Shelly works as a call-center employee from inside her home. The company she works for does not mind that she works from home because she is so good at her job. Her professionalism hardly varies from one call to the next. One day, however, she learned that her mother had died. Rather than taking off work, she went through the work day as routine. A few days later, a customer complained to the firm that she did not like Shelly's attitude when she contacted her with questions about a product. She felt that Shelly was brusque and rude. The company investigated the matter and found that Shelly had lost her patience with the customer over the phone. However, when they found out about her situation, they only gave her a verbal warning.

Which characteristic of services caused a problem for the firm in this scenario?

a. Intanglbilty
b. heterogeneity
c. inseparability
d. low customer contact
e. perishability