I Messed Up... Big Time

It's 2:07 pm. I'm deep in the middle of a thousand things and fixed on an unsuspecting bug I think I just might have discovered. You know the type no user has ever reported, but reading the code, you just know something ain't right. I'm trying to figure out what's so suspicious about this piece of code and the next thing I hear "Grrr, Grrr", my tummy rumbles again.

Appeasing this impatient tummy is the last thing on my mind. There's so much to do. "Ta ta du dun", ermmmm, that didn't sound like a tummy rumble. Ah, it's Slack. It's a message to hop on a call with a customer. I knew it! My psychic abilities had eventually landed me in trouble. I find suspicious code and it's been telepathically transferred to the front view of a customer and now they're screaming "this is not how I expected this to work".

Without any time in-between, I hop on the call and say "hello". The first thing my teammate says is "Are you alright?, Your voice sounds somehow". "I'm alright, just handling loads of stuff at the moment, what's up?" I respond. "Grrr, Grrr", my tummy screams for attention again. I ignore it because… we're out here saving the world.

The Chaos Begins

The customer and my teammate are wrapping up a conversation about localization and how it can be used when assigning the same plan in different currencies to users. I interject, “You practically don't need localizations if you're using CSPs”. My teammate corrects me. Their plans are no longer CSPs. That’s news to me, but I maintain my answer.

I'm sure you're wondering what CSP means. We'll get to that in a second, I promise. Back to the story. The customer explains again what they’re asking for. At this point, I'm still not quite sure why we're going over it again, but anyways, it’s not my problem. I'm totally okay with them setting up their pricing however they want since the system supports all routes. So, I let it go.

We move on and they point me to the real reason I was invited. The customer had reported a 'bug'. I look at it. It’s not the suspicious code I was eyeing earlier. Apparently, I'm not that psychic. I explain that it's not a bug but a feature. They disagree. They find the current presentation confusing. I give two options, they pick one, and I agree to make the change.

I sense some tension in the air, but I convince myself there's nothing I can do about it. The most important thing is to get things working for their business in a way they feel supported. After all, why have I founded a business, if not to help people? I ask if that's all I'm needed for, they say “yes”, I say “byeee” and off I go to make the changes.

Little did I know. The moment I left that call, the customer told my teammate they felt shut down… by me.

The Call After the Call

My teammate calls me a while after. They narrate how the call went and what the customer had said. "Unbelievable!" I think. Have I not been supporting this customer through several hoops they've had with their pricing models? Why would they even say this? Anyways, I promise to call the customer later to mend things.

An hour later, changes made and deployed to production, I pick up my phone and dial their number. “Ding Ding” it rings. I'm on the other end wondering if they'd pick up. After all, it's that crazy woman calling. Fortunately, they pick up. I let them know the changes are live. They respond emotionless, “Okay, I'll check it out”.

I then say I heard they felt I didn't listen to them, and that I'd like to understand. They tell me they know I talk to a lot of customers asking for features, and that it can sometimes seem like a customer is trying to hijack the platform. But that's where compromises come in.

At this point, I'm confused because I never felt that way about them, but I wait to see where this is going. Then they drop the bombshell. They think I had pent up anger from the previous week because they didn't use our customer portal (what they thought CSP stands for) as expected and wanted theirs customized. And as a result, I wasn't willing to hear them out going forward.

Huh??? What in the world are you talking about? I meant customer specific plans (CSPs). Those are not related to the customer portal in any way. Also, I had totally forgotten about the customer portal issue. It had no bearing on however I sounded on that call. Hmmmm. I apologize for coming across as not listening and explain what CSPs are and how I felt they would solve their request in a simpler way than localization. I tell them that at the end of the day, I'm here to help their business grow and I want them to feel supported along the way. They accept my apology.

WTH Was I Thinking?

So here's what I took away from this beautiful disaster:

• The "hangry" phenomenon is real: Never talk to employees, customers, or the likes when in that mood. You may not realize that your emotions are heightened, or that your voice sounds like you're about to swallow someone, but it does.

• Your 1 in 100 is another's 1 in 2: I don't know how else to explain this. You may encounter someone and never remember them because they’re 1 in 100 people you had to interact with. However, you may be 1 out of 2 for them and they're always going to remember you. So, as much as you can, give your best to every interaction. It may be that person's 1 in 2.

• Trash Acronyms: I blame acronyms for what happened. Who knows, the sentiments might have been less intense and unrelated events might not have been strung together if I had just said "customer specific plans". That reminds me of a funny chat on my group chat with my siblings. I had made a statement starting with an acronym I expected them to figure out and my brother responded with an acronym no one has figured out till today. The utter ridiculousness 😂

• Sssshhhhhh: When on calls, listen more. You might hop in trying to save the day, meanwhile what's really needed is someone who will listen. So, if you're someone like me who has a lot to say, when you join a call, use the mute button. Always mute yourself. That way, speaking is intentional and you're reminded you should be listening more.

So yeah, I messed up. But you know what? These are the kind of beautifully messy, human interactions that AI can never give you. An AI will likely never be "hangry". A customer won't complain about being shut down by a chatbot. Interactions are just going to be... boring.

I talked about some fears around AI in my previous post, but thinking about it now... can your agent's tummy rumble? I bet not! Humans are still needed to keep things spicy 🤪

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