Always say sorry
"It's tiring to curse at you guys, but if your parents can't teach you, let me!", the screams on the other end of the phone made Minh Dang (23 years old, living in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City) try very hard to hold back his tears of anger and bitterness.
Dang has been working as a customer service representative in the financial sector for a year and has been scolded by customers countless times. The pressure of work has piled up, and Dang has spent many sleepless nights facing himself, asking himself the question "Am I suited to this job, can I keep up with it?"
Customer care is one of the most stressful jobs (Photo: vnmedia).
"The pressure of calling quality scores, the patience required in dealing with difficult and often harsh customers... are the hardships that customer service staff always have to listen to without having the right to "talk back", Dang confided.
Sometimes, due to a misunderstanding when Dang was consulting on financial procedures, the male employee was scolded by the customer for 30 minutes straight. At that moment, holding the phone, Dang's voice trembled, feeling like he could no longer control himself after hearing the terrible words that insulted his honor.
Unable to throw everything away just because of a customer, Dang had to swallow his anger after work. Dang also did not dare tell his parents about the unforgettable memories at work for fear of upsetting them.
Similarly, Gia Han (27 years old, living in District 4, Ho Chi Minh City) also encountered many "difficult" situations at work. Han is a customer service employee with more than 1 year of experience. During that time, every day that passed was a memorable lesson for her.
"The first thing to say in this profession is to say sorry. Having to listen to customers complaining and scolding is a daily occurrence, we still have to smile even though we really want to cry and throw everything away," Han shared.
Faced with layoffs, the customer care sector is no exception (Photo: vnmedia).
The girl said that many times, customers, because they were too impatient or did not understand the strict procedures, took their anger out on the consultant on the other end of the line.
"Customers demanded that I resolve the issue immediately, even though I explained that it would take a few days to complete the process. Some were so angry that they demanded to come to the company and meet me in person to... resolve the issue," Han recalled.
Waiting anxiously... for dismissal
The two customer service staff members admitted that the wave of layoffs had hit the company half a year ago. Now, things have stabilized as the number of employees screened and eliminated has almost reached the "reach" level.
However, both Dang and Han are still worried about the day their names will be called on the list.
When he first started his career, Minh Dang's income was about 9-10 million VND/month, including salary, allowances and bonuses. But from March 2023, his income decreased by 30%, to only 7-8 million VND.
"The company clearly shows a trend of cutting staff, most clearly by setting many new regulations and targets that are difficult for employees to meet," Dang said.
According to Dang, if an employee fails to meet the new target for three consecutive months, he will be fired. Many of Dang's colleagues "packed up and left" one after another when they could not stand the pressure, and he could only sigh.
Many customer service staff decide to quit when their salaries drop and their income does not match the pressure of the job (Photo: Call Center).
Gia Han's income also decreased from 10 million VND to 8 million VND/month, when the company encountered many difficulties. Employees like Han were given many new targets, which were somewhat unworthy of their income, making everyone feel discouraged.
"At least this year, I will not change jobs or only change companies in the same field, because at this time businesses are continuously laying off people, I'm worried about keeping my job to make peace for now," Han confided.
According to the India Times, an e-commerce company in India has just fired 90% of its customer service staff, after applying AI (artificial intelligence) technology to replace them.
The CEO of this company, Mr. Suumit Shah (31 years old), said that AI technology has helped the company respond to customers immediately, instead of taking an average of 44 seconds to wait for a call like before. In addition, instead of taking 2 hours for employees to answer customer questions, AI only takes about... 3 minutes.
The layoffs helped the company save 85% on customer support costs. The company’s monthly budget for this service is only about $100 (equivalent to VND2.4 million).
*Character names have been changed upon request
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