Tweet
I fully admit to being a smartass. I use dark humor and odd antics to keep my morale, as well as the morale of those I work with in good spirits. Working in this call center, we mainly deal with morons, idiots, and retards. Then there is the customers.
Call centers have a high turn over rate. They have training classes of about 20, and by the end of 2 weeks if you have 5 that remain there you are doing good. If you can get someone who stays there a while, and can help others you want to treat this person as a valued asset. And when this person is good at his job and produces good customers(with a few exceptions) you want to not bother him that much.
I chose 2nd shift for many reasons. One is that we aren't as busy on nights than days. 2 is that most of the leads and managers(supervisor is another department) are usually gone by 5, and if you can see my manager at 5:01, then something is wrong. UNTIL....
Yesterday I was coming in, when I see my manager. Normally she is not there on Sundays, but since Christmas season is coming up, they have managers there everyday, and that is rotated every week to whomever. Yesterday happened to be her day to be there. Joy of joys.
We have a lot of new people coming in for the holidays, and Sundays is a great day to break them in. Well, I don't change who I am for anyone. The new people were told by the trainer that if they need tech help, call me.(gave them my name and extension number) My manager also has told them that I am their main tech guy, and can be asked anything about what we have on the website and can help them locate something the customer wants, provided it exists. I am nesting with a new person, when this call comes in...
D: Me.
LOL: Little Old Lady. Not a bad customer, but someone I got a smile with.
M: Manager from hell
T: Newbie who got a dose of reality.
*MBT*: My favorite part of a call.
D: Thank you for calling goblowme.com, my name is Deceptitech. May I have your name please?
LOL: I just bought a phone at your local store, and I can't get the caller ID to work.
*MBT*
to newbie) Yes, we have a live one here. she bought this phone.. one moment.
D: Yes, you see only our number in the display window, correct?
T: What is she talking about?
*MBT*: See, there is a piece of film on the window to protect during shipping, and it has our number printed on it so people can call and ask why is our number in the display. Welcome to hell.
M: Deceptitech, what did you say?
LOL: Yes, I want to return it cause I can't get it off.
D: There is no need to worry, that is just a piece of window film, it should peel off easily and your display will work properly.
*MBT*: It doesn't say in the manual to remove the wondow film, although it should. The number is printed on it so people can call us and rant because they can't do anything that's not in the instructions.
LOL: Oh ok, I got it. I'm sorry for bothering you.
D: No problem ma'am. We're here to help you as we can. Is there anything else I can help you with today?
*MBT*: Can I walk you across the street?
M: Deceptitech!!!!! What are you doing?
T: Does this happen a lot?
D: All the time.
LOL: Thank you sonny, I wouldn't know what I would do without you.
*MBT*: You wouldn't have a problem calling us, as you would only be able to see our number.
M: DECEPTITECH!! I want a word with you.
*MBT*: I'm in trouble now.
D: No problem ma'am, that is why we're here for you to help in any way we can. If you have any other questions, please call us 24 hours a day.
*MBT*: Like plug your phone in.
M: NOW!!!
LOL: You're there 24 hours a day? That is a long shift.
*MBT*: Yes ma'am, I'm chained here. I can't sleep, eat, or go to the bathroom.
T: Can she hear you?
*MBT*: No, if she could I'd have ticked her off long ago. The mute button is your best friend, and only salvation.
M: Put yourself in training, I want to talk to you.
D: I'm here until 12:30, but we have people here 24 hours a day. You have a good evening, and thank you for calling customerssuck.com
*MBT*: This is why I like nights. Today isn't a good one though.
going into training for this so I don't get queued any calls.
M: I was monitoring that call. You shouldn't have been snotty like that.
D: Did I sound mean on the phone with her? No, I was pleasant, courteous, and extremely helpful without sounding bored and annoyed. I even helped her laugh when she realized what it was.
M: If I catch you using that mute button again, I'm going to have you written up.
D: might as well do it now, because odds are I'm going to use it on my next call.
And sure enough, I did.
Dealing with customers is a very high stress job. Sometimes laughing at them, yourself, or anything else you can do to relieve stress of the moment is better than going nuke on a poor person who doesn't deserve it. Maybe I shouldn't have said what i did on the mute, she was a nice lady. I did help her out, and although my trainee had a good chuckle, as did I at the moment, some people are WAAAAAAAYYYYY to serious when it comes to their jobs. Just grin and bear it. And use the mute button as much as you can.(make sure you have it on, cause you can get fired for telling the customer what you really think about them)
Call centers have a high turn over rate. They have training classes of about 20, and by the end of 2 weeks if you have 5 that remain there you are doing good. If you can get someone who stays there a while, and can help others you want to treat this person as a valued asset. And when this person is good at his job and produces good customers(with a few exceptions) you want to not bother him that much.
I chose 2nd shift for many reasons. One is that we aren't as busy on nights than days. 2 is that most of the leads and managers(supervisor is another department) are usually gone by 5, and if you can see my manager at 5:01, then something is wrong. UNTIL....
Yesterday I was coming in, when I see my manager. Normally she is not there on Sundays, but since Christmas season is coming up, they have managers there everyday, and that is rotated every week to whomever. Yesterday happened to be her day to be there. Joy of joys.
We have a lot of new people coming in for the holidays, and Sundays is a great day to break them in. Well, I don't change who I am for anyone. The new people were told by the trainer that if they need tech help, call me.(gave them my name and extension number) My manager also has told them that I am their main tech guy, and can be asked anything about what we have on the website and can help them locate something the customer wants, provided it exists. I am nesting with a new person, when this call comes in...
D: Me.
LOL: Little Old Lady. Not a bad customer, but someone I got a smile with.
M: Manager from hell
T: Newbie who got a dose of reality.
*MBT*: My favorite part of a call.
D: Thank you for calling goblowme.com, my name is Deceptitech. May I have your name please?
LOL: I just bought a phone at your local store, and I can't get the caller ID to work.
*MBT*
to newbie) Yes, we have a live one here. she bought this phone.. one moment.D: Yes, you see only our number in the display window, correct?
T: What is she talking about?
*MBT*: See, there is a piece of film on the window to protect during shipping, and it has our number printed on it so people can call and ask why is our number in the display. Welcome to hell.
M: Deceptitech, what did you say?
LOL: Yes, I want to return it cause I can't get it off.
D: There is no need to worry, that is just a piece of window film, it should peel off easily and your display will work properly.
*MBT*: It doesn't say in the manual to remove the wondow film, although it should. The number is printed on it so people can call us and rant because they can't do anything that's not in the instructions.
LOL: Oh ok, I got it. I'm sorry for bothering you.
D: No problem ma'am. We're here to help you as we can. Is there anything else I can help you with today?
*MBT*: Can I walk you across the street?
M: Deceptitech!!!!! What are you doing?
T: Does this happen a lot?
D: All the time.
LOL: Thank you sonny, I wouldn't know what I would do without you.
*MBT*: You wouldn't have a problem calling us, as you would only be able to see our number.
M: DECEPTITECH!! I want a word with you.
*MBT*: I'm in trouble now.
D: No problem ma'am, that is why we're here for you to help in any way we can. If you have any other questions, please call us 24 hours a day.
*MBT*: Like plug your phone in.
M: NOW!!!
LOL: You're there 24 hours a day? That is a long shift.
*MBT*: Yes ma'am, I'm chained here. I can't sleep, eat, or go to the bathroom.
T: Can she hear you?
*MBT*: No, if she could I'd have ticked her off long ago. The mute button is your best friend, and only salvation.
M: Put yourself in training, I want to talk to you.
D: I'm here until 12:30, but we have people here 24 hours a day. You have a good evening, and thank you for calling customerssuck.com
*MBT*: This is why I like nights. Today isn't a good one though.
going into training for this so I don't get queued any calls.
M: I was monitoring that call. You shouldn't have been snotty like that.
D: Did I sound mean on the phone with her? No, I was pleasant, courteous, and extremely helpful without sounding bored and annoyed. I even helped her laugh when she realized what it was.
M: If I catch you using that mute button again, I'm going to have you written up.
D: might as well do it now, because odds are I'm going to use it on my next call.
And sure enough, I did.
Dealing with customers is a very high stress job. Sometimes laughing at them, yourself, or anything else you can do to relieve stress of the moment is better than going nuke on a poor person who doesn't deserve it. Maybe I shouldn't have said what i did on the mute, she was a nice lady. I did help her out, and although my trainee had a good chuckle, as did I at the moment, some people are WAAAAAAAYYYYY to serious when it comes to their jobs. Just grin and bear it. And use the mute button as much as you can.(make sure you have it on, cause you can get fired for telling the customer what you really think about them)
Comment