I don’t know Fran’s last name.
I don’t know where she lives, though I detected a slight Southern drawl.
All I know is that both times we’ve chatted, she’s been incredibly helpful.
Which is not what I usually say about a call center employee.
Fran works for People’s United Bank (or whoever they outsource their help center to). What are the odds that out of the hundreds (okay, tens) of folks answering calls (eventually), that I’d reach the same woman twice?
And what are the odds she’d remember me?
But Fran did. I started the second call — it was about People’s inability to play nice with QuickBooks — with, “I’m incredibly frustrated.”
“Didn’t I talk to you last week?” she asked. She remembered (I sure didn’t) that I’d said the same thing the first time (for a different issue). Which was actually more than 2 weeks earlier.
Calmly, rationally, and (this is huge) efficiently, Fran walked me through everything I needed to know. She solved the problem. And she did it in perfectly understandable English.
I’ve never met Fran. She probably has no idea where Westport is.
But because she (sort of) works for a local bank, she qualifies as this week’s Unsung Hero.
I hope I never have to call People’s help line again. But if I do, I sure hope Fran answers.