I buy good stuff. Not because I’m rich, but because I can’t stand calling customer support. The scripted responses. The forced politeness. The lack of real human interaction. It’s a painful experience for me, and I’m not joking.
Here’s the thing—those scripts exist for efficiency, control, and consistency. I get that. The calls are recorded. The employees follow a structure because their job depends on it. But in that process, something fundamental is lost: the opportunity for a human to be human.
I wrestle with this. Because on one hand, the person on the other side of the call is just doing their job. This is their livelihood. They don’t get to choose authenticity; they have to stick to the script. On the other hand, the experience feels hollow, like interacting with a system rather than a person. And I hate inauthenticity. That’s my work—to be kinder, to understand the constraints, to not let it trigger me.
This is why I spend more on products I won’t need support for. I’ll figure things out on my own before I put myself through a scripted interaction.
But I’ve seen it done differently. Zappos, under the late Tony Hsieh, was a prime example. Their customer support wasn’t robotic—it was real, unscripted, and even enjoyable. They trusted their people to solve problems, not recite policies. And it worked. The outcome was still efficiency, but with a human touch.
At some point, anything artificial, anything overly manufactured, collapses under its own weight. Humans break when they are forced into inauthentic roles for too long. So the question is: How do we design customer experiences that allow real humans to shine while maintaining structure?
And on a related note—maybe HR departments should be run by psychologists. Not just hiring people to fill roles, but understanding them, placing them where their best selves can emerge. Imagine the shift if companies prioritized human potential over rigid efficiency. A win-win for everyone.
0 Comments