David Mitchell - Customer Service Rant

The8431123 · 391.9K views · 2013-02-03 · 0:48

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Overview

A one-minute clip of David Mitchell on a UK panel show explaining why he respects poor customer service in Britain. He argues that people who do their job well should not also be required to be nice.

On Hacker News

Cited in threads about forced enthusiasm and 'service with a smile' in the workplace.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2016–2018

Topics

Stand-up & sketch comedy Social issues & culture

What people said

dghughes · 2018-05 · Reference
I like David Mitchell said it best on the BBC series QI. He said people who do their job well shouldn't also have to be nice too it OK to "not give a shit". He respects people who work terrible jobs and act miserable it's only right. [VIDEO]
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bcoughlan · 2017-10 · Reference
After working for startups, "work hard, play hard" is a red flag phrase. Employees are employees instead of entrepreneurs because they don't want the headaches of running a business. They want to do the work that they enjoy doing and have the energy at the end of the day to socialise, spend time with family and pursue other interests. Don't expect employees to be as interested and excited about [revolutionising|disrupting|dominating] industry X as you are, because they don't have the financial and social incentive an owner or executive has. It's fake and soul-destroying that modern corporate culture forces employees to feign being over-enthusiastic about the company's success for fear of getting fired. David Mitchell put it best: [VIDEO]
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personlurking · 2016-11 · Reference
There's a QI (UK show) clip about this topic. Although the discussion is geared towards customer service, I think it still fits here. It's 45 seconds long. [VIDEO]
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Sources

Video by The8431123, played through YouTube.

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