate or annoy you.
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Forum Champion
Registered: Wed Dec 03 2003
Posts: 9455
Loc: Virginia USA
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Sue, I have seen "Congradulations" too. It was on a banner at a graduation party and I happened to mention that it was mis-spelled. They looked at me like I was the uneducated one! I probably should have kept my mouth shut but I just couldn't help myself.
I guess this could count as one of my worst traits in another thread...
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>^..^< "The big yellow one is the sun."
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#292558 - Fri Apr 14 2006 06:14 AM
Re: Things which irritate or annoy you.
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Administrator
Registered: Sun Dec 19 1999
Posts: 38004
Loc: Jersey
Channel Islands
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I can (sort of) understand it being a deliberate mis-spelling at a graduation but I have seen it when is intended to be congratulations and is probably the result of the way that the speller is pronouncing the word, sort of slurring over the T so it is difficult to know what letter it actually ought to be.
Then as has already been mentioned, 'whatever'. Aaaagh! Another one is when people keep saying 'again' when it isn't. There is a presenter on QVC UK who starts sentences with 'again' and I get so irritated that I turn her off! I have even written to them complaining about her.
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Many a child has been spoiled because you can't spank a Grandma!
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#292560 - Tue Apr 18 2006 04:28 PM
Re: Things which irritate or annoy you.
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Administrator
Registered: Sun Dec 19 1999
Posts: 38004
Loc: Jersey
Channel Islands
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When someone asks a question in Feedback or Ask The Quiz Editors then cannot wait for a reply before demanding to know when the question will be answered. Often it is necessary to wait for a certain person to be online, particularly in Feedback.
Just have patience, please. Staff here are volunteers from all over the world, the person required might be asleep when you post.
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Many a child has been spoiled because you can't spank a Grandma!
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#292566 - Mon May 01 2006 03:11 AM
Re: Things which irritate or annoy you.
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Explorer
Registered: Sat Jan 14 2006
Posts: 70
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The use of the words decade and millenium in the media.
I know this is probably peculiar to the UK as has been used in US for ages. It has now reached silly proportions with a quarter of a millennium and six and a half decades (for example) being written/spoken. This always means doing a little bit of mental arithmetic!
Why can't they just say 50 years, 25 years, or whatever as has always been the case. Can appreciate use of "a decade" or "a millennium" but all this use of fractions and multiplying upwards seems counter productive. Feel I must write to the BBC on this one!
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#292567 - Mon May 01 2006 06:49 AM
Re: Things which irritate or annoy you.
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Forum Adept
Registered: Sun Feb 26 2006
Posts: 102
Loc: Cheltenham UK
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Quote... "
And whatever happened to Customer Service? Do these people realize when they accept their position that it is what is expected of them? Sometimes it seems everybody wants a paycheck, but nobody wants to work."
Hmm - As a member of a management team (and one of "these people" I suppose) working for a large retailer I must say that one thing that does " irritate or annoy " are people who are unable to complain in a responsible, coherent and constructive manner !
Often wonder if the complainer (who often,but not always, has a valid point) realises that the person they are verbally abusing is also a member of the human race and not an automated sounding board for all the complainerīs woes. Myself, and all my colleagues, always take our customerīs problems seriously and pride ourselves on our tactful and efficient way of handling such situations .
The problem customers are those who have a problem with the word "NO" .
inform people who are making unreasonable demands, that you are unable (for whatever reason) to comply, is the singular most difficult situation the person on the end of a complaint has to deal with.
A quick hint... be polite, explain what has happened, then, listen to what the PERSON you are talking to can do to help. Ranting, raving and swearing at that person will not necessarily help your endeavour, or motivate the person dealing with your problem to go that extra mile to help you.
Just remember the next time you have to unfortunately complain, that the person listening, not only "picks up a paycheck" but also has a life.
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#292568 - Mon May 01 2006 01:59 PM
Re: Things which irritate or annoy you.
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Administrator
Registered: Sat Mar 29 2003
Posts: 16595
Loc: Western Canada
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Well, I dunno..... I've worked in customer service for most of my life, one way and another, and I very very seldom am ranted and raved at.
Customers may be angry about something, but if they are listened to with respect, they very soon calm down. It is the "who cares?" attitude that they so often receive from service people that leads to meltdown. One scenario I have seen over and over again - a customer will be mildly unhappy about something. The service person (usually young and untrained) does not know how to deal with the situation, and doesn't want to. Therefore, he/she does whatever possible to avoid the customer, usually some variation of "ignore it and maybe it will go away". The customer, already irritated, is enflamed by this, and causes a big scene. None of this is necessary. A little judicious stroking right at the very beginning can avoid almost all customer tirades.
The reality is this - if you are in the service business, if your customers are unhappy, you have done something wrong. This doesn't mean that every wish and desire of your customers must be catered to - this is often impossible. What it does mean is that it is up to you to make your customers FEEL that their wants and desires are important to you. You may be unable to give the the product, prices, or service that they want. However, you can always give them the feeling that they are valuable to you. The way to do this is to listen to them. Take responsibility for mistakes your company has made - one "I am so sorry" is worth five thousand "It's not my fault"s. Treat your CUSTOMERS as if they are human beings, and you will have very little trouble.
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#292569 - Mon May 01 2006 04:21 PM
Re: Things which irritate or annoy you.
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Star Poster
Registered: Sat Feb 10 2001
Posts: 18899
Loc: California USA
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I think that the current situation in some areas of American business is set up to really hard sell and get people in on some premise then outsell the competitor.
I'm thinking of a large chain that my kid worked for. They were instructed to sell magazine subscriptions when they worked as cashiers and if they didn't sell enough, they were harrassed and the managers would go around reminding them and scolding them each shift if they didn't offer this magazine and this plan to the customer.
Now, if you had someone who'd been waiting through the line to return something or something was amiss that you could not do anything about as you were just a lowly cashier, they'd still bug you to bug the client about magazine subscriptions! Like my kid said, 'offering a magazine subscription to an angry client is like putting salt on his wound' and I agree as I found the service lacking in this particular chain except for a few exceptions. Those few were probably nudged to sell more of this or that though.
I tried to buy rig XYZ for my computer and they steered me to something twice the price. I gave up on them and that's with an employee discount from my kid!
So, I think that the corporate policies are what make good kids working in that chain into poor providers of customer service as they're being pushed to overkill things that aren't really appropriate. I think that many of them are probably glad to have worked there to see what not to do when they have their own businesses.
I also am annoyed by the shops like this one that just overkill the selling and don't provide service.
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#292571 - Mon May 01 2006 08:43 PM
Re: Things which irritate or annoy you.
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Forum Champion
Registered: Wed Dec 03 2003
Posts: 9455
Loc: Virginia USA
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SMW, I never had to get ugly or swear or rant or rave. I was never incoherent, irresponsible or verbally abusive. I just found it annoying that a customer service representative who "wasn't getting paid overtime" to help me just because I happened to arrive at her desk at the end of her shift made the time to call for someone else to finish with me rather than just to do it herself. If she had as another post suggested, say, a child that must be pick up right away from daycare at the end of her shift or an appointment then there'd have already been something pre-arranged for this employee but she just didn't want to be of service. The seven minutes I was forced to stand there and wait could have been used to just complete the transaction that she had already begun, however this rep instead chose to use this time calling for backup, not rushing off to an appointment, etc. Her tone was rude and her attitude lacked courtesy. (think neck jerking & eye-rolling) I did mention this to the manager as she was the one to respond to the rep's page; she completely agreed with me that it was uncalled for and that that rep creates lots of problems.
As a former service rep myself it just happens that I expect "Customer Service" when I am in a "Customer Service Department"; I'd have never gotten away with this behavior nor do I believe this deems me a "problem customer". I don't need to be reminded how to behave as I am an adult, but I do give what I get. It's this type of disrespectful treatment that sends business elsewhere and if you are in a management team I'm sure you wouldn't do that to the people you are there to serve. Therefore you wouldn't be one of 'these people'.
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#292572 - Tue May 02 2006 03:07 AM
Re: Things which irritate or annoy you.
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Forum Champion
Registered: Mon Apr 22 2002
Posts: 5007
Loc: Western Australia
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It really irritates me when I go into the bank to transact business and the tellers try to sell me some other product, service or type of account.
I know that they are forced to do this by their management as I have friends who work in banks and they feel uncomfortable at being made to try to sell these unwanted products and services to the customers (similar to Bruyere's example).
I teach courses for Medical Receptionists and in every class I have women who USED to work for banks and are looking for a career change, simply because they don't like the way banks have shifted their focus from being a service industry to being a sales-oriented industry and they are not comfortable with the high-pressure tactics that are used on them and that they in turn are expected to use on the customers.
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Don't say "I can't" ... say " I haven't learned how, yet." (Reg Bolton)
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