r/CustomerService

Hi! I have a question for anyone that works as a customer service representative. I’m burnt out from overwhelm and wondered if anyone had any tips. My entire team struggles with responding to emails on time just due to the sheer volume we’re expected to handle.

I’ve been a CS rep for 5 years at my current workplace. On top of the incoming calls and chats that I must manage at once, I’m also expected to respond to emails. Pretty typical stuff, but holy shit I’m drowning? And I’m always drowning? I’m a “senior rep,” so on top of the basic stuff, I help with some social media cases and order processing. Sometimes there are hundreds of orders for me to review.

How do you manage an email queue of 300+ when there’s a new 20-30 emails every single day? I’m in calls and chats all day at once already. I’m lucky to get 5-10 done in between it all before the end of my shift.

Got any tips other than an absurd amount of overtime? Or am I fucked?

It really grinds my gears how dense and entitled some of these people are. They always have been, but it's getting worse over the years. For context, I work customer support for food delivery/online orders.

Most common question is "where is my order", usually when it's already been delayed, though not always. It's also one of the easiest questions to answer, just a glance at their order tracker that they themselves also have, but never believe. And it happens fairly often that it's just

"Hi I'm sorry for the delay, I see the driver is near though, should be about 5 minutes, maybe 10 depending on traffic"
"I've always been waiting two hours, I don't believe you, just give me the real delivery time"
"Those 5-10 minutes is the real delivery time"
"That's not true, you're lying to your customers"
"I understand it's frustrating you've been waiting so long, but I assure you it will be there in just a few minu-"
"I see your driver at the door, goodbye"

And they'll still leave a 1/5 rating because you "wasted their time" or "didn't give a useful answer".

Same goes for like, sales prices, or vouchers off. You'll literally write out the steps that 15% off of 20,- means they received a 3,- discount and paid 17,- total, and they'll just go "that's not correct, I disagree" Disagree with that, math? The calculator? What?

Like, people get wild in chat sessions because "get me to a human, no AI" or even get official sounding though not legally binding at all(and likely ai generated) messages that they "will not be spoken to by an AI, and it's their constitutional right to be spoke to be a human" like I get it, nobody likes AI, but wtf.

Anyway my point there was, people clearly want to speak to a human so badly, then get mad when they don't just obey by everything they say. Ironically, you're much better off convincing an AI to refund you for your "moldy laundry detergent" or "expired toilet paper".

I know it's a long standing trend people are like this, but I guess at least with physical retail, you're already there in the store might as well throw something at the wall and hope it sticks(it usually doesn't), but here you need to go out of your way to contact support, and still act like this... why take the effort to contact support then?

Sometimes they come

After closing time

There’s a ritual to it

They check the door

It’s locked

They look at the hours

We’re closed

They check the door

They look at the hours

They check the door

They look at the hours

They look inside

Don’t look back

No eye contact

This is kinda creepy

They check the door

One more time

Just in case something changed

They walk away

One time

This guy

Started knocking

I’m like

Oh god

Please go away

He didn’t

He kept knocking

I went to the door

Said

We’re closed

He acted like he couldn’t hear me

I cracked the door

Just a smidge

Like

I dare you to put fingers in here

Watch what happens

He didn’t

So I just told him

We’re closed

He asked

Can I order something?

I said

No

We’re closed

He said

What about

Just a coffee

I said

No

We’re closed

We don’t have anymore

He looked at me like

I was a crazy person

Said

What do you mean?

You close and just get rid of all the coffee?

I’m like

Yeah

That’s exactly right

Who would want to drink

Coffee

That’s been sitting on a burner

All night

It would taste gross

We’re trying to run a business here

I didn’t really say all that

Just the part about

Dumping all the coffee

Once we’re closed

Being a

Correct assessment of the situation

But I think

My expression

Said it all

He turned away

Looking all dejected

I felt kinda bad

But at the same time I’m like

Did that really just happen?

Support teams get sold a lot of shiny AI stuff but phone support feels like the real test. People usually call when they are confused, impatient or already frustrated. A clean 60 second demo does not tell you much about whether the system can handle a customer who is rambling, interrupting or trying to explain a messy issue. For folks working in support, what would an AI phone agent need to do before you would trust it with real customers?

This is more of a strategy question, than a tool question. But tools matters for the answer. Half of my team's volume is now handled by AI agnt which is great for the metrics but has created a weird problem, my human agents now only see the hardest tickets, the ones the AI escalates, which means their daily work is way more stressful and my coaching is much harder because the patterns are less clear.

I used to be able to listen to 10 random tickets in an edge case. How are other CS managers handling agent development when the easy reps are gone and only the hard stuff is left?

Ever have a customer who does this?

They want to buy a car but get annoyed and say, “how am I supposed to know that?” if you ask if they do off road excursions.

They want to buy a sweater but look at you like you are crazy if you ask their favorite color.

“Do you want fries with that” sends them into panic mode.

Just me?

I work at a small cafe and I usually do morning shifts and I open the cafe every morning. We open our cafe at 9am, and I get there at around 8.15am so I can get everything ready for the customers and have extra 5 mins before opening to have a small break, drink coffee and have a snack.

If I have everything ready I usually open the doors for the customers 8.50, so if there is someone they can get in and don’t have to wait.

Some info, my sister and I own this cafe and we founded it 6 years ago. Its a really small cafe in a wooden historical building that has no windows or see through doors and we lock the doors from the outside and there is no way to lock the doors if you are inside.

So this is the part I am pissed off about. I am so grateful for everyone who comes in our cafe and everyones support is highly appreciated but it just really annoys me, when they come in at 8.30, open the doors that are closed with a sign that says closed, but they feel entitled to come in and open the door. Then they get annoyed when I don’t have coffee ready and I say that “we are closed sorry” they say “I can wait” and go sit on one of the chairs.

You all have no idea how annoyed I get. Does anyone else have this or is it just me

I posted before on Father’s Day about this one customer who threatened staff and insulted us. She was waiting for her food and talked to her friend about each one of the servers, insulting us on a personal level. There were only three of us working that day.

I thought she wouldn’t come back due to her supposed bad experience but she actually came back today. She ordered on the kiosk for takeout but I suppose she accidentally tapped dine in. We simply packed her food to go once she said she wanted takeout.

But GOD FORBID she wait an extra 2 minutes or so. We were not busy, we were properly staffed, her wait time was short. So I don’t know what she was upset over this time. Regardless, she still called me and one server who worked on Fathers Day slurs. She even called another server a racist slur and our packer as well. In total she was insulting 4 different races… She was basically cussing us out in her own language in front of us. I guess she didn’t expect one of us to speak the same language. Our servers including me are young, only our packer is an adult. But this lady was an older middle aged woman.

I ended up writing to my manager and GM about this woman’s behavior, and how the servers don’t want to serve someone who dehumanizes them to racist and outdated slurs.

But I’m sure that I’ll be hit with “there’s nothing we can do about it, just ignore it.” As usual.

Bc the GM bends over and gets on his knees for customers and doesn’t care about his staff unfortunately

I work in a customer service position, ringing ppl up and making food. i need advice on handling a difficult situation. there is a regular, almost-daily customer who is also kind-of-but-not-really a co-worker, works for the same chain but a manager of a different store. We have had some personal issues and she has taken her anger or annoyance or whatever from them and deliberately antagonizes me when she comes in as a customer. I’ve gotten in trouble for not shutting up and letting it happen, bc she went to my store’s manager and a higher-up manager. she’s not openly insulting, in a way I can justify to my higher-ups “she said this to me” it’s hard to explain… but she’ll be (knowing the rules of my job and how I have to be with customers) intentionally difficult, maybe place a sudden order before I leave saying “I changed my mind” (even though she’d been there 15 min and said she wasn’t ordering any food when I asked her when she came in bc I had to leave soon) so I have to stay late and then say “you have to be professional“. after last night, and then trouble with my bosses today, I couldn’t stop crying in anger and frustration. I know this is customer service and I need my job but I don’t know how I can be like “hi, how are you? what can I do for you? have a good day” looking at her knowing she’s looking at me and knows what she’s doing and how I have to be for the job. I hate her so much. it’s deeply personal and emotional shit for me, the personal issues i mentioned. it’s not the same as forcing niceness to a customer who made some rude or creepy comments to me. do you have any advice on how to deal with it without losing your mind? she’s going to come in again and if I am not perfectly polite I just know she’s going to do the ”you have to be professional” shit again. I‘m backed into a corner, yet I really don’t want her to feel like she’s won or got me trapped or gets to control me. Maybe she did win. I don’t know. What would you do/say if it were you?

Wouldn't it be nice if we all just had one day where we can say whatever we want to customers? It sucks that there's a Customer Service day or week and we're still taking all the sh*t of these rude, entitled, dumb, customers like we're the punching bag of their own incompetence.

Oh the things I would say...

Location : California

I’m hoping someone here has experience with Living Spaces warranties because this doesn’t seem right to me.

Timeline:
Dec. 23, 2025: Our Revive 400 King Adjustable Base was delivered.
Within a few weeks, we discovered it wouldn’t stay in position. It would slowly drift back to flat while we were using it.
We contacted Living Spaces immediately and followed their instructions.

Jan. 12, 2026: We filed a warranty claim (less than one month after delivery).

Feb. 17: Their technician inspected the bed and told us it couldn’t be repaired because the necessary parts weren’t available.
We waited more than four additional months.

June 21: We were finally told the bed would be replaced because the parts were still unavailable.
So far, that’s frustrating, but here’s the part I really don’t understand.
When we bought the bed, we also purchased a 10-Year Care Free Protection Plan.

Living Spaces is now telling us that replacing this defective bed will consume our protection plan. If we want coverage on the replacement bed, we have to purchase another protection plan (around $200).
From my perspective, this doesn’t make sense.
The defect appeared almost immediately after delivery. This wasn’t accidental damage or normal wear and tear after years of use. It was a manufacturing defect that was reported within weeks.
My understanding is that the manufacturer’s warranty should cover defects like this, while the extended protection plan is supposed to provide additional protection later in the product’s life—not be exhausted because the original product was defective from the start.
To make matters worse, we lived with a defective adjustable base for over four months while waiting for parts that ultimately never became available.
I’ve asked Living Spaces to explain which policy requires my protection plan to be used in this situation and have requested that management review the case.

Am I misunderstanding how these protection plans work?
Has anyone else had Living Spaces use their extended protection plan to replace a product that failed almost immediately after delivery?
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has been through something similar.

Today my boss scolded me for using exclamation marks in emails. He says it comes across as "angry." (This was in response to an email that said something to the effect of "Thank you! Please sign and return. Then I'll send it to corporate!" Followed by another paragraph with no exclamation marks.). He was upset at the thought that I might be using exclamation marks in emails to the customers.

Are the exclamation marks a generational thing, or an autistic thing or something? I've worked customer service for my entire adult life and never had a problem until now. I always thought of them as being a way to signal that I'm outgoing (which I'm not, but you have to pretend you are to be employable these days) and eager to help (lol).

I can't quite put my finger on why this upsets me so much. Maybe because I put so much effort into pretending to be friendly, and this guy is telling me I'm doing it badly?

I’m having a really frustrating experience with Bergdorf Goodman and wanted to share in case anyone has advice.

I bought an item online and started the return through their system. Bergdorf sent me an email with a specific deadline to send the item back. I dropped it off with FedEx one day before that deadline, which was also within their 30-day return window.

A couple of months later, the package showed back up in my mailbox with a notice saying Bergdorf received it outside the 30-day policy, so my return was rejected.

I'm frustrated because I sent it by the date they gave me. I’ve called customer service twice. Both times, the rep said they would send me a new return label so I could send it back again, but I still haven’t received anything...

Anyone dealt with this before?

Just venting my anger out here.

I am faced with a stubborn customer who is not understanding a simple exchange process. While mistakes happened sometimes (where an incorrect item is shipped), this one is a whole other level.

The customer does NOT understand the simple-spoonfed-step-by-step exchange process of the incorrect item.

They simply don't understand that THE CARRIER IS NOT OUR EMPLOYEE! holy shit. There is no such thing as "Handing over the wrong item to the courier while delivering the correct item". That is just not how it works. Apparently, some people think that "this is simpler" and venting how complicated the exchange process is (just print the label and return it, OMG).

Keep in mind, this is not a 20bucks only item, this is a $500+ items. Meaning that they can afford the "premium price". I guess not everyone is compassionate enough to understand simple return process and having a little bit of inconvenience of walking or driving to the nearest carrier drop off point.

Goddamn,a I am fuming.

I am not in IT. My company sells a benefit that would be outlined in a compensation package and my job is to help the business sign up, add their employee info, and ensure the first iteration of the benefit goes smoothly. I work with BUSINESS OWNERS. These people are in charge of a team of employees.

I got a call from a woman, irate, that our website isn't working. She wants to cancel because it's day one and she can't log in and this is supposed to be an easy setup process!

Okay, let me check- is there an outage? No.

Do you have the right URL? Yes.

Is this person registered? Yes.

Do you remember your username and password? ... it's not asking for that...

Well please navigate to the URL for the login page.

"I can't do that, the computer screen is black."

...

Ma'am, is your computer turned on?

"Well I pressed the power button."

And... is it making any noise? Is the keyboard lit up? Maybe your display is turned dark?

*growing increasingly annoyed* "No. I don't know why you're asking me this."

Is your computer plugged in?

"No." Said with vehement confidence.

This woman decided it was MY fault that she couldn't log in to our website specifically- nevermind even getting to the internet???

Thankfully in my job, I do have the power to say, "Well maybe you should try all those steps again on a computer that is powered on and has internet access. If you're still having trouble, please call back," and hang up.

14:32 07/01/2026 - I’m mad as hell right now. I had a customer call in freaking out screaming at us that he calls us earlier and he said he placed an order but apparently he got a thank you email even after he got another email saying please confirm your account and he didn’t see an order was placed, and when we looked at stuff, we couldn’t find an order was placed, and I even looked through like three different accounts. I couldn’t find an order so I looked through his car and it looks like oh his items were actually in his cart so that solves that mystery and then I’m walking the customer through hey, your items are at your car. I don’t know what’s wrong with the system. I just work here my guy I’m trying to help you out. We found your items and then he just goes on and on saying it’s me I gave him a thank you email. I’m the one that didn’t do something correctly with the website. I’m the one that messed up the website it’s my website and I’m like my guy I’m trying to be respectful. I’m trying to be professional but I’m gonna tell it to you like this. I just work here. I am not in charge of the website so I’m sorry that you’re dealing with this, but I’m not the one that did this and then he blows up at me a second time because he’s like well they’re supposed to be the special pricing on this one item, blah blah blah, and I’m like OK let me look at the item and without telling the customer I looked through the old pricing history and yeah, I found the correct pricing so I’m like OK to blowups I get it. He’s frustrated. I would be mad too see I wouldn’t be mad yelling at somebody. I’d be mad and I’d sit down and I’d say oh I got an email stating to authorize and verify my account I didn’t get a confirmation email so something tells me oh maybe the confirmation didn’t go through but I still need verify my account no no no well this Customer did is just call me up and start yelling at me so that’s the second blew up by the third blowup and he’s blowing up because he the one product went out of stock is not being in stock till August. That means the free shipping on $100+ dollars of in stock product is no longer the case. I would have waived the $16 shipping if you were fucking polite. Like I said, I’d be angry too; I’d just be more respectful. 3 blowup was that and he’s like why you have to pay XYZ in this part should be in stock on my service out stock and then by that time I’m like you know what no I helped you out and I stuck around for your madness, even though I told you to stop it and I’m sorry you’re feeling that way, but that does not give you right to talk to me like that even after I’ve been trying to help you so at that point he blew up on me three×3rd times a charm three strikes in you’re out. I hung up on Customer and I’m just waiting for whatever reprimand from my bosses because I am ticked off.

I've been doing customer service for like 6 years now. heard it all. but man, every week there's a new one.

last week we started using this new system at work it's got thing that handles after-hours calls. customers can check their balance, get order status, reset passwords without talking to us pretty useful . means less angry voicemails in the morning.

anyway. this guy calls during the day gets through to me he's already angry. I can hear it in his voice. I've been transferred 5 times. I ask for his issue he wants to know his shipping status. that's literally the first option in the menu. press 1 for shipping status he pressed 0 for operator.

I tell him this. he says I don't want to talk to a robot. okay fine I check his order. it's arriving tomorrow I tell him this. he says I could have gotten that from the website. yes sir. you could have. but you called me instead.

there's this weird thing where people complain about automation but also complain about hold times. you can't have both. either we have robots doing simple stuff and we're free to help with real problems. or we handle everything and you wait 20 minutes. choose one.

but they want both. no robots but also no wait time. and also a human who already knows everything about their account.

I don't know how to explain that that's not how any of this works