What can I say, it’s fun brightening other people’s day… so again, today, after lunch, I decided to ring up the customer service devision of a company I don’t use at all, just to say thanks to whoever picked up. You know, to spread some joy in a place that’s normally pretty joyless. This time I got the sound going right, next time I’ll get the chat going right. Did I tell you it’s something I plan on doing often? Er, to every company but U-haul obviously.
10 words I find fun: kerfuffle, whippersnapper, nipple, discombobulated, grommet, condiments, spork, floozy, boa, and dogapult ... more »
Sebastian: Wow. How fake can you get ? Thats obviously styrofoam most likely hanging from a thread in front of the...
Him: I had one of these years ago, although it had horizontal red and white stripes.
Jill: Awesome. Hilarious. And dead on about the freakin’ copier!!!
Laurent: I’ve known since a few days, it’s amazing. Those magical dolphins really help you. Spiritualy...
Munkeyhed: I ♥ Long Beach for doing this! WBC is such a joke.
Dylan: Loved it. I laughed so hard!!
David: Hey Jake.. this is Dave from I Am A Stuffed Animal.com .. I’d be happy to give you that bulk discount.
Jessie: 
that guy: omgs so cool
Emo: Kawai ) Also i love your sites’ template ^_^
October 8th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Web videos should probably be kept to 2 minutes or less. 6 minutes? You lost me at “hello.” Sorry.
October 8th, 2008 at 6:54 am
I can’t believe you got her to play with you. I would have pushed the rhyming game further.
October 8th, 2008 at 6:57 am
Uhaul must have dicked you over hard. They did it to me once too, pretty much ruined my move. The whole day I was planning ways to get them back, blogs I could launch, law stuff I could file, news people I could call. When I finally got unpacked, I just left well enough alone. I never really follow through with those kind of plans. I’m happy you do though, and in such a nice way!
October 8th, 2008 at 8:28 am
I’m really loving this series. Is there anyway you could catalog the various music various company’s use and what it says about them. I found Microsoft to be music that begins the day in some cartoon. Sally seemed really nice.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:21 am
I love this series. Can’t wait for the next one. I think the rhyming game was a highlight. More little games on these calls, please.
October 8th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I once thanked a street cleaner just for, huh, cleaning the place and getting no thanks (in fact most be seem to sneer at street cleaners don’t they?) Made their day, cost me nothing.
October 8th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
ohhh……I’m totally signing up your phone number for every robocall company in existence! (jk).
October 8th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Man, I work in IT and just hearing this call brightened my day!
I always make it a point to thank the people who are never thanked, it brightens everyone’s day! (and in the case of the guy that fills the vending machines, got me an unexpected free Twix bar
)
October 9th, 2008 at 10:28 am
I’m loving the comments they’re leaving on Youtube as well, and thought I might share a few:
SnakeDr007 says, “I think I might do this and add it as a response. Think I should call Microsoft?” I say, yes. They’re insanely nice over there. Verizon hung up on me almost right off, so, you know, what does that say.
D0kid0ki says, “This is amazing.
I used to work for a box office, and some of the patrons who called in would be just awful. Every now and then there would be a nice one, and they would COMPLETELY make my day. :D”
Jayceeloo says, “Thank you from one of your generally under and un-appreciated customer care representatives. Your example made me strive to remember the good rather than the bad at the end of the day.
It’s not a glamorous job, but as they say, someone has to answer the phones.”
October 9th, 2008 at 10:41 am
awwee how nice of you. i find being excessively nice to tele-CSRs help you get things sorted out much faster. might even get a few deals too.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
More good comments. YOU KNOW I LOVE COMMENTS. Even the not-so-nice ones. This latest bunch, from Neatorama about my phone call:
17 comments to “Thanking Customer Sevice Rep Just Because …”:
* Carl
October 8th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
I try to go out of my way to be nice and thank people with whom I have to do ridiculous phone business. As long as they speak English well and are trying to be helpful, I’m always polite. Heck, even if they don’t speak English well but are still trying to help, I’m not rude!
Some people still can be nice.
* corinne
October 8th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Man, I should take note of that. Maybe next time my friends and I are bored, we’ll call and thank customer service instead of leaving random people voicemails about their membership in the Socialist Party of America… XD
* panzyfaust
October 8th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
That’s cool. I’m sure that will be a story around the office for a while. I hope it didn’t effect her call stats though. It would crappy irony if his good intentions got her flack from her boss.
* Anthony
October 8th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
What a Danecookian level douche.
* fireflicker
October 8th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Sounds to me like he is just trying to get back at UHauls bad service…
* Tim
October 8th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Nothing like being incincere.
* Some Canadian Skeptic
October 8th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Okay, I’m doing this. I hope this becomes a meme.
* just a guy
October 8th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
People who work in call centers have their job performances ‘graded’ on several factors, and one of those factors is often call length. The higher, the worse (because, of course, that means a longer ‘on hold’ time for other callers).
If you want to do them a favor, be brief. They can’t tell you that they want to end the call, so if you go on for a long time, even being nice, it may end up hurting them.
Just something to consider..
* Johnny Cat
October 8th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
1. Although his premise is good, it comes off a little bit creepy.
2. He just broadcast his phone number and email address to the world, maybe.
3. She obviously didn’t write down his name or anything, and at the end it’s like , “Bye Sally.” Bye…”
entertaining though. at least he doesn’t seem self-conscious.
* Ali S.
October 8th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I think if anything people should just smile more and say thank you whenever you are dealing with a person providing a service like fast food and such. Just with that small thing you can help them feel human again after perhaps getting their heads chewed off by an irate customer.
* ted
October 8th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
He’s doing it for all the wrong reasons. And he’s telling people so he can show what a wonderful guy he is. He’s a flake. Call centre reps have stats. If you don’t even have an account, they can’t enter your stats on computer, and they can’t meet their quality scores for your particular call. They have varying Average Handle Times, and sales stats.
It also costs their company money for each call they receive. Think of all the useless calls a company could receive if a whole lot of people did this - this would increase costs, reducing the amount of money that call centre rep could get paid in wages and bonuses. It could increase the cost of a product, contributing to higher prices and inflation. Inflation leads to a downturn in the economy, and recession. Recession leads to depression, which leads to war, as countries across the globe begin to vie for presious resources. War leads to inevitable annihilation of the human race.
Thanks for helping to annihilate the human race. Have a nice day.
* ted
October 8th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
(and, yes, I know it’s spelled “precious” - oops!)
* avist
October 8th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Nice.
* Stolia
October 8th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Just a Guy and Ted are correct (although Just a Guy is too mild, Ted too heated).
CSRs might have a thankless job, but the last thing they need is this guy calling them.
This guy thinking he’s doing CSRs (customer service representatives) a favor is like handing out Betty Crocker Cookbooks to the homeless and believing you’re doing them a great favor.
Plus, yeah, they can’t even hang up on him or tell him why he’s doing the opposite of making their day. Poor things.
* Botanica
October 8th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Anyone that thinks this is a bad thing should actually work in a call centre first and see what is like to be yelled at, talked down, measured, and generally being depressed by your job on a daily basis. That video actually brought tears to my eye because what he’s doing to the reps isn’t killing their call handling time, CSAT, or sales. He’s actually improving the mood of that rep and really brighten up that person’s day. henceforth that rep might be able to do a better job on the next call(s).
The one bad thing with that is he sounds like a bit drunks/high…..the rep is completely off guard in the beginning. Had he just not waste the time with the seemingly fake information and tell her straight that he wants to thank her for it. then she would probably be even happier.
p.s. don’t piss off any customer service reps, you will miss out on a lot of sweet things that reps offer to nice people.
* ECA
October 8th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
I learned two things LONG ago..
1. SUCK UP, to the person on the other end..
REALLY be nice, and funny. PEOPLE being PEOPLE, enjoy it, even if the person is IGNORANT.
2. PLAY DUMB. REALLY play DUMB, they take pitty on you and EXPLAIN EVERYTHING 1 step at a time, as IF you were a NOOB. They might even send you to TECh support to the best person available, insted of the NOOB on the job.
* Nat
October 8th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Whoa.
You’re all so harsh.
The guy is having a good time and trying to spread it.
Personally, I think laughter and a thank you is worth a lot more than my company stat sheets and how much I get paid.
Analyzing this guy’s character, how she responded, timetables, statistics, and everything else is really just proving that you can’t be that guy. And that guy was just trying to be nice.
October 9th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Don’t let the nay-sayers get you down. I think this is an amazing thing you’re doing.
October 31st, 2008 at 1:57 am
i understand where youre coming from…lol….i do the same thing sometimes….i dont make it last as long though…i call zune support and im like hey my zune works fine…thanks…
November 6th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
I love it, Jake! You gave the website address unto them