While we can try to avoid as much human contact while traveling thanks to online booking sites, online check-in, etc., there’s still some level of interaction, which I think is a good thing. If it weren’t for interacting with customer facing employees, I think travel would be a lot more boring. We wouldn’t get to experience the good, the bad, and the ugly.
On the ugly front, I know the most annoying line for me is “Sir, you don’t understand what I’m saying.” I typically only hear that when I’m actually right and the agent doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Even if the agent were right, this line accomplishes nothing. It’s like when a kid asks their mom a question, and the mom responds with “because I said so.”
Unlike my last experience at the Holiday Inn JFK, the front desk agent during my overnight earlier this week wasn’t nearly as nice. Tianna, the agent, refused to enter my Priority Club number because United was paying for my stay. I tried to explain to her that I could still earn points for incidentals. She said no less than ten times that I didn’t understand what she was saying. Her best attempt at an explanation was “You earn points if you pay or even if a third party pays, but not if an airline pays.” Eh, and how would you categorize an airline?
Eventually she gave in, and not only did I earn points for the incidentals, but also for the stay (10,000+ points).
Anyone have some other classic bad customer service lines?
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.