I shop online: easier browsing, less hassle, no lines. It works great until it doesn’t. Or, more like…until I doesn’t.
I add some items to my digital cart. I zoom in on the screen of my well-loved and well-worn iPad, deciding which items to save and which items to abandon. I tick off things on my list. I look at a random product and wonder about shipping.
I mess up.
I hit a button and get a Thank You For Your Purchase message instead of order details. Save me from myself.
I dash off an email to Customer Service, begging for a cancellation for my wrong order. I have served time on the other side of the phone/counter/smile; I know that my message rocketed into the queue of no promises, a black hole of possibility shrink-wrapped in procedures. I rest at the feet of the virtual rep who will soon (hopefully) read my message and manage the keystrokes necessary to fix my flub despite the stress and soul crushing nature of her job as a Customer Service employee.
Luckily, my mistake reaches a rep who is not burned out. Which means she carries on despite Corporate mandating she is not allowed to ignore the clock managing average response times or divert from the script or call out rude customers or use integrated software systems newer than 2002. Sometimes fixing customer issues resembles a MacGyver episode, scrambling for rubber bands and coffee at the last second to avert disaster, but instead of the next problem occurring next Monday at 9/8c, it’s now with the next person in line.
Deep breath.
The return message notes the order cancellation. The rep credits my account. Bliss.
Happy Holiday Shopping.
Adventures in Low Vision 