A customer's first message is: "I want to talk to a real person about my bill." The agent currently looks up the account, attempts to fix the billing issue, and offers a human only if that fails. Satisfaction on these conversations is low. What should the agent do instead?

Answer: B — Escalate to a human immediately, without first investigating the account

An explicit request for a human is honored immediately, without first attempting investigation. (D) is the right pattern for a frustrated customer with a straightforward issue who has not asked for a person. (A) still overrides the request. (C) uses sentiment, an unreliable proxy, and ignores what the customer actually asked for.