@gurlcat wrote:
I remember reading a study about that. -It totally DEPENDS on the emotional setting, with opposite effects. Saying someone's name when either of you is upset, irritated, etc. tend to be taken as hostility, like how a grown up would insert your name when scolding you as a child. I don't know about anybody else but I have noticed that Eastern-country phone reps tend to toss my name in there, and I mean A LOT, and when it's a frustrating situation (which .... how often is that not the case at that point) it irritates the bejeezus out of me. Same with when they say "ma'am" way more times than necessary.
But the person's name inserted in a positive exchange, it's music to their ears. I remember when I delivered food, I started an experiment comparing saying vs. not-saying the customer's name (from their credit card) when they opened to the door. -WAY more tips on those nights, without fail, so I made a habit of it.
Yea that is a pretty interesting concept that I haven’t put much thought into. I can definitely agree that having my name repeatedly said back to me from CS reps is pretty irritating, especially when they would say it at the weirdest inopportune times. But it could mainly be because my name is unusual and difficult to pronounce to many so it’d always just get butchered. Then again I also hated it as much when they would just use “Mr. (My last name)”. That annoyed me just as much. It’s like stop trying to make friends with me and fix the **bleep** glitch. I’m not calling you to look for companionship, make your stuff work.
Related note, I also hated it when those reps would re-use cliches over and over throughout the call as silence fillers “your call/issue is important to us”, “I understand your problem”, “I get what you’re saying”, etc. Mainly because it’s followed by bad news that seems to contradict that cliche they said. I.e. “Your call/issue is important to us but there is a long queue in front of you and your issue isn’t significant enough for us to look at because not enough people have reported it.”
That also reminds me of how my wife used to talk to my kids when they had tantrums. “I know you’re frustrated/angry/upset, but (then she’ll say something that’ll fan the kid’s flames despite the kid’s bad mood). It’s kinda lip service, like when people start a sentence with “no offense but” as permission to then type something offensive.
I recall hearing about a poll or something where waiters and waitresses weighed in about how they felt when customers would read their names off their mandatory name tags and called them by their name throughout their meal service. Some liked it, and some totally hated it. I forgot their reasoning.
