That's the AI paradox hiding in your CX stack. Tickets close. Customers leave. And most teams don't see it coming because they're measuring the wrong things.

Efficiency metrics look great on paper. Handle time down. Containment rate up. But customer loyalty? That's a different story — and it's one your current dashboards probably aren't telling you.

Gladly's 2026 Customer Expectations Report surveyed thousands of real consumers to find out exactly where AI-powered service breaks trust, and what separates the platforms that drive retention from the ones that quietly erode it.

If you're architecting the CX stack, this is the data you need to build it right. Not just fast. Not just cheap. Built to last.

See the data

Author’s Note: This blog and everything contained herein, is simply my non-professional opinion and should not be considered advice, by any stretch of the imagination. Please understand that my personal experiences have formed my opinions for me.

A “Healing” Pain

When we think about healing, words like “process” may come to mind. What is a process? It is defined as a lengthy and gradual, consistent, persistent and sustained long term effort with formal steps and a plan of action backing it, with a specific end goal in mind. Of course anything that requires such a rigorous and well thought out commitment is sure to have bumps and hiccups along the way. A certain amount of adaptability then, is worth having in the midst of any kind of thorough and long lasting pursuit. Fair enough, right?

In the beginning stages of a process of any kind, almost universally it seems only logical to accept the fact that the first few steps towards progress and real change might initially feel meaningless. Perhaps even pointless. Once you overcome a few hurdles as time moves forward, you start to see the results which prove that what you’re doing is sensible and worth continuing. What happens though when the very strategy employed to move the problem closer to a satisfying resolution becomes the very thing that is problematic? What if this proposed “solution” in fact, only shows signs of regression rather than forward momentum?

Depending on how complex the issue itself is, you might opt to switch up your approach a little bit or take some time to think deeply about what the next, most reasonable resource might be to help you get closer to finding relief. Anything which puts the gears of progress into reverse is only a waste of time. In other words, if your arm is leaking blood by the gallon, you’d probably do well to not stick a knife into it, hoping that it will somehow get any better. To worsen the problem is not the same as solving the problem. As Albert Einstein once noted, “You cannot solve a problem with the same type of thinking that caused it in the first place”.

When it comes to the issue of a psychiatric disorder such as bipolarism, many of the medications used to treat it can have harmful side effects such as weight gain, which is something that I was unfortunate enough to deal with for the stunning fourteen years that I was on Lithium for, to address that very mental illness. I’ve since been on a few others with only one so far being acceptable to me, yet even with that one the initial adjustment period to it was very rough as I recall. The tricky thing with this particular mental illness is that the body can adjust to a medication in such a way that it is eventually rendered ineffective, meaning that if you happen to be in the same boat as me, “fine-tuning” becomes a life long effort consisting of ongoing visits to doctors and psychiatrists, presumably for the rest of your life.

Labels & Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

Some people collect diagnoses like expensive antiques, wearing them underneath their sleeves to pull out in case accountability comes knocking for some indiscretion or bad behavior. I used to fall into this category myself, however with time and maturity, I eventually found myself on the more annoying side of that same equation; the one where other people seem to label you at the slightest hint of emotional intensity. Hence robbing you of any type of authenticity by claiming that “it’s because he’s bipolar!”. Like being labeled a psychopath by a therapist, this is not a diagnosis you would want to have thrusted onto you.

Through the eyes of medical professionals and those who practice behavioral health, such diagnoses seem to determine that any untreated person is simply destined to burn their life to the ground, commit suicide or be involved in any number of risky and life ruining behaviors. It is written in stone and there will be consequences for not allowing yourself to be treated for it, just as surely as you would go to jail if you were to be involved in a bar fight. Just as inevitably as the sun will rise tomorrow morning. Experts’ warnings reinforcing the expectation without challenging the assumption. I find this fact very blackpilling, to say the least.

Presently, I am on the fence as to whether or not I believe bipolar actually exists or is just a scam to get drugs sold and money made. I may sound like a wild conspiracy theorist for saying that, but my personal experiences have lead me to become very distrustful and suspicous of certain conditions and their supposed treatments. Ensuring compliance is the goal and I believe that dangling the fear of “the consequences” for non-compliance over the heads of patients is a tool of manipulation that some professionals use to aid them in their goals to earn more money by referring customers (instead of human beings) to their professional peers.

The Medicine Gun

A gun is a tool of war and violence and like any other weapon, can be wielded to threaten and intimdate. To own one is such an awesome responsibility that you must go through a process which likely includes registering your weapon and obtaining a permit of sorts. Medicine on the other hand, is crafted and designed to alleviate powerful symptoms of poor health or injury. While unpleasant side effects may occur, the majority of them at least remain a recommendation and not the type which is disguised as some sort of intimidation tactic rooted in fear.

Yet, we have professionals taking aim at us, targeting our trust and threatening our peace of mind. What once served as a purpose for healing is now weaponized as a bargaining tool to incite and inspire anxiety and self-doubt of the highest order. Whether they are unwitting pawns of this agenda or are fully aware is of little concern to me. They are active participants all the same and their culpability cannot be overlooked, erased, removed or excused. I simply view many of these so-called experts as legal dope dealers and nothing more. How do you on one hand, claim that you want to help me while on the other, pointing an emotionally loaded weapon of manipulation directly at me? I don’t believe that anyone can “cure me to death” or “intimidate me into wellness”. How does that work?

These two things do not belong together, they are too contradictory and yet some humans still manage to find a way make them compatible, as if this oxymoronic concept somehow weren’t self-defeating. When you feel as though the people whom you are supposed to trust are failing you but you yourself understand that you’re too uneducated or ignorant to solve the problem on your own, what options are you really left with? Not much beyond internet quick-fix scams, designed to rob you of your money leaving you feeling more guarded than you already had been from the start.