Customer Service Kill'em with Kindness

 Come hang out with House and Josie as they dish outrageous work stories, laugh-out-loud moments, and the secret rules for surviving the office with a fake smile.  

This episode is all about the fine art of "killing with kindness".  From ninja-level eye-roll control to mastering the customer service voice that hides your internal screaming. Discussing how to survive the ridiculous requests like a pro...all while secretly laughing at the madness. 

Thank you for listening to Cubicle Confessions.  We hope you enjoy the show. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

Hi Josie. Hi, House. Welcome to Cubicle Confession.

SPEAKER_08 0:06

Ain't nobody got time for this.

SPEAKER_05 0:18

Welcome back to Cubicle Confessions after hours. Where emails are inset and the truth is violent.

SPEAKER_04 0:25

Let's be clear. Killing with kindness is not a weakness. It's a fine art without losing your sanity with a smile. So grab your composure and let's survive cubicle life together with kindness.

SPEAKER_05 0:44

Okay, so I just wanted to mention this is our 12th episode. So season one is coming to an end, and we will be be beginning season two when we post our next podcast. This is huge. It is, I know. We made it. I know. This is a huge episodes. That is a lot of episodes.

SPEAKER_04 1:08

Season two, we're gonna be bringing some fun stuff to you guys. I hope.

SPEAKER_05 1:16

I have so much compassion in me. I I hope I hope we can bring right to the table, you know?

SPEAKER_02 1:30

I don't even know what I'm saying anymore. Oh my gosh. Oh, Josie's getting emotional. This is a big day for us. Season one is wrapping up.

SPEAKER_05 1:42

Can you believe it? This all started because I brought up to you that I wanted to do a podcast with you. I was like, we talk and our banter is hilarious, and I love it. And I go, I think people need to hear this.

SPEAKER_04 1:55

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:55

And I think it's great.

SPEAKER_04 1:56

We are. I do too. Yeah, I can. I do too. We're really growing and yeah, we definitely are enjoying it, and we get a lot of laughs, and oh, this is amazing. It's fun to reminisce and oh my gosh, yeah. Give advice and talk about, you know, cubicles and confessing. Yes. We're tired.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

It's after nine. We're old and tired and want to go to bed soon. I just worked a frickin' eight-hour shift.

SPEAKER_05 2:32

I know. And then I come to do the podcast to let you people hear my beautiful voice.

SPEAKER_04 2:37

It's amazing. You're a rock star.

SPEAKER_05 2:41

So today's episode is customer service, kill them with kindness. I like the name. I do too.

SPEAKER_04 2:48

Because that's what we were taught was to kill 'em with kindness. And I don't know how I feel about that anymore, but it it's probably the best piece of advice because you don't want to allow people to get a rise out of you. You gotta play it safe, play it cool. I say that. I I totally agree with that. Just don't show emotion, don't show you're angry or irritated or ready to fucking throw something across the room or tell the person to shut the fuck up. This is the right to say what we want.

SPEAKER_02 3:26

Oh shut when you think about fuck up.

SPEAKER_05 3:29

I feel you get more when you're you're kind. Yeah. You know, when I'm on the phone asking for something, or if I need something from a coworker, I feel that they're they're more apt to help me.

SPEAKER_04 3:42

Oh, totally, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:43

Than if I'm like throwing my weight around. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04 3:47

Yeah, I mean, you don't want to be nasty and negative and then expect someone to bend over backwards to help you. Like it just doesn't work that way. And I think kill 'em with kindness for me is like when a client or a customer is being cruel or nasty or out of line, and you have to not break. You have to just be nice and take it and let it consume you for that entire moment and be gentle and kind and understanding, even if it kills you, and then eventually it does sort of kill you, it just makes you break and burn out, and you get so sick of being treated like absolute shit every day.

SPEAKER_05 4:34

See, this is where I feel like if I had that quick witty banter where I could just throw it back in their face quickly without them even knowing, and then just walk away. Like after you know, drop the mic, you know.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Done more for the world, men or women?

SPEAKER_09 4:49

Women, of course.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Of course. So who walked on the moon first? Who's the richest person in the world? Who invented the light bulb?

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Fair enough, but women gave birth to all of them.

SPEAKER_05 5:05

That is a gift. I don't I don't have that. I I want that. I gotta learn. I gotta learn how to be more like that.

SPEAKER_04 5:12

I used to be really good at being killing them with kindness and being very patient and let them bitch at me for 20 minutes and just take it and not react at all. And I just I'm to the point now where I've did that for so long that I cannot do it anymore. Like, if if you come at me, I'm just like immediately just like fuck this, like defensive, just like don't mess with me. I can't take it, I can't handle it, I don't want to listen to you, I don't care what happened to you. I don't want to know about it. I don't want to know about TMI, all of this stuff, and please don't yell at me or blame me or take whatever problems you're having out on me. And so I feel like the I am the epitome of well, you never know what the person's going through. That's what I was just gonna say. I would put myself in, they're just aggravated, they're in pain, they're suffering.

SPEAKER_05 6:17

But what usually happens when you when you're talking to someone and they're bitching at you and you're killing them with kindness, what do they say? It's not your fault. I'm sorry I'm taking it out on you. Well, some of the wack-adoos, you know, they're just they're special in their own way.

SPEAKER_04 6:34

Sorry, I just needed to vent. Just needed to vent. I used to do customer service. This is how I really, after I waitressed for years, I did customer service at MT Bank, and they actually train you. That the training is very intense. And they train you how to not show any type of emotion or anger, and they basically teach you how to kill them with kindness. You know, just don't say anything, just let them vent. The only time you can disconnect a call is if they swear at you or make any sort of like derogatory remark, you can disconnect the call, but that's it. If they are just screaming and yelling and acting crazy, you have to sit there and listen to it and take it and not say anything.

SPEAKER_05 7:30

But if they started like going beyond that, was it at your own discretion to disconnect the call, or you just were like, no, I'm disconnecting the call? You couldn't.

SPEAKER_04 7:38

So if they always recorded your call, so if say you disconnected and it just happens to be one that they listened to, you could get in so much trouble. And thinking back, I did there were a couple times I had to disconnect a call because they were just so out of line. And they weren't swearing, they were just yelling and nasty, and I was just at my breaking point, I couldn't handle it, and I just was like, okay, see ya, can't do it.

SPEAKER_05 8:05

Did you ever get in trouble for disconnecting a call or anything like that? No, I didn't.

SPEAKER_04 8:10

You really are a good employee. No, I am I was too good. I'd be nowadays I'm just so bitter, I'd be disconnecting all sorts of calls. Fuck this.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

We're sorry. You have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service.

SPEAKER_05 8:33

That would be that would be great. They'd be like, hi, my name is you're like, click. No, thank you. Fuck you. I'm not talking to you today. Today's not my day.

SPEAKER_04 8:47

Yeah. You know, the customer is always right. The client is always right.

SPEAKER_03 8:52

Oh, I don't think that's true. That's it's not true, but that's I think it brings more customers in.

SPEAKER_05 8:58

That's why they say the customer is always right, but the customer isn't always right.

SPEAKER_04 9:02

Oh no, no. And and I think nowadays, more and more managers and employers are taking the side of the employee. Like, hey, don't talk to them that way. They should. They should. And I remember one time it was at one of the many offices we worked at together. I was at the front desk and a crazy psychotic man came in and was screaming and yelling and making a scene. And and all the and all of the um higher-ups, higher-ups, they shut their doors. I actually I actually felt extremely uncomfortable to the point where I I didn't know what to do. And the guy, he was like, I'm not leaving, I'm not leaving till I see someone, and he was outraged. And I got in trouble for going into the office of one of the higher-ups and saying, Hey, like, can you help me? I don't know what to do. And I got in trouble. I was told never to do that again.

SPEAKER_05 10:07

Which one was it that that came to the office and I pulled him aside before he got to you? And he was talking about uh, do you see the elephants in the and the lights? Do you remember that guy? Was he homeless? No, no, he was a client.

SPEAKER_04 10:27

He was psychotic. I do remember that, but I I know that you said that. It's try it's coming back a little bit.

SPEAKER_05 10:33

Because I think he I want to say he came up and you were at the front desk, and I want to say it was the same guy that came before. And you you you were like away, you are gone doing something. And and when one of the coworkers had told me that it was the same person, so I stepped in and I I pulled him aside to be like, you can't just show up, you need to make an appointment. And after that one, that was when finally they put the buzzer in downstairs. Holy shit, it's about fucking time. That you couldn't just come up the elevator, you had to buzz in because it took me a while to escort him back out to the elevator. And he he kept saying, Can't you see the elephants in the wood? I wish we could me being like, Yes, I do. Oh my god, they're amazing. Well, for right now, let's just put a pin in it and let's just walk to the door. And he's like, Okay, you know, that's great, blah blah blah. Yeah, but then after that, he thought I was amazing because I spent time with him. Yes, and then he kept calling the office asking for you. Yeah, and then the one he finally stopped in was like, you can't call and ask for her all the time, she's not gonna be available.

SPEAKER_04 11:50

Yeah, I think it's hard in that position of where you're killing them with kindness and you're helpful and going above and beyond, but it gets to a point where it's weird and then no one has your back. Right, and it's stalkerish. It's stalkers. Like the guy that wanted to get me tattooed on his back.

unknown 12:08

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 12:10

I don't know if I remember them.

SPEAKER_04 12:11

Do you remember that? That could be a big one.

SPEAKER_05 12:12

Wait, was that what the was that that wasn't the one with the hat, was it? Remember the gangster guy we all thought was a part of the mob. Oh yeah, he gave me a hat.

SPEAKER_04 12:23

Yeah, it was the one that won. He wasn't the one that was. No, no, this was a different guy. Oh gosh, I don't think I know this. Oh, this was so weird. So he it was I was killing the guy. I because I killed him all of kindness for so I did such a good job. He was, you know, younger guy, super nice. He was, I think, divorced, had a kid, super nice guy, very nice. And he called, he know, he friended me on Facebook. You know, nowadays I would have ignored any client or customer befriending me on Facebook. Like, but back then things were much different, and I was like, oh, that's so nice. And I'm just like an idiot, just like, oh, yeah, whatever. I'll friend, y'all accept it, whatever. So it was just a quiet afternoon, didn't have an appointment or anything, came in asking if one of the workers was available, one of his, you know, and he was sits down, and and now, mind you, nobody's around. It is the afternoon, it is quiet. I am downstairs alone. Oh god, completely alone. Oh, that's so scary. And I'm he's sitting on the step and he's talking to me, and we're shooting the shit, whatever. And then he starts telling me about a tattoo that he wants to get, and he wants my opinion on the tattoo. And I was like, Oh, cool, like what that's really awesome. Like, what are you thinking about getting? And he said he wanted to do a back piece, and he wants to know if he could use my face as the angel, because he wanted a big ass angel. Holy fuck covering his back, and he wanted my face.

SPEAKER_06 14:09

Oh, hell no.

unknown 14:11

Thank God.

SPEAKER_04 14:12

I know, and he was like, It was so weird, and I just remember getting like really anxious. What did you say though? I don't even know. I I don't remember this at all. You know, would that be okay if I use a picture of you and I go to the tattoo artist for them to sketch it, and you know, I because I want to do like big wings, but I and I just want like your face, and I was like, Oh my god, um, okay. I I don't even know. I I just I think I was completely stunned and didn't know how to react or what to say. What do you say to that? What do you what would you say to that? I mean, and I'm sitting down there, I don't know, and no one is there, and and I'm just and and I think like the phone rang or something, and I was like, oh thank god, thank you, God, because this is getting weird. And I I told the higher-ups about it, and they basically were like, That's very weird. Don't ever be alone with him, or don't you know, I don't want you talking to him anymore. So basically, after that happened, I never saw him again. That was the last time. So I don't think they said something. Possible I don't know. I don't know what happened, but they must have said, keep him out of here, because that that's weird, right? But I remember at the time thinking it was so weird, but the older I get, now that I'm that was like over 10 years ago, I think it's even more creepy than than I did then. Oh my gosh, I don't I don't even know what what would you even say? I I don't I mean, I honestly don't remember. I probably just laughed or said something, you know, okay.

SPEAKER_05 15:48

I don't I don't even know. I I think I would be like, what yeah by my face? Yeah, like it's it's super weird. Oh, I don't even know. I'm so caught off guard by that.

SPEAKER_04 16:01

That's um that's almost like psychotic, like like obsessive, like uh stalker, yes, stalker-ish, because it and that was the other thing. It wasn't like we were friends, oh like we weren't dating chainsaw massacre, leather face, yes, like like he didn't want to draw my face on his body, he wanted to like stick it to my body, it would be cut it off and stick it away.

SPEAKER_05 16:23

Yeah, like it'd be on him forever and everything, it's just messed up. Isn't that weird? And could you imagine? Now this is my dirty mind. Oh no, could you imagine if he was looking at his back in a mirror while he was no no no no that's no no no no no no no that is so disgusting.

SPEAKER_04 16:43

I could see that that's so pretty. No, no, no, that is so gross, and that was like just really like who who says this? And it like I said, uh he was just a client, it wasn't a friend, it wasn't someone that I've known or anything, it was just the guy that we're we're killing him with kindness.

SPEAKER_05 17:03

When when do we draw the line?

SPEAKER_04 17:05

Right, when do you draw the line? And even then, I and I'm sitting there like I should have been able to say, Hey, that's weird, I'm uncomfortable, right?

SPEAKER_05 17:13

But I didn't. No, don't do that. No, like that's my face. What if I want to tattoo it on my back?

SPEAKER_04 17:19

Yeah, right. That's me. Like, if you're gonna be using my face for tattoos for that'll be on you for the rest of your life, so weird.

SPEAKER_05 17:29

I only had one stalkerish client that I killed with kindness, and it was that um the one client that would come in all the time. Oh yeah, every time he would come in a lot, and he would call the office a lot too. Yes, he would talk to me about everything, yes, and I'm like, you know, you really need to talk to the the higher ups. Like, I'm really it's not really my place to say anything, and he'd always be like, Well, I'm so comfortable talking with you, you're so honest and easy to talk to, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:00

And I think he asked you out, didn't he ask you out to like dinner? And he did she's a married, what is going on?

SPEAKER_05 18:09

Like, why are you asking people out? But when he did, I was I kind I politely told him I was like, No, thank you. The offer's very nice, but you know, if you want to buy buy lunch for everyone in the office, that would be a good one.

SPEAKER_03 18:20

Because everyone technically helped you.

SPEAKER_05 18:23

Yeah, no, it wasn't anything like that at all.

SPEAKER_04 18:26

So that's where killing them with kindness might uh get a little get a little scary. You don't want to be too nice, or like the time that the murderer came in, the murder the guy who murdered someone. Oh my gosh. And we didn't know. They kept it a secret and we didn't know.

SPEAKER_05 18:42

They didn't tell us that he murdered someone and was like scary jail.

SPEAKER_03 18:46

Here he is, just right there. Or he got out of jail.

SPEAKER_05 18:49

Didn't he get out of jail? Wasn't that what happened? He was in jail and got out of jail.

SPEAKER_04 18:53

And then it came up the office. Yeah, we found out later. It was years and years after it happened, but he was off too. And you know, I killed him with kindness, and while he's killing somebody else, and just a lot of a lot of killing going on there.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

And um that was uncomfortable.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

I think my big This is why I like to stay in my house most days and not leave and not talk to people. I think it's I'm ruined from all these nice people.

SPEAKER_05 19:21

I think I've become an introvert. Like I prefer to just stay home and and not deal with the outside world because I just everything I do is wrong or I'm too kind.

SPEAKER_04 19:36

I there's this perfect little divot in my couch, and I say I get there and I say here I am safe.

SPEAKER_02 19:44

This is my safe place. I just and it's my happy place. I don't want to ever leave that divot. I don't want to deal with the murderers, I don't want to deal with the drunks, I don't want my face tattooed on a man's back. I don't wonder what I wonder what our QBs think we did for a living when we're talking about murderers and drunks.

SPEAKER_03 20:09

We have a plethora of backgrounds. We do, we do. It's true.

SPEAKER_05 20:15

You believe it or not, I had more chaotic people and psycho people in an office setting than I did when I was a waitress working or when I was a bartender. Totally. Totally. I don't know why. When I was a bartender, loved my clientele amazing. They loved me, I loved them. They were very cordial, maybe because I was feeding them alcohol. I don't know. When I was a waitress, same thing on Christmas holidays. People used to sing the first Josie, the first Josie, when they wouldn't get my attention. It was so cute. It was absolutely adorable. And I loved it. It was it was so cute. But I get into an office setting and it's a totally different ball game. Totally.

SPEAKER_04 21:00

Typically, when people go out to eat, they're having fun where they're sitting at the bar, they're having a good time, they're getting drinks. Sometimes you get the occasional like mean drunks or people who are overserved and they're just belligerent. But right, for the most part, they're out just to have a good time. In our profession, people were in trouble, or they were in pain, or they were broke. Yeah. They had no money, they couldn't, you know, pay big house. They needed, they needed like serious help. And yes, some did need actually need help, and then some didn't need help. Some were fake.

SPEAKER_05 21:36

And I do notice that the people that really needed help that were hurt the most were the kindest. Yes, they were. They were always the kindest. Oh, I'm so sorry I'm bothering you. Oh, I don't mean to ask so many questions. And we're like, No, you should. Like, this is this is your thing. Like, you need to do that. And the people that hobbled along and you knew were Were complete fakers and weren't in that detrimental stage in whatever they were going through. They were the dickheads, they were the bitches, they were the assholes, and they were the ones that we had to kill with kindness the most.

SPEAKER_04 22:15

Oh, yeah. You know who had good customer service? Who I know we've been kind of nostalgic today talking about the 90s. Remember Cleo, the psychic? Like, call Cleo. Call me now for your free reading. Remember, Cleo? No. From like the 90s, she was the Psychic Friends Network lady. No. Like, hi, it's me Cleo. Like, call me now. You don't remember Cleo? No. I gotta look her up now. You might know if you see a commercial, because she she was all over the place. Like late 90s, early 2000s. I'm gonna have to look her up. Hang on. Now that is true customer service, Cleo. Psychically. I was thinking well, I actually my friend sent me a meme with Cleo, and I was like, oh, I remember I called her. I do not remember Miss Cleo at all. No, not at all. My ex-boyfriend from high school, we called Cleo. It was just a big scam. So we our relationship was falling apart, and we Cleo was just always on TV, and we were like, we should call Cleo. Maybe she can help us. So we call the Psychic Friends Network hoping to get Cleo. We got Jazz and she did our tarot reading, and she said that we had poor communication, which I don't think we needed jazz and to tell us that. Um, so anyway, my parents got a $75 phone bill from Jazz from that phone call. And what happens is when you call these people, they call you back, they will call every day. And raise up the price. If you answer the phone, it immediately starts charging. Now, this is for our younger audience. Who never does call-ins? The things were a little different back then. You could we had house phones and you could like get charged for certain phone calls. Um, and that was one of them. And I remember just like the great customer service, and then Cleo herself called our house, left a voicemail. The Cleo. Fuck. But I think what happened too if your answering machine picked up, it would charge because it was can considered like it answering the phone for use. Oh my god. But they wouldn't stop calling. Now that is true customer service, the psychic friends network. So if you really need some inspiration, you're having some trouble, call the psychic friends network. They're not in the service with the smile. But no, I mean that was, you know, they were like, We're gonna call and we're gonna be there and we're gonna help you with our tarot cards.

SPEAKER_05 25:04

Wow, no, I have never called Miss Cleo. No, no, I probably well, she's dead. I know I saw online. I wasn't gonna say anything because I didn't want to be a downer, but R.A.P.

SPEAKER_04 25:16

Miss Cleo. R A P 2016. There's a really good documentary about her.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

Cleo. There's a really good documentary on HBO. If you have HBO, you should check it out. It's really good. It's about the whole scheme. It's a scheme. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 25:32

So um a lesson learned. Yeah, but yeah, great customer service.

SPEAKER_05 25:38

They call you back multiple times.

SPEAKER_04 25:40

They do, and that's what you should do in customer service. You you kill them with kindness, you just you get disconnected, you call back.

SPEAKER_05 25:48

You where I feel like above and beyond you need to have the biggest kill them with kindness is when you're dealing with a corporate atmosphere. With the HR. And and just to say out there, HR is not the employee's friend. No, they are there to make sure that you don't fuck up the company. Yes, they will throw you under the bus every chance they get.

SPEAKER_04 26:14

Oh, yeah, definitely. Because they're not in it for you, they're in it for themselves and they're in it for the company. Yeah, so whatever they have to do to save that company, and which is you know, I just kind of feel like, and I've learned this over the years, just your job, there's no one there that's protecting you, there's no one that has your back. No one is your true friend. I mean, you obviously I'm talking about like higher ups, like that you're never safe. No, and even when it comes to serious situations, you're good luck. I'm talking sexual harassment, I'm talking bullying. You you might be made out to be the villain at the end of the day, right?

SPEAKER_05 27:02

That's sad. It's sad that you have to protect yourself like that, but it is sad. That's just the way of the world. It is. That's why we gotta have strong backbones in here. Right. Don't get emotional when you start bringing shit up like me. This happened to me. The other two I am the worst.

SPEAKER_04 27:25

That's okay. Sometimes it's okay to show a little emotion and it shows you care. It shows that you know you're doing your best and you sometimes shit is fucked up and you you get upset about it. You're human.

SPEAKER_05 27:38

Right? I ag I I I agree because I am definitely that person. I have two emotions. Either I strike back because I'm angry and I just I say what I want to say, or I don't say anything and I internally cry.

SPEAKER_04 27:56

That is crying is the worst. I know I internal cried. I remember it was the first week at a new job, and I internal cried for an entire day. And then as soon as I got in my car, I just let it out. Let those I don't think I ever cried so much. I just was a wreck. I cried for hours. I came home, I'm still crying. My husband just didn't know what to do.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

I'm like, I I can't get it together. So bad. I wonder, do men go through these emotional cycles that women go through?

SPEAKER_05 28:30

Like, do they walk into an office and feel confident and then realize there's a dynamic and they're not a part of that dynamic? They kind of get taken back a little bit. Really good question. Find their spot. I would love to talk to a man. Like, or do they just come in and they're just like a bulldozer and they're just like, I'm the man, I'm gonna do everything that you do but better, and they're gonna notice me and fuck you, you know.

SPEAKER_04 28:56

You can do I can do better.

SPEAKER_05 28:59

I can do anything better than you. No, you can't.

SPEAKER_04 29:02

Yes, I can't. No, you can't. Yes, I can! You can't.

SPEAKER_03 29:10

I really wonder. I wonder too. Because I know I know females are emotional too.

SPEAKER_04 29:14

But even if you asked a male, would they be able to admit the truth? Because I feel like a lot of men put on now. I love men, but aren't you? Sometimes you guys put on a front. Yeah, you put on like a persona that, you know, I'm Mr. Tough, I'm not no dynamic bothers me, and like but but it might. It might. Does it does it help? Answer us.

SPEAKER_05 29:37

I don't tell us. I don't have the parts of that, so I have no idea if that does. I mean, everyone I've ever come across shows like they I've never worked with uh a male coworker where I saw them break down. Like they've always been strong. I don't think I've ever seen a male coworker cry. Um I've seen them get upset, but I've never I've never seen them like get so frustrated that they like step back.

SPEAKER_04 30:10

So, Josie, how would you handle a very angry client or customer?

SPEAKER_05 30:17

Whatever you want. You're upset, I'll try and fix it for you. Yeah, I listen to you. I'm so sorry. I'm very understanding. I I really do, I I really do let a lot of clients vent on me, and then usually what I end up saying is, I hear you. I do, I really hear you, and I'm so sorry you're going through this, but I'm trying to work this out with you. Like if they're so to the point, then I just then I I go further and I just say, I'm not the enemy here. Like I'm I'm here to help you. Help me help you.

SPEAKER_04 30:53

Yeah, sometimes they do need to be reminded of that. Yeah, you're here to help, you're not the enemy. Yes, you can go ahead and vent and complain all you want, but at the end of the day, I didn't do this to you. I'm here to help you. I'm working for you, right? And with you to figure out what how to fix your problems.

SPEAKER_05 31:13

You're fucking struggling. My mom and me wants to come and help you with that watch.

unknown 31:19

It's like stuck.

SPEAKER_04 31:20

I know I'm trying to put my watch back on and it won't. I can't. I took it off for so my wrist could breathe.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

I should answer your question and watch it at the same time.

SPEAKER_04 31:29

My wrist breathe for a second, and then I'll put it back on if it goes on. I know. Oh my god. It's okay. I don't need it. I don't need to know what time it is or what my heart rate is right now. I don't need to.

SPEAKER_05 31:42

I forgot to wear mine today. I have it on all the time too, and I forgot to put mine on today.

SPEAKER_04 31:47

Well, it's funny because like the I had to take out a bunch of links, uh-huh, and it's a little tight sometimes. Like when I get warm, it it gets like kind of tight.

SPEAKER_03 32:03

Does your wrists swell? I don't know. Probably. I'm full of hormones and anger. I'm sure it does. Well, we should really get in customer service now. I know no one would hire me. I fucking hate people so much now.

SPEAKER_04 32:19

I because I killed so many people with kindness. And at this point, mojo. You look at your kindness, mojo. When you can't be kind, you can just kill. When you can't be kind, just kill. Oh because I they killed me. They killed my my nice girl energy.

SPEAKER_05 32:40

I find that I am the most kind. I'm the most kind in the beginning of a job.

SPEAKER_04 32:48

Yeah, me too. I'm always motivated and excited to be there.

SPEAKER_05 32:54

She has such Oh, she got it!

SPEAKER_02 32:57

You have such determination. I really wanted to know your heart rate.

SPEAKER_04 33:03

You know, I need to know if I'm I've got a palpitation. Make sure I'm good. But yeah, I just I don't know. I I feel just like a bitter old lady now. Like I I killed so many people with kindness for so many years. Even now, when I do my job, and maybe somebody's been a little, you know, overserved. I kind of just I'm I'm nice, but I I kind of just stopped speaking.

SPEAKER_05 33:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:34

You know, after a while, I'm just don't say anything. Or like the one job I had at like a month ago, I got there, they pissed me off, and I said, you know what, I'm just gonna pack my stuff and leave. Right. So I'm just gonna I'm just gonna go. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna leave. Oh no, no, no, don't do that. Well, you didn't know we were coming, number one. Well, you did know, but you didn't care, you didn't set up. There's nowhere to park. I drove an hour and a half to get here, sat in traffic, and now I come here and you're yelling at me for where I'm parking where your co-worker told me to. Right. So I was just like, you know what? I'm gonna go. I'm gonna pack up my car.

SPEAKER_05 34:13

I'm just gonna go. I find that I cut people off a lot more when they're trying to tell me their sorrow story. So they'll be telling me something, and I'm just like, yeah, that's not the question I asked you. So can we just kind of get back on topic? Like, I think I'm just more direct now. You have to be. I just I hope no one ever goes back to like my boss and they're like, She was rude, and blah blah blah. But I always make sure, even though I'm direct and I kind of move the conversation forward at the end. I'm always, do you have any other questions? Can I help you with anything else? Is there anything that I explain that doesn't make sense to you that you need me to go over again? So I kind of end it on a happy note for them, yes, just to make them feel that I'm killing them with kindness. Yes, yeah. So I don't know. Yeah. And emails, emails are my biggest pet peeve with not only customer service, but killing them with kindness because emails are so they have no feeling.

SPEAKER_04 35:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 35:15

So the the feeling that is explained in the email is the feeling that the reader's gonna get. So if I email someone and I say, Hey, how's that project going? If that person hates me, they're gonna read it like, Hey, how's that project going? And they're gonna start getting defensive on it and not read it in the tone in which I want that's what I wanted to say. Emails don't have tones. Yes, don't always read an email in like this psychotic tone, you know, unless it like comes back aggressive, you know, like going forward or in the future, those words, even if they're not meant to to hit a nerve, they are hit my nerves. Yeah. Per my last, you know, and per my last email, I don't find that offensive. I don't know why that's becoming an offensive thing. It's like you're just reiterating what you already told them. So why couldn't you say per my last email? It's the word per. Oh, the purr.

SPEAKER_04 36:14

And it we're not talking about P-U-R-R. Like that. We're talking about P-E-R, like purr my last email. Like you're almost reiterating something that you should have seen or should have seen, and then you just feel like shit, it's the word purr. I've used that a few times. I have too. Sometimes you need to. Sometimes I like to work differently. Per my last email. I I could see where it could be taken wrong, but I I typically didn't that that phrase didn't bother me.

SPEAKER_05 36:47

Like I I looked up certain things like uh how you could respond in a non-aggressive way to an aggressive email, and and the responses I pulled up and wrote down and jotted are just they seem too happy for me. Like I don't think I would respond the way they say. I want to hear. Like the one response is hi there, happy to clarify with the smiley face. Do you see that one?

SPEAKER_04 37:14

I don't think I could do that. It sounds like you're trying way too hard to kill them with kindness.

SPEAKER_05 37:19

Yeah, like the other thing is like um Hi there, happy to clarify. Oh, do the um the unhappy event the unhappy client response.

SPEAKER_04 37:34

Unhappy client email. This is unacceptable. You're wrong. How do you respond?

unknown 37:44

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 37:47

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I completely understand your frustration.

SPEAKER_05 37:54

I don't think I could do that. That's not how I respond to things. That just seems very fake.

SPEAKER_04 38:00

Yeah, it does seem fake. But they're saying it sounds like AI. Right? You know what I mean? Like it's it doesn't sound like a human even communicating.

SPEAKER_05 38:08

If someone wrote me, this is unacceptable, you're wrong, I would say, oh, my apologies. Can you explain to me where I am wrong? You know, I must I must have not completely not completely like the completely understood. I understand your frustration. I would never say that. I'd be like, oh, let me help you through this, or let's talk this out, or let's go over something.

SPEAKER_04 38:31

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's it's really hard to respond to an email like that.

SPEAKER_05 38:43

This one sounds condescending to me, like a response where you get an angry coworker and he says, We already discussed this. Oh. And then it says, Happy to resend the information below for your convenience. That just seems passive aggressive to me.

SPEAKER_04 39:01

Nobody's happy. You're lying. No one's happy, and they don't want to resend you the information. And we already discussed this, and why I mean this doesn't even make any sense. What did they discuss? What information? It sounds like the person who's saying, Oh, I see.

unknown 39:20

I see now.

SPEAKER_04 39:22

Yeah, don't write any of that.

SPEAKER_05 39:24

Just that's what that's where some of the examples that popped up when I when I researched it, but that doesn't that's not how the real world works. No, like you just have to talk to a human like a fucking human, the way you'd want to be talked to. Right. You're if someone's coming at you hot and and they're just putting their you know aggressions in your face, you know, just think about when you're hot and then just respond to them. Be like, all right, I got this, you know, I got the information you're looking for, or sorry I didn't get back to you. You know, I I put it on my to-dos. Yeah, you know, unless this is urgent, I'll move it up. You know.

SPEAKER_04 40:03

You know, it's funny when I worked for um the bank. I mean, speaking of AI and not sounding like you almost sounding like a robot, you know, it's very corporate. You had this language you had to follow for the phone calls, and like it would always start out welcome to MT Bank. This is house. How can I direct your call or how can I help you, or whatever? And then it's like and then I remember I got in trouble once because the end of the call, you had to say, Thank you for calling MNT, have a great day. And you did, and I I said, Oh, thank you so much, have a great day. And they were like, I literally got spoken to by two managers. Uh you everything sounded great, except you didn't say thank you for calling MNT. You have to say MNT in the beginning and the end of the calls. And now I'm thinking about it.

SPEAKER_02 40:58

Why does that matter?

SPEAKER_04 40:59

They've got their they've got their wish. They have AI, they have robots literally answering these calls now. And I mean, I don't know. I always felt like I sound like a robot, like I don't even sound human because I'm thank you for calling MNT. You have a great day. Like you're just you sound like an asshole. Yeah. And it's I don't know, it was just you gotta follow the language, you gotta follow the language, but yeah, but I'm talking to a person. Like, how do you follow a script?

SPEAKER_05 41:27

I actually had to talk to a person the other day, and it was through a state agency. And they must have had a script of what they could say as a response to my questions that I needed to ask. Yes, I got so frustrated, and I had to ask, I asked the same question five different ways because he was not answering the question that I was asking. Oh my gosh. And finally I got to a point where I I said on the phone, I go, Can you please stop repeating the script that's on your piece of paper and actually give me a response? I said, Because if you're unable to give me the answers that I need, I go, then I need a supervisor. So they connected me with the supervisor and she started doing the same thing. And I'm like, stop. Oh my God. Stop. All I need is the information. If you can't give me the information, can it be facts to me? Can it be email to me? Can you send it to me in a letter? I'm like, because your responses are not a response to the question I am asking. And I'm like, I'm really, and I told her, I go, I'm really starting to get upset. I'm like, because I need one answer, one answer to one question. I go, and you guys are going around the world. And and then finally she like broke script and she's like, we can't give that information over the phone. She's like, I can factual a letter if you want. And I was like, thank you. But why did I have to talk to two people? Oh my god. Or I got the information I needed. It was ridiculous.

SPEAKER_04 42:59

Unbelievable. It was so bad. That is just so frustrating. Oh, I completely understand your frustration, Josie. You fucking bitch.

SPEAKER_03 43:14

Your call is very important to us. Damn.

SPEAKER_04 43:22

Well, I'm not upset anymore now. I know, because your call is so important to us. It's not your fault. I don't know why I'm taking it out on you. It's not just your call, it's you. You are very important. Oh, I feel so special right now. Yes. Yes. And see, you have a way. I know. I know is all that training at the bank on how to deal with irate customers. And the monotone voice. Just stay calm. Don't raise your voice. Just kill them with kindness. And if you can't be kind, just kill them. Kill him. Those are my words of encouragement. That's where I am. In my twenties and thirties, I was killing him with kindness, and now I'm in my forties, and I'm like, fucking kill him.

SPEAKER_05 44:19

Oh my gosh, that was so great. Um you had some you had some words you wanted to offer to the QBs.

SPEAKER_04 44:26

I did. So earlier on a Mel Robbins wisdom fan page, and Mel Robbins, she's a rock star. She's got a great book out there. She's always trying to make our lives easier. And sometimes with our jobs, I think we forget to look after us and we're busy with work and we're overwhelmed and we're not taking our breaks. And we're family. Yeah, it's just we're just busy all around. So this is from Mel Robin's Wisdom page. It says your job is a part of your life, not your entire life. Take your lunch break without guilt, log off when your work hours end, protect your weekends, take your holidays, use your PTO, use your sick days. You were hired to do a job, not to sacrifice your peace, your health, or every moment of your personal life. Work hard, yes, but never forget your life outside of work matters more. Your job is not your life.

SPEAKER_05 45:37

Those are powerful words.

SPEAKER_04 45:38

They are. And I think it's so important. And I've read so many things like this, so much. But I think we all need to like read this every day because you forget, you don't think about it. You're you make your job, you're spending eight hours of your day at the office or place of employment, and then you're driving there, you're driving home from there, you're you're there more than you're in your own house. There, you're there more than you're with your family, and it's very American, and it's bullshit, and people forget what's really important. They do and it's easy to do, and there's no we all have been there where we just get consumed by work. Oh god, yeah. You know, I can't even tell you how many times I didn't take lunch. Uh same.

SPEAKER_05 46:29

Just thinking if I get that one more thing out, you know, I'll make yeah. I'll just make life easier for everyone in the, you know, in the office. Or if I do this one thing, then I'll make my my day easier, you know. Or if I do one more I I was always that. I was always that work through my lunch type of person. I still am. I still I still do it. Oh sure. But the difference is is I leave right at five. Like I clock in when I clock in, like my my day starts and I clock out right at five. You know, far and few in between do I stay late. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:04

That's that's huge too. Yeah, yeah. Because I I we've worked places too where they kind of expected you to stay late. Oh, I can't believe everyone just leaves. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:14

Yeah, it's five o'clock, everyone's leaving.

SPEAKER_04 47:16

Yeah, because we want to go see our families. We we don't want to we want to try to beat the traffic. We want to eat dinner at home. We were hungry, we didn't have lunch, right?

SPEAKER_05 47:25

Because we worked through our lunch. But that's funny. They never noticed that we worked through our lunch. No, but they noticed that we left at five. Yeah, yeah. So you may as well have just taken that lunch.

SPEAKER_04 47:34

They would have, they would have never freaking line. No one would have cared. Take your damn lunch. Go to your lunch.

SPEAKER_05 47:42

Eat. Go to a nice drive-thru. Those are good words, though. I'm glad you came upon that. Those are good words. Well, I have some words of encouragement I can leave everyone with. Let's face it, we all want to snap. Some of us have, and that's okay. But don't let someone else's chaos dictate your professionalism. Let other people spiral while you stay steady. We are in 2026. We aren't matching energy, we are managing perception and collecting paychecks. Stay classy, cubies.

SPEAKER_04 48:19

Thank you for listening to Cubicle Confessions. Have a great day. Cubicle Confessions signing off.

SPEAKER_08 48:32

The world can be a nasty place. You know it, I know it. Yeah. We don't have to fall from good idea. But down the weapon. Okay. Okay. Go ahead now.