Confessions of a Call Centre Worker

[V A N Q U I S H]

Here’s a list of observations that I’ve had while working in a call centre. If anyone else has more please add!

1 – Don’t call in with the attitude that you are the only person in the world with the issue you are having. Guess what? I just finished dealing with forty other calls exactly like yours!

2 - If I sound bored or non-empathetic about your predicament that is the reason why, I’ve already dealt with the same thing over and over. Conversely if I do sound empathetic it is all an act, I don’t give a damn about you forgetting your password, and no, it’s not cute, and it’s damn annoying.

3 – A call center is usually a cubicle farm, not everyone gets a nice window view. Instead, most workers are sitting in a cubicle with the choice of staring at the wall, their screen or if they are lucky, going on the internet (even that becomes boring after a while). A conversation with a desk mate is next to impossible as calls keep coming in.

4 – Sometimes you may encounter a telephone representative who seems really jolly. It’s probably because they are consuming alcohol; it is a common practice for some call centre workers to self-medicate with a nice rum and coke so that the time flies by.

5 – If your name is something like Mike Litoris, or Long Wang, you bet your ass that we will call five colleagues over to have a look at the screen and laugh about you.

6 – Screaming and swearing will cause one of these few things:

- If the representative is new it’ll confuse them as to what they are supposed to do and it usually means that you don’t get what you were initially after.
- If the representative is seasoned like me, I just recline the chair sit back and watch the fireworks. All my responses will be straight out of a scripting book and I will sound monotonic, which of course makes you even angrier which makes my boredom dissipate. And of course, you probably cussed at me at some point so when I’ve had enough of your ranting I’ll hang up when I choose.

7 – Asking for a supervisor. If the CSR thinks it’s warranted they will get a supervisor as soon as they can. If you are being a jerk the common reaction when you ask for a supervisor is to put you on hold and tell you that they are going to get the supervisor. Instead, they visit the bathroom, check their mailbox, say hi to the guy that they trained with when they see him in the hallway, and once they realize that you are still on the line, they will get the supervisor.

8 – Some of us actually do care if your problem is out of the ordinary, we are humans as well, we just may be a little jaded after dealing with thousands of calls per year.

That's all I can think of right now.


Added by others:

TruHP
-if we put you on hold we could still hear everything you said.

-the "supervisor" that you wanted to talk to so badly? Just a buddy from the next cubicle over.

-We'll mute the phone when you are ranting and talk about you or the weather and wait til your done.

trini shotta
-If you're calling about your sensitive personal information (i.e. bank, government, etc.) there WILL be security questions. Don't yell and cuss if you can't answer them. It's your info we're protecting. And I won't access your account anyways, so keep cussing.

-Don't call with a complex question when you don't have time. I need time to look into it so I can give you the correct answer. I don't care that you're at work... call when you're not busy!

-Don't call with a crying baby in your arms!! Put the kid to sleep!

-Crying about your problems will get you empathy, but won't change anything. Sorry.

[fratello25]

I think when you get to point of starting this thread, it's time for a new job. Good luck!

[hopsoid]

I think when you get to point of starting this thread, it's time for a new job. Good luck!

Exactly what I was thinking; you should move along.

[artsreview]

Don't do it, man. You're young. You got your whole life ahead of you.

[TruHP]

I remember working at a call centre---hated it. I have some things to add:

-if we put you on hold we could still hear everything you said.

-the "supervisor" that you wanted to talk to so badly? Just a buddy from the next cubicle over. :lol:

-We'll mute the phone when you are ranting and talk about you or the weather and wait til your done.

[snoopdawgz]

Are my calls really recorded when the operator states that beforehand? if so are they archived if I needed one for reference?

[appleb]

So how's the weather in India?

[thumper80]

5 – If your name is something like Mike Litoris, or Long Wang, you bet your ass that we will call five colleagues over to have a look at the screen and laugh about you.



Lmao i used to work at umm well i rather not say but we would make tons of outbound calls ( sales and collections ) . I used call the whole team over to hear some of the stupid answering machine recordings .

I took some weird service calls too very weird .....
Caller : Hi my computer has a black screen and will not turn on .
Me : Ok is the power light amber or green ?
Caller : what ??? i'm not stupid it's black !!! no screen hello
Me : Umm ok what happens when you press the power button ?
Caller : Nothing
Me : Is it plugged in? and do you have power to your tower ?
Caller : do you think i would call you if i didn't check this things !!!! i am not stupid you know , i'll have your job for this !!!!
Me: ok are you going to be home with in a hr ? I'll take a look at it

I'd get to the home and just turn the power button on the monitor :evil:
then get the oh i tried that and it never worked for me ... weird hey

That happened 4 times for me while i worked there.

I have tons of stupid stories from working there

[champlinD]

Here’s a list of observations that I’ve had while working in a call centre. If anyone else has more please add!

1 – Don’t call in with the attitude that you are the only person in the world with the issue you are having. Guess what? I just finished dealing with forty other calls exactly like yours!

2 - If I sound bored or non-empathetic about your predicament that is the reason why, I’ve already dealt with the same thing over and over. Conversely if I do sound empathetic it is all an act, I don’t give a damn about you forgetting your password, and no, it’s not cute, and it’s damn annoying.

3 – A call center is usually a cubicle farm, not everyone gets a nice window view. Instead, most workers are sitting in a cubicle with the choice of staring at the wall, their screen or if they are lucky, going on the internet (even that becomes boring after a while). A conversation with a desk mate is next to impossible as calls keep coming in.

4 – Sometimes you may encounter a telephone representative who seems really jolly. It’s probably because they are consuming alcohol; it is a common practice for some call centre workers to self-medicate with a nice rum and coke so that the time flies by.

5 – If your name is something like Mike Litoris, or Long Wang, you bet your ass that we will call five colleagues over to have a look at the screen and laugh about you.

6 – Screaming and swearing will cause one of these few things:

- If the representative is new it’ll confuse them as to what they are supposed to do and it usually means that you don’t get what you were initially after.
- If the representative is seasoned like me, I just recline the chair sit back and watch the fireworks. All my responses will be straight out of a scripting book and I will sound monotonic, which of course makes you even angrier which makes my boredom dissipate. And of course, you probably cussed at me at some point so when I’ve had enough of your ranting I’ll hang up when I choose.

7 – Asking for a supervisor. If the CSR thinks it’s warranted they will get a supervisor as soon as they can. If you are being a jerk the common reaction when you ask for a supervisor is to put you on hold and tell you that they are going to get the supervisor. Instead, they visit the bathroom, check their mailbox, say hi to the guy that they trained with when they see him in the hallway, and once they realize that you are still on the line, they will get the supervisor.

8 – Some of us actually do care if your problem is out of the ordinary, we are humans as well, we just may be a little jaded after dealing with thousands of calls per year.

That's all I can think of right now.

So many reasons to hate the CSR.

Laughing at names is moronic because your name might be HardDeep from India.
Don't care about forgotten password? you deserve a kick i the butt. Its job to solve issue.
Drinking while on duty? Need to go to shrink.

[help_questions]

Are my calls really recorded when the operator states that beforehand? if so are they archived if I needed one for reference?

as a former call center IT team manager, I'll thell you that it depends on the type of system/dialler that the company uses. Typically, most diallers today are equipped to record every single call. We used to manually archive them to DVD, and keep it for reference. Occasionally, this archive would be used to follow-up with a client or customer, but more so, the archive was great for finding cause and terminating employees with cause.

All a telemarketer had to do was do/say something on the phone to giver the supervisor a hint that something fishy might be going on (falsefying a sale, not following the script), and the next day, we'd pull every single call that person made in the last 2 months. Playing those calls for employees in the meeting is where they are being terminated is priceless......there is nothing they can lie about. Once we pulled 1 year of bad calls as part of firing a 6 year employee....becuase it was 6 years, we were given a mandate to "crucify" the employee infront of a judge if this termination went to court. Sure enough it did, and they ex-employee had to pay our legal costs becuase the evidence was so crystal clear that the employee should not have tried to sue, says the judge. Our lawyer was frigging expensive........

Of course, the IT people are occasionally "unable" the call where the employee swore at the customer, but that is becuase we chose to be "unable". If any big company tells you they cannot find your call, I argue that they likely don't want to find your call, for what ever reason.

[help_questions]

So how's the weather in India?

there are many call centers in Canada.

[15-20_God]

there are many call centers in Canada.

then how's bramptonssauga?

[V A N Q U I S H]

I remember working at a call centre---hated it. I have some things to add:

-if we put you on hold we could still hear everything you said.

-the "supervisor" that you wanted to talk to so badly? Just a buddy from the next cubicle over. :lol:

-We'll mute the phone when you are ranting and talk about you or the weather and wait til your done.

Very true!


Are my calls really recorded when the operator states that beforehand? if so are they archived if I needed one for reference?

Yes, most places have every call archived.


So how's the weather in India?

If by India you mean King and Bay, then it's okay I guess, A/C is getting a little too cold.


So many reasons to hate the CSR.

Laughing at names is moronic because your name might be HardDeep from India.
Don't care about forgotten password? you deserve a kick i the butt. Its job to solve issue.
Drinking while on duty? Need to go to shrink.

Not in India, not Indian. You deserve a kick in the butt for being dumb enough to forget a 4 digit PIN/password. Take 70 of those "I'm an idiot, I forgot my password..." calls per day X 5 times a week X 4 X 12 = drinking/suicide LOL


then how's bramptonssauga?

HAHA We've got a call centre there LOL.

[tritium4ever]

Are my calls really recorded when the operator states that beforehand? if so are they archived if I needed one for reference?

I did work in outbound sales once where calls weren't recorded, but as a general rule (particularly for customer service centres) all calls are recorded and archived. If they say the call is recorded, it definitely is recorded and saved.

Note that there is no requirement for them to tell you a call is being recorded. Under Canadian law only one party needs to know a call is being recorded, and the call centre knows they're recording so there's no need for you to know.

[corrupt123]

Do any attractive girls work there?

Although infrequent, I've spoken to a few CSR's who sounded hot and flirted with me. They also hooked me up with sweet retention plans and/or credit card deals :cheesygri

And not that I wanted to stalk them or anything, but they said it was against them rules for them to tell me what city their call centre was in. She just said "Southern Ontario" - is that normal?

[Big Brother]

How do you call center workers respond to jokes or whatever?

[jstaneon]

I just name my newborn Long Wang. I dont see what so funny about it.

Name registration cost me 5 dolla

[tritium4ever]

How do you call center workers respond to jokes or whatever?

Usually you only get that doing cold calling or sales calls. It's very rare with inbound calls, and also not very common doing outbound with existing customers. When I worked outbound sales I'd simply hang up. I don't think I came across a single joke call when I did outbound contacting existing mutual fund customers or inbound product recall services.

[Martinga]

I'll tell you one tip from previous experience (was also once a CCW)
When you are not interested in doing the survey, etc, simply politely say you are not interested and ask them to remove you from the calling list (add to the DO NOT CALL LIST).
People who i'd call who would scream at me, insult me or even hang up on me would get a "No reply/pick up" on the PC which would translate to them getting called again at some other time
So try not to be a SMARTA55 or believe me it will make you get called more often, not LESS often

[angekfire]

3 – A call center is usually a cubicle farm, not everyone gets a nice window view. Instead, most workers are sitting in a cubicle with the choice of staring at the wall, their screen or if they are lucky, going on the internet (even that becomes boring after a while). A conversation with a desk mate is next to impossible as calls keep coming in.

5 – If your name is something like Mike Litoris, or Long Wang, you bet your ass that we will call five colleagues over to have a look at the screen and laugh about you.

6 – Screaming and swearing will cause one of these few things:
- If the representative is seasoned like me, I just recline the chair sit back and watch the fireworks. All my responses will be straight out of a scripting book and I will sound monotonic, which of course makes you even angrier which makes my boredom dissipate. And of course, you probably cussed at me at some point so when I’ve had enough of your ranting I’ll hang up when I choose.

7 – Asking for a supervisor. If the CSR thinks it’s warranted they will get a supervisor as soon as they can. If you are being a jerk the common reaction when you ask for a supervisor is to put you on hold and tell you that they are going to get the supervisor. Instead, they visit the bathroom, check their mailbox, say hi to the guy that they trained with when they see him in the hallway, and once they realize that you are still on the line, they will get the supervisor.



So, if #3 is true, and you aren't able to talk to other people, how well does #5 & 7 work? Also, considering you are asking to be treated with respect, people generally don't choose their own names, so why would you insult them for it if they are being courteous?

Under what circumstances are you allowed to terminate the call?


-if we put you on hold we could still hear everything you said.

-We'll mute the phone when you are ranting and talk about you or the weather and wait til your done.

Interesting, I didn't know about the being on hold thing.

Again, how does the second point mesh with #3 above?

[bubble.tea]

Do any attractive girls work there?...

if by attractive, you mean a girl who is head over heels for DDOD & NCIX specials, and RFD pms...then I'd say yes. :D

[nhui06]

its very true, treat the call agent with respect and guranteed they will be much more helpful. Be a jerk on the phone and you will get crappy service. I rather very much do InBound call agent then Out Bound.

[nano]

How do you call center workers respond to jokes or whatever?

i respond to jokes.... but i hear a funny one maybe once a month.

my biggest pet peeve is when people don't listen to the questions i ask..

its so frustrating some times you just want to help someone and get to move on to the next customer but people put you on hold to discipline their kids or they want to tell you how much of an expert in the issue at hand.

[Bleys007]

I'll tell you one tip from previous experience (was also once a CCW)
When you are not interested in doing the survey, etc, simply politely say you are not interested and ask them to remove you from the calling list (add to the DO NOT CALL LIST).
People who i'd call who would scream at me, insult me or even hang up on me would get a "No reply/pick up" on the PC which would translate to them getting called again at some other time
So try not to be a SMARTA55 or believe me it will make you get called more often, not LESS often

Very true. If you don't want calls, as soon as they stop talking, politely say "No thanks, but please put me on your do not call list"

I've done outbound fundraising for international development charities (warm calling current or previous donors) and as an individual agent, you really don't care if the person doesn't want to be called. You have thousands of numbers to go through, and if someone doesn't want to be called, that's no big deal to you.

It can, however, be upsetting when someone starts yelling at you and you really haven't done anything to offend them. Yes, telemarketing can be really annoying. Yes, I think cold calling shouldn't happen, and I understand completely why people get pissed off at the phone calls they receive. From an agent's point of view, though, he/she is just making the one call.

Politely saying no thanks and asking to be put on a Do not call list is the best way to deal with it.

On a side note, I once made a call to a guy in BC whose wife had just died, and he went on a 40 minute tirade about Jesus, and when he found out I wasn't religious, tried to convert me. So much fun to be had in call centres. :o

[sears_sucks]

6 – Screaming and swearing will cause one of these few things:

- If the representative is new it’ll confuse them as to what they are supposed to do and it usually means that you don’t get what you were initially after.
- If the representative is seasoned like me, I just recline the chair sit back and watch the fireworks. All my responses will be straight out of a scripting book and I will sound monotonic, which of course makes you even angrier which makes my boredom dissipate. And of course, you probably cussed at me at some point so when I’ve had enough of your ranting I’ll hang up when I choose.


I used to work at a call centre for a major cable company. Whenever someone was flipping out and it was in the evening, you were guaranteed to go on speakerphone for everyone to hear.. Also, while you are flipping out we would check to see your PPV and VOD history to just see what type of person you really are....yes we could see all the titles.

[al3x89]

5 – If your name is something like Mike Litoris, or Long Wang, you bet your ass that we will call five colleagues over to have a look at the screen and laugh about you.

Oh man, this reminds me. When I worked at a call center years ago, my damn computer dialed a number and the person's name was "Cockburn"... being the immature 17 year old I was ;) I pronounced it as it's spelt, Cockburn. The lady corrected me, and said "co-burn", I muted my mic and started laughing with my a couple people beside me. I felt so bad and just ended the call.

It was bad, I know... and to make matters worse, when I got home I 411'd the name and to my surprise there were more than enough people with that last name.

[shannn]

Oh man, this reminds me. When I worked at a call center years ago, my damn computer dialed a number and the person's name was "Cockburn"... being the immature 17 year old I was ;) I pronounced it as it's spelt, Cockburn. The lady corrected me, and said "co-burn", I muted my mic and started laughing with my a couple people beside me. I felt so bad and just ended the call.

It was bad, I know... and to make matters worse, when I got home I 411'd the name and to my surprise there were more than enough people with that last name.

There was a big development site in Scarborough a few years ago and the developers were "Flaming - Cockburn" (or at least I think it was, I know Cockburn for sure, Flaming I'm 60% certain)

[TheDarkRage]

God I hate it when you have to pronounce a long ass or very foreign name and they get pissed off. Jebus, it's not like I'm not trying to pronounce in correctly.

Sri Lankans have the longest names, like 5 or 6 syllables for a first or last name.

If you call just before a call centre closes, expect fast service (and probably not-so-courteous), you're essentially forcing an employee to stay longer, they will try to serve you ASAP so they can go home.

Don't expect a refund when you ate over half or the entire meal your ordered for delivery and you called back to complain how horrible it was. Some scammers are horrible and expect everything to be free, I'm glad some places just blacklist and ban these cheap freeloaders.


Anyone get tongue-twisted or just out of breath during their shift? I'm always verbally tired nearing the end of my shift and just struggling to read the long scripts. Water doesn't help :(

[AcidBomber]

Here’s a list of observations that I’ve had while working in a call centre. If anyone else has more please add!


-if we put you on hold we could still hear everything you said.



LOL REALLY? i didnt know that...
gg me... :o

[trini shotta]

Anyone get tongue-twisted or just out of breath during their shift? I'm always verbally tired nearing the end of my shift and just struggling to read the long scripts. Water doesn't help :(

All the time! But alcohol does ;)

To add to the list:

-If you're calling about your sensitive personal information (i.e. bank, government, etc.) there WILL be security questions. Don't yell and cuss if you can't answer them. It's your info we're protecting. And I won't access your account anyways, so keep cussing.

-Don't call with a complex question when you don't have time. I need time to look into it so I can give you the correct answer. I don't care that you're at work... call when you're not busy!

-Don't call with a crying baby in your arms!! Put the kid to sleep!

-Crying about your problems will get you empathy, but won't change anything. Sorry.

[help_questions]

I'll tell you one tip from previous experience (was also once a CCW)
When you are not interested in doing the survey, etc, simply politely say you are not interested and ask them to remove you from the calling list (add to the DO NOT CALL LIST).
People who i'd call who would scream at me, insult me or even hang up on me would get a "No reply/pick up" on the PC which would translate to them getting called again at some other time
So try not to be a SMARTA55 or believe me it will make you get called more often, not LESS often

As part of management, we viewed this this as falsifying calls, as inflating performance stats. We fired a few people who did this a bunch of times.

[V A N Q U I S H]

So, if #3 is true, and you aren't able to talk to other people, how well does #5 & 7 work? Also, considering you are asking to be treated with respect, people generally don't choose their own names, so why would you insult them for it if they are being courteous?

Under what circumstances are you allowed to terminate the call?



Interesting, I didn't know about the being on hold thing.

Again, how does the second point mesh with #3 above?

Well, like any other place there are breaks in which employees can talk to each other (provided that they are on break at the same time). Plus it's not like there are calls coming in non-stop, we can disable the phone to write notes and during that time we converse.

The standard situation in which a call can be terminated is when someone starts swearing at you. Some managers don't want you to hang up if the start swearing. Personally those are the most entertaining calls and I don't know why you'd hang up on those.

[V A N Q U I S H]

All the time! But alcohol does ;)

To add to the list:

-If you're calling about your sensitive personal information (i.e. bank, government, etc.) there WILL be security questions. Don't yell and cuss if you can't answer them. It's your info we're protecting. And I won't access your account anyways, so keep cussing.

-Don't call with a complex question when you don't have time. I need time to look into it so I can give you the correct answer. I don't care that you're at work... call when you're not busy!

-Don't call with a crying baby in your arms!! Put the kid to sleep!

-Crying about your problems will get you empathy, but won't change anything. Sorry.

All of those are the worst!!!

Security questions - once this guy calls in saying that the website told him to (idiot forgot his password and it locked him out). I start asking security questions and he becomes afraid that the number may be fake as well as the site. So I told him to look at the back of his card and call the number there. He calls back and gets me again LOL.

Calling When Busy - Some people call when they have to head out the door and random crap like that. Why the hell do you do that? How the f*** is it my problem that you have to head out and you decided to call me at this time, I'm so not speeding up anything. I take my time and get stuff done in these situations, it's not my fault you called me at a time that is inconvenient for you.

I have a bit of sympathy for the baby situation as perhaps the kid can't get to sleep and there is no other time for the mother to call; there are various possibilities. It's still annoying nonetheless.

[V A N Q U I S H]

Just to clarify about CSRs being able to hear you if you are put on hold:

There are two ways (at least at my place) that people can be placed on hold. There's the HOLD button, the CSR can't hear you and music is played, however whatever you say is still on the audio file.

The other method is the mute button, you hear dead silence and the CSR is able to hear you.

[ricoboxing]

then how's bramptonssauga?
:confused: i thought that was india?

[sw1ft]

From http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=306978&highlight=callcentermovie

See http://www.callcentermovie.com/

[laptop-tech]

I love when they call me, and I start talking slowly in a very low volume... and lower volume... until they say "sorry I can barely hear you", then I SCREAM out of my lungs something like :


"wwwwhoooooooooooeamhnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnneeeeee eeem"

[bull77]

ahh -- memories of working in a call center :confused: :o :cheesygri

[Canada_7]

There was a big development site in Scarborough a few years ago and the developers were "Flaming - Cockburn" (or at least I think it was, I know Cockburn for sure, Flaming I'm 60% certain)

Lol. There's a transformer station just north of my apartment that's called "D.H. Cockburn". For a while, there was a penis drawn with pink spraypaint on the sign:lol:.

I'm currently working as an alarm-response centre operator as a summer job kinda thing...whatever ones that have been mentioned that apply to where I work are true.:lol:

[Sanhedralite]

Here’s a list of observations that I’ve had while working in a call centre. If anyone else has more please add!

1 – Don’t call in with the attitude that you are the only person in the world with the issue you are having. Guess what? I just finished dealing with forty other calls exactly like yours!

2 - If I sound bored or non-empathetic about your predicament that is the reason why, I’ve already dealt with the same thing over and over. Conversely if I do sound empathetic it is all an act, I don’t give a damn about you forgetting your password, and no, it’s not cute, and it’s damn annoying.

3 – A call center is usually a cubicle farm, not everyone gets a nice window view. Instead, most workers are sitting in a cubicle with the choice of staring at the wall, their screen or if they are lucky, going on the internet (even that becomes boring after a while). A conversation with a desk mate is next to impossible as calls keep coming in.

4 – Sometimes you may encounter a telephone representative who seems really jolly. It’s probably because they are consuming alcohol; it is a common practice for some call centre workers to self-medicate with a nice rum and coke so that the time flies by.

5 – If your name is something like Mike Litoris, or Long Wang, you bet your ass that we will call five colleagues over to have a look at the screen and laugh about you.

6 – Screaming and swearing will cause one of these few things:

- If the representative is new it’ll confuse them as to what they are supposed to do and it usually means that you don’t get what you were initially after.
- If the representative is seasoned like me, I just recline the chair sit back and watch the fireworks. All my responses will be straight out of a scripting book and I will sound monotonic, which of course makes you even angrier which makes my boredom dissipate. And of course, you probably cussed at me at some point so when I’ve had enough of your ranting I’ll hang up when I choose.

7 – Asking for a supervisor. If the CSR thinks it’s warranted they will get a supervisor as soon as they can. If you are being a jerk the common reaction when you ask for a supervisor is to put you on hold and tell you that they are going to get the supervisor. Instead, they visit the bathroom, check their mailbox, say hi to the guy that they trained with when they see him in the hallway, and once they realize that you are still on the line, they will get the supervisor.

8 – Some of us actually do care if your problem is out of the ordinary, we are humans as well, we just may be a little jaded after dealing with thousands of calls per year.

That's all I can think of right now.


Added by others:

TruHP
-if we put you on hold we could still hear everything you said.

-the "supervisor" that you wanted to talk to so badly? Just a buddy from the next cubicle over.

-We'll mute the phone when you are ranting and talk about you or the weather and wait til your done.

trini shotta
-If you're calling about your sensitive personal information (i.e. bank, government, etc.) there WILL be security questions. Don't yell and cuss if you can't answer them. It's your info we're protecting. And I won't access your account anyways, so keep cussing.

-Don't call with a complex question when you don't have time. I need time to look into it so I can give you the correct answer. I don't care that you're at work... call when you're not busy!

-Don't call with a crying baby in your arms!! Put the kid to sleep!

-Crying about your problems will get you empathy, but won't change anything. Sorry.

You have quite the attitude, don't you? Geez. Hope you get rid of some of your stress.

[Imran DeRoy]

Agreed. As a former call center slave I actually empathize far more with customers calling in than the people on the other end - speaking in relative terms, there are far more arrogant pricks among the latter.

Last slaveship I worked at was a certain well-known company tossed out of the US on criminal charges with its founder arrested for illegal profiteering from overseas online gambling - and the attitude of arrogance and deceit filtered down to every pore of the place. Lies to customers about the fact that we couldn't see their passwords and other sensitive account information being official policy.

We had one loser who literally screamed at and made customers cry, and if you hing up on this lowlife, he would actually call you back to bi*ch at you for doing so and abuse you some more. Strangely this guy remains there to this day while others all around him were dropped like flies for 'departmental review'. Guy never understood that he still wasn't making the bonuses we were by being such a prick.


I don't sympathize with call centre workers on the whole, not in small part due to the pissant idea of customer service that most call centres these days have. It's fine to do it if you're a student, but hang on any longer and you'll make yourself as miserable and abusive as the 40-60 year old call centre lifers that populate every one of these sad places.


That being said, there's no call for being rude and abusive when you call into one. Calling a call centre is like any other conversation, you both deserve respect; don't be a prick.

[angekfire]

Honestly, if I call in to a call center, I am courteous. I realize if, for example, there is an error on my bill, that you didn't deliberately go in and screw with it, and me being nice is probably the best way to get it fixed.

However, I hate cold callers. Usually as soon as they start into their script I either hang up, or interrupt them and say "not interested" and hang up. I realize they are just doing their job, but their job is to bother me unsolicited while I am trying to enjoy dinner or a movie or something, and I don't appreciate it.

[pshch]

However, I hate cold callers. Usually as soon as they start into their script I either hang up, or interrupt them and say "not interested" and hang up. I realize they are just doing their job, but their job is to bother me unsolicited while I am trying to enjoy dinner or a movie or something, and I don't appreciate it.

+1 Nobody forced them to get this particular job they decided to work there they are paid money for doing it so they are getting everything which comes with it (actually it applies to anybody who complains about dark side of they job). There is absolutely now reason why I should wait until they finish with they script or even explain them why I'm not interested in talking with them (this only applies when they are calling me when I initiated a call it's completely different story).

[TheDarkRage]

I cold call made at the wrong time to the wrong person in the wrong situation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9nJ0rpAcqk

:lol:



And the bastard still persists on the sale!

[boyoflondon]

Never call your bank and preach how you have a great history/cred bureau scores bla bla bla ...

They have all the credit bureau numbers in front of them and can smell BS as soon as they hear it ;)

[V A N Q U I S H]

Never call your bank and preach how you have a great history/cred bureau scores bla bla bla ...

They have all the credit bureau numbers in front of them and can smell BS as soon as they hear it ;)

Very true, it's not only credit, it's other things too. I can't go into detail, but don't BS, you'll be surprised at the information we have at our disposal that could prove your statements wrong in an instant.