It's less the person and more the company policy. I've total sympathy for the person on the phone/behind the counter who's probably had a long and thankless day; I'm not rude or aggressive to people.

It annoys me no end that often, offers and services are gated behind "new subscriber" conditions - which is basically a tax on being conflict-adverse. You have to go through a cancellation process to get someone who can "look to see if there's anything they can do" and get the thing that's plainly available.

But I'll joke about it on the phone to whoever I'm talking to - the last time this happened (changing mobile phone contract) the chap and I were laughing about "come the revolution" at the end of the call.

Previously I've had someone on the phone claim that water being three feet higher at one end of a drain than the other wasn't due to a blockage; some people will "go the extra mile" for their employer. I think I got as far as "if your company's position is that basic fluid statics is wrong I'd be happy to take it to court, but you don't have a leg to stand on, so it'll be cheaper for everyone involved to just send the drain guy out," which is about as annoyed as I get.

There's no reason for someone in a phone zombie role to actually give a shit one way or another, but some kind of human connection helps. Even a sarcastic response can be delivered in a disarming way - attack the blatantly stupid kafkaesque nonsense, not the poor schmuck who's not paid to care.