As a teenager, job options are mainly limited to customer service. I’ve been the person behind the counter who makes a mistake that not only messes with a customer’s time, but also their money. I have also been the worker who gets yelled at by a customer for something that is entirely out of my control and not my fault at all. I’m rarely the annoyed customer on the other side of the counter. That’s why when the Residential Service Desk lost my package, at first, I got too crazy with the girl behind the counter because I didn’t know how to deal with the situation.

I’m lucky enough to have parents who usually handle customer service issues like getting overcharged at the grocery store or at dinner. When the hotel cleaners threw out my retainer, I didn’t have to deal with it, my dad did. I’ve seen the way my parents handle issues when people who are meant to help us accidentally mess up. I’ve learned from their interactions, nonetheless, and I want to find my own way of handling these issues. Preferably, I want to find a way to engage with customer service workers that doesn’t anger them and results in a productive exchange for both of us.

That’s not what happened when I found out my package was lost. Expletives were thrown around and I nearly asked the girl, who was about my age, if she was incompetent. Ultimately, none of that extra emotion was the slightest bit productive. There was only one question that needed to be asked: what was going to be done to fix the situation? However, I wasn’t initially asking that question. Instead I was being mean to the person who I would have to continue to work with in order to get what I wanted.

“I need to speak with your boss” is a phrase that I have heard as a customer service agent and it usually makes me roll my eyes. This time, I was the person saying it. I was on the spot. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted the problem to be fixed immediately so I didn’t have to worry about it, but I knew it wouldn’t be, so I went back to my room angry and tried to figure out how to handle the situation. Google helped, a lot.

            An article by Money Under 30 called out to me. I was out $40 (which is quite a lot for a college student working a minimum wage job), I wasn’t going to get my package and I’m definitely under 30. An article by Time Magazine called: “10 Ways to Get Better Customer Service Out of Even the Worst Companies” was also helpful. I decided to start my research on being the most productive irritated customer.

Leave the emotion at the door. This sounds so simple in theory. It makes so much sense that being emotional won’t solve anything, but it’s so hard not to be when your Fashion Nova package with your cute new clothes is lost.

Remember your objective. Even if you have to take a step back and think about what your objective is, take the time you need to think about what you want and need from this interaction. In his article for Time Magazine, Kit Yarrow suggests not to be demanding. This is one of the hardest parts, because how do you state what you want without being demanding? I realized part of this means listening. There are usually protocols set in place for customer service issues because they happen all the time.

Listen to what the customer service agent is telling you. Listen for how they are going to help you and anything else they might say. Make sure it is clear to you so that if you do need to speak to someone else, you can prevent going in circles and hearing the same information from different people.

Ultimately, this process has already taken over a week and it’s really annoying, but it’s almost entirely out of my control. It is difficult and I’m scared I’ll be out a good amount of money, but I am using the resources that the RSD has available for situations like lost or damaged packages. I’m stating my needs and not being demanding because I know that both ends of the situation want it to be resolved.

Sonali Chigurupati is a Collegian contributor and can be reached at [email protected].