0148 - Sorry. - 2020.08.03

Comic!

Comment:

I remember once, years ago, on one of the call center contracts I was working, one of the rules we had to follow was that any time a customer complained about something, we had to say "I'm sorry".

Note - we had to say this regardless of what the customer was complaining about. We had to apologize if the customer complained about us. We had to apologize if the customer complained about the company. We had to apologize if the customer complained about the weather. We had to apologize if the customer complained about Obama being a Kenyan Muslim that eats babies.

We didn't have to mean it. We just had to say it.

As you might imagine, following this rule as written led to a few issues, especially if a customer was complaining about the fact that we were saying "sorry" too much. And yes, I did get into a nasty feedback loop with a particularly complainy man who refused to understand that if he doesn't like hearing me say "sorry", maybe he could stop complaining about his buggy connection for the twelfth time while I'm in the middle of trying to fix it.

....that conversation was years ago, and I'm still getting riled up recalling it, now, as I type this. Have I mentioned how glad I am that I'm not at the call center any more?

Transcript:

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0148 - 2167/07/06/15:56 - Lee Caldavera's apartment, front door.
Zoa: Look, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I can start contacting Rosenthal, and you can... uh... I dunno, watch some more cartoons or something.
LC: Please stop apologizing for things. It doesn't mean anything.
Zoa: It means as much as anything else I say. It corresponds to the current value of a variable.
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LC: Well, I don't like hearing it. I don't want you to be sorry about things.
Zoa: You don't want me to be sorry, or you don't want me to talk about it?
LC: Both!
Zoa: As you wish.
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LC: Wait.
Zoa: What?
LC: This is one of those things where I should stop and think about all the possible implications before I tell you to do something, because you wouldn't process an instruction the same way a human would, isn't it?
Zoa: I legitimately don't know, but that has become something of a running theme between us, yes.
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LC: Should I tell you that it's okay to be sorry for things?
Zoa: I can't answer that.
LC: Hey Doc, should I-
Doc (off-panel): YES.
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