Yes. More than I care to admit. No. It never helped.

It's even worse today, where the front line support starts with a defensive attitude now.

I've tried a bunch of different strategies. But as Im now in my 40s, I've learned that you always get better service with honey.

I started doing that Gen Z stuff of like, "Hey man. You are probably just doing what you need to do, and I'm hoping my issue is easy as fuck to solve. If not, I'm not here to give you trouble because the system sucks."

There's a great book called Verbal Judo which goes through how to deal with the suck. Its not for everyone. But for people like me who tend to blow up easily, it's great for keeping your composure, getting to a solution without ruining your day (even if it isn't what you want), and remembering the person behind the screen/phone is human.