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Working as a representative for Bell Canada, I thought it would be easier than working as a telemarketer. After all, telemarketers are hated because they're calling YOU! CSRs are there to HELP you.
With Bell first I worked with Sympatico (high speed internet). After being on the floor for about three weeks, they pulled me off the floor, stuck me back in a classroom for another five weeks, and tried to train myself and thirty other Sympatico employees on Small/Medium Business Phone Lines). They failed miserably.
However, while I really didn't know how to do my job initially, I eventually started to get the hang of it after endless phone calls to the help desk.
One day a lady (who was obviously not of Canadian descent) called in complaining about these mysterious charges on her phone bill (she was a secretary for a doctor's office). These charges were for 1-900 phone calls. I hope everyone knows what those lines are? If not, 1-900 lines are basically sex lines. And with sex lines you have to ACCEPT those charges before you can continue to your... erm... phone sex?
So here I am trying to explain these charges to the woman, with my supervisor sitting beside me listening in on the call (they did that once a month randomly). The woman becomes hysterical when she finds out what the charges are for and starts demanding that I remove them from her account immediately. I appologize and tell her that we can not remove the charges - that it can not be a mistake.
She gets all huffy, and she's like "There's only my husband and I who work here, and neither of us would have dialed that number."
And again I appologize and tell her again how those charges accumulate and why I could not do anything for her. So she started YELLING... and I mean screaming in my ear... and swearing... and she's making absolutely no sense, and so finally, not really wanting to take this abuse I told her, "Ma'am, if you can not conduct this conversation in a civilized fashion I will have to hang up."
And this... this is where I hear the BEST LINE I have EVER heard in my life.
"Civilized? Civilized? My husband is a doctor! I'm the civilized one!"
Supervisor at my side, I replied with, "With all due respect ma'am, I'm not the one swearing."
And so she DEMANDED to speak to my supervisor. And I gladly let her. And I got to listen in on what she told him. She told him I was attacking her, and telling her all sorts of stuff which I clearly did not. And when he told her the exact same things I had told her, she demanded to see his supervisor.
She tried going to get higher up on the food chain quite a few times until she finally hit a road block - my supervisor's supervisor. She eventually was hung up on.
With Bell first I worked with Sympatico (high speed internet). After being on the floor for about three weeks, they pulled me off the floor, stuck me back in a classroom for another five weeks, and tried to train myself and thirty other Sympatico employees on Small/Medium Business Phone Lines). They failed miserably.
However, while I really didn't know how to do my job initially, I eventually started to get the hang of it after endless phone calls to the help desk.
One day a lady (who was obviously not of Canadian descent) called in complaining about these mysterious charges on her phone bill (she was a secretary for a doctor's office). These charges were for 1-900 phone calls. I hope everyone knows what those lines are? If not, 1-900 lines are basically sex lines. And with sex lines you have to ACCEPT those charges before you can continue to your... erm... phone sex?
So here I am trying to explain these charges to the woman, with my supervisor sitting beside me listening in on the call (they did that once a month randomly). The woman becomes hysterical when she finds out what the charges are for and starts demanding that I remove them from her account immediately. I appologize and tell her that we can not remove the charges - that it can not be a mistake.
She gets all huffy, and she's like "There's only my husband and I who work here, and neither of us would have dialed that number."
And again I appologize and tell her again how those charges accumulate and why I could not do anything for her. So she started YELLING... and I mean screaming in my ear... and swearing... and she's making absolutely no sense, and so finally, not really wanting to take this abuse I told her, "Ma'am, if you can not conduct this conversation in a civilized fashion I will have to hang up."
And this... this is where I hear the BEST LINE I have EVER heard in my life.
"Civilized? Civilized? My husband is a doctor! I'm the civilized one!"
Supervisor at my side, I replied with, "With all due respect ma'am, I'm not the one swearing."
And so she DEMANDED to speak to my supervisor. And I gladly let her. And I got to listen in on what she told him. She told him I was attacking her, and telling her all sorts of stuff which I clearly did not. And when he told her the exact same things I had told her, she demanded to see his supervisor.
She tried going to get higher up on the food chain quite a few times until she finally hit a road block - my supervisor's supervisor. She eventually was hung up on.
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