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Comment by ceejayoz | Hacker News Reader

Simple's support is definitely outstanding. I get little notes like "Fixed it! By the way, it's not my business but I like that you hyphenated your name when you got married." that really reinforce that there are actual humans being allowed to solve problems, not fill out a script.

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Exactly. Here's a recent interaction I had with Simple support. http://cloud.mattermill.com/image/2w0W1v0z3E0d

I have a 40+ message support thread comprised of me and Simple support sending gifs back and forth to each other.

Pics or it didn't happen.

It's a thin line to walk. I would feel quite different if that happened to me.

In all seriousness, why?

I might wonder which of my personal details they don't like on this cozy level.

If I'm still getting excellent support, I'm not sure I care.

Does it matter?

Simply put, I parse that as a creepy attempt of simulating a personal relationship that just isn't there.

I feel the same way. It would bother me to know that the support person has an opinion regarding my personal details regardless of what that opinion is.

They have an opinion, whether or not they're stating it to you.

Agreed; I'm getting sick of this faux-friendliness that's trendy in American customer service these days. Banks and B2B startups are equally as guilty. I don't want to be asked how I'm doing or discuss the weather every time I call you for a quick question, wasting lots of time with useless polite banter. I'd rather a business call with an established vendor go like this:

* Ring, quick answer

* V: Yeah?

* Me: I need X changed to Y.

* V: Got it.

* Me: Thanks. end call

What about at Trader Joe's how they always have a nice conversation with you, what's your take on that?

In my experience it feels different in part because you have the person in front of you (it's harder to fake seeming genuine face to face).

It also feels different because they are talking while they are doing something else, unlike on a phone call where these questions are preventing you from doing the communication you need to do to finish the call. It would be more similar to Trader Joe's employee stopping you on your way in to ask you a bunch of questions about your day and the weather outside.

I live in NYC and was actually thinking about Trader Joe's and checkout lines here generally when I wrote my comment. Cashiers here generally don't waste anytime with small-talk and that's understood as common practice since we're all in a hurry. In other parts of the country, some small talk is expected and one party will be viewed as rude if they don't participate. I prefer we skip it.

Depends on what the conversation is about. The ring on my finger? (similar to the example above?) No-no.

The weather, because it is summer and hot? Ok. Just banter.

The crowded store and the fact that I had to stand in line 5 minutes? ("Crazy, we didn't expect that many customers today!") Yes! Shows they are aware and care.

It's not that I don't want to interact, I just don't want to be dragged into that 'we're friends' game.

I use self-checkout even when the line's longer, so that I don't have to talk to someone.

One institution I am forced to deal with regularly has this horrific phone intro (from a live person):

"Thank you for calling XXX where it's always a great day, my name is XXX and how about you tell me what I can help you bring home today?"

I would be genuinely depressed by having to lie all day. This makes me appreciate more my standard European grumpy wait-staff.

One thing is that it can be a sort of breach of trust. While of course banks have access to this info, it's sort of an unwritten rule that they're not going to go looking through it just out of curiosity/malice.

Obviously this depends on the situation, but usually info like bank transactions are considered private.

Same here. One time a Simple rep made a comment about how they liked my employer. While the comment itself was innocuous, I expected them to have a bit more discretion when going through my transaction history.

Really? That reaction strikes me as quite odd. Do you not chit-chat with tellers at your bank in person?

No, I've never chit-chatted with tellers, nor would I want to.

You may be the odd one out then. I've spent a fair amount of time in lines at the bank and most people are quite chatty.

Cultural behavior differs widely even between regions. Whats true at your bank could be entirely different 500 kilometers down the road.

Even still, there's a difference between random chit-chat and the bank representative looking into your transaction history and making comments on it.

I do not chit-chat with my teller about items they see in my transaction history.

Neither do I, but they almost always mention my employer -- that's what we're talking about.

But they figure out your employer by looking at your direct deposit?

It could be a very subtle AML tactic. BofA asked me if I remembered the name of the staff member who set up my business account prior to letting me make a wire transfer. Of course, since they can't tell you it's AML you think they're insane until you catch on and give the standard answers.

Seriously. I don't want to myself or my wife to be judged by my bank support because my wife took my last name.

Just because they didn't say something doesn't mean the judgement isn't there.

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