thinking about the last time i actually enjoyed talking to customer service. it was probably... never? which is wild when you think that you're about to become ticket #GH47392847 in someone's queue.

spent forty minutes on hold yesterday trying to fix a billing error. the agent made me explain everything twice, put me on hold three more times, then told me they'd "escalate it" and someone would call me back. spoiler: no one called.

this whole interaction got me spiraling about how we normalized terrible experiences. like, when did we decide it was okay to treat customers like numbers in a queue? when did "have you tried our faq?" become an acceptable first response to genuine human problems?

the local store feeling

remember walking into that corner store where the owner knew your name? knew you always bought the same coffee, asked about your mom's surgery, actually cared if you found what you needed?

now compare that to calling any big company. transaction numbers, form letters, starting your story from scratch every single time. it's like collective amnesia... they forget you exist the moment you hang up.

what broke:

• companies hide their phone numbers, bury email addresses behind endless self-service options
• chatbots that gaslight you into thinking your problem doesn't exist
• human agents who can't see your history, your context, your humanity
• measuring "resolution" when they really just wore you down until you gave up

that's not solving anything, that's just... band-aid on a broken system.

what could be

been reading about these ai agents that actually remember. imagine calling support and the person (or ai) already knows your history, your preferences, where the last conversation ended. no more "have you tried turning it off and on again as given in FAQ?" when you literally started the call by saying you've already done that seventeen times.

equipping every customer interaction with the right, real-time knowledge, and actions.

it's not about replacing human empathy... it's about giving every interaction the context it deserves. like that corner store owner, but scaled.

and we, product people, should ask "how do we handle more volume?" everytime but "how do we bring back that feeling of being seen?"

the wild part? this isn't some distant future thing. the technology exists now. we could have customer service that feels personal again, where every conversation builds on the last one, where you're treated like the human you are.

that feels backwards. the local bakery or family restaurant should have access to the same level of personalized ai agents as massive corporations. everyone deserves to make their customers feel seen and valued.

the real shift

maybe the problem isn't that companies don't care. maybe it's that their systems make caring impossible. when your ai support agent can't see past your ticket number, how can they actually help?

but what if every customer interaction started with understanding instead of interrogation? what if your history, your preferences, your context were just... there, ready to inform the conversation?

not in a creepy surveillance way, but in that warm "hey, i remember you were having trouble with..." way.

thinking about this differently now. not just fixing broken systems, but reimagining using ai not to distance ourselves from customers, but to get closer to them. bringing back that local store feeling. ✨

just some thoughts from someone who's tired of being ticket #whatever