Behind Every Voice is a Person

Meet the person behind that voice.

I had a memorable customer service experience yesterday because of a very special agent who went above and beyond in more ways than one.

With Terree’s (not her real name) help I switched to a less costly wireless plan that allowed me to use up my accumulated 11,000 roll over minutes. I was surprised when she volunteered to keepan eye on my account and give me a call when I got close to using them up, at which point “we” would re-evaluate the situation. I asked her if calling back a customer days or months hence was standard procedure she said it really wasn’t, but she did it anyway because it was the the “right thing to do.” No problem, she said since she had time between calls some days. She also volunteered to send me an email when I qualified for an upgrade to a new phone.

Terree struck me as a unique individual who like most people who choose to be “eagles” instead of “ducks,” probably had an interesting story. In a nutshell: Terree’s Mom had been addicted to crack so she was brought up by her Grandma. After working as an RN for 14 years, she left nursing because she was “pushing paper” more than she was helping people.

After that, she worked at various jobs and at one point decided to quit so she could be with her dying Grandma in her last few months of life. After that she drove truck cross country for a few years.

When her little sister was having a hard time with her new baby Terree moved to a little Tennessee town to be with her. After they had a falling out she found herself with no job, homeless and living in a shelter.

Her life changed for the better when she met a reporter for the local newspaper who was so impressed with Terree’s positive attitude in spite of her situation, that she wrote a feature article about her that landed on the front page. Within hours of the paper hitting the stands Terree had multiple job offers and enough money to buy a winter coat.

She’s been working at the wireless service center since December. Now she  has a place of her own and a good car. Terree said she is going back to school so she can start a medical transcription business. She told me “I want to be independent, to be my own person.”

You go girl.

Barbara

Copyright 2011 Barbara Burke. All Rights Reserved.