Thank You for Calling Sega

[FlightSuit]

Here is a true story about my job doing tech support for Sega of America:

 

PoppyLand.org

 

WARNING: The above-referenced story contains explicit language and adult themes.

 

Enjoy...

[nathanallan]

I love it!! Do any of your friends still have Sega envelopes stuffed with rubber gloves or teabags? I'd love to see a picture of some of that stuff!

 

What years did you work there? I'm a bit of a Sega head. Stories from the Front is great to hear.

Edited April 22, 2009 by nathanallan

[carmel_andrews]

You should have told the person who enquired about 'Donkey kong' that they dialled the wrong 0800 number, and you should have given them a 0800 sex line number and said....this is the free phone no. for nintendo of america's customer support

[FlightSuit]

Nathan, thanks! The job began in late 1994 and ended in early 1995, I think. Can't say if anybody still has those envelopes, but I kinda doubt it.

 

Carmel, they hadn't called to ask about Donkey Kong; they were simply calling to say that Nintendo had "kicked our asses" with its release of Donkey Kong Country. No request for technical support, just a stupid, rotten little kid whose parents didn't beat him nearly often enough, calling to for no reason other than to try and pick a fight over the phone.

 

Stupid kid...

[DaytonaUSA]

Ok, that was a waste of time. I'm sure that doing customer service sucked, but referring to gamers as a whole as sitting "in their dark little rooms with the curtains closed, playing Mortal Kombat while the rest of us are out there having lives. From this demographic, there is a special sub-class: those who are too stupid to connect a Genesis to a television. These are the ones I dealt with.", is a bit stereotypical. First off, considering how many people play games, I think it's safe to say that MOST people have lives while being gamers at the same time. Secondly, when I was a kid, I once had to call tech support because I didn't know yet how to set up a console. I was very nice about it, and they were in return. And considering my dad didn't like that I bought the system, and refused to help me set it up, I didn't have any other choice as my mother knew nothing about electronics and I was only about 10 at the time.

 

Does that make me an ass because you had to do your job? I'm sorry if people like me annoyed you, but suck it up, that's what you got paid to do.

 

Lastly, I really hope your stories of punishing people on your "shit list" was just a joke as quite honestly, that's disturbing. I understand people can be jerks, but I'm sure not everyone was all that bad, and I'm sure the worst of the worst weren't truly worth your time in committing credit card fraud with their personal information. If that was really true, and you're still in the customer service industry, I hope you are caught and fired.

Edited April 22, 2009 by DaytonaUSA

[Emehr]

Here is a true story about my job doing tech support for Sega of America:

 

Kentucky Fried Chicken wasn't hiring at the time

 

WARNING: The above-referenced story contains explicit language and adult themes.

 

Enjoy...

There, fixed it for ya!

[FlightSuit]

DaytonaUSA, I am a gamer myself. As for my generally hateful, criminal behavior, I got most of that outta my system years ago. Though it rubbed you the wrong way, I do thank you for reading my story and taking the time to comment.

[STICH666]

That was like if Maddox worked at SEGA only not as funny but still entertaining none the less.

[nathanallan]

That was like if Maddox worked at SEGA only not as funny but still entertaining none the less.

Right, kinda like the Clerks movie.

[STICH666]

That was like if Maddox worked at SEGA only not as funny but still entertaining none the less.

Right, kinda like the Clerks movie.

Sadly I never did see it but everyone tells me it's great.

[nathanallan]

you have to at least rent it-- it's old enough that you could maybe find it for $5.

[cimerians]

LOL

 

[FlightSuit]

Who's Maddox? Is that a pro wrestler or something?

[nathanallan]

Who's Maddox? Is that a pro wrestler or something?

Honestly not sure, I was jut going along with it

[CGQuarterly]

Maddox = http://maddox.xmission.com/

 

Better not piss off the OP without making sure that you don't have any personal info in your profile, lest you be on his shit list as well!

 

Sorry dude, I liked your story up until the credit card fraud. Sending porno was funny, sending letters from one asshole to another was funny. Credit card fraud is not at all funny and you are an idiot for bragging about it.

 

Chris

[FlightSuit]

Like I said, all that is in the past. I don't know why it's striking such a resonant chord, though.

[nathanallan]

imho any time someone talks about cc fraud I get a little nervous. It's happened to me, but that was back then. Before, cc fraud was done by stealing a card or statement. Nowadays it's like stealing an identity. Now it can be done easier in some ways. But anyway, back on topic for me.

 

It's really neat that you got to work for Sega (don't I just sound like a fanboy???) back in the day. It would sure be neat to get some stuff mailed to me from them, even now.

 

I wonder if there are any temps still there, or has most of it gone to someplace else, like Japan?? I might try to get in on it.

 

Can I use you as a reference? I promise I won't reprint this:lol:

[2600Lives]

Daytona, have you ever worked with customers or with the public? Let me put it to you like this, if murder was legal, I'd have a body count in the thousands by now. I'd kill the asshole customers, then go home and do the same to their families to make sure their tainted seed could spread no further. I HATED customers with an absoulte, burning, irrational raging hatred that I truly cannot express in words. I'm actually glad he did those things, and you know why? FUCK CUSTOMERS. Period. What I used to love is these little Napoleonic assholes coming in and getting shitty with a guy behind the counter who could easily twist their head off (like me). I will never go back to customer service, ever. I'll starve first.

 

Funny story, though! I worked at a game store for a while, and yeah, we as gamers do tend to be losers. Very, very pathetic losers. There was this one guy we called "cane boy". Morbidly obese, smelled like a sack of shit boiled in rancid cheese, and with a shitty attitude to boot. Walked with a cane. Picture Pat from the old SNL skits, but uglier and less intelligent. Loved to tell us how stupid we were when he'd ask stuff like "Is the Gameboy Y2K compatible?" He finally went too far with one of my employees (I was the manager at the time), and I perma banned him from the store. Oh, did his mom ever get pissed, but I was feeling saucy, so I told her that they could take the money he saved buying video games and put it towards some Jenny Craig and a bar of soap. Never saw either of them again, thank god. I loved what I did there, but the asshole customers eventually ruined it to the point where it was either quit or go to jail for sticking a pen in some jerk's eye.

[DaytonaUSA]

Like I said, all that is in the past. I don't know why it's striking such a resonant chord, though.

 

Because credit card fraud is identity theft.. which.. don't know if you've ever watched the news before, but is kinda a big issue that everyone is trying their best to avoid. You have no right to screw with people's finances because you didn't like how they treated you. Bottom line, you got paid to deal with people unsatisfied with Sega's hardware/software. If you didn't understand that included a bunch of irate, angry parents, maybe you should have worked at McDonald's or Toys R' Us instead.

 

Like I tell everyone I'm upset towards when I call a support line " I'm not mad at you, but you are ((insert company name)) to me as you are all I have to talk with. So since I'm mad with ((insert company name)), unfortunately it's going to be directed at you so you know how serious I am about getting this resolved".

 

 

While not anywhere as serious, a way to understand people's negative reaction to your story is to compare it to a story about you hating your corporate job, and making really funny jokes about stereotypical things that happen during that job. But because they tick you off so much, you then tell about how you bring a gun to work and kill all the people that annoyed you.

 

That's about the disgusting after taste you ended your article with. Again, not anywhere as drastic as that, but I'm trying to show you a black and white example so you can see how unfunny you came off and how angry people might get with your actions. People won't support illegal actions, that many people are afraid will happen to them, just because you don't like your job.

 

News flash. Everyone has plenty to bitch about with their career. If the good didn't outweigh the negative though, you should have left before taking it out on the people you vowed (by accepting the job) to serve.

Edited April 25, 2009 by DaytonaUSA

[DaytonaUSA]

Daytona, have you ever worked with customers or with the public? Let me put it to you like this, if murder was legal, I'd have a body count in the thousands by now. I'd kill the asshole customers, then go home and do the same to their families to make sure their tainted seed could spread no further. I HATED customers with an absoulte, burning, irrational raging hatred that I truly cannot express in words. I'm actually glad he did those things, and you know why? FUCK CUSTOMERS. Period. What I used to love is these little Napoleonic assholes coming in and getting shitty with a guy behind the counter who could easily twist their head off (like me). I will never go back to customer service, ever. I'll starve first.

 

If you don't want to work in customer service, and it's not for you (obviously), then don't...it's your choice. No one ever made you do it. If you can't handle the pressure that comes with the job, punishing the people you're hired to serve with illegal acts is NOT the right thing to do just because you're not good at your job (ie: being able to handle irrational costumers).

 

By accepting the job of being in customer service, you'd be pretty daft to not realize the stress that all comes with. By taking the job, you should have known what you're in for, just as a buyer has to argue with Chinese merchants, or graphic designers have to argue with the marketing department, or print shops have to argue with shipping suppliers. It's life. Everyone has that group of people in their career that annoy them, but if I ever did anything to punish those people because they annoyed me, I'd hope to God I was fired. If you don't like the fact his actions of credit card theft were illegal, you obviously don't agree with our country's laws, thus you should look to live in one that doesn't have them. Then again, according to your profile, you're in hell, so maybe you ended up where you belonged .

 

 

As a final note, yes I've had many jobs in customer service. I'm not in costumer service any longer, but like I stated above, I have just the same type of annoyances to deal with now, and through out all of it (costumer service and where I am now) I've dealt with everything with a calm and collected attitude, did my job, made the costumer happy in the end, and clocked out and in like every other guy. Maybe it's why I'm not in jail. Donno .

Edited April 25, 2009 by DaytonaUSA

[nathanallan]

I kinda remember from back then that cards were handled differently. Yes, it was a serious issue.

 

I am not defending what he did as right, but he was a lot younger then (as we all were) and I know as a kid I did vengeful things. Kids do stupid stuff.

 

But I agree, customers suck and can be real pricks when they think they are right about something. When they think I as a clerk of anywhere or even my own store and they think I owe THEM something. Screw those guys, I save what customer service skills I have for nice people.

 

It happened a long time ago, so I choose to hear a funny story from back in the day.

[2600Lives]

Sometimes you have to take whatever jobs you can get. I did what I was supposed to, but boy, if I saw one of those asshole customers out in town away from my store, they'd better hope they have good life insurance. My granddad brought me up with a John Wayne sort of mentality. I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I do this myself and expect it of others. I've actually had customers try to get physical, and had to literally put them in their place (several years of pro-wrestling and boxing helped there). I'm a very, very no bullshit kind of person. I don't walk into places throwing fits and acting like a 5 year old, and I can't help but expect this of others. You ever work in a pawn shop? You deal with the absolute scum of the earth day in and out, and you have to have a weapon on you every second of the day. I hate the idea of service to begin with. I'm nobody's fucking servant. Laws? Things designed to control us. Fuck cops, fuck judges, fuck politicians. They've never done a damn thing for me. No protecting, no helping, just oppressing. My mother was crippled for life by a damn hospital. Held down against her will and injected with the wrong medicine. Nurse hit the bone in her arm with the needle. We sued. Three times. We lost three times. My apartmetn was broken into. I KNEW who did it. Did the cops help me in the slightest? Hell no. So, yeah, FUCK LAWS. I'm not moving to another country, either. I'm American Indian. This land belonged to my ancestors long before you were here, so no, I'll be staying put regardless.

 

Sorry, you've touched a sore spot with me. I got screwed out of scholarships in high school because my family wasn't rich (I graduated top 10% of my class, 3.8GPA, won the History, Drafting, and English awards my senior year, got a friggin' perfect on the achievement test my junior year, and got tested at a 152 IQ). I got boned out of going to college because we weren't rich (and I applied for MANY scholarships, but got turned down for all of them). So, no, I have no marketable skills. Now I have brain damage that affects my short term memory, my body is beat to hell because of my wrestling days, and I still have no higher schooling. You take what jobs you can get sometimes.

 

But, hey, I hate the human race in general anyway.. I'm hoping that 2012 brings death from the skies for every human on this world.

[carmel_andrews]

Flightsuit...Shame that you weren't recalled to work for sega again

 

I guess this was before the tie up's with both ATARI and SNK (early 90's)

 

what sega games did they let you play (less sonic or altered beast)

 

Did you ever have to go the whole hog with a customer (i.e how to set up a megadrive, stick in a cartridge etc etc) and have them still swear blind that the darned thing still doesn't work (even though you know it does)

[Inky]

You should have told the person who enquired about 'Donkey kong' that they dialled the wrong 0800 number, and you should have given them a 0800 sex line number and said....this is the free phone no. for nintendo of america's customer support

 

True story..

 

Once upon a time I worked for Stapels in the "Business machines" department, where we sold printers, fax machines, and of course, computers. To combat the rash of calls we got of people calling the store asking for tech support, we were given a list of phone numbers to give out to the customers.

 

One day a guy called and wanted support for his PAckard Bell PC. I looked down the list and gave him the 800 number. Something didnt look right about the number though -- it had nothing in common with all thier other support numbers. I called it.

 

It was a phone sex line.

[gdement]

I had to call Sega support back in 1990, because they were late sending me my free game from buying a Genesis. I did read the timeframe on the offer (friggin 6-8 weeks as I recall) but it was much later than that.

The guy who picked up was the biggest unprovoked asshole I ever met on the phone. My Genesis was purchased with a ridiculous amount of saved allowance money, and that phone conversation was quite a slap in the face. It was hard for me not to think they were a crappy company.

 

I called Nintendo about a week later for a problem with my Game Boy, and the difference was like night and day. They actually respected the kids who made up their customer base, and had patient, friendly professionals working the phones. They almost treated their customers like royalty.

 

Mailed my Game Boy and got it back in 1 week. The Genesis game + PBC finally came about a month later. Then another game+PBC came about 2 months after that. Yeah, turns out the first one was actually from the original submission, despite how late it was and the rep saying they didn't have the order. I had no desire to send the duplicate back, or have any other dealings with them, so I kept it.