|
So due to a bit of research, I've discovered that someone with similar experience/education/etc. in my area should be earning $4/hr. more than I make now. I'm thinking of pushing for $2/hr more than I'm making now, but I don't know how to ask for more money... Any ideas? EDIT: Oops, this is really the wrong thread for this, please ignore it. vortmax fucked around with this message at 08:18 on Jan 10, 2012 |
#
?
Jan 10, 2012 08:15
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 10:27 |
|
|
AA is for Quitters posted:I love my mute button, but that's because it lets me do things like sneak a piece of candy/a pretzel or something while a customer is talking about their problems. Or sneeze. Or cough. And now we're all risking losing our ability to mute because of dumb oval office. Our mute button got taken away in September, across the entire division, and only now are problems beginning to crop up. You know, because it's winter and people get sick. I love driving my hold up so I can blow my loving nose.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2012 17:21
|
|
|
nicky_glasses posted:Garden variety of crazies calling in. I actually enjoyed getting those calls. They gave a break form the normal activites one would get while doing tech support. One particular instance was a woman who would call in, and would begin sobbing on the phone, describing all the activities that her soon-to-be-ex-husband would be doing that particular week. Sure she had an account with us, and would give it to us at the beginning of the call, but once her account pulled up, it was "go time" for her to start listing off, between gasps of breath and sobs, all the shenanigans that sunuvabitch was doing. However, I think alot of it was inflated for the purpose of amplifying the sorrow factor, as her stores were so far fetched, that they were undeniably unbelievable. Stories that included her husband running off with countless number of swimsuit supermodels, hoarding close to $3 million in a swiss bank account, and being on the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted List. All that had nothing to do with her website and why she would be calling into the tech support hotline. We would also have the occasional customer calling in, complaining that they could not get their email. Come to find out that the would have 6 to 7 different software firewalls installed on their computer, and they were competing for sole undivided attention, like a bunch of newborn babies. They would then give the reasoning behind such a drastic move; they were being watched by the Russians / FBI / Terrorists / bunnies in their front years that had tiny cameras implanted into their head and would watch them inside their house and report back to some omnipotent bunny task force or some poo poo. I can't remember if I told the stories about the woman and the cable modem, or the dark basic programmer getting his site hacked.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2012 18:15
|
|
|
jassi007 posted:Well sure, but its not like a business doesn't have the right to give someone unpaid leave of absence. Its not the exact letter of the law or you have to work. They were choosing to be uncooperative. This exactly. I offered to take the unpaid absence, and most days I was at work, just late by a few minutes due to the tight nature of everyone's schedules. I understand that I was asking for a special exception, and they owe me nothing... But it just rubbed me the wrong way.
|
|
#
?
Jan 10, 2012 18:56
|
|
|
trunkwontopen posted:I can't remember if I told the stories about the woman and the cable modem, or the dark basic programmer getting his site hacked. you haven't ITT 
|
|
#
?
Jan 11, 2012 12:04
|
|
|
It's time for my share in this wonderful thread. i work at a small-sized callcenter in central europe, the internetprovider that we're contracting for has like 200k customers. you wouldn't belive how decrepit and run down our workplace is. we're at best 5 ppl at 24mē doing the whole phone, tv and internet support for the scum that's our customers. most of the stuff that i read here is very, very familiar. 1. let me start off with the description of our locality. right now the heating kicked the bucket (again) and it's safe to say that we have to wear ski underwear for the next week or so (last winter it was 2 weeks). the boss gets the heating fixed (but not really fixed, as that would cost money), but once that's done you can't adjust the temperature. we just open the window every hour or so that we don't boil over. the whole infrastructure of this place (it's just an appartment that was turned into a bureau)looks like it's from the 50s. the windows are really old, last summer the glass of one broke and it wasn't fixed up until november. quote: "it's not that cold yet anyway". no matter that it rained into our workspace. hah, really, i'm not kidding. in summer it's freaking hot in there. another fine point are the seats. take the cheapest crap that you find at a discounter, voila, that's what we sit on. that stuff is broken and twisted from fat guys sitting on there 14h a day. one should assume that the stooped physique of callcenter agent comes from their job, but here it's authetically the seating. i usually sit on one of these unbreakable, simple steel chairs that keep your spine straight, no matter what. i won't even describe the kitchen, but for your pleasure, there is a small storeroom there, full with electronics from the 80s that used to smell like literal poo poo until recently, when we had a health and safety inspector visit. my guess is that somebody took a dump in there when he quit. the company also offers serverhousing and webhosting. our homepage is plastered with images taken from istock or somewhere, to give the impression that everything is new and professional. now i don't know how the machines and housing looks at your workplace, but certainly you have to try hard to catch up to our standard of poo poo. the whole infrastructure of the company has no redundance. and the machines that run all that crap aren't exactly new. i doubt that they ever were. most look like they're housing rats. we once had a coworker, who was hugely overqualified and into that stuff (not the rats, mind you), he went down there and came back totally alarmed about the lack of redundancy. the answer from the boss was, that this costs too much money and he'd just put the harddisks in the freezer, and then they'd work for 20mins. this guy is batshit insane. 2. why do i still work there? our boss isn't just a dick, a crook and a dimwit.....mostly he isn't even here. ah, sweet freedom. you see, the company runs itself. he just drops in to check if the house is still standing and to pick up his money. for the rest, he doesn't care. if you get to know this guy, that's actually a very good thing. this place would explode if he'd involve himself more, within a week. there is literally no control, you can watch tv, surf the web, play games if there's time. we sometimes sit around in our underwear in summer (well, that's kinda necessary if you don't want to melt). i don't see all those things happening in these corporate nazi companies that you guys work in. freedom below minimum wage, but actual freedom. you've drawn a lovely customer? put him on mute and say gently caress you, or whatever curse comes to your mind. psychohygienically it's absolutely necessary. nobody will tell you off for that. 3. oh god, the customers, the customers... now, i don't know if there is any national disparity between how ppl behave towards callcenter agents. the fact that all your stories are familiar to me tells me, that in principle, there can't be that much difference. last january, the number of the ppl that we support doubled, the isp that we work for bought another one from a rural area. our staff didn't double. since then, things went downward. i'm not joking when i tell you, that ppl from that area often enough have problems even spelling their names right (plus, our databases are poo poo and we sometimes don't even find ppl). how could the educational system fail to such an extend? why do these ppl need internet or voip? another thing is the dialect of the callers. in german it is perfectly possible, that you cannot understand the caller. you could as well let your dog bark into the phone. (that also happens often enough. plus cows mooing in the background). the best part about this is, that these rednecks take you for an idiot if you speak the standard idiom and can't understand their gibberish, mind you, most of us understand the other 8 dialects without problems. go back to driving drunk on your tractor, you don't belong on the internet. we also have a few folders in our mailsystem for certain, "special" customers. being the person who's responisble for filling such a folder with such fine material, it should disqualify you from taking any futher part in human society. i don't mean handycapped ppl, but these agressive, selfabsorbed assholes who think that they're entitled to everything because they pay loving 10 bucks a month. it's not even those, who pay much. these hardly complain, but the little shits that expect the company to spend some odd 600 bucks to get the tech guy out there to fix their connection on the same day so that they can watch zoo-porn at 4 in the morning. loving filth of the earth. according to a website, we have the best isp tech support in the country. Power Khan fucked around with this message at 13:45 on Jan 16, 2012 |
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2012 12:47
|
|
|
InspectorBloor posted:What country are you in and why are you paid below minimum wage?
|
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2012 16:44
|
|
|
greazeball posted:you haven't ITT Oh okay, then it's time for a story. I'll write about the Cable Modem Woman. The majority of the customers that are handled in most of the departments are commercial-based, except for one, which happened to be my old department. This was primarily consumer based, so we would get all sorts of calls from citizens that are trying to connect to dial up internet, or download pictures of their grandchildren from our web-based email client. We would see a barrage of looney customers that basically called to...just talk to someone, probably because their psychiatrist has finally turned off their phones with them. One particular woman would call in all the time, and claim that the FBI was watching her. Or the Russians. Or aliens.  Or even loving Bob Evans and his farm. All of us have had a conversation with her. This day, God was bored and decided to gently caress with me, and have her call in. I got the call.  : Thank you for calling BUSINESSNAME, my name is trunkwo..: THE FBI IS WATCHING ME AND YOU NEED TO HELP!: Uhh... okay. Not sure if I can help you with that, or..: I HEARD someone break into my house last night while I WAS ASLEEP. And now I KNOW the FBI is watching me, my cable modem is doing something it has never done before.: Okay, gotcha, so you think the FBI is monitoring your inter..: NO!  The are WATCHING me from my CABLE MODEM!: Uh... how?: They put TINY PEOPLE in my cable modem! I can see them in there! THEY ARE LOOKING AT ME. : ...? (I was hoping at this point she could hear the quizzical look on my face through the phone.): I can SEE them walk by the windows. They are in a GREEN ROOM! : Okay, that's a bit odd, and I'm pretty sure that the FBI doesn't have the capabilities to actually do that.: THEY ARE DOING IT! I can see them when they WALK BY THE WINDOWS!At this point, I started looking around the office for hidden cameras, or even Ashton Kutcher to pop his annoying rear end out of a storage closet and start yelling "Dude! DUDE! DuDe! Chortle!" But, seeing as I was a bit antisocial, (Call Center jobs do that to you) I decided to just help her out with the best way possible! Knowledge! : Okay, ma'am, can you move the cable modem, like physically pick up the cable modem?: (I heard her quizzical look through the phone) Well, yes, I can. BUT THE FBI IS..: I know the FBI is. What I want you to do, is pick up the cable modem, and turn it around, so it faces the wall. Can you do that for me?: BUT WHY? THE FBI! ALIENS! RUSSIANS! SALAD DRESSING! GREEN GIANT!: Look, if you do this, the FBI will look out the window and all they will see is a blank wall.: (Sound of woman gasping.) You... you are right! I will do that right now!: (Sound of humanity dying just a bit with each and every second of this phone call.) Glad I could help. Enjoy your unmonitored freedom in this fine nation.I'll post more when time is allowed. It's kind of slow at the center today. trunkwontopen fucked around with this message at 17:37 on Jan 16, 2012 |
|
#
?
Jan 16, 2012 17:35
|
|
|
InspectorBloor posted:I don't know if there's any difference in how people in different countries behave toward call centre agents. There is. I love calling New Zealand. Did you know that if you call a company in New Zealand and ask to speak to someone by name, nine times out of ten the receptionist will just put you through to that person without asking any questions at all? And when you call people at work and ask them to do a "short survey", they hardly ever ask how long it'll take or tell you you'll have to hurry, they just say "OK". And then they let you read out the introduction and questions without interruptions. I had one woman apologise because she had to ask me to speed up a little because she had someone waiting to speak to her. It's like some sort of crazy parallel universe.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2012 09:49
|
|
|
wide stance posted:What country are you in and why are you paid below minimum wage? i don't want to comment on the country of origin for obvious reasons. minimum wage would be 8,6 for my qualification atm. our wage agreements aren't that bad, the boss is just a crook who doesn't give a poo poo about getting sued (why that doesn't happen, see below). if you start out here, you'll get hired for about 7/h (which is in reality 6. the sum went down, when i started 3 years ago it was 8, i.o.w. 7). You won't get raised unless you go to the guy and threathen to get your official representation of employees active. sometimes that works, sometimes it won't. most ppl here don't stay long enough to worry about such things. for the others, welp, they don't quit or act up, because working in the alternative callcenters (even if they pay a little more), isn't a good tradeoff for the relative freedom here (that also includes freedom with our roster). we don't have a supervisor or any other capo standing behind us. you don't get to feel the boot on your neck. if you lose your job or quit, the jobcenter will ALWAYS assign you to the branch that your last job was in, or where you worked longest. breaking out of that circle is a problem with the current jobsituation if you don't improve on your qualification. most ppl who work here, including me, study at the university. you get in, get to feel the incentive to finish as fast as possible and get the gently caress out. the guys who have no perspective, well... while 7 or 8 don't sound too bad from what i've read here before, i have to point out that living here is expensive. e.g. the breadline his around 925. Power Khan fucked around with this message at 10:41 on Jan 17, 2012 |
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2012 10:27
|
|
|
Quit my call centre job today. Feels pretty good to be free.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2012 11:26
|
|
|
I had a woman call in really frustrated, spent half an hour on the phone with her, and by the end of it she was calling me an angel. This made me feel like I actually did something good  On another note, things I hate: Customers who put me on hold multiple times after calling me. If now is a bad time, call back when it's a good time. Customers who call when in the car and want me to "fix" the problem that they were having with our website. It was probably user error and there's no way we're getting that worked out when you're driving down the highway. People who interrupt my instructions to say that what they tried wasn't working. What they tried invariably has no correlation to what I told them to do. Of course it's not going to work.
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2012 15:40
|
|
|
InspectorBloor posted:i don't want to comment on the country of origin for obvious reasons. Did one of your German speaking customers write an insane ranting letter that got emailed to half the country and published in the trashy evening paper? It had lines like "If one of your technicians came to my door I would gently caress him in the rear end and if it was a woman I would tell her she was ugly." Do you know what I'm talking about? I'm in the French part of Switzerland but my brother in law was dying when he read it. You wouldn't be able to transcribe it would you?
|
|
#
?
Jan 17, 2012 16:53
|
|
|
I literally had a guy justify his excessive swearing at me over the phone by saying "They say 'poo poo' on South Park". I would've just hung up on him them if the god drat problem didn't get solved right after that. I did tear him a new one about using respectful language though. It's good to know I can hang up on a client for abusive language. That set the loving tone for my lovely night tonight, but around the end of my shift this gem appeared: Client: (man who just had his birthday and is same age as my father, after I wished him a happy birthday) Well at our age we've been through a lot! Me: Oh definitely. My dad was in London during WWII, he survived the blitz (true story!) Him: .......wow, yeah, he did go through a lot. *pause* Him: ...well, i was in San Fransisco in the 60's! That just made my loving night. Thanks, wicked old dude, you're awesome.
|
|
#
?
Jan 18, 2012 10:03
|
|
|
I have to admit, awesome old people really can make your evening. I love the feisty old ladies who keep up with technology or the stories and genuine appreciation that hey, someone's helping them.
|
|
#
?
Jan 19, 2012 07:37
|
|
|
greazeball posted:Did one of your German speaking customers write an insane ranting letter that got emailed to half the country and published in the trashy evening paper? It had lines like "If one of your technicians came to my door I would gently caress him in the rear end and if it was a woman I would tell her she was ugly." Do you know what I'm talking about? I'm in the French part of Switzerland but my brother in law was dying when he read it. You wouldn't be able to transcribe it would you? nothing on that scale yet. but for our pleasure we print out all kinds of insane mails & tickets that we get. one of the gems of last year here was a woman complaining that there are sites on the internet, where "women practice bestiality with horses". welp. welcome to the internet. we got into the papers for sending out warning to customers who dl stuff that they shouldn't, via torrents or emule. in that case it was a disney film and some porn (something with anal in the title). i don't have to tell you that basically anything you do on the net is monitored, but we seem to be one of the few providers that notifiy ppl that they're watched (we used to call them. ah, those wonderful situations, where you tell parents that somebody has been dling gay porn from their connection.). ofc it was the woman who owned the account, she worked at the paper. another sport that can be very rewarding is to search the ticket system for words like rear end in a top hat, poo poo, idiot, drunk, stupid, dirt, divorce etc. one of the earliest tickets that have ever been opened here is: "customer writes emails to random ppl with "rear end in a top hat" (yep, in caps) as subject. called customer and asked her to stop that". i laughed so hard... a colleague just had a call where a woman claimed that "music comes from that port on the wall where you plug in your tv". i can translate the article if it's not too long, or too mad, sure. Power Khan fucked around with this message at 11:31 on Jan 20, 2012 |
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2012 08:25
|
|
|
it just struck me like lightning: as soon as machines are capable of taking over the work at the helpdesk or CS, that's when it will become clear that they will inevitably erradicate mankind. or at least if they use sentient machines for that job. Power Khan fucked around with this message at 09:22 on Jan 21, 2012 |
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2012 14:55
|
|
|
InspectorBloor posted:i can translate the article if it's not too long, or too mad, sure. Here's the original, I guess it's company policy for the mail room to scan in all of the letters for record keeping and then email them to the relevant departments. Can you imagine the temptation to forward this to your mates if you received an email with this (worth clicking just to picture the rage involved in writing a SIX page letter by hand) already attached? It got sent everywhere and the evening tabloid picked it up and made a minor celebrity out of him because people really despise the company here. Ladies and gentlemen, I present Felix Zehnder.  Here's a lovely google translate link in case InspectorBloor doesn't have the time. 
|
|
#
?
Jan 20, 2012 15:36
|
|
|
These are one of the call notes on the account of some crazy lady I had to deal with earlier:quote:cust wanted to speak with a female Lady was deaf and claimed she can't understand male voices due to this. She then yelled at me for half an hour about how she doesn't trust any other ISPs and she won't speak to males because they laugh at her for being deaf. After I told her to stop yelling or I couldn't help with her internet she hung up /shrug
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2012 03:52
|
|
|
here's what greazeball posted. i translated the text according to it's sense, as literal translation would sound weird, also the grammar is wrong "1 dear ladies and gentlemen, you're starting to gently caress me off. you've sent me an overdue notice for juli and august. i payed, and i can prove it. i have no idea 2 in which bananarepublic you studied accounting. take a loving look at where the numbers are. your whole service is diarrhea, truely the shits. between 2006 and 2008 i didn't have a working phone for quite some time. often for days. it was probably a beaver that gnawed on your weird, subterranean cables. since 4 months my lanbox is deactivated. 3 and there's always this despondent female voice "we cannot offer this service atm". i don't expect to get sucked off by a beautiful woman when i sign a contract with cablecom. a working phone would suffice. would you check your hosed up accounting? 4 for august, i got 2 bills, i payed them both. who do you think you are, you brainfucks? a state company with monopoly?!? if one rings you up in Otelfingen, you're stuck for half an hour in a queue, and some sad fag then asks if he can connect me to the next computer. 5 so, suck up. please, you can shove your other products like "digital-tv" or "high-speed internet" where the sun doesn't shine. that spot is right on your back, below the tailbone. the next agent, that comes rumbling at my door - if it's a fellow, i'll gently caress him up the rear end, if it's a young ma'am, i'll tell her she's ugly like the darkest night. 6 what's your weird company logo, anyway? is it a tool to castrate your incompetent directorate? completely useless! these fellow were born without balls, and mommy forgot to stop suckling them. in deep empathy, Felix Z." if you know the swiss and their restrained and cool nature, that letter is actually pretty funny. Power Khan fucked around with this message at 09:06 on Jan 21, 2012 |
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2012 08:50
|
|
|
Great stuff Inspector, cheers! It's true about the Swiss, it's been explained to me that a German in Switzerland would go into the baker's and say something like "I'll take 2 breads." And then it was explained how completely shocking and inappropriate this sentence would be without excuse me, please, I would like AND thank you. From what I've heard from a friend who worked customer service there, it's true about the company: the are literally the worst customer service imaginable. All of the reps are on scripts and have no authority to do anything. The Swiss are so polite that the company gets away with whatever they want. The entire country hates them but are too polite to complain to the rep on the phone (who is always polite). That's why Felix got his picture in the paper.  The best line is the "What is this new logo? A tool to castrate your directors? They never had balls to begin with!"
|
|
#
?
Jan 21, 2012 12:20
|
|
|
I was on tier 2 the other day and a rep reported issues with the system so I made a test call using my cell phone to myself to see if the system passed it along correctly. While doing this I did not make a ticket. Apparently I just received a warning for not making a ticket with every phone call and a snippy note about being an experienced employee and knowing better than to take a call without a ticket. I cannot wait to not deal with loving call center bullshit anymore.
|
|
#
?
Jan 22, 2012 22:48
|
|
|
Soo...if you want a job with pretty much guaranteed permanance? Work for one of those law firms they televise. Chick who insulted a client b/c she didn't realize she'd forgetten to mute them? Spent the last two weeks office-spacing her way through work, and got her seccond review (her first had been probationary, they said they'd give her another in a month) and was decided to be made a permanant employee. We still have mute abilities for things like coughing/sneezing/chugging coffee, but that's it. We're not allowed to mute for any other reason. (Working for a law firm, i'd usually mute to ask a superior a question with a really off the wall case.) I also realized the downside of call center work that is based on statistics. I will likely never get to move on from my outbound calling position because I pull the best numbers. There's 6 of us that do outbound calling. The only two days where it doesn't say "top performers were Quitters and whomever" are my two days off.
|
|
#
?
Jan 23, 2012 22:01
|
|
|
Does anyone else have this conversation? Hi, this is Miryei, how can I help you? Was your name Brittany? Miryei, sir. What is your name? My name is Miryei. How can I help you? Was that Maria? Miryei, sir. Pam? .... yes. What can I help you with today?
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2012 19:07
|
|
|
The following little things just really grate on me after experiencing them day after day: - Customers who don't have their goddamn paperwork in front of them. I get it, you can't always predict exactly what information the customer service representative will need from you, but really, it just is so annoying to me when every other word out of someone's mouth is "uh..." or "Oh shoot, let me go get [paperwork]," etc., and when it happens call after call... - Even worse: Customers who don't have the answer to a question, AND THEY KEEP GOING ON ABOUT IT. So then I deal with this everyday: Me: (question) Customer: Oh gosh, I don't know. Me: Okay, that's fine. Lets just leave that alone for now and go on to the next question. Customer: (hasn't stopped talking) I really didn't get to ask about that or get a good look at it, I was just so flustered. I don't do this very often, hahaha. I'm sorry, I really don't know, I just had no idea I'd be asked all these questions. Me: That's fine. This type of thing can be very stressful, but the adjuster can work with you later. For now, lets move on. Customer: I'm sorry for taking so long! Let me get my paperwork out. *spends two minutes shuffling to car, the other room, etc.* Oh geez, I'm so disorganized. I honestly don't care if this happens a few times a day, but when it's every call, it just gets so repetitive and grating. Especially since my call center wants us to cut our current call-times by a third, but they don't allow us to interrupt customers or do anything besides what the customer wants. - People who need to speak to a different professional in order to get assistance, but they keep pushing me to assist them and acting like they're totally tapped into the system. - Customers who joke about me working on the weekend, or on the holidays. Every single phone call. - Sometimes the professional working on a customer's file will leave the company for whatever reason. Then the customer will let me know that this is a sign I work in a bad company, and I should leave as soon as possible. Thanks for the advice, customer. - I really wish there was some kind of free non-profit interpreter service for people who are hard-of-hearing. I just feel so stressed out when I'm screaming something repeatedly into the phone for someone that just can't hear me, and it happens multiple times a day, every day. I'm aware that there is an interpreter service for deaf people who need to make phone calls, and I wish there was something similar for people who are just too hard-of-hearing to use the phone effectively. - Supervisors sense that you are burned out on lovely callers. They suggest "Have you tried talking in a sympathetic voice?" or "Have you tried [active listening technique you already use]?" or any other really simple thing I've already done. I just get the feeling my supervisors are just as trapped as me, sometimes... I also volunteer at a suicide hotline, and they are so much more sensitive there to burn-out and staff needs. I'm aware that a corporate environment has to be managed differently than a volunteer-staffed environment, but I just feel like my job would be so much easier if I was allowed to leave for lunch five minutes early on a lovely day, or if I didn't have to panic about using the bathroom killing my stats. legsarerequired fucked around with this message at 20:14 on Jan 26, 2012 |
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2012 20:04
|
|
|
miryei posted:Does anyone else have this conversation? My name is Michael, but people always hear it as "Marco". I just let it go.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2012 21:14
|
|
|
CaptainJuan posted:My name is Michael, but people always hear it as "Marco". I just let it go. I only correct it if they keep asking my name, but if it's their third time getting it wrong then I just say "yes, that's it" regardless.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2012 21:36
|
|
|
"Ben" -> "Dan." Every. Single. loving. Time.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2012 22:20
|
|
|
Cup of Hemlock posted:"Ben" -> "Dan." Every. Single. loving. Time. Richard -> Victor. That I can understand, but how does someone who can speak good English mishear "Richard" as "Robert"? They don't sound alike!
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2012 05:00
|
|
|
Cup of Hemlock posted:"Ben" -> "Dan." Every. Single. loving. Time. My name is Brad. Not Brian. Not Chad. Not Matt.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2012 05:33
|
|
|
Thankfully I have a common first name with no homophones, so nobody messes up my name unless they're deaf. Although I have worked with an Eola, Avivah, and Jamila (black ladies) who consistently have to spell their name to callers.legsarerequired posted:- I really wish there was some kind of free non-profit interpreter service for people who are hard-of-hearing. I just feel so stressed out when I'm screaming something repeatedly into the phone for someone that just can't hear me, and it happens multiple times a day, every day. I'm aware that there is an interpreter service for deaf people who need to make phone calls, and I wish there was something similar for people who are just too hard-of-hearing to use the phone effectively. It sounds like you and I have similar jobs. We have a very substantial elderly customer base that I rarely have to service. I take commercial claims (whoopee), but we take default personal lines calls when needed for overflow. The only thing we can do for them is look up the adjuster's name on existing claims, though. If they need ANYTHING else (to file a new claim, to ask for any claim details, to ask a coverage question, to make a policy change), we have to transfer and babysit them through the menus. So, because they couldn't sit through a phone menu and push buttons for 10 seconds, they get to listen to hold music while I push buttons for them. Lovely.  I think people commonly think they're getting around waiting on hold by pressing zero, but generally you're getting to an operator who will just have to transfer you anyway. I can understand losing patience through a 5 (or more) tiered menu--like when I tried to call the IRS last year--but ours is not bad at all.I sit next to a row of new hires, who take new personal auto losses (it's part of a cross-training initiative, which I hope to god I don't become part of, because my entire office has only handled commercial lines since its inception). They have a whole different scripting for PL auto claims than I do for commercial auto claims that involves more compassionate phrasing. Their acknowledgement phrase is "I'm sorry to hear that, was anybody hurt?" vs mine, "I'd be glad to help you with that today." Because people reporting their own auto claims are bound to be more emotional than an HR manager reporting an accident to vehicle 687 in their fleet of 1k. Those reps also often get last-minute calls, and since I work til 8pm I never do anymore. Our CL volume drops waaaay off after 5pm PST, but the PL calls keep on coming. My least-favorite kind of call is from small business owners who are very resistant about filing legitimate work comp claims. They'll whine and whine about how the employee is taking advantage of them, wants to collect free money all day, is taking revenge on the business that's been SO KIND to them (yeah minimum wage for 35 hours a week and no benefits, you're so kind), and complain that the employee got a lawyer (often with the added bonus of them thinking they know more about medical problems than a fuckin' doctor). Then we'll get to the injury description and it's something that was totally NOT the employee's fault--fell off a ladder in high winds, got their hand run over by a lawnmower, a car hit them while they were planting flowers, or whatever. There aren't enough in the world for these cheap assholes, but I have to maintain a professional demeanor. It gets very trying not to shame them, but I figure the adjuster and the late-reporting fines will give them a reality check later. So at least I can smirk.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2012 06:19
|
|
|
We're an inbound call centre. You called me. Put your kid to bed, finish eating your dinner, stop driving and park your car, if you're in a hurry, get out of one. You loving neanderthal.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2012 06:42
|
|
|
martyrdumb posted:... As a person who has done this, that operator is basically what I'm after. When I call I'm after some help with <problem>. If <problem> is not in the call menu, or if it's buried two or three levels deep and I miss it, my last resort is to get around it to a human who can either help me or transfer me to a different human who will be able to help me. Staying on hold or not isn't part of the equation for me. It probably shouldn't be for others doing the same, but, well, this is partially a "bitch about stupid customers" thread, so there you go.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2012 06:45
|
|
|
I work in tech support for a software program, and one of my most  calls was the woman who asked me to hold on while she went to the store to buy a USB drive so she could transfer files from one computer to another. At that time we weren't getting any hassle from management about average call time (thankfully we still don't, really, but it's actually measured as a metric now), so I let her do it and enjoyed dicking around on the internet for 20 minutes, but who would do that? Why wouldn't you just call back when you actually had what you needed? Customers are so weird.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2012 06:57
|
|
|
Buried alive posted:As a person who has done this, that operator is basically what I'm after. When I call I'm after some help with <problem>. If <problem> is not in the call menu, or if it's buried two or three levels deep and I miss it, my last resort is to get around it to a human who can either help me or transfer me to a different human who will be able to help me. Staying on hold or not isn't part of the equation for me. It probably shouldn't be for others doing the same, but, well, this is partially a "bitch about stupid customers" thread, so there you go. To elaborate: I virtually never make a phone call for a function so simple it can be easily categorized with a button press. Those functions are available online. When I call a company, it's because something unusual and problematic has arisen, and I will need to discuss it with a person in real time.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2012 07:30
|
|
|
legsarerequired posted:- Customers who joke about me working on the weekend, or on the holidays. Every single phone call. I work in an outbound call centre, so we often get "Do you know what day/time it is?" I feel like responding "Oh man, it's Sunday? What am I even doing at work, how did I get so confused?" Of course I know what day it is, and I have absolutely no control over what days or times the company I work for makes calls. My favourites though are "Why are you calling at lunch/dinner time?" because the people who ask this don't seem to realise that people eat at different times. I've had someone complain about us calling at dinner time at quarter past five. There is literally no time of day when we could call and not potentially interrupt people's meals. Or people who say "Oh, I'm happy to do the survey, but I'm too busy right now, you'll have to call another time." and then when asked when a more convenient time would be just say "Oh, any time." or "Just not dinner time." or similarly unhelpful responses. I'm not asking for you to guarantee that you'll be available to take the call, I'm just trying to make this less inconvenient for you by scheduling the call for some time you're more likely to be free. And of course the assumption that I know when you'll be eating dinner. martyrdumb posted:So, because they couldn't sit through a phone menu and push buttons for 10 seconds, they get to listen to hold music while I push buttons for them. Lovely. :rolleyes: I think people commonly think they're getting around waiting on hold by pressing zero, but generally you're getting to an operator who will just have to transfer you anyway. It would probably surprise you just how unhelpful some of those menus can be. Particularly if you're calling about something that's even a little bit complex in an area you're not too familiar with. Sure, you could just guess which option you need, but it just seems a lot simpler to explain the situation to a person who is familiar with the system and can just put you through to the right person. white quilt posted:We're an inbound call centre. You called me. Put your kid to bed, finish eating your dinner, stop driving and park your car, if you're in a hurry, get out of one. You loving neanderthal. Also, if you're driving on the highway and need to pay attention or balancing on a roof or whatever, you can just not answer your phone. Picking up only to say "I'm driving, I can't talk, call me back." is not helpful. If you just let it go then it would have gone to voicemail, which you could check when you got to wherever you're going (or climbed off the roof or whatever).
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2012 09:55
|
|
|
white quilt posted:We're an inbound call centre. You called me. Put your kid to bed, finish eating your dinner, stop driving and park your car, if you're in a hurry, get out of one. You loving neanderthal. A thousand times this. Also, "What is this regarding?" or "Is this a sales call?". You called me, I have no idea what it's regarding or if you'll try to sell me something. I once had a woman call me about coverage for her husband's blood work. She wouldn't believe me that we're not an insurance company or anything similar, saying that I was lying about what company I worked for so that we wouldn't have to pay to cover it. When I was finally able to explain to her what we do, she ended the call with "We don't need any of that please put us on your do not call list thanks bye" -click-
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2012 13:44
|
|
white quilt posted:We're an inbound call centre. You called me. Put your kid to bed, finish eating your dinner, stop driving and park your car, if you're in a hurry, get out of one. You loving neanderthal. Yessssssssss My newest pet peeve are people who manage to sound indignant if I ask if they have their policy number, like I just asked for the number of sexual partners they've had.
|
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2012 14:08
|
|
|
Buried alive posted:As a person who has done this, that operator is basically what I'm after. When I call I'm after some help with <problem>. If <problem> is not in the call menu, or if it's buried two or three levels deep and I miss it, my last resort is to get around it to a human who can either help me or transfer me to a different human who will be able to help me. Staying on hold or not isn't part of the equation for me. It probably shouldn't be for others doing the same, but, well, this is partially a "bitch about stupid customers" thread, so there you go. Hi, this is myname with mycompanyname, how can I help you? My account number is 1234567890. My bill last month was $100 more than it used to be. Oka-- I'm not sure why, insurance is such a ripoff. Look up my account and tell me why it's so high. Ma'am, I-- I mean, I've never filed a claim! So-- Not a single claim on my policy history! There is no reason for my premium to go up.  Ma'am-- I mean this economy is just terrible. I have to pay more for everything, and now I have to pay more for insurance? So, did you pull up my account yet? Why did my rates increase? *pause* I apologize, ma'am, but you'll need to speak to the billing department. I'm in claims and I don't have access to your policy or payment information. Well why didn't you say that in the first place? FINE, transfer me. *sigh*
martyrdumb fucked around with this message at 04:01 on Jan 28, 2012 |
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2012 03:39
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 10:27 |
|
|
martyrdumb posted:
Urgh, yeah, we're definitely call center twins. Sigh. At least I get enough vacation to plan a nice trip to Asia for this summer (which I'm not sure I can afford since my car is acting up).
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2012 05:42
|
|