Calling Customer Service...

In case you didn't know, I am a supervisor at a call center for Progressive Insurance. A small portion of the calls I take regularly are people who are pissed about something and ask to speak to a supervisor. This is me. Now, when you call in and bitch about something on your policy, I can either do something for you or I can't. If I can't, there's no way you're getting what you want, whatever it is. Insurance is one of the most regulated businesses in the country. If it can't be done, it can't be done. Making you happy isn't worth my insurance license, or my job.

However, for some people, there are things I can do. I can give you what you're asking for or I can find a way to compromise so you at least get something, which makes you feel all warm inside because you feel like you won. This is generally based solely on my mood/willingness to be helpful at any given time. So here's a suggestion: whenever you call a company and request a supervisor, keep your language in check. If you start off the call by launching yourself into some profanity-laced tirade at me, you just lowered your chances of me doing something for you by about 50%. I understand you're upset. You wouldn't have asked for me if you weren't. But cursing, calling me names, etc, are not the way to go. Be polite. Ask for something like a civilized human being. Talk to me the way you would if we were face to face. Because you wouldn't start the cussing right away if we were face to face, trust me, I'm a big dude. And remember, frequent use of profanity just shows a lack of intelligence and language skills. I am not impressed that you can drop the F-bomb 4 times in one sentence. And you just made it a lot easier for me to tell you no.