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Null Set posted:Most of them are though- the majority of call center managers I deal with can't find their rear end with both hands and a map, so they live and die by the big shiny numbers because it's easier than actually managing properly. poo poo, I had to work with a Site Director who pissed and moaned about the formatting of QA reports because they didn't "show up" correctly in his six-year-old Blackberry, AND he couldn't be bothered to open the excel attachment on those reports either. That same director was CONSTANTLY on everyone's rear end about metrics, routinely assigning idiotic arts and crafts projects to the QA staff to make sure EVERYONE knew what the site numbers were at any moment. In this case the numbers were literally "big and shiny" silver posterboard poo poo. And then the company promptly fired its entire QA department and half of its training staff. I will put a bullet in my brain before I work at a call center again.
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Sep 7, 2011 02:36
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Does anybody here actually like their job? The place I work has metrics that come and go, intense months of metric hounding that seem to come and go. Now it's all about sales and offering, and "it's ok if you're not meeting in sales, we're a good company that cares about our employees and understands when their performance is lacking, but here's a roleplay of what happens when you don't sell". So yeah I'm getting a little tired of sitting in team meetings where supervisors try their best to threaten to fire you but in the most subtle ways possible. At the same time, I found that this doesn't really affect people that actually try. A lot of people hate their job and whine about it when sometimes it's really them being a lovely employee rather than them having a lovely employer. I take poo poo calls from poo poo people and based on the interaction I really wonder how they are able to function from day to day, but at the end of the day I have a job that pays me well enough to sit behind a desk, browse the internet, constantly gives me time off the phones, good benefits, pays for my schooling, etc. And all I really have to do is work the way they ask me to work. It's really not so bad, and this isn't some small company either, a few of you in this thread probably work there. Anyway, I know it's the rant thread, but goddamn it would be nice to see a positive statement about working in a call center.
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Sep 7, 2011 14:12
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^^^^^ I have a few positive comments made here while I still worked in my last job  . The thing is, most call centre work is basically soul destroying and the only people worse than you {in the customers' and managers' eyes} are those that rely on benefits to live {i.e the sick and disabled as well as the currently unemployed}.
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Sep 7, 2011 15:02
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fret logic posted:Does anybody here actually like their job? I used to enjoy being on the phones - the only thing that really bugged me was when I was working my backside off and some people were clearly gaming the system to do as little as possible. When I made it up to team manager, I found out just how hard it actually was to DO anything about the people that are gaming the system and just made a point of telling people that worked for me that if I caught them deliberately fabricating figures or otherwise screwing around, there would be consequences. Not all the other managers had that way of thinking though, so occasionally my team got fed up because I wouldn't let them get away with poo poo that other people would. That said, I think in about three/four years of managing people I only had a couple of people quit, had to dismiss one, and another got dismissed for attendance issues (even after I'd bent over backwards to accomodate them), so I assume SOMETHING I was doing was right. I enjoyed helping people that I talked to, I enjoyed the people I worked with and that worked for me, and the environment in general was fun. So in my long winded way, I liked being at the coal-face. Although I like sitting a couple of layers removed from the customers now.
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Sep 7, 2011 15:52
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Fil5000 posted:I used to enjoy being on the phones - the only thing that really bugged me was when I was working my backside off and some people were clearly gaming the system to do as little as possible. When I made it up to team manager, I found out just how hard it actually was to DO anything about the people that are gaming the system and just made a point of telling people that worked for me that if I caught them deliberately fabricating figures or otherwise screwing around, there would be consequences. Not all the other managers had that way of thinking though, so occasionally my team got fed up because I wouldn't let them get away with poo poo that other people would. That said, I think in about three/four years of managing people I only had a couple of people quit, had to dismiss one, and another got dismissed for attendance issues (even after I'd bent over backwards to accomodate them), so I assume SOMETHING I was doing was right. You're not my line manager for my last job are you? Because that rant sounds eerily familiar  .
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Sep 7, 2011 18:15
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fret logic posted:Anyway, I know it's the rant thread, but goddamn it would be nice to see a positive statement about working in a call center. I like my job. The company's pretty good, my benefits are nice, I like talking to people on the phones, I like my hours, I like my pay, I love the people that I work with and I feel like I'm doing something that I'm good at. I still complain, but I do like my job, and am glad that I'm doing it.
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Sep 7, 2011 19:15
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I'm in a weird situation. Somehow, I'm getting time off the phone to work on a company wide project with managers in departments outside of the call center. Everyone seems to think that I work in a different department than customer service. I corrected them each time this department was mentioned. I just feel so weird about it. I'm hoping this might one day translate into them seeing I'm not just some slacker and getting promoted as an administrative assistant or something, but some of the employees also act a little reviled by folks who work in customer service. All I can do is dress extra-nice on the days that I actually interact or see any of these people (or get seen by them), and do my best to put on the most professional front possible, I suppose. legsarerequired fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Sep 7, 2011 |
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Sep 7, 2011 19:19
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gomababe posted:You're not my line manager for my last job are you? Because that rant sounds eerily familiar Depends if your in the UK or not for a start... Specifically the midlands. I hope I never ranted like this to my staff though.
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Sep 7, 2011 19:22
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I don't enjoy my job as much today as I did 5 months ago, but I do still enjoy it. Most of the enjoyment of problem solving is gone since i'm so familiar with what's going on now in most cases. My coworkers are great fun, and the company itself I really have no major complaints about. Just some of the structure of stats and metrics that bug me.
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Sep 7, 2011 20:12
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Aw yeah. Finally officially promoted to tier 2. 
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Sep 7, 2011 21:49
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Effexxor posted:I like my job. The company's pretty good, my benefits are nice, I like talking to people on the phones, I like my hours, I like my pay, I love the people that I work with and I feel like I'm doing something that I'm good at. I'm really hoping this is going to be me. I'm nearly done the classroom part of my training, and I have two hours actually taking calls on the phones on Friday. Then next week we start our transition, being monitored in training as we get to take calls full-time. Everyone's so nice and the benefits are good. We got ice cream today and everyone seems to like it there. I'm nervous.
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Sep 8, 2011 01:21
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Fil5000 posted:Depends if your in the UK or not for a start... Specifically the midlands. I hope I never ranted like this to my staff though. Well... yes UK, but in the South West (Dorset specifically). It just looked really familiar since my Line Manager was often fairly honest with us when it came to these sorts of problems is all (and she did bend over backwards to try and accommodate me when I lost my voice for 4 weeks there).
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Sep 8, 2011 08:44
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Chicken Doodle posted:I'm really hoping this is going to be me. I'm nearly done the classroom part of my training, and I have two hours actually taking calls on the phones on Friday. Then next week we start our transition, being monitored in training as we get to take calls full-time. Haha this sounds exactly like where I work. Enjoy the training while it lasts and don't get too used to the atmosphere and the transition to the floor wont be so bad. It was hard for me to get adjusted to the floor after the extremely cushy training but it's all good now. Glad to hear some of you enjoy your jobs somewhat, I didn't want to feel like a weirdo for enjoying mine some. I'm gonna have to be here for a few more years anyway to finish up school so, it can't start being soulcrushing. I honestly get tired of some of my coworkers too. As professional an atmosphere as this company tries its hardest to keep, it's like an adult daycare. The bathrooms are always a mess despite rigorous cleaning schedules (think bus stop), the desks always have food all over them. They don't want us muting the phones to make nasty comments anymore which was retarded anyway, I don't really want to hear you mute your phone to yell out "just give the address fuckface". I get irritated with customers too but it really helps for me NOT to act on that irritation or to hear it from other people. I have an opportunity to get a few months off the phones but for some reason I can't bring myself to do it. I'm somehow addicted? How is this possible?
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Sep 8, 2011 13:12
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fret logic posted:Haha this sounds exactly like where I work. Enjoy the training while it lasts and don't get too used to the atmosphere and the transition to the floor wont be so bad. It was hard for me to get adjusted to the floor after the extremely cushy training but it's all good now. Once you balance everything out, call centre work is (in the UK at least) decent pay for a job that requires little in the way of skills. It's an excellent stopgap for people looking to move into a more skilled profession, and as long as you're capable of having a rational discourse with someone you'll be able to do ok. In terms of the off phone stuff - I can understand it. If you get into a groove with call taking and you have a nice routine, why rock the boat? Depends on if you want to get on and move up, really. If you're ever going for an internal promotion then "I am good at my job and did this extra thing too" will always seem better than "I am awesome at my job and didn't do anything else". Unfair, but true.
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Sep 8, 2011 14:08
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fret logic posted:Does anybody here actually like their job? I wouldn't say I particularly like my job, but I don't mind it. I do find though that the people who complain most are the ones who are causing their own problems by not doing the job properly. Supervisors are giving you a hard time and telling you you're not getting enough surveys and you're not doing them properly? Well, maybe if you read the scripts like you're supposed to and didn't spend half the shift talking to your friends then you wouldn't have that problem. Also, I swear there are people there who put more effort into trying to avoid working than it would take to actually just do the job. And these are not long shifts; a normal weekday shift is four hours (minus the 15 minute break, minus the ten minutes or so it takes to get started, minus the five minutes or so it takes to finish up at the end). If you can't do the job you're paid to do for a whole three-and-a-half hours, how are you managing to live in this world? fret logic posted:The bathrooms are always a mess despite rigorous cleaning schedules (think bus stop) This is the thing that I find hardest to take about this job. For a while we had someone who was regularly managing to get poo poo on the toilet seat. On the seat. Regularly. I don't know if the culprit was caught, stopped working there or just learned how to use a loving toilet like a human being, but we're fortunately back to just having to put up with piss on the seats, toilet paper on the floor and people who don't flush. Tiggum fucked around with this message at 17:08 on Sep 8, 2011 |
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Sep 8, 2011 17:04
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Tiggum posted:I wouldn't say I particularly like my job, but I don't mind it. I do find though that the people who complain most are the ones who are causing their own problems by not doing the job properly. I've seen emails go around our place about this sort of thing happening in the WOMENS bathrooms as well - I don't even understand how it's possible for a sober woman to piss on the floor. I mean, you'd actually have to be trying to do it. I mean, I know there's no excuse for blokes either, once you're old enough to go to work you should have mastered that distance between the organ and the toilet bowl, but at least you can see how it might have happened.
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Sep 8, 2011 17:49
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So many people don't wash their hands after using the toilet at work as well. This sounds like a minor complaint compared to poo poo on the seat, but to not wash your hands after taking a dump is its own breed of nastiness.
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Sep 8, 2011 17:58
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OH GOD, the BATHROOMS. It's really incredibly awful at my company, and I'm saying that as a woman. In the women's restroom, we had people regularly pissing all over the seat, people leaving blood on seats, people just being ridiculously gross. It's gotten better, but I just don't understand why anyone would do that.fret logic posted:Glad to hear some of you enjoy your jobs somewhat, I didn't want to feel like a weirdo for enjoying mine some. I'm gonna have to be here for a few more years anyway to finish up school so, it can't start being soulcrushing. It's weird, but I actually like my job a little bit too. It can be incredibly frustrating, but I do like hearing about people's bizarre questions and the pay is much better than many of my other friends' jobs (keep in mind, I'm a 2010 grad that's friends with a lot of 2010 liberal arts major graduates, haha). I get overtime and about three weeks of PTO, so I've been getting in tons of travel. If you have an opportunity to get off the phones, you should absolutely take it. It's better for your resume.
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Sep 8, 2011 18:07
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Toilet nastiness is a constant in all workplaces. To name some of the things that have occurred in places I've been; an official investigation to determine who kept wiping the contents of their nose on the stall walls - we seriously had to have pointless team meetings about this  ; printed notices above every toilet reminding us to flush as it had "become an issue"; the usual poo poo smear incident in the girl's toilets that triggered a warning e-mail to the whole office. Office toilets will always be cesspits in the same way office fridges will always have food go missing - people love drama and find ways to manufacture it, intentionally or not.
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Sep 8, 2011 18:24
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Chiming in from one of the largest computer manufacturers in technical support. At least, due to the nature of the specific products I support (high end and expensive workstations) the customers tend to be more tech-savvy most of the time and aren't as stupid in general, but the type of customers we sometimes have to deal with sucks. Nothing is worse than a stock broker/day trader with a high end workstation multi-monitor setup who wants to bitch at you about how many thousands of dollars he's losing every minute because his computer is broken down. You know what? You obviously have money. If it's so goddamn important to you that your computer isn't down for any period of time at all, get a second computer as a backup and cram it up your rear end. My main beef right now is that my division of the company is anti-telecommuting, which is truly irritating because I know good and well that they have the technology and the software in place to make it happen, they just won't let people do it for whatever reason. I think it's a control issue, honestly. The cost to them for getting it set up and working is negligible and could almost certainly be recovered in the increased productivity that most people experience working from home.
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Sep 8, 2011 21:06
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Powdered Toast Man posted:Chiming in from one of the largest computer manufacturers in technical support. At least, due to the nature of the specific products I support (high end and expensive workstations) the customers tend to be more tech-savvy most of the time and aren't as stupid in general, but the type of customers we sometimes have to deal with sucks. Nothing is worse than a stock broker/day trader with a high end workstation multi-monitor setup who wants to bitch at you about how many thousands of dollars he's losing every minute because his computer is broken down. You know what? You obviously have money. If it's so goddamn important to you that your computer isn't down for any period of time at all, get a second computer as a backup and cram it up your rear end. You know, from the resource and planning side of the fence, the idea of telephony agents working from home loving TERRIFIES me. The people in this thread I'm sure will be the first to admit that they're the exception rather than the rule when it comes to the work ethic a lot of phone agents seem to have, and I've seen people people horribly abuse every single system they have at their disposal so they don't have to do as much work as the guy sitting next to them despite getting the same wage. If you take those people and let them work from home, good loving luck. Of course, you ought to be able to say "Ok, you've proved yourself to be reliable and trustworthy, so now the home working option is open to you", but I'm absolutely certain that if you tried that you'd end up with either a union or lawyers (or union lawyers) all over your case because you weren't being "fair". For a given value of fair. Naturally, I'm a massive hypocrite as I now work two days a week from home myself.
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Sep 8, 2011 21:19
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Fil5000 posted:Of course, you ought to be able to say "Ok, you've proved yourself to be reliable and trustworthy, so now the home working option is open to you", but I'm absolutely certain that if you tried that you'd end up with either a union or lawyers (or union lawyers) all over your case because you weren't being "fair". For a given value of fair. Many of our customers (hosted dialer system designed for remote use) do this. As far as I know, there are no legal issues involved with selectively letting people telecommute. I can only think of one or two that do remote agents right off the bat, simply because it requires much more QA overhead and management to make sure people aren't loving around. (also I work from home all the time  )
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Sep 8, 2011 21:48
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Null Set posted:Many of our customers (hosted dialer system designed for remote use) do this. As far as I know, there are no legal issues involved with selectively letting people telecommute. Ah, excellent then. I know there's various technologies coming down the pipe at the moment that mean that home working will become a much more viable option, I just know that with some people we'd be better off just burning money rather than letting them do it.
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Sep 8, 2011 23:03
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Fil5000 posted:Ah, excellent then. I know there's various technologies coming down the pipe at the moment that mean that home working will become a much more viable option, I just know that with some people we'd be better off just burning money rather than letting them do it. The technology is already here (has been for several years). Most modern hosted systems are designed with the express purpose of making it easier to deploy, manage, and monitor remote agents. Old premise based hardware doesn't make that an option, and most people manufacturing those systems aren't interested in remote agents (or their tech is so old that it's not even possible without a massive investment).
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Sep 9, 2011 00:23
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I would love to work from home, but I would have troubles staying on track. I have troubles keeping on track with my school work when at home as I get distracted by anything and everything. Like last night I was studying, noticed a thing of cereal on the ground and took that as a cue to vacuum my entire apartment. At 3am. When I should of been doing text reading.
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Sep 9, 2011 01:04
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Powdered Toast Man posted:Nothing is worse than a stock broker/day trader with a high end workstation multi-monitor setup who wants to bitch at you about how many thousands of dollars he's losing every minute because his computer is broken down. You know what? You obviously have money. If it's so goddamn important to you that your computer isn't down for any period of time at all, get a second computer as a backup and cram it up your rear end.
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Sep 9, 2011 05:11
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Null Set posted:The technology is already here (has been for several years). Most modern hosted systems are designed with the express purpose of making it easier to deploy, manage, and monitor remote agents. Old premise based hardware doesn't make that an option, and most people manufacturing those systems aren't interested in remote agents (or their tech is so old that it's not even possible without a massive investment). Sorry, should have specified - I know the technology exists in general, it's just that we appear to be moving all our systems on to that sort of platform at the moment.
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Sep 9, 2011 06:31
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I have to say, I'd be much more tolerant of my job if I had the option of working from home instead of having two 45-minute commutes a day five days a week. The catch is that I would have to work really odd hours, and I'm not sure if it would be worth giving up my nights so I could be free all day. Although I guess that would make it easier to do job interviews and class...
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Sep 9, 2011 06:38
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Working from home doing this would be interesting, but I don't know if I'd be up for it. I'd kind of feel like my home was being invaded by my work, and that would suck. Where would you escape to? I guess the only thing I'm considering is the pyschological aspect of it: people cussing at me while I'm sitting in my own home. I'll leave those rude assholes where they belong, in the office with lovely bathrooms, dirty workstations, and a set of glass doors I can walk out of at the end of my shift. One of the things I wish I could get away with is being realistic. Sometimes I get really tired of pretending to be in fantasy land. It really wears me out how much time it wastes and how little it seems to accomplish. But overall that's what every customer everywhere with any business seems to want, and that's what every business will always have to deliver with customer service: utter bullshit and thoroughly polished turds. I could get so much further with helping customers understand things if I could just be realistic. Why is there an outage? It doesn't matter why there is an outage, there just is. Do you want me to tell you that a part on the power supply for the alarm system of the unit in your area that went bad, causing the alarms to go off and temporarily shut off the service? You don't want me to tell you that, because you wont understand it, I don't understand it, and you'll just get pissier. You don't ask your mechanic exactly how disc brakes operate so why are you asking me why a box just stopped working? It just did alright? Allow me to fix the issue and stop living in the loving problem. Or you're only angry with us and accusing us of losing your payment because psychologically, you know you don't pay your bills, and you definitely didn't pay this one. Emotionally it's a lot easier for you to deal with self-loathing by lashing out at the nearest person and blaming them, than accepting that ultimately it's your fault. It's ok, I WANT to do it too, but I know when it's not ok. It's never ok. It's quite insane when I step back and notice that by being realistic and rational in the nicest way possible (not even referring to my last examples which are a bit harsh) you would actually lose a ton of customers. fret logic fucked around with this message at 12:48 on Sep 9, 2011 |
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Sep 9, 2011 12:46
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Fil5000 posted:Sorry, should have specified - I know the technology exists in general, it's just that we appear to be moving all our systems on to that sort of platform at the moment. What platform are you evaluating, out of curiosity? (I'd rather not say which one I work for right now).
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Sep 9, 2011 13:29
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Null Set posted:What platform are you evaluating, out of curiosity? (I'd rather not say which one I work for right now). I'm in a similar boat - I don't mind talking in general about what I do but I'd rather not get into any specifics. I'm pretty sure I've never said anything confidential on here but I'd much rather be safe than sorry.
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Sep 9, 2011 14:07
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We have Avaya-based VOIP here so telephony is not an issue at all. Generally speaking, if your phone system is VOIP then no matter what they try to say about it, remote working is most definitely doable. In my case the only thing I really need is VPN access for our CRM and technical tools, and of course the VOIP tunnel. A decently fast internet connection will handle this with no problem at all. As far as productivity is concerned, I don't really see the issue with that either because they can monitor your work stats just as easily if you're working at home: you generate tickets in the system, you take calls, etc. If you're loving around instead of working it will be just as obvious as it would be in the office. In my case I've been at the company for three years now so I do feel that I've proven myself and should be given the option to telecommute.
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Sep 9, 2011 14:14
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fret logic posted:Why is there an outage? It doesn't matter why there is an outage, there just is. Do you want me to tell you that a part on the power supply for the alarm system of the unit in your area that went bad, causing the alarms to go off and temporarily shut off the service? You don't want me to tell you that, because you wont understand it, I don't understand it, and you'll just get pissier. You don't ask your mechanic exactly how disc brakes operate so why are you asking me why a box just stopped working? It just did alright? Allow me to fix the issue and stop living in the loving problem. Yeah, one customer started getting very vocal about his displeasure as to why his modem could possibly be broken when "it was just working yesterday", so I had the following conversation with him:  Have you ever had a car break down on you? Yeah... In that instance, was it working every day prior to the break down? Yeah... It's exactly like that. Car analogies are the best.
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Sep 9, 2011 14:22
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froglet posted:Yeah, one customer started getting very vocal about his displeasure as to why his modem could possibly be broken when "it was just working yesterday", so I had the following conversation with him: I use something similar when describing how a cable splitter could go bad. Customer is like "It was working perfectly yesterday!!" "Yeah, light bulbs work perfectly as well up until the moment they fail.." Usually shuts them up
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Sep 9, 2011 16:01
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Yeah, "Things work until they break" is something I say at least once every day and it's rapidly becoming one of my biggest pet peeves to hear 'It was working fine yesterday!'. Of course it was. If it broke yesterday, your dumb rear end would've called us yesterday.
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Sep 10, 2011 13:30
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My pet hate used to be getting referrals from staff who would start by saying "I've got a customer on the phone..." I KNOW you have. We work in a call centre. Do not tell me you have a customer on the line, this should be a normal state of affairs.
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Sep 10, 2011 13:42
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Fil5000 posted:My pet hate used to be getting referrals from staff who would start by saying "I've got a customer on the phone..." I KNOW you have. We work in a call centre. Do not tell me you have a customer on the line, this should be a normal state of affairs. Sometimes I think it would be nice if they just rang for a chat.
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Sep 10, 2011 15:38
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I just had a woman chewing gum loudly between every other word while she was talking. I went from good day to red line in about 5 seconds of that bullshit.
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Sep 10, 2011 15:42
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Cast_No_Shadow posted:Sometimes I think it would be nice if they just rang for a chat. Made it worse when I had to read their notes - every note had a three character code indicating what sort of call it was. So they'd pick the one for "Customer call" and begin the note "Customer called..." That got right on my wick.
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Sep 10, 2011 15:53
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BlackIronHeart posted:Yeah, "Things work until they break" is something I say at least once every day and it's rapidly becoming one of my biggest pet peeves to hear 'It was working fine yesterday!'. Of course it was. If it broke yesterday, your dumb rear end would've called us yesterday. I am an on site technician as well as a call center person. Walked into an apartment the other day and dealt with the same thing. "Well my laptop worked a few months ago." "It doesn't now though. Everyone else can connect to the internet. I can connect. Your roommates can connect. You can even connect, it is just that you drop every 5th packet." "I don't understand." "Well a packet is like a piece of info-" "No, not that. I don't care about that. I don't understand why everyone else's connection works but mine doesn't."
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Sep 10, 2011 20:31
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