{"id":3045,"date":"2022-08-12T22:12:13","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T22:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/katalystnow.com\/?p=3045"},"modified":"2022-09-19T15:42:26","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T15:42:26","slug":"customer-service-i-pay-my-kids-a-nickel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/katalystnow.com\/?p=3045","title":{"rendered":"Customer Service: I pay my kids a Nickel. . ."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-flex-container nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start fusion-flex-content-wrap\" style=\"max-width:1372.8px;margin-left: calc(-4% \/ 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% \/ 2 );\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;--awb-width-large:100%;--awb-margin-top-large:20px;--awb-spacing-right-large:1.92%;--awb-margin-bottom-large:20px;--awb-spacing-left-large:1.92%;--awb-width-medium:100%;--awb-order-medium:0;--awb-spacing-right-medium:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-medium:1.92%;--awb-width-small:100%;--awb-order-small:0;--awb-spacing-right-small:1.92%;--awb-spacing-left-small:1.92%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p dir=\"ltr\">Is it child labor to pay my kids a nickel to wait on hold with Customer Service Representatives for me?\u00a0 Asking for a friend. . .<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">If you happen to be a customer support rep from a company that provides my family some service, don\u2019t be surprised when you pick me from the queue and hear a 4-year-old (she\u2019s only got a teensy lisp) say\u00a0 \u201cJust a moment while I get my Daddy\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">I know, I\u2019m horrible right?\u00a0 But let\u2019s take a moment to think about this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">You\u2019ve picked me off a queue that\u2019s been waiting for (umpty-nine) minutes for &#8220;service&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">I\u2019m already paying you for the service that I am calling you about<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">You\u2019ve probably had auto selectors asking me silly questions (that you already have the answers to based on my phone number) for 10-20 minutes before you put me on hold (again)\u00a0 look up the service for which I am already paying you<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">You&#8217;ll most likely start our conversation by repeating those same silly questions because your automated tool didn&#8217;t post them for you, or because you are stalling whilst you try to finish up your notes on your last call&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In effect, if I\u2019ve been on hold before we spoke, I\u2019ve been paying TIME for something I\u2019m already paying MONEY for &#8211; doesn\u2019t it make sense that eventually I\u2019d find some way to try to defray that cost a bit?\u00a0 Alan Nance gets to the heart of this issue when he talks about The Money Value of Time (MVT) in this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/pulse\/your-experience-either-wasting-everyones-time-providing-alan-nance\/?trackingId=dTRTLt8YRz%2BJCsAYjlU4og%3D%3D\">LinkedIn article<\/a>, though, what with all of the people to put on hold, I\u2019m not sure if you\u2019ve had the chance to read it.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Actually, I think I may be doing you more of a favor than you know.\u00a0 After I&#8217;ve been on hold for a good 20-30 minutes I&#8217;m usually pretty frustrated, and that&#8217;s never a good way to start a conversation.\u00a0 This way, I can do another 20 minutes of work to help me pay for even more &#8220;services&#8221; just like the one you&#8217;re providing&#8230;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">And hey, I think it\u2019s a good lesson for my children.\u00a0 They learn what is likely to become a critical life-skill:\u00a0 navigating the countless options and obfuscations to actually get the services for which they are paying.\u00a0 Now, don\u2019t get me wrong &#8211; I\u2019m sure (?) that all of these obstacles and options were created with the best of intentions &#8211; to get me to the service I need as quickly as possible (or so the messages all claim) &#8211; but really, truly, honestly?\u00a0 They don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">So I sic my kids on \u2018em.\u00a0 And, they LOVE it!!\u00a0 They feel important and they put their heart into it.\u00a0 My 8-year-old puts on her glasses and taps her pencil as she searches through the paper copies of bills and contracts that YOU already have a copy of, so she can give you back the information YOU have right there on your computer.\u00a0 And, she doesn&#8217;t mind performing all of the time consuming and non-productive trouble-shooting work you require her to do for the service I\u2019m paying you for, before you actually spend any effort to resolve the issue yourself.\u00a0 In fact, she&#8217;s entertained by this &#8211; and she&#8217;s earning a nickel for it, after all, and she\u2019s too young to understand the money value of her time.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">My 4-year-old will shout out to me every couple minutes \u201cI\u2019m still on hold Daddy!\u00a0 The music is pretty, but there aren\u2019t any words or anything\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 She\u2019s all heart, and she can\u2019t wait to hear your voice, and she&#8217;ll be delighted to show you her good manners &#8211; and she won&#8217;t mind having to show those same good manners over and over again as you put her on hold, only to start the same conversation with another representative.\u00a0 She will happily chat with all of you until I can come to the phone.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">You know, come to think of it, maybe there\u2019s a lesson here for people providing service (including myself) too.\u00a0 What if we put the same focus and intention (and heart) about supporting the services we provide that my 4-year-old does waiting for you to pick her off of hold?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">On that note, I&#8217;ve gotta go &#8211; my daughter&#8217;s telling me the Airline Agent is ready to take my call for a flight I\u2019ve already paid for&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/katalystnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/katalystnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/katalystnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katalystnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katalystnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3045"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/katalystnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3053,"href":"https:\/\/katalystnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3045\/revisions\/3053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katalystnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/katalystnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katalystnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katalystnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}