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I had some belligerent guy tell me that he was a paralegal and he was going to indict "me personally" because I explained to him the timescale in returning documents he'd sent to be assessed. He gave me an ultimatum - either send them back IMMEDIATELY, or he'd have the solicitor at his office write the letter in the morning. He made sure to use my name, and made sure I knew it was me specifically that "government people would be crawling all over by morning". Either he was incredibly stupid and believed what he was saying, or, more likely, he believes all call-centre workers are incredibly stupid and can be bullied into complying with his demands. This is in complete contrast to the type of calls where someone rightfully says "I know it's not you personally, but...".
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Aug 23, 2010 00:37
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Manic_Misanthrope posted:Well first day in a call centre, cold calling and I loving lost it. People weren't particually rude and the supervisor wasn't overly cruel. The whole repartition got to me, having to listen to that dial tone over and over again, each ring wearing me down. It drove me to mental breakdown, on the first day. The worst thing for me working in a call-centre was not the actual work itself, though it was unpleasant; rather, it was thinking about the work and constantly dreading it, and each day would be sitting miserably, call after call, beginning to hate that beep in my ear, dreading the next call (in the few seconds I had between them) and feeling pretty much trapped and exhausted. Then I'd take my ten minute break and dread going back on the phones. It's become clear to me that certain personalities handle the environment well, and certain don't. I just thought "gently caress this" and walked out halfway through my day and left it to those who can handle it. I wouldn't recommend this, however.
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Oct 29, 2010 00:59
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JackRabbitStorm posted:
I don't know what bank you work in, or even what country, but in my (UK) experience, you would definitely NOT be able to listen to music at any time, i-Pod, radio or anything, or be allowed to visit websites outside the bank's intranet. I guess what I'm saying is that wherever you work, you don't actually have it that bad. Out of curiousity, how does listening to an i-Pod work when taking calls?
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Dec 8, 2010 17:27
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i-Pods, lingerie websites
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Robzor McFabulous posted:I asked the last one how his day was going, and he said he'd been on shift for five hours and I was the first person to ask him that. You probably increased his average call handling time and caused him to get his rear end kicked by his supervisor. Regarding call centre sick policy, I guess it pretty much has to be as tight as it is given the high turnover, high sick day environment that can't really afford masses of people being off without taking huge stat hits on unanswered calls. It has nothing to do with being fair and everything to do with keeping the numbers right, which sucks for the employee (and the managers too no doubt). Everything's just a number or percentage.
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Feb 24, 2011 18:39
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:OK, I'll wear a suit, but I still wonder if anyone could share their experiences. Just google "competency based interview" and familiarise yourself with the types of questions they'll ask in a customer-focused environment, and have examples ready that can be slightly tailored to accomodate variations of the questions they might ask. Kitsch! posted:I'm starting to doubt if it was wise talking a temp call center job that takes 2+ hours on public transit and requires me to wake up at 3.30 am Monday-Thursday. I really don't want to be one of those quit-in-the-first-week type people, but I guess I'm just going to take it day-by-day. Too bad I can't really have any sort of social life.
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Mar 20, 2011 20:34
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Slightly Used Cake posted:-We had one guy, who because he wouldn't complete DPA we couldn't take off the system. And we didn't want to. We just all, everyone on the floor who got him, scheduled him for a callback every half hour or so, which resulted in someone every once in a while shaking their heads because they'd go to do the shpiel and all they would get screaming down the line was "You loving sheep shaggers! Stop loving calling me!" I was accused of putting on an accent because I was definitely a sheep shagger if I was calling from those bunch of cunts! Really? I wish employees wouldn't indulge in this passive-aggresive nonsense, it just spreads the poo poo around.
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Jun 13, 2011 18:19
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Wootcannon posted:Ahahahahahaha godspeed. This times ten. Just enjoy your honeymoon period where the grass really does seem greener until you realise there's nothing but desert wasteland for a thousand miles in every direction.
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Jun 24, 2011 15:15
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Every call-centre I've ever worked in has required you to log into multiple systems in the morning which consumes at the very least 10 mins, but you had to be logged in your phone exactly on your start time whether you could take calls or not. If this meant eating up your aux while booting up (which it often did - especially if you lost the hot-seat lottery and got a really slow machine) then tough poo poo. I can understand why call-centres are militaristic about start times, but it doesn't stop it sucking.
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Jul 4, 2011 18:11
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Devyl posted:This isn't so much a rant as it is a nice comment for once. Wait, if I'm reading this correctly, there's voice recognition software that transfers people to a supervisor when triggered? If that's the case, I can think of no good reason and many bad reasons to automate such a simple task. Just ignore me if I'm incorrectly taking what you say literally.
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Jul 7, 2011 17:52
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legsarerequired posted:Maybe you could just stop caring what other people think of you, since that's essentially what your posts are about. I read next to no moaning about the actual nature of call-centre work, but a scattershot of whines directed towards your colleagues. Unless you luck out, the grass isn't greener in any other call centre, because they largely foster the jaded, small-minded, bored-as-gently caress environment you've described. Wherever you jump to, your insecurities will be right behind you.
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Jul 11, 2011 00:02
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El Ste posted:To be honest, I wouldn't know. It's my first real job (and with that statement comes the disappointing realisation that what I consider my first 'real' job is working at a call centre) and it's soul-destroying if you ask me. If it's one of the easier ones I can say without doubt that I'm extremely grateful for not having to be in the business for more than a summer. It's definitely not one of the easiest call centre rolls and I completely disagree with the $7.25 dude. Anything involving outbound calls, especially those soliciting cash (however noble the cause), will be far more draining than almost any inbound calls. It's basically cold-calling - hardly anyone self-identifies as an alumni to the extent that they're completely okay with random phone calls asking for a hand-out.
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Jul 19, 2011 12:57
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JackRabbitStorm posted:It is a lovely day in my call center. It's incredible that they still expect you to take calls in these circumstances. I'm curious as to where the gently caress they would draw the line and say "okay, we have to take a hit today".
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Jul 21, 2011 00:21
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JackRabbitStorm posted:I would love this. Yeah, I'd easily opt to take my whole working day sitting on a bus rather than taking calls. In the places I've worked, they'd have just given us a snorkel and told us to get on with it.
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Jul 21, 2011 19:45
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JackRabbitStorm posted:Yeah, and I didn't have that many of them on my facebook, just the ones that I get along with where we all actually hangout outside of work, like go to the bar for a few after work and stuff. And I google myself occasionally to see what pulls up, to see what other people can find. So how did you get found out exactly? Do your managers actually sit and check because they have nothing better to do, or do you have a rat in the shop?
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Aug 7, 2011 22:53
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JackRabbitStorm posted:Both. A "friend" that was recently promoted to a manager emailed me about it yesterday right before the end of my shift and told me she was going to have to take it to my direct supervisor and department head on monday. She also said that they are monitoring our facebooks and twitters. Haha holy poo poo. I'd love to sit down with that type of person and just ask them what the gently caress, then kick them in the face. She'll go far, unfortunately.
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Aug 7, 2011 23:11
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I deleted my facebook about a year ago which solved any problems I might have had. Baby out with the bath water and all that.
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Aug 7, 2011 23:39
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Fil5000 posted:Sounds like someone's getting poo poo for either his right party connects, handling time or sales rate. Whichever it is, that's a lovely way of trying to fix it and unless he works for a really dodgy company he'll get poo poo from his manager for it if anyone listens to a call like that. I can't remember where it was I heard this, but it was a telesales agent who would consistantly exceed their targets, and I mean total spike above everyone else exceed, and no-one could figure out how he did it. Until it was discovered he was the master of efficiency, in-so-much as he'd hang up the call and be on the next one if he got so much as a whiff that someone wasn't interested. Of course, when he was discovered, heads rolled, as this practice is verboten in any (reputable) telesales environment. Collections also do the rude hang-up thing. Assholes. Like the debt collector who'd repeatedly call my brothers (new) address asking for someone who used to live there.  Hi, can I speak to so-and-so please. So-and-so doesn't actually li - CLICK ...ve here...anymore
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Aug 26, 2011 20:14
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Do people still use certain "tricks" for an easier life in call centres? I took inbound calls for a bank (ugh) about six years ago, and what some of us would do on particularly exhausting days was rest in hold queues. For example, if we had a customer who needed to trace a payment, we would call the relevant department even though we knew they had a 20 min + queue like we did and that best practice would be to ask them to call back non-peak or arrange a callback. I learned to love the hold queues of other departments as it was the only peace I got. The reason we could do this was because there was no specific "hold" metric at the time, or at least it wasn't conspicuously monitored. They were far more interested in what went on between calls (wrap-up, aux-away-for-a-poo poo etc).
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Aug 31, 2011 21:31
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Some irish guy used to always "forget" to take himself off aftercall work and it took him an unbelievably long time to get pulled up on it (this place wasn't so big on metrics) so I don't blame people for trying similar. Back in the bank I worked, we also used outbound calls for a breather but it was never abused and therefore never flagged up. Basically, there was a number we would call that would ring endlessley. We didn't know where it was too (it was lore, passed down from agent to agent), only that it was internal and that we could get away with taking a 10 minute break in it. I've also seen people rumbled in a few places. In the bank I mentioned before, there was this (particularly stupid) guy who would simply disconnect his headset by opening the jack plug a crack, so callers would muscle their way through the IVR only to be greeted by silence. Had he done this in moderation, he'd have probably gotten away with it, but he got greedy. The more customers that experience this "dead line", the more bitching there is at the next advisor, and it only takes one of these advisors to flag it to a manager. When they pulled the calls and pin-pointed them to this particular guy, they listened in on him and caught him red-handed.
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Aug 31, 2011 22:19
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Loving Life Partner posted:Well just for shits and giggles,I decided not to abuse any call dodging techniques and today I took 124 calls and had perfect stats. I wanted to blow my brains out, but I had the stats they wanted. Why is everyone so much slower? Usually statistical outliers means there's a problem, either with you, or everyone else.
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Sep 4, 2011 02:08
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Fil5000 posted:I would be really, really surprised if you were hitting all those other metrics and getting satisfied customers if they'd pursue any sort of disciplinary process. Any decent team leader will go to bat for you if everything apart from off phone time is nice and green. That's not how it works at all in my experience. Cases generally aren't judged on their own merit; there are metrics, and they must be met. That means everyone. It's the only way management judge their employees, who are statistics, and nothing else. Attendance and punctuality? Check. Metrics? Check. Beyond that? No-one gives a poo poo. If you are an otherwise good employee, you'll still get put on action plans for not meeting the only things call centres care about. If your supervisor is cool and human enough, they'll sympathise with you that yeah, you do a good job, and yeah, it can be frustrating jumping through all these hoops, but you still have to play the game. Afterall, it's them that get poo poo on if you don't. I should note that not all call centres are like that, but the one's I've experienced are. It's why I got the gently caress out.
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Sep 4, 2011 20:01
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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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Wootcannon posted:Glasgow? I would have said yes, because I worked there (Glasgow) and the department was indeed outsourced to India. The only thing incongruous to Sodomy Non Sapiens's post is that it should have already happened, so perhaps elsewhere was being outsourced too.
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Sep 19, 2011 20:39
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Wootcannon posted:No idea, I haven't worked there for a few months, but didn't think it could possibly be Glasgow given they were outbound sales, and outsourcing that to India esp. now that wage demands are rising is literally the biggest shot in the foot ever. And no, I was one of those bastards in processing! (adworks) Glasgow processing has been outsourced to India, Glasgow telesales is staying put (they at least have that much sense). Basically, anything that doesn't involve direct contact with customers is being outsourced to India (which includes resolutions, since they're dealing with sales reps, not customers). /Yell derail
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Sep 20, 2011 16:17
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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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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: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 retract my above comment. My newly bought coffee jar went from full to three-quarters empty in two nights. Popular brand? gently caress that poo poo, it's staying in my bag from now on.
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Oct 27, 2011 07:32
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JackRabbitStorm posted:Ran across this and though of my fellow call center goons Someone easily identifiable was dumb enough to post this even as a joke? I hope your office has a culture of black humour as well as drugs.
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Nov 4, 2011 23:35
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oquendog posted:Went in for my "interview" today at a Call Center: Your sure it's a call centre? That's usually how MLMs operate. Basically, the type of candidate they prey on is the one who asks the least amount of questions about what the job actually is because if anyone did ask, they would be found out for being full of poo poo. The way you described it, the haphazard set-up, the disorganisation and most importantly the vagueness of it all, has all the hallmarks of an MLM. The thing that would confirm it is if the "second interview" (which they always have) is to test-drive you for a day selling poo poo, unpaid.
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Nov 20, 2011 13:18
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Lord Windy posted:Wow, you're bitter. There's another way for phone jockeys to be?
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Nov 30, 2011 10:42
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Also, if the supervisor delivers the feedback it might come across as less whiny than it does here, i.e. it will be more matter-of-fact, here's what happened, here's how it negatively impacts, do something about it etc
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Dec 1, 2011 09:51
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martyrdumb posted:Hahah! The reason my long ACW/call avoidance has gone unnoticed is because our management can't figure out how to do reports on the "new" phone system. Yeah, the phone system that's been in place for 6 months now. The phone system they stopped rolling out after a quarter of the company got it and complained night-and-loving-day about it. This reminds me of way back when I worked for a credit card company, there was some kind of system fuckery with generating stat reports, and word swept through the call-centre like wildfire until every non-jobsworth was doing basically the kind of stuff you described. This lasted just over a week, with people chilling in ACW, taking a few minutes extra for breaks, basically putting their feet up. Then, all of a sudden, oh look, retroactive stat reports. Heads on spikes. I was particularly bad as I was late almost every one of the "lost" days (took a later train for an extra half hour in bed which got me in 5-10 mins late).
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Sep 1, 2012 00:54
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taremva posted:At our place it's weird because we only have 10 people (5 shifts covering 24/7/365) so if someone is sick, someone else gets overtime. It is possible to work solo, but it can get really stressful very quickly. In my experience, it was hard for managers to convince employees to do overtime. People in call-centers understandably value their free time greatly. I know I did and would probably nut someone who asked me to do overtime before they got past the first word. I didn't see a dangling carrot, just a dangling big slobbery dick, and I just wasn't hungry.
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Sep 3, 2012 11:28
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Fil5000 posted:Can't speak for your centre, but I saw productivity stats for ours a while back that pretty conclusivley showed that dress down days were less productive overall. So while your or I may work just as hard regardless of what trousers we have on, the average chucklefuck subconsciously slows down if he's been allowed to wear a t shirt. lovely, I know. Dress down days are pretty much always the last day of the week/month/some bullshit charity event/holiday so it's easy to figure out why they might be less productive for reasons other than slightly starchier fabric brushing against your skin.
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Sep 8, 2012 19:12
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skipdogg posted:I mentioned this some pages back, but it's worth mentioning again. When we had no dress code people started taking it to an extreme. People showing up in pajama pants and Snoopy slippers and poo poo. People literally rolling their greasy bodies out of bed after an all night WoW bender and coming to work in whatever they managed to pass out in. It got out of control. Our dress code now calls for pants and a collared shirt during the week, and shorts are OK on the weekend. You must have a pretty retarded work-base. I've worked in many places with no dress code and the idea that someone would wear pajamas and snoopy slippers is ludicrous, and sounds like the type of bullshit made-up anecdote that's told to new-hires to justify the dress code and some bonus chuckles. Your management must have been pretty downsy themselves not to have established some ground rules. "No dress code" has always had guidelines along the lines of no football tops (in UK at least), no midriff showing, put your tits away etc, it's never "wear whatever you want".
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Sep 11, 2012 01:51
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cuntvalet posted:They only challenge it to be pedantic or to ask a question about it or to get some time off the phones.
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Sep 14, 2012 01:39
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I generally dislike QA teams because they forget where they came from and tend to become corrupted by the tiny amount of power they possess and adopt elite personas. Okay, not of all them, I've just been unlucky.
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Sep 15, 2012 16:20
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Announcing that you'll be pitching a sale at the start of a call will just inoculate the majority of customers against your attempts. That's pretty customer focused actually, as I'd much prefer to have some time to think of excuses during the body of the call than be blindsided at the end with a sales pitch. Thumbs up to your management who want less sales 
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Sep 16, 2012 17:20
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Daeus posted:C:\Users\A>ping forums.somethingawful.com Wouldn't accessing sites that are blocked get you into lots of trouble? I guess they'd have to know it was blocked, which they probably wouldn't. It's just that, any place I've ever worked has been pretty draconian about that kind of poo poo, to the point where I've seen more than a few suspensions and dismissals.
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Oct 11, 2012 17:36
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legsarerequired posted:Does anyone here have anonymous surveys about their management? I was talking to someone who worked at the Gallup--outbound calls--and he says that every year he fills out a survey about the management. Do you really need an anonymous survey on top of your frequent tip-offs, whistle-blowing and clandestine e-mails?
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Oct 21, 2012 23:15
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