How you can avoid customer service hell after the holidays

Hailey Mendoza, 7, and Jocelyn Mendoza, 9, shop with their mom Sandra Mejia at the Walmart in Rosemead. Mejia looking for gifts on Dec. 20, just five days before Christmas.

Now the glow of Christmas has begun to wear off, the crumpled wrapping paper has collected in the corner, the egg nog's not sitting so well, and it's time to deal with those inevitable holiday returns.

Now the glow of Christmas has begun to wear off, the crumpled wrapping paper has collected in the corner, the egg nog's not sitting so well, and it's time to deal with those inevitable holiday returns.

You know what that means: customer service hell.

For advice on how to endure this we turned to comedian Ed Salazar. Like a lot of comedians, he's had his share of unenviable day jobs. Some that have required him to be the voice on the other end of those frustrating phone calls.

He's figured out how to game the system to get what you want without losing your mind. He stopped by our studio recently to give us his rules of customer service.