Royal Mail Wasters: Striking. Again.

Apparently, those crazy coves working for the Royal Mail are on strike again. Jesus. I hadn't noticed that the last strike had stopped. Mainly because there is no tangible difference in service between when the Royal Mail is working and when the workshy bastards are taking a day off.

Regular readers will know that I criticise the Royal Mail a lot, so maybe it is time to redress the balance. I have to say that their customer care line is very good. The people there listen to your problems, use both sympathy and empathy in the right way at the right time, and concede fault and apologise when appropriate. Compared to something like the BT Broadband helpline, which led to me be patronised by some sort of anal geek about the semantic difference between a landline phone and a hub phone before he refused to explain what had gone wrong in the first place, the Royal Mail helpline is frankly outstanding.

Unfortunately, one suspects, the reason why they are so good is because they get - owing to the actions of other workers within Royal Mail - a lot of practice in dealing with irate customers. It is one thing to offer good customer service in the event of something going wrong; it is a far more preferable situation to offer good customer service from the outset and not lead people to have to complain. Because that is the difference between BT Broadband and the Royal Mail - the former I have only had to call once in 6 months. Given the Royal Mail's inability to deliver a fucking parcel, calls to their helpline are a regular occurrence.

So strike away, people. Not for the first time I note that it makes bugger all difference to the levels of service you offer whether you actually turn up in the morning or not.