Service With a :-) Prompts Irate :-( From AOL User
In the online world, sometimes service with a smile is better without the smile. When writing e-mail or communicating online, computer users often use keyboard combinations that produce sideways smiles, frowns and other simulated facial expressions. They’re called emoticons, and online tech support workers often use them to convey empathy with customers.
But sometimes the cutesy keystrokes merely add to the frustration.
Ralph Albie, an operating room technician who lives in Fountain Valley, was one of millions of America Online subscribers frustrated by the company’s problems when it switched to an unlimited access payment plan recently.
Many users experienced delays logging on, and Albie was upset by one of the ways AOL tried to cope. In order to free up lines, the company began using a timer that disconnected users whose online sessions had been idle for 45 minutes.
Albie connected to AOL’s online tech support service to ask about the policy and do a little venting. The following is a slightly edited portion of their electronic exchange:
Albie: What’s the deal then? I’m signed up for unlimited.
AOL: We are upgrading . . . it will clear up soon :-)
Albie: Are the states’ attorneys general aware of this practice?
AOL: They sure are :-)
Albie: Lose the smiley face. It’s really [making me mad].
AOL: Sorry, we use them here :-(
Is there anything else I can help you with today? :>)
Albie: You used the face when I asked you not to.
AOL: I responded, “We use them here.” Can I help you with anything else today? :-)
A little friendly punctuation never hurt anybody. But fuses tend to be short in tech support arenas, and AOL’s representative used 13 emoticons in an online conversation that spanned about three typed pages.
Margaret Ryan, an AOL spokeswoman, said that the company’s tech support representatives are encouraged to use emoticons “because it helps translate what you’re trying to say.”
In fact, emoticons are embedded in many of the pre-typed messages that AOL’s tech support reps simply copy and paste when responding to frequently asked questions.
“Most people like them,” said Ryan, who called Albie’s complaint “the first reported incident of its kind.”
Even Albie acknowledged that he occasionally uses a smiley face when sending an e-mail joke to a friend. But in a tech support setting, he said, emoticons are simply annoying.
“They’re condescending,” he said. “It’s like the jerk clerk with a slick smile on his face just quoting the company line. I wanted to reach through the phone and grab his throat.”
You can almost picture the AOL rep’s response: :O
Greg Miller covers high technology for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-7830 and at greg.miller@latimes.com
