Your Call Is (Not That) Important to Us: Customer Service and What It Reveals about Our World and Our Lives

by Emily Yellin

Book Overview

Journalist Emily Yellin pens a lively narrative exploring the very human stories behind the often-inhuman face of call-center customer service. Whether it's the interminable hold times, the multitude... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416546898
• ISBN13: 9781416546894
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 291 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

This one hits the bullseye!

I bought this book after reading the great review in the Wall Street Journal, and it definitely lives up to its billing. It was fun to read but also made me think about the impact that bad (and good) customer service has on us all. I was really happy that the author didn't just offer a collection of rants about a system we all know is a mess. Instead she takes us around the world exploring customer service from each stakeholder's point of view. Her elegant writing brings out the humanity and general good intentions of customers, agents, and managers. But she doesn't stop there. She also places the responsibility and accountability for the sorry state of customer service today right where it belongs: top management. In one of many fascinating chapters, both Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, and FedEx CEO and founder Fred Smith, no less, affirm that conclusion. This book vividly shows that awful customer service interactions go beyond making us feel dehumanized. They make us feel that being human in the first place is a weakness -- for both the harassed caller and the agent being measured like a machine, or replaced by one. Surely that is not the message companies mean to send to either their customers or their employees. That kind of myopia, focused only on short-term profitability, is much-maligned these days, and with good reason. The customer service exchange is often the only opportunity companies have to interact directly with the people who buy what they're selling. In too many instances it is an opportunity that is squandered. That's one of the many important take-home messages that this book offers with such passion. I can only hope executives will read it and listen carefully. And for all of us, this valuable book sets the tone for just the kind of productive dialogue between customers and companies that we need, goodness knows, if customer service is ever going to live up to its name.

A clever, thorough look into "customer service"

Emily Yellin has written an engrossing, smart account of what happens on the other side of the receiver when we're put on hold. We've all been there, wasting precious time to ask a simple question, only to be passed on to various people, rarely a human voice. Yellin's first-rate reporting allows us to empathize with those humans on the other end of the line and also includes laugh out loud anecdotes to keep the momentum going. A must-read for all of us whose frustration level with customer service has been maxed out!

please press the pound key

I picked up Emily's book because I, like many others, find the lack of customer service frustrating. I'd read her previous book, "Our Mothers' War," which was an amazing collection of journeys and reflections, not to mention a mostly-ignored subject matter. "Your Call Is (Not That) Important to Us" was a thoroughly pleasant read. I enjoy the way Emily shares her compassion, her impish sense of humor, and her articulation of the absurd, whether comic or tragic. Hopefully some business folk will take note, and get back to the basic concept of a merchant respecting the power of the customer's patronage. A smart, well-written tale.

Excellent book

I have read this book and found it informative, well-written and funny. In this time of economic upheavel I believe quality service may make the difference in a company's survival. Ms. Yellin shows us how a compamy should NOT do it and also points our examples of exceptional customer service. Bravo, well done.

A very entertaining read

Being in the IT idustry I really could relate to this book. Who doesn't get annoyed at customer service? However, after reading this I understand why and as a result I feel a lot calmer. It's not just a chronicle of customer complaints, the book also brings us the view of the people inside the call centers and executive offices around the world. It's a smart, fun, entertaining read and even offers hope for the future.