Working in a call centre

[FoxesDeb]

3 minutes ago, Costock_Fox said:

This one wasn’t me but someone that was sitting next to me at the time.

 

Customer calls and it’s not their account, the call handler says they will need to speak to the account holder but was told “they have gone upstairs” to which they asked them to go and get them…

 

What they meant by gone upstairs was they had actually died, awkward.

That reminds of the time a colleague told a customer he hoped they'd find their Mum soon after being told by said customer that they'd lost their Mum recently.

[Parafox]

This reminds me of things many of us have experienced whilst being inexperienced.

 

I spent some time when I was 19 as a print apprentice for the LM. I recall being told to go to the parts department and ask for a long weight.

 

Took me at least half an hour before I twigged.

 

A friend of mine worked for a well known commercial paint and decorating company back then. (Cundy's) 

 

He sat in the storeroom and got laughed at after asking for a tin of striped paint.

 

We were all young and inexperienced once. 

 

 

[TJQuik]

Unfortunately the default with call centers is for people to think they're all a hive mind, and the people answering your call are just drones who are just as complicit in your problem as the people running the company, and love to sit there and take your abuse.

 

"You've done this, you've done that" when the person you're speaking to has never spoken to you in their life. Either that or they ring them and attempt to use emotional blackmail or use them like it's Samaritans when the operator is not a mental health professional and probably has their own issues to deal with.

 

Meanwhile if someone understands employees are human beings who are just trying to earn a modest living, tries to be as efficient as possible with their call and wishes them a nice day, etc, it's a good sign they're not a complete selfish ****. You could call this "the **** test" if you will.

[Tommy Fresh]

Not call centre related but on the theme above, there used to a bit of an over the top staff member at Birstall Tesco, non stop 'banter' regardless of the situation. My mum was buying some alcohol, when said something like "does your mum know you're buying these?" to which she replied "I should hope not she's been dead over ten years" 

[Foxdiamond]

I worked in phone based customer services for over 30 years. A company that really did value customers and staff expected to be helpful, professional and knowledgeable. Although not brain surgery or life or death it was quite a stressful job trying to deal with orders, queries and complaints. 

[Stuntman_Mike]

On 12/03/2023 at 17:19, FoxesDeb said:

That reminds of the time a colleague told a customer he hoped they'd find their Mum soon after being told by said customer that they'd lost their Mum recently.

 

Same thing happened to my mum a few years ago when she was talking to someone she knew out shopping. They said "Oh Clare (my mum) I've lost my husband" and she replied "Oh they're buggers for wandering off ain't they"