As a client:
“Why did you raised my bill?”
I guarantee you that person did not personally go into the system and raise your bill. That person doesn’t care if your bill went up $100 or down a $1,000, your bill does not directly affect their pay check. The company raised your bill, don’t shoot the messenger.
“You have a really sexy voice”
No …just… no! You are coming off as creepy and probably making them super uncomfortable. Also most call centers record their calls for quality control and training classes. So you aren’t just coming off creepy to one person but possibly a whole classroom of them. If the employee knows this, chances are you won’t be getting anything more than their office extension.
“#*$@!”
Cursing at them will not make your life any easier. Most call center employees are allowed to hang up on irate customers. So even if you are the kind of jerk who would go into a store and yell at a sales person, remember most call centers have 1000s of employees, they will hang up on you and you will have to start the process all over again… “Press 1 for English. Press 2 for Español ”
“My son Robbie will be 12 next month, he plays soccer….(fill in life story here)”
Unless they need your family history for the type of business it is, try to remember most call center agents are only asking, “how was your weekend” (or other conversationally polite questions) because they are supposed to or need to stall while they input your information into the system. There are a lot of people in the call queue, do your fellow humans a favor and try to stick to business.
If you know them
“You’re tired? It’s not like your job is that hard, you just talk on the phone all day.”
The call center life is not for everyone, but there are many jobs available. Often with the chance of promotion, numerous people find themselves working there (it happened to me).
Working in a call center isn’t like talking on the phone to your best friend or Mom all day. You are typically dealing with complaints or trying to sell something, which means some people are rude, upset and looking for a punching bag. Eight hours of verbal abuse (on top of the task you are performing for the customer… sales, tech support, etc) is exhausting. Cut your friend a break. Let them rant about the customer that cussed them out and hung up, if that’s what they need. Hand them the bottle or a tissue and let them unwind.
In conclusion, cut these poor people a break. Don’t take your frustrations out on them and don’t assume their job is easy. Treat them how you want to be treated.
Do it for love,
Dia
Edited by M.L. Scarbrough
Brittany Pines
I firmly believe this job would be super frustrating and tiring! That being said, apparently I sound terrible on every phone call I make. In person I am usually calmer and nicer to customer service reps than my husband (maybe because I worked retail for several years) but he says if I have to call in I start off sounding like I am going to cuss them out! I try to work on it, but it’s so hard.
Dia
Haha well at least you try. I have had customers who sound super annoyed the whole conversation and then at the end tell me I was so pleasant or helpful and I’m thinking “Really??”
At a certain point I think reps learn to not take it personal or move on to a new job (like I did) but some days it is just too much even for people with the thickest skin.
Softcup Review
[…] Warning: This contains graphic details about my lady business so if you have man junk or don’t like talking about bodily functions than maybe read another post instead. (Here is a popular one!) […]
Cherie
I lived the call center life for over two years. There were parts of it that I didn’t mind, but overall it was an incredibly draining job. I would get so tired of talking to people all day that I would go home and just close myself off in my room by myself.
And I totally love the “don’t tell your life story” point. So many people did this! Some of them did it to get sympathy (“I have cancer so I shouldn’t have to pay my bill”) and others I think were just bored. I worked on Thanksgiving last year and this woman kept me on the phone for probably 40 minutes over something I really couldn’t help with (she wanted to know if she could get roadside assistance but her issue was not covered by roadside assistance), but she kept talking to me about how she couldn’t see her family on the holiday. I did feel bad for her.
Dia
Yeah you could tell when it was a sob story and then sometimes just older people who wanted someone to talk to. :/ Thanks for stopping by Cherie!