I’ve noticed lately that customer service agents are overly friendly.  Tonight I had to make several calls in preparation of my upcoming trip.  In nearly all cases, the customer service agents attempted to engage me in idle chit-chat.  When did that become a customer service “standard operating procedure”?  Tonight isn’t the first time I’ve noticed, but I hadn’t put two-and-two together until I had back-to-back customer service calls.

The gentleman at Verizon wanted to chat about the weather, what I did for a living, and how I must like what I do since I’ve been doing it for so long.

The gal at Ally Bank wanted to advise me to be careful and have fun on my travels.

I have to think it’s a distraction technique.  Maybe we won’t notice how long things are taking if they chit-chat with us.  I don’t know about others, but I hate idle chit-chat…ALWAYS.  I also hate talking on the phone.  The combination is nauseating.

I’m a “get it done” kind of person and anything that does not get me closer to my task at hand is a waste to me.  I don’t mean to be rude, but I suspect I come across that way at times..  Bitchy…right?

Have you noticed changes with customer service agents?  If you are a customer service agent, has there been recent trends to add idle chit-chat?