A traveler attempting to book a ticket by phone became frustrated after choosing from a menu of endless options, then waiting on hold for 20 minutes before eventually being transferred twice—the second time to a dial tone. When she called back, the first live person she connected with got an earful about what had transpired and how poor the customer service was. The agent responded without hesitation: “Oh, we’re not doing that anymore.”

“Not doing what?” inquired the caller. “The customer service thing,” said the agent. “We tried that before, and it wasn’t working for us.” While the airline representative was undoubtedly joking in an effort to make light of a bad situation, his sarcasm is actually a serious assessment of the customer satisfaction attitude that transpires all too often.

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