Don't Hang up on me!

[mattm04]

Just yesterday we had one "lady" who called our Customer Service desk over a dozen times wanting to be connected to the Deli but didn't want to be put on hold. Each time the clerk tried to tell her it is impossible to transfer a call or make a page without putting her on hold she would hang up and call back. Since she called during the early morning the was only one person working the desk. Her attempts to get another person were futile.

[TennesseeWhiskey]

Oh Lordy, I think we all have phone fools at one time or another. I despise with the heat of a thousand suns the ones who keep calling back because you have to put them on hold! I had this one lady, who, even after I explained that there were only two of us at the payment counter, and had lines, and had other calls, who, literally started screaming and cussing, "I don't give a f?*k about them, I'm on the phone with you, and you need to do what I'm asking you to do right now!"

I did give her a chance to straighten up, truly, I did, and explained to her there was no need to use that kind of language, and if she'd just be patient for a few minutes til we got the lines down a bit, we'd get to her, well, I might as well have had her on speaker phone, and my non SC's in the store got a good laugh at me holding the phone out from my head, giving it a disgusted look, repeating to SC, "Okay, I asked you not to speak to us like that (she'd done the same thing to my coworker when he'd picked up the phone), now, I'm hanging up." Needless to say, SC didn't get it and kept calling back for about five minutes, and when I was answering "Thank you for calling xxx, I'm sorry, but I need you to hold one moment" and putting the phone on hold, I could hear her squalling at me.

[Jack7957]

We once had a customer who apparently was waiting for help back in layaway. Seems no one was attending her, because suddenly over the PA system we hear...."Hellooooooo. Is anyone heeeeere? I need help back in layawaaaaay."

Had that happen one time at the grocery store I worked at. The phone near frozen had a list of extensions, including the one for overhead page, so the customer picked it up, dial the op extension number, and called for assistance. Since I was the one that went over, as soon as I was done, I went to the phone and took the list down. Our store was small enough that everyone should have known the extensions by heart.

[mattm04]

Had that happen one time at the grocery store I worked at. The phone near frozen had a list of extensions, including the one for overhead page, so the customer picked it up, dial the op extension number, and called for assistance. Since I was the one that went over, as soon as I was done, I went to the phone and took the list down. Our store was small enough that everyone should have known the extensions by heart.

The phones on our sales floor used to have a "PAGE" button right on them. They lasted about a week before they took out most of them and left a few regular phones with only a regular keypad, hold and park buttons.

[CancelMyService]

I had a co-worker get one of the "no hold" callers today. He has one of those voices that carries so half the call center heard "You want me to answer your questions, so I need to put you on hold to get those answers for you" in the same tone you'd use with a misbehaving 5 year old.

I think he was able to put him on hold after that.

Lately I've been getting a stream of (usually elderly ) folks asking if there's a way they can call us direct without having to navigate our automated phone tree. Yes, allow me to give you the method to circumvent the system designed to herd the morons into the appropriate queue. I'm sure mass chaos wouldn't result from THAT.