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CatStacking
Jan 9, 2010

~A Purely Preposterous Pussy~

evobatman posted:

Think of all the poo poo you're stomped down in and pulled through every day. Your demotion from QA. Your "improvement plans". You're getting yelled at for not reaching impossible targets. You know what these things are. Your management also knows perfectly well what these things are and what they are putting you through. Management also has meetings where they go "every 6 weeks when cuntvalet has been lucky with her calls, tell her that she did a good job. With that one sentence that takes you two seconds of your time to say every month and a half, you make her put up with the rest of the poo poo that we put her through daily, 40 hours a week year round."

True. :smith: I think I was just feeling optimistic during that post.

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Ghostnuke
Sep 21, 2005

Throw this in a pot, add some broth, a potato? Baby you got a stew going!


Loving Life Partner posted:

How many team reps does it take complaining to HR before something is done? Infinity?

Pretty much. Don't count on anything changing, other than those people getting fired.

Omgbees
Nov 30, 2012
I worked in an inbound call center for about 2.5 years.

The thing that stuck with me is that there is no point giving the guy on the other end of the phone a hard time, as often they don't have the ability to actually influence the process.

I was taking calls for about a year, first as a grunt, then 3 months later as a subject matter expert (SME), until after another 9 months I was promoted to the lofty title of "Incident Manager".

Basically because of my customer service background (before coming to the helpdesk) I was able to handle the horrible bastard hairy calls that you get on a regular basis because some bastard has been kicking calls around the queues for a week.

So I would have all the crusty bastards call up and get their calls escalated (this is a great term to use if you ever have to contact a call center, basically means "I want this to go to a manager") and they would come to me, and it was my job to resolve the issue in 24 hours from it being escalated.

We had people run out screaming, we had people break into sobbing at their desks, and we had someone piss their pants because the team leader said that they couldn't take a toilet break because they had used all their break time that day (bladder infection, heartless pricks)

I hardened up, and was a professional every day I walked into that place, I did this because I wanted to leave the desk and get a real job in IT, it took me 2.5 years, but from that job I got into project management, and I am now in service delivery management.

I get awards every quarter, a bonus every year along with a raise, and I get headhunted to new accounts in my organisation because I have a reputation of being level headed, professional, and efficient.

And those are the skills that I got from the call center, if you are there stick at it and look for opportunities to move into. and just remember...

If You're Going Through Hell, Keep Going
- Winston Churchill

Boomer The Cannon
Oct 27, 2011

Gotta see it live!


I wonder if there's a correlation between people who think that the only people able to refinance through the banks are the ones who are delinquent and screwing the system, and people who think that the vast majority of people on welfare are there solely to be lazy and cheat hard working taxpayers.

I'm leaning towards yes....

Iced Cocoa
Jul 14, 2011

I am free! Got a call yesterday that I got a job as a programmer. It was the most demanding jobs that I applied to, but I'm so relieved to be out of the call center.

I'm wondering what my exit gift should be. I'm torn between a case of Pepsi (the company has exclusive contract with Coca Cola) or Vanilla Coke.

CatStacking
Jan 9, 2010

~A Purely Preposterous Pussy~

Iced Cocoa posted:

I am free! Got a call yesterday that I got a job as a programmer. It was the most demanding jobs that I applied to, but I'm so relieved to be out of the call center.

I'm wondering what my exit gift should be. I'm torn between a case of Pepsi (the company has exclusive contract with Coca Cola) or Vanilla Coke.

Concealed radio. Go on bio break, strip down to your underwear and scrawl "I QUIT" across your stomach. Play music obnoxiously loud from your now unconcealed radio while dancing through the call center, disturbing as many people on the phone as humanly possible.

Bonus points if it's a stupidly catchy song that'll get stuck in everybody's head all day long. I suggest the Duck Tails theme song...

Edit: Seriously, nobody is going to care if you leave a case of Pepsi laying around. They'll probably see it as free soda and be happy about it.

This is not your end goal, having escaped from Hell itself.

sbaldrick
Jul 19, 2006
Driven by Hate

Iced Cocoa posted:

I am free! Got a call yesterday that I got a job as a programmer. It was the most demanding jobs that I applied to, but I'm so relieved to be out of the call center.

I'm wondering what my exit gift should be. I'm torn between a case of Pepsi (the company has exclusive contract with Coca Cola) or Vanilla Coke.

As long as you haven't used that call centre or anyone in it as a reference, give no gently caress. They annoyed they where closing the call centre I worked at just at the same time my wife got a new job that required us to move. I basically stopped caring at all and tried to get them to fire me (really hard to do in Ontario once a layoff notice is given). On my last day I might have told a couple of callers to go gently caress themselves because they are assholes.

I felt better about my time in hell after that.

AzMiLion
Dec 29, 2010

Truck you say?

Iced Cocoa posted:

I am free! Got a call yesterday that I got a job as a programmer. It was the most demanding jobs that I applied to, but I'm so relieved to be out of the call center.

I'm wondering what my exit gift should be. I'm torn between a case of Pepsi (the company has exclusive contract with Coca Cola) or Vanilla Coke.

Congrats on getting out, I managed to get out about a year ago now and got a job as a teacher. It's nice to have a job were management doesn't change your targets/scripts/protocols every month.

MA-Horus
Dec 3, 2006

I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.

Needs to be Call Me Maybe playing on the hidden speaker.

Loving Life Partner
Apr 17, 2003
How a multi billion dollar insurance company has their entire payment system across every possible method of pay down for, at least 7 hours and counting, is beyond me.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall at our IT department meetings right now.

Omgbees
Nov 30, 2012

Loving Life Partner posted:

How a multi billion dollar insurance company has their entire payment system across every possible method of pay down for, at least 7 hours and counting, is beyond me.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall at our IT department meetings right now.

It gets VERY heated, we have had an atm network for a major bank out for a day before. Wasn't a good situation.

CatStacking
Jan 9, 2010

~A Purely Preposterous Pussy~
I'm not sure quite what it is, but work is really effecting me, now.

I can get plenty of sleep, proper amounts that I can function on, but when I'm at work, I feel tired, exhausted, sore and run down. I feel neutral to apathetic to every single caller now.

I stopped beginning calls with "thanks for calling tech support". I'd really rather people didn't, actually.

Three times now, I've been close to tears, just frustrated with how terrible I feel. once already, I nearly walked up to my operations manager and quit on the spot.

Is there such thing as "location induced depression" because that's really what it feels like, anymore.

Benzoyl Peroxide
Jun 6, 2007

[C6H5C(O)]2O2
Well as others have pointed out you're treated poorly there and you clearly hate it so your post is just another sad scratch on the prison wall. Please try to find somewhere else to work.

G-Spot Run
Jun 28, 2005
I am going to start pissing down your well if you don't at least acknowledge that you are seeking alternative employment in your next sad post. Get two part time cleaning jobs. Go back to school. Move into a commune and forgo capitalist society. It's all better than where you are now.

CatStacking
Jan 9, 2010

~A Purely Preposterous Pussy~

Kat Delacour posted:

I am going to start pissing down your well if you don't at least acknowledge that you are seeking alternative employment in your next sad post. Get two part time cleaning jobs. Go back to school. Move into a commune and forgo capitalist society. It's all better than where you are now.

To reply to both of you guys, I am, don't worry. Right now, there isn't a whole lot because the job economy in the area where I live/within commuting distance from me is terrible.

There only seems to be factory work (all the factories are on the other side of town and I can't drive right now), part time retail and this call centre.

I know that if I go into part time retail (unless, as you said, I get two or more), I won't be able to afford my home/student debt repayment/etc.

That said, I'd have to wait until probably the new year to get one of those jobs since everybody is employed to the gills for Christmas.

The light of the end of the tunnel, however, is that once I get approved to start pursuing my driver's license again, it'll take a year or two to obtain a full one. Which is one of the requirements needed for a journalism job.

Journalism is what I studied in university. I can use that year and a half to build a killer portfolio and apply to the local newspaper, to start.

It's not immediate, but it's something.

Fake Edit: I sit at my desk, browsing employment ads/sites online in between calls. True story.

supkirbs
Oct 15, 2012

The library is the worst bunch of people assembled in history. They're mean, conniving, rude and extremely well read which makes them very dangerous.
Have been lurking this thread for a few days now, finally finished reading and glad to have an opportunity to discuss my own experience. I work for a fairly large insurance company, mainly doing customer service. It'll be two years this February, and I am burnt out. Similar to others in this thread, I went through a honeymoon phase after training/transition of enjoying problem solving & helping customers out. At this point I'm making around ~$18 an hour (including my night differential) with great medical benefits which I can't complain about.

However, I'm honestly at the point where I am just hoping they'll fire me. I am actively searching for other jobs, but it's a rough market where I am at and the main alternatives are lesser-paying call centers. I can echo the feelings of many in this post where I just wish that I would be involved in some horrible accident on the way to work so that I would not have to go in. I am sick to my stomach immediately upon waking up on the days that I have to work, and I lie awake at night with anxiety about the next day.

(Edit: don't need this here anymore)

My stats have been steadily going down the past year or so (I believe I'm ranked currently between 70-80 on a floor of 140 agents) and I just can't bring myself to care. The company originally took away calls per day as a stat (yay!) because they initiated a FCR goal (customer cannot call back for any reason within 7 days of speaking with you) and wanted us to feel empowered to have the time we need to fully take care of the request. They then a few months later put in a mandatory 'calls per month' not as a goal, but as a minimum requirement for employment...which averaged out to the original calls per day goal (I see what you did there). The way our FCR is calculated is pretty lame also. If the customers calls us by accident when they needed claims? We're supposed to pull up their policy first & then transfer them. If they call back and do the same thing? We get hit. If we transfer them to another office because we don't have the license for their state, and they're on hold more than 7 minutes in between? We get hit. If another agent goes back into a policy they were working on earlier, which happens to be one we just spoke with the customer on? We get hit, even though the customer didn't call back, the agent just loaded the policy again. That being said, I have received quarter awards for this metric & consistently rate as one of the top agents.

My stat problem is 'value', though. I'm currently on my first month of my PIP for this stat. We're required to sell the customer on transferring to get a quote for additional policies with us, and we're rated based on the number of pop-ups we get stating they are eligible. The problem with this is that our company does not require we offer these products if the customers is calling in from somewhere they may be in a hurry (dealership, work, etc.) or if they express financial hardship. This is a good thing. However, we are still counted for those policies as missed opportunities & they factor into our overall percentage of opportunities to transfer vs. actual transfers.

We do have a lot of dumb customers, but for the most part I like helping them out, I only really get a very rude caller maybe 4-5 times per day. I had a nice call the other day where a guy called in with a general question, we (were supposed to have) had his son listed as away-at-school and he wanted to make sure he'd be covered since he was coming home for winter break. I noticed that we had the kid's mileage listed for how far away he was, but the policy was not receiving the reduced rate. So I put this guy on hold a bit to research it, had to fight with my supe as she didn't want to allow it to be backdated (it was clearly our fault), finally let me backdate it. I come back on the line and advise this guy of his new premium/billing & what happened, and he just keeps gushing about how detail-oriented I am and how much he appreciates the help. He also said he hoped the call was monitored so they would be able to hear his feedback. I had to call him back the next day (we had scheduled a call-back to enroll him in automatic payments or something like that), and he mentioned that he got a survey for me and made sure to take it and give me the highest marks because he was so pleased with me. Gave me the warm fuzzies. :allears:

Sorry for the wall of text, I've just been lurking awhile and wanted to read the whole post before replying. It's nice to be able to get this out to other people who can understand the frustration. It's hard to talk to friends with non-call center jobs, they can't understand how frustrating some of this stuff can be.


Current customer pet peeves:

-"Can I have your name & date of birth for security purposes?" "Sure, my name is John Smith, first name J O H N last name S M I T H, I live at 123 too much info lane, I was born 01/01/1965, the last four of my social is 1234 and my wife is also on this policy, her name is Barbara Smith, First name spelled....." (you get the point)

-Customers who are constantly on cancellation notices, get to a point where they have to pay in full to avoid it cancelling/there's not much leeway we have to help them out as far as a lower payment etc, then begin to complain about everything else on the policy (WHY IS MY RATE SO HIGH/WELL 2 YEARS AGO YOU GUYS DIDN'T GIVE ME GOOD CLAIMS SERVICES/WHY DON'T I HAVE FULL COVERAGE I ASKED FOR FULL COVERAGE, NO I DON'T WANT TO ADD IT, YOU SHOULD GIVE IT TO ME FOR FREE/WHY IS YOUR HOLD TIME SO LONG) because they're upset about the billing

-Quietly angry customers, usually females in their mid-20's who ask questions about why their rate went up, why we can't remove their husband with 8 accidents, and just reply with, "That's interesting." as if you are lying to them.


Also, this is going against the grain of what some others in this thread have said, but I deal mainly with our military customers, and while a lot of them are very polite, they can be pretty awful as well. I guess it's mainly the wives though, they have a pretty big sense of entitlement. We bend over backwards for them to begin with, special pay plans, reinstating policies without lapse sometimes if it cancelled (MONTHS ago) while they were deployed, etc.

Car insurance goons, have any of you noticed a correlation between the amount of tickets/DUIs/etc someone has and their level of rudeness? Unfortunately from what I see the stereotype about young military guys (many DUI's and usually a ton of speeding tickets on a 2012 dodge charger/mustang/350z etc they can barely afford) holds mostly true & these tend to be the rudest ones, even when I get misdirects for civilian policies this tends to apply as well.

supkirbs fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Feb 19, 2013

BlackIronHeart
Aug 2, 2004

The Oath Breaker's about to hit warphead nine Kaptain!

cuntvalet posted:

Three times now, I've been close to tears, just frustrated with how terrible I feel. once already, I nearly walked up to my operations manager and quit on the spot.

Is there such thing as "location induced depression" because that's really what it feels like, anymore.

You need to see if your company provides an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) that you can call. Comcast had something called ComPsych that would schedule an employee with a local therapist/counselor if they were stressed out about anything.

I called them after I had been on the job for about 4 years and told the therapist that I was seriously considering driving my car off a bridge just so I wouldn't have to take another call. Seven days, two visits with a psychiatrist and one Lexapro prescription later, I was able to file for short term disability and get 60 days paid disability leave. The therapist recommended a book to me 'The Lucifer Effect' by Philip Zimbardo and that helped a lot. Viewing call centers as sadistic psychological experiments is a great way to contextualize the asinine decisions that are made.

At least look up if you have access to an EAP even if you don't plan on calling them. It sucks to hit the breaking point and have no idea where to turn.

Literally Lewis Hamilton
Feb 22, 2005




Are you in the USA? If so, you should check out an ADA accommodation for your issue.

Gothmog1065
May 14, 2009
Dear ISP: If you're going to mail out these DTAs, make sure the trucking things work. Also get your stupid rear end goddamn warehouses to actually add them to inventory.

Dear Customers: Hook all of your new DTAs up AT THE SAME GODDAMN TIME. It's not diffcult, now you're going to be extra bitchy because you have to call back another 4 times because you only want to hook them up one by loving one.

This is the biggest pile of poo poo I've seen this company do so far. And it's not one issue, as soon as one thing gets fixed, another breaks.


e: I'm regretting this overtime I asked to pick up. The bonuses for taking it are pretty awesome though.

Gothmog1065 fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Dec 17, 2012

Loving Life Partner
Apr 17, 2003

supkirbs posted:

Car insurance goons, have any of you noticed a correlation between the amount of tickets/DUIs/etc someone has and their level of rudeness?

Yes. Absolutely. I had a guy call in once complaining about his rates going up at renewal, he had this 3rd at-fault accident coming on, and claims details indicated a fatality for the claimant vehicle. The gall was unreal.

I wish I could just take calls from southerners all day. They want to talk at a reasonable tempo, understand everything that's going on, and are really polite.

Savage Shulkie
May 13, 2009



Ogon’ po gotovnosti!

Loving Life Partner posted:

Yes. Absolutely. I had a guy call in once complaining about his rates going up at renewal, he had this 3rd at-fault accident coming on, and claims details indicated a fatality for the claimant vehicle. The gall was unreal.

I wish I could just take calls from southerners all day. They want to talk at a reasonable tempo, understand everything that's going on, and are really polite.

Your southerners are not my southerners. My southerners are angry that "thar" rate is so high (1.99 is high on what planet?) and they could "git" the financing through the dealer at much less. Then do it! I literally cannot make the rate go any lower for you 6k car loan!

But then the people I tend to get that are pleasant are the older folks. They understand that I can't change the system ans have no issues asking me to repeat something so they understand it instead of just saying "Huh?" like the 18-20 year olds I talk to.

Now I sound like a :corsair:

jassi007
Aug 9, 2006

mmmmm.. burger...

cuntvalet posted:

I'm not sure quite what it is, but work is really effecting me, now.

I can get plenty of sleep, proper amounts that I can function on, but when I'm at work, I feel tired, exhausted, sore and run down. I feel neutral to apathetic to every single caller now.

I stopped beginning calls with "thanks for calling tech support". I'd really rather people didn't, actually.

Three times now, I've been close to tears, just frustrated with how terrible I feel. once already, I nearly walked up to my operations manager and quit on the spot.

Is there such thing as "location induced depression" because that's really what it feels like, anymore.

Eh, you just have to become dead inside. I have emotion for my family, and I get up and do the poo poo I do so we can have a good life together. Between 8 and 4 I am a cold emotionless phone answering robot that will tell you how to do things that you are asking for and gives no fucks if you can't, won't, or it does not work.

As such, my employer lauds me as a model employee who gets excellent QA scores (I am never rude, I follow all required talking points, etc.) I have few callbacks, and almost no complaints. I nothing you, which gives you little to complain about.

It has its downsides, but if you don't want to take risks or put forth a lot of time, money, and/or effort to change your employement situation in life, working a call center as an uncaring phone answering robot is ok. I have thoughts about other jobs, but really I would like to work for myself. I haven't yet found an idea that I could afford to start a business that I feel has a reasonable chance at success and wouldn't jeopardize my families stability for.

Kitchner
Nov 9, 2012

IT CAN'T BE BARGAINED WITH.
IT CAN'T BE REASONED WITH.
IT DOESN'T FEEL PITY, OR REMORSE, OR FEAR.
AND IT ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT STOP, EVER, UNTIL YOU ADMIT YOU'RE WRONG ABOUT WARHAMMER
Clapping Larry
It's scary how many things in here I read and the poster can be on the other side of the atlantic and I totally associate with it.

With your guy's stories putting my experiences in context the call center I used to work at was actually pretty loving good. They don't really pay attention to calls per day unless you're obviously not working (though they measure FCR the same way as that other guy was talking about it, it's pretty dumb but better then a lot of other KPIs).

I guess hell is the same no matter where you live!

dustbin
Jun 30, 2007

Grimey Drawer

supkirbs posted:

but I still am harassed almost daily about the time I am clocked out into 'personal'.

If you get two regular 15-minute breaks and the issue your supe is concerned about is time off the phone, can you shorten those breaks to 10 minutes each or so to accommodate the extra time you take off the phone?

I would take advantage of this occasionally when I worked at a call center. It kept my availability in the green. I rarely adhere to my break times anyway (ie if break was scheduled 1-1:15 I'd go at 1:20-1:35 if I felt like it) and no one seemed to care about that as much. 10 min break followed by a 4 min bathroom break/scream and cry break later? That was ok.

supkirbs
Oct 15, 2012

The library is the worst bunch of people assembled in history. They're mean, conniving, rude and extremely well read which makes them very dangerous.

dustbin posted:

If you get two regular 15-minute breaks and the issue your supe is concerned about is time off the phone, can you shorten those breaks to 10 minutes each or so to accommodate the extra time you take off the phone?

I would take advantage of this occasionally when I worked at a call center. It kept my availability in the green. I rarely adhere to my break times anyway (ie if break was scheduled 1-1:15 I'd go at 1:20-1:35 if I felt like it) and no one seemed to care about that as much. 10 min break followed by a 4 min bathroom break/scream and cry break later? That was ok.

(edit: don't need this here anymore)

In other news, I love offering to do a 3-way call with the bank when a customer is disputing a payment showing as declined on our end and them swearing up and down that it came out of their account.

Yesterday, I had a guy calling in ranting about going to pay at a local office and it being more than expected. On my end, I show an October payment decline, a resubmit 4 days later (again declined due to funds), and then a cancellation notice with him eventually paying around the end of November. So, by this time we can't bill him separately for both November and December, so they are rolled in together. He's swearing up and down that the October payment came out of his bank, not letting me get a word in edgewise, claiming we also messed up his payment in March (I look at the history, same thing, it declined for insufficient funds twice & then he made an online payment later on...).

Finally he lets me speak, I offer to do a 3-way call with the bank, he refuses, stating his wife is on the line with them right now verifying the payment came out, because he KNOWS it did and we're so incompetent, he's not going to stand for us lying about his payment and trying to screw him over, etc. He's reaming me out, I hear his wife in the background saying that it didn't come out, and then he gets really quiet. "Well....I'm going to have to call you guys back." and hangs up. :smuggo:

I also had a nice conversation with this guy:

:rant: HI I WANT TO CANCEL MY POLICY YOU GUYS ARE CHARGING ME WAY TOO MUCH
:j: Well sir, I'm sorry to hear that, what's the premium the other company is quoting you?
:rant: it's *premium higher than ours*
:j: (noticing his normal bills are lower but he has a huge upcoming bill from a bunch of pro-rated changes he's made and hasn't made a payment in a couple of months because the changes he's making keep pushing out his billing) Well, I certainly understand your concern about the premium, I see that ours is actually lower but there have been quite a few recent changes and it's just your next upcoming bill that's so large. If you'll allow me to, I'd like to place you on a brief hold to review what all this bill is including & why it's so large.
:rant: NO I'M SICK OF CONVERSING WITH YOU PEOPLE JUST CANCEL MY POLICY I'M TIRED OF TALKING. I'M NOT TRYING TO BE RUDE BUT I DON'T WANT TO HAVE A CONVERSATION ABOUT THIS JUST CANCEL IT ALREADY.
:j: *cancels policy* Was there anything else I can do for you today?
:rant: YEAH, WHY HAVEN'T YOU TOLD ME WHY MY NEXT BILL IS SO HIGH?!
:j: ...that's what I wanted to research for you, sir. :doh:

supkirbs fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Feb 19, 2013

Beefstorm
Jul 20, 2010

"It's not the size of the tower. It's the motion of the airwaves."
Lipstick Apathy

Don't worry. There's a separate section in hell for these people.

Loving Life Partner
Apr 17, 2003

supkirbs posted:

Words about lying customers

I feel like sometimes I'm talking to Costanza in the Hamptons episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-MtW7hbzWk

Wanna get nuts!? LETS GET NUTS! Lets call the bank and see who flinches first!

It's just amazing to me how people don't understand JUST HOW MUCH a corporation likes to collect and receive money and properly account it. Out of the hundreds of times someone has "sworn" to me that it came out and was paid they thought a month ago, it has never been the case.

EDIT:
And everyone is dicking them over. Well, y'all were supposed to take your payment on X day but it attempted on X-day +2 (because of the time required for an ACH to sweep) and I had already spent that money! So y'all overdrafted my account now you're going to cancel my policy, and the bank wants $56 in fees and etc. etc. and it's EVERYBODY'S fault but theirs.

supkirbs
Oct 15, 2012

The library is the worst bunch of people assembled in history. They're mean, conniving, rude and extremely well read which makes them very dangerous.

Loving Life Partner posted:

EDIT:
And everyone is dicking them over. Well, y'all were supposed to take your payment on X day but it attempted on X-day +2 (because of the time required for an ACH to sweep) and I had already spent that money! So y'all overdrafted my account now you're going to cancel my policy, and the bank wants $56 in fees and etc. etc. and it's EVERYBODY'S fault but theirs.

Absolutely. I have a coworker who actually got in trouble once because the customer was giving him the whole, "Well, it was in the account when y'all were supposed to take it!" and he just responded with, "Well, why did you spend it then?"

Loving Life Partner
Apr 17, 2003
I wish we were able to just be truthful with people. Like when I'm putting a 2009 BMW on some 22 year old kid's policy and he's already scraping up $150 a month to insure a beater car but now he needs more coverage and has a poo poo record so he's paying $275 a month for insurance and buying from some god awful "buy here pay here" putting $3500 down and paying another $300 a month.

I just want to be like "dude... you can't afford this car, you can't afford this thing you're doing, you're going to ruin the next decade of your life"

supkirbs
Oct 15, 2012

The library is the worst bunch of people assembled in history. They're mean, conniving, rude and extremely well read which makes them very dangerous.

Loving Life Partner posted:

I wish we were able to just be truthful with people. Like when I'm putting a 2009 BMW on some 22 year old kid's policy and he's already scraping up $150 a month to insure a beater car but now he needs more coverage and has a poo poo record so he's paying $275 a month for insurance and buying from some god awful "buy here pay here" putting $3500 down and paying another $300 a month.

I just want to be like "dude... you can't afford this car, you can't afford this thing you're doing, you're going to ruin the next decade of your life"

Yeah, it's really sad. Being in the military department, I see this so often :( On the flip side, sometimes it's not just the young ones being naive. I hate when someone calls in about not being able to pay their bill, being on a 'fixed income', on a can notice, etc. I feel bad because they're elderly and inside I say to myself "This poor guy, I am going to do everything I can in my power to help him out!!" and then I notice his 2 brand new 2013 mercedes, bmw, etc. recently added....there goes my sympathy. :suicide:

CatStacking
Jan 9, 2010

~A Purely Preposterous Pussy~
Ahh, I've developed a few new catchphrases lately, (un)ironically, taken from tips on how to speak to children. They work well on my customers.

First one I use a lot: "I know you want my answer to be different, but it's not going to change" and/or "I have already given you my answer. Do you have any questions about it?"

Second one, which is always fun: "If you choose to continue speaking to me in that way, you choose to end this conversation right now."

So far, they work.

Literally Lewis Hamilton
Feb 22, 2005



All of those sound like you're being a snarky rear end in a top hat and I doubt will go over well.

CatStacking
Jan 9, 2010

~A Purely Preposterous Pussy~

Bovril Delight posted:

All of those sound like you're being a snarky rear end in a top hat and I doubt will go over well.

Really it's all about the tone you put into them. They work fine for me, so long as my tone is calm and controlled, fair but firm.

Then again I've heard my TL say to a customer on a supe call, "With all due respect, your thought process is wrong."

Also, we've been told we don't have to be cutesy and overly polite. We're tech support not customer care. Told this by QA, no less.

MC Fruit Stripe
Nov 26, 2002

around and around we go
I love the first and see the application, but the second reminds me of the false dilemmas that psychopaths use and is kinda silly as a result.

CatStacking
Jan 9, 2010

~A Purely Preposterous Pussy~

MC Fruit Stripe posted:

I love the first and see the application, but the second reminds me of the false dilemmas that psychopaths use and is kinda silly as a result.

You almost need to be a psychopath to work in a call centre some days.

Joking aside I find it goes over better than "If you continue to use profanity I will terminate the call."

Granted when they are in that territory...well, nothing's gonna stop them anyways.

BigDave
Jul 14, 2009

Taste the High Country

cuntvalet posted:

Ahh, I've developed a few new catchphrases lately, (un)ironically, taken from tips on how to speak to children. They work well on my customers.

First one I use a lot: "I know you want my answer to be different, but it's not going to change" and/or "I have already given you my answer. Do you have any questions about it?"

Second one, which is always fun: "If you choose to continue speaking to me in that way, you choose to end this conversation right now."

So far, they work.

Funny, a book on how to talk to children could be a valuable tool in call center work.

Boomer The Cannon
Oct 27, 2011

Gotta see it live!


Loving Life Partner posted:

Wanna get nuts!? LETS GET NUTS! Lets call the bank and see who flinches first!

It's just amazing to me how people don't understand JUST HOW MUCH a corporation likes to collect and receive money and properly account it. Out of the hundreds of times someone has "sworn" to me that it came out and was paid they thought a month ago, it has never been the case.
Holy poo poo, I heard you. So you're pissed off because someone didn't call you back within hours and now you're going to pull all of your accounts and stop paying on your house?

Go right the gently caress ahead, and I'll give you my cell phone number so you can personally tell me how that worked out for you.

Oh, and you're asking for options or programs available, not specials or deals. This isn't a loving pizza shop.

legsarerequired
Dec 31, 2007
College Slice
We're moving cubicles tomorrow and I won't get to see my awesome old-lady-neighbor who talks about her grandkids and sewing every day. :(

ZeroDays
Feb 11, 2007

the fuck you know about what i need on my mind mother fucker

legsarerequired posted:

We're moving cubicles tomorrow and I won't get to see my awesome old-lady-neighbor who talks about her grandkids and sewing every day. :(

Ooh, you see dead people too? Mine was a cigar smoking old man who told stories of war-time bravery, but my then-supervisor spilled holy water all over the desk he was at and it exorcised him :(:hf::ghost:

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Tennis Ball
Jan 29, 2009
Free at last. I am done with my call center.

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