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I would get severance if I were laid off by my call center, because I work at an insurance company and all of the employees get severance (one week per year of service). Except temps. We work in the same building as adjusters and underwriters, so it probably makes a difference when you're considered "part of" the company. I'm sure that if they end up outsourcing claim intake calls like they're considering, they wouldn't pay THOSE call center employees severance after a layoff. Because they'd be working at a freestanding call center that isn't considered part of the core company. Drimble Wedge posted:Oh, and gently caress interrupters. You know the ones. 
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Oct 13, 2011 06:41
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Harminoff posted:How do you feel about doing this from our end? I catch myself doing it all the time, because the calls are all pretty much the same, so I am used to the same questions over and over. Don't care who's doing it or why, don't interrupt. If someone seems to be over-explaining the situation and not getting to the point, it's probably because they're not sure what they're talking about, so they're making sure to be as clear as possible, and if you interrupt them and just give the answer they'll end up still not being sure that your answer is actually correct for their situation. I know, it's really tempting to just butt in with the answer when you're sure you know what they're going to ask, so you have to make a conscious effort to not do it. Because interrupting ends up wasting more time than it saves.
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Oct 13, 2011 09:30
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It depends. If you gently caress it up you've interupted the customer and indicated that you're not on the same wavelength as them. But if successful you can not only save time, but also gain rapport because you're telling them that hey yeah I get what you're saying, we're both on the same page here. Although it's perhaps more a matter of using verbal cues that fall short of interupting to convey that you understand their train of thought. I would say do it only if you're confident you'll pull it off, do it in a soft manner instead of a hard cut-in, and be ready to mitigate if it doesn't work.
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Oct 13, 2011 13:04
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Wow the more I read about employment in the USA in this and the retail thread, the more I feel for you guys. (FYI - (in the uk) Redundancy payments are paid if the company lay you off, I think the legal minimum is like 1 weeks pay per year worked or something, most companies that are not poo poo pay more, I get 2 weeks per year works to a max of like a years pay or so. If they offer voluntary redundancy, they sometimes up it a bit as well). Anyway to contribute, I have an answering machine on my phone, stop leaving your life story. If I'm so busy I didn't have time to get to your call, it probably means I don't have 5 minutes to listen to whatever inane bullshit you decide to leave on my messages. It's nice your marketing director has had a baby, good for him\her, but could you please get to the point, give me some details or a number or something instead of telling me how hes a loving beautiful baby, I honestly don't give anywhere near enough of a poo poo, this is a loving answering phone message not a conversation. I speak to you like once a year. Also, messages that go. "hi Cast_No_Shadow, its steve, ring me back". Now on my mobile\cell\in my personal life, thats fine, becuase I probably know you. On my work machine, do you have any idea how many Steve's there are? Yeah ok maybe I spoke to you last week, do you know how many people I speak to in a week? Do you know what happens if I search for a member named Steve in the policies I look after? The loving system will crumble because the results would be in the 5 figures. Don't you dare ring me back another day complaining that I never answer your messages.
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Oct 13, 2011 13:32
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I have been at this job for 4 years as of 2 weeks from now. I worked full time from October 2007 to December 31st 2010, when I switched to part time to go to school. So I just realized how bad I am getting screwed as a part timer. I get less than half of my PTO accruals, no paid sick accruals instead of 12 hours a month accrued, and yet have to work more than 50% of the time as a Full Time (24 hour a week minimum). And then I find out, today, that when I switched to part time 10 months ago, I gave up the 104 hours of accrued sick time that I did have. I do not recall being informed of this, and I am pissed that I cannot use sick time I have earned, nor can I get paid out on it either. I just kind of feel like I am getting hosed out of income I have earned. KeanuReevesGhost fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Oct 13, 2011 |
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Oct 13, 2011 19:44
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Turns out nobody had switched on the dishwasher or done any dishes at work since Thursday or Friday. There was mould growing out of a coffee mug. Mould.  Guess who gets in trouble if dishes aren't done by Monday? The supervisor, that's who! Guess who was supervisor today?!  After sterilising the mug and switching on the dishwasher, I washed my hands for a solid 5 minutes after that. Then used hand sanitiser. Lots of hand sanitiser. I swear, keeping hand sanitiser in my bag is one of the best ideas I ever had. Weekend and PM shift always gets in trouble about dishes not getting done despite day crew and the other departments on the floor making the dishes in the first place. Us on nightshift are paragons of nutrition and order in food. Or bring in our own food + cutlery because normally by the time we get to have lunch the cutlery and plates and mugs have been used but not cleaned. I would not use the workplace cutlery without giving it a good clean beforehand. Ever.
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Oct 16, 2011 08:10
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I wish people would realize that most the alphabet sounds exactly the same over the phone. I always get somebody rattling off their e-mail address like "tvenmezbet@shithead.com" and they get pissed off when I have to ask them to repeat it phonetically.
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Oct 16, 2011 16:32
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I guess I should post in this thread now that I work for a mortgage company in their debt collections department. Basically I call up people all day and remind them that they are late and that they need to pay up. Anyone in the business have any tips for me to help someone just starting out?
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Oct 16, 2011 19:35
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SpartanIV posted:I guess I should post in this thread now that I work for a mortgage company in their debt collections department. Basically I call up people all day and remind them that they are late and that they need to pay up. Just check that whatever agreement you're putting in place is actually feasible. I know a lot of emphasis gets put on getting an immediate payment, but in a lot of cases if they could pay their mortgage then they would do - no one wants to be homeless. Learn to distinguish between people that are honestly trying to get their poo poo sorted out and people that are bullshitting you to buy more time for them to pay someone else - this will come with time, you won't get it right away. Just remember in most collections calls (especially mortgages) the person youre dealing with wants it fixed as much as you do. All you're really going to disagree on is timescales.
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Oct 16, 2011 20:27
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froglet posted:Turns out nobody had switched on the dishwasher or done any dishes at work since Thursday or Friday. People really should be washing their own dishes, but if nothing else then the sups should be checking that they're done by the end of every day shift. It's also illogical that you would get in trouble for work other people didn't do. Do you have a boss you can talk to about this? Accountability should fall on the manager from the previous shift who failed to follow through. I can't believe all of this poo poo even needs to be said. I just wasted two paragraphs about adults who can't wash their own loving coffee cups.
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Oct 16, 2011 20:29
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SpartanIV posted:I guess I should post in this thread now that I work for a mortgage company in their debt collections department. Basically I call up people all day and remind them that they are late and that they need to pay up. Also, when someone starts to escalate, stay calm. There's nothing more effective then staying calm and reasonable while letting someone get out all of their frustration and anger. Once they're done, you can have a conversation.
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Oct 17, 2011 02:24
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g0lbez posted:I wish people would realize that most the alphabet sounds exactly the same over the phone. I always get somebody rattling off their e-mail address like "tvenmezbet@shithead.com" and they get pissed off when I have to ask them to repeat it phonetically. I had someone rattle off a VIN to me once and was using racial slurs everywhere he could. Boy he was so tickled by this! I mean the guy was just belly laughing by the end and didn't get why I wasn't. loving Arkansas.
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Oct 17, 2011 02:25
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martyrdumb posted:I don't understand your office culture AT ALL. Sharing "office dishes" is not necessary in the first place. Where I work, you bring in your own poo poo and take home your own poo poo, and any poo poo left on Fridays is thrown the gently caress away. It's loving EGREGIOUS that people aren't expected to wash their own. Washing moldy dishes 5 days after other people used them? That's so goddamn disgusting. You're a supervisor, bring up a proposal to put an end to that bullshit. Yeah, I don't really get it either, but I guess it's better than showing up to work to realise you forgot your cutlery. Normally the kitchen is quite clean, there's a dishwasher for the express purpose of staff use. Supervisors are told it's their responsibility to ensure the dishwasher is at least stacked, but this weekend evidently nobody got around to it and lots of people are manchildren who put their cups etc into the sink rather than the dishwasher. The attitude at work is that if you notice it, do something about it, which is a nice theory but in practise it means the same group of people are having to pick up after everyone else. I only really did it because I don't like leaving biohazards just lying around and it's not worth giving the day shift supervisor more ammo for the axe she has to grind with weekend shift. Either way, it's not on and I'm talking to the team leader about it when I get in today. I know it's not just helpdesk, either, so he'll need to speak to everyone else on the floor.
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Oct 17, 2011 05:35
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g0lbez posted:I wish people would realize that most the alphabet sounds exactly the same over the phone. I always get somebody rattling off their e-mail address like "tvenmezbet@shithead.com" and they get pissed off when I have to ask them to repeat it phonetically. My favourite is when you ask them to spell it phonetically and they start up with "TEE. VEE. EEE. ENNN. EMM. EEE...". This word, it does not mean what you think it means. A cautionary tale on the topic of the office sink: A few years ago, they decided to get rid of the nice little old couple who cleaned the building at night in favour of some cheap student labour. What became apparent soon after was that very few people on the floor had been washing their dishes/stacking the dishwasher, the roster was being ignored (for reasons which become clear ...), and it was disguised for years by the old cleaning staff doing more than they should have in the kitchen. The kitchen degrades significantly as soon as they are gone. The people who left their dirty dishes on their dirty desks didn't care, the people who ditched their dishes in the sink didn't care, some people didn't care about the kitchen roster so that wasn't a tight ship either, and the people who might have cared about their roster duties were so disgusted that they avoided the really grotty stuff. The problem got worse and worse until one day the managers decided enough was enough and got rid of all the dishes and cutlery ... Unfortunately they went overboard and took personal dishes in the loot riot (like my mug, from my childhood trip to a theme park with my god drat name on it, but it turned out some sales bitch with the same name as me had been using it secretly during the day, I was pissed for quite a few reasons about that). Some people stole dishes and cutlery from the other level - where corporate staff lived - and squirreled them away in their desks. Some of them still didn't clean up properly and there was a bug problem from dirty dishes living unseen in closed drawers. The lack of general use cutlery, tea spoons and all, meant that if you wanted a coffee you had to shake it out of the giant Nescafe tin into your mug and give the mug a whirl to stir ... which meant the kitchen got substantially grottier from spills. Some time later they brought in those little plastic swizzle sticks but they didn't solve the spooning grounds problems and weren't restocked often enough. Even later they brought in plastic cutlery, but they also weren't restocked often enough to be worthwhile so people started leaving them in the sink again to be rewashed so they wouldn't be without ... Not that long ago now they gave up and brought up back a bunch of dishes and cutlery - proper metalic and porcelain like the good lord intended. However, because we've been in Famine mode for such a long time, our poor little brains went into squirrel mode to make sure we never had to go without again. You still can't find a loving spoon/fork/bowl when you need it, because we've all stolen and hid them about the place.
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Oct 17, 2011 17:38
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These kitchen stories are hilarious. It's incredible the lengths people will go to not to have to clean a dish. It becomes a mexican stand-off every time until management take action.
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Oct 17, 2011 19:07
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There's something like one fridge on each floor of our four story building, and roughly once a quarter an all users email goes out about at least ONE of those needing to be emptied because the poo poo in it is going green/stinks/ate one of the phone agents. It's awesome how supposed adults are happy to leave their poo poo in the fridge until it's becoming sentient and then let someone else clean it up. Also, to anyone who has stolen poo poo out of a breakroom fridge: gently caress you. It contributes to a lovely work environment and everyone hates you for it.
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Oct 17, 2011 19:22
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Fil5000 posted:Also, to anyone who has stolen poo poo out of a breakroom fridge: gently caress you. It contributes to a lovely work environment and everyone hates you for it. This has happened in any office environment I've ever worked. Just the friday gone, someone stole half a sandwich from the fridge, which was actually quite funny because an e-mail was sent out by a manager asking wtf. It had to be some kind of prank, or someone knocked half of it on the floor or something. Normally it's just someone's milk or a random yoghurt being pilfered followed by some office drama and speculation. My coffee jar gets used by unknowns in the day shift (it's somewhere where it very obviously isn't communal) but I don't give a poo poo and just accept it as an amusing, drama-inducing part of office life.
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Oct 17, 2011 19:36
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ZeroDays posted:This has happened in any office environment I've ever worked. Just the friday gone, someone stole half a sandwich from the fridge, which was actually quite funny because an e-mail was sent out by a manager asking wtf. It had to be some kind of prank, or someone knocked half of it on the floor or something. Normally it's just someone's milk or a random yoghurt being pilfered followed by some office drama and speculation. My coffee jar gets used by unknowns in the day shift (it's somewhere where it very obviously isn't communal) but I don't give a poo poo and just accept it as an amusing, drama-inducing part of office life. I just don't like to work somewhere that other people are going to steal from me. I can just about understand people working the bare minimum (or less) to get by as a way of sticking it to "the Man", but taking stuff from your coworkers is just being a selfish douche. Fair play to you for not minding it, and I guess it's not the theft itself that bothers me, it's the attitude that causes people to think it's ok.
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Oct 17, 2011 19:40
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ZeroDays posted:These kitchen stories are hilarious. It's incredible the lengths people will go to not to have to clean a dish. It becomes a mexican stand-off every time until management take action. My old roomate (who was a girl, I'm a guy) would never do her dishes, or clean at all. I got fed up with it and stopped doing her dishes. One day she filled the sink with soap and water and put a bunch of dishes in it. Victory I thought! Until the next day when nothing was done. Pretty much just blocking me from doing my dishes until I do hers first. Well I didn't want any of that, so I started eating out, or eating food that doesn't create dishes. That sink sat like that for two months. The sink actually turned a green and stained like that. She never did end up doing any dishes. Speaking of work though, today when I left I was #2 in sales. We get paid commission. You would think that this would mean that I am rolling in cash, but I actually only made 30 cents/hour more then minimum wage. gently caress this new client they signed a contract with. Who would sing a contract for pretty much no money, thus cutting your employees pay to 1/3-1/2 of what they usually get? I'm surprised I still have a job every day I arrive there. Really expect the parking lot to be empty every day I show up.
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Oct 17, 2011 22:06
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The kitchen at work is usually pretty clean, someone gets assigned each day to put the mugs in the dishwasher and wash the plates and cutlery and stuff in the sink and the whole kitchen gets cleaned up by the cleaning staff. We have a slightly different problem. There are two small fridges. Every day someone comes in and fills them with milk. Or rather, tops them up with milk. If the milk didn't all get used yesterday, it stays there. This wouldn't be an issue if there were some rotation of stock, but there isn't and the bottom fridge almost never gets used. So usually when you come in, the top fridge has almost enough milk for everyone for the shift and the bottom fridge is full of milk that went past the drinkable stage about four months ago. There's also the mystery of why we sometimes get full-cream milk and low-fat milk and sometimes just low-fat, even though when there's both the full-cream disappears first, which seems to indicate that it's the more popular choice...
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Oct 18, 2011 01:19
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ZeroDays posted:These kitchen stories are hilarious. It's incredible the lengths people will go to not to have to clean a dish. It becomes a mexican stand-off every time until management take action. Yeah, I find it pretty funny that despite being one of the youngest people on the floor I'm one of the few acting like an adult. Speaking of tales of grotty people, my friend used to work doing IT support for a local university, and one of his coworkers had a distinct lack of personal hygiene. He'd shower at night and walk to work the next day, which during the hot Australian summer made him rather fragrant. He'd also (unbeknownst to everyone else) keep dishes in his desk drawer. When he left they discovered... something. They think it might have been a plate. They threw the desk out after that. The only time I've had something stolen when I put it in the office fridge was a mars bar. froglet fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Oct 18, 2011 |
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Oct 18, 2011 04:27
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I've never had anything stolen from the fridge and I reckon my stuff is usually pretty tasty. What gives!
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Oct 18, 2011 10:30
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I had one call today who just WOULD NOT accept an answer. I think I repeated myself about 10 times before I finally put her on hold to get a breather. Look, lady. It isn't MY fault you somehow won't be able to afford what goes on your bill - you even admit that. Maybe you should try not spending money you won't/don't have, then you wouldn't feel the need to pitch a fit. I learned a good trick from a coworker though - I went back to her after and asked her straight up "Well what do you want me to do about it?" and she couldn't answer cause it wasn't something she could rant about. It's not often I get completely crap calls but at least when I do the people around me are extra supportive. At least the people I work with are nice. Still better than retail! Chicken Doodle fucked around with this message at 10:59 on Oct 18, 2011 |
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Oct 18, 2011 10:55
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I may have to remember the "What would you like me to do about this?" line to finally shut people up. The worst most indignant people are the ones who have double payments happen because of how late they consistently pay their bills. They get a bill, ignore it, go into cancellation, pay on the last day possible, as a COURTESY we extend their current amount due out into the next month, and when they get the bill they freak out at us, or say some dumb poo poo like "what do you mean this is a payment for September and October, I PAID in September!" ugharrrgh.
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Oct 18, 2011 12:48
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I like when you tell someone X, and they go apeshit and it ends up getting escalated, and a manager tells them X and they're cool with it.
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Oct 18, 2011 22:28
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Yeah, I always follow up after I escalate calls and it's invariably "Told customer X, and they could Y, and then Z", which is what I told them, but they had to bitch a link up the chain I guess.
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Oct 18, 2011 23:14
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Loving Life Partner posted:I may have to remember the "What would you like me to do about this?" line to finally shut people up. It doesn't work.
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Oct 18, 2011 23:55
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I've found using a real deep, slow voice seems to really work on escalated people.
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Oct 19, 2011 04:09
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:It doesn't work. It really doesn't. They'll just repeat whatever scenario you've explained is impossible over and over. I support a software program, and I've had multiple people tell me that I need to get one of the developers to add a feature specifically for them. I'm polite and understanding to a ridiculous degree, I really do want to help people, but sometimes, there is no helping.
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Oct 19, 2011 06:04
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Ninja Bob posted:It really doesn't. They'll just repeat whatever scenario you've explained is impossible over and over. I support a software program, and I've had multiple people tell me that I need to get one of the developers to add a feature specifically for them. I'm polite and understanding to a ridiculous degree, I really do want to help people, but sometimes, there is no helping. "Ok, let me transfer you to sales so they can quote you a price for adding that feature".
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Oct 19, 2011 19:08
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Null Set posted:"Ok, let me transfer you to sales so they can quote you a price for adding that feature". I am slowly learning the art of the transfer, and it is Magnificent.
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Oct 19, 2011 19:40
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I will lead them wherever I gotta lead them to get them transferred.
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Oct 19, 2011 19:44
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Someone else said it in this thread, but it really is amazing how much more bearable your job becomes once you stop giving a poo poo. When I started, I used to go out on a limb for any customer I could because that's just my nature, but after so many thousands of callers telling me I was worthless I just stopped caring. Now, if what you're asking me to do is indeed doable, sure, I will do it for you. That is the extent of my support. I now stick to the book 100% and I don't care if it is not what you asked for, it's our company policy and like I give a poo poo if you disagree with it.
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Oct 19, 2011 20:17
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Yeah, the pressure definitely melted away. Before every sob story was new, every customer a unique and precious snowflake you had to please, to the best of your ability. Now, holy gently caress I couldn't care less. I got bills to pay too, lady. Fixed income? Sounds like a lovely situation to be in, you should rectify that. And seriously, how many motherfuckers are on disability!? I work at a car insurance company, you're on disability but you can drive?! Drive a taxi! Deliver pizza! Loving Life Partner fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Oct 19, 2011 |
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Oct 19, 2011 20:21
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Loving Life Partner posted:Yeah, the pressure definitely melted away. Before every sob story was new, every customer a unique and precious snowflake you had to please, to the best of your ability. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH I KNOW YOU HAVE A FIXED INCOME PRACTICALLY EVERYONE DOES AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH. I'D FRANKLY RATHER HAVE A FIXED ONE THAN A VARIABLE ONE. Sorry, hate it when people pull that one out.
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Oct 19, 2011 20:39
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Fil5000 posted:AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH I KNOW YOU HAVE A FIXED INCOME PRACTICALLY EVERYONE DOES AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH. I'D FRANKLY RATHER HAVE A FIXED ONE THAN A VARIABLE ONE. Yeah! Just say "low income", you oversensitive pricks. When you're begging me not to cut off your $50 per month cable tv package and yet claiming paying your overdue bills will make you homeless, you've already shred any meager dignity you had.
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Oct 19, 2011 20:45
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So anyone know anything about "Behavioral Analytics"? Everyone in the corporate side is so loving jazzed about this new system they're going to implement into our calls soon, because it was designed by people who worked for NASA. From what I understand, it measures stress levels in the call and can pinpoint moments where either yourself or the caller get into "fireball zones" or some poo poo. I got 6 hours of training about it next month, so there's that, other than that, I can't fathom why I should give a poo poo about this system.
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Oct 19, 2011 21:12
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Loving Life Partner posted:So anyone know anything about "Behavioral Analytics"? Everyone in the corporate side is so loving jazzed about this new system they're going to implement into our calls soon, because it was designed by people who worked for NASA. The second you get into the 'zone' you're fired for not maintaining calm. Same goes for the customer getting into the 'zone'. That or coaching sessions for anger management. Enjoy your metrics!
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Oct 19, 2011 21:24
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A bit late, but all the kitchen talk is pretty interesting/amusing. The dishes and cutlery is available for employees to use, and most people just return the dirty dishes to the kitchen. Everything then gets cleaned up by the cleaning staff, though sometimes if it doesn't happen on time and it looks like this: I'm surprised they make some of you clean up after yourselves (speaking of first world problems...), surely it's cheaper to hire someone for minimum wage to clean up than it is have a bunch of employees spend their time washing dishes?
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Oct 19, 2011 22:01
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Loving Life Partner posted:So anyone know anything about "Behavioral Analytics"? Everyone in the corporate side is so loving jazzed about this new system they're going to implement into our calls soon, because it was designed by people who worked for NASA. If you're lucky, and they actually train ALL of your management on it instead of just a couple of lower level types, they'll actually use it properly for call coaching and to help you work out what things you say to customers hit the right buttons and what things hit the "go batshit loving crazy" buttons. If you're not lucky, then the higher ups will see it as a stick to beat you with and then what Chicken Doodle said happens. Good luck.
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Oct 19, 2011 22:18
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