Welcome to the fourth part of the Customer Service interviews at Demme Learning. Amanda, Linda, Mary, Patti, Sandra, and Sindy tell about their favorite parts of their jobs: talking to you.

What’s the funniest reason a person has had to hang up the phone?

Sandra: It was like three different things happened [at once]. One of them had to do with the UPS guy, and the other had to do with the fact that the woman lived by the graveyard. It was somebody looking for a graveyard or a funeral or something. And there was dog barking. I found out all these details when she called back.

Linda: Because of my 22 years of homeschooling with six kids, I think the chaos that happens when you get on the phone as a mom, it just became so normal for me. There will be a sudden, noisy spat with siblings, or a fussy baby, all while we’re helping a customer place an order or are helping them with a problem. That is what is funny; it’s so normal! In those sudden chaotic times we make sure and let the moms know, no worries at all, we completely understand, we’ve been there ourselves. Sometimes they need to just hang up to take care of the problem and then call us back and sometimes we wait until the problem gets resolved right while we are on the phone together, and after the resolution, we continue on.. It’s all so normal.

What do you tell parents of students with special needs and learning differences?

Amanda: I am a mom who has walked that road. My husband has dyslexia. My daughter has dyslexia. Usually, parents are so glad that I can understand where they’ve come from. All I do is try to come at it from my own personal experience. I just say, “this is what worked for us. You may wanna look into this or that book.” Everybody’s journey is different, so as long as you keep that at the forefront, and you’re not just giving advice to give advice.

I tell parents of students with processing disorders that maybe they’re moving slowly, but they’re moving forward! Because of the multi-sensory approach of Math-U-See, they can still be successful. Even if it feels like a struggle, it is nothing compared to the frustration they would experience with a traditional spiral approach.

What part of the job is most fulfilling to you?

Linda: The most fulfilling part is making a difference for our customers. I love it when a customer tells me they are so glad they called. I love hearing,“I’m glad I called because… if I hadn’t I would have put my students in the wrong level.” Or, “I am so glad I called because now I feel encouraged, and I can keep on keeping on—I was ready to give up!”

Sindy: I’m there as a resource for all the other Customer Service agents, so if they’re stuck or have a difficult scenario, they can bounce an idea off me.

Is there a customer who stands out in your mind right now?

Sandra: A family had received an incomplete order, and I was trying to get through to them to correct it. But it was some time before they called in again. It turned out the mom wasn’t getting back to me because she had miscarried. I gave her a scripture in an email, and said a few things. And she emailed me back and said, “I think there was a reason why that item was left out of that package.” That meant a lot to me.

Tales from Customer Service Series:

Funny Hangups
We Were Students
Word Problem Tips
When Your Child Has Learning Differences (You’re here!)