Hanging Up on a Homophobe!

[Slytovhand]

I'm for the killing... oh - no - not with kindness or anything.....

Ok - seriously now... yeah - hang up.

Kindness has it's time and place... if you've got the time and place. If you don't then you put up the line and let them know in no uncertain terms 'this is NOT acceptable'. Hopefully, if you left notes on there, and they order again and start up, then the operator will let them know that due to past issues, they don't get a second chance. Similarly, if they rang back and asked what happened, and then get told.. even better!


(sort of OT... whales. We can be all nice and diplomatic and tactful to Japan and Finland... or we can actually STOP them from killing whales NOW!! One gives the species a viable chance to survive, the other just might prevent them from extinctinction before it's too late...eventually... maybe)

[Bank Lady]

I think hanging up was the perfect answer. I don't think anyone deserves that kind of treatment. We don't even take just regular swearing at the bank. If an SC starting dropping f-bombs they are quickly presented with "please stop swearing or I will have to ask you to leave." The next step is "I have no problems with calling the police to escort you out."

No one abuses my tellers. I don't care how much money you have with the bank.

[Difdi]

I remember reading an article a few years back, about a study on the psychology of insults. Seems the study had found that people were most likely to use things they were afraid of becoming and/or most ashamed of being as insults when insulting someone else. The tendency gets much stronger when under stress, or mentally grasping for a quick insult, any insult to hurl, no matter how weak.

This puts being called certain things in a whole new light. And you can really mess with someone's mind by pointing this out to them. It gets even more satisfying as a comeback to a public insult. This odd little fact of human psychology makes a truly wonderful insult if announced loudly to everyone nearby, after someone insults you publicly.

[Aislin]

You did the right thing. the DB was just being an ass. He had no right to use such horrid language. I am sorry but the policy in every place you have to call in to should be the same, be abusive and get disconnected. I have been upset because my bank has messed up something serious on my account. I have called in and been angry, but it never caused me to cuss out the poor person who has to answer the phone and I had a REAL reason to be angry. If you are calling to order something you should be happy you did not have to wait on hold forever or talk to someone who doesn't speak your language or who is ASKING SIMPLE QUESTIONS like name, address, credit card #.

[BiscuitMunroe]

I once had a customer call me a dyke before hanging up on me. I was like...how did he know?!?! LOL. I wish he'd not hung up, i woulda thanked him. Anyway, you totally did the right thing. Thank you!

[dressednblack]

Your the shiznit, but then again I already knew that lol

[pacman]

(sort of OT... whales. We can be all nice and diplomatic and tactful to Japan and Finland... or we can actually STOP them from killing whales NOW!! One gives the species a viable chance to survive, the other just might prevent them from extinctinction before it's too late...eventually... maybe)

Wait?!? You serious? We are NOT killing whales in Finland... Where would we do such thing? We only have the Baltic Sea around us and the only whales that live in it are porpois - and they're very rarely found near the Finnish coast line.

And then on topic again: Glad you hung up on him. I wouldn't have tolerated such language. I've only once been called names at work in 3½ years (if you don't count adjectives like incompetent, arrogant etc) and I just was 30 min in the back crying. Luckily my boss understood the situation.

[Brightglaive]

I'm sorry, but I don't care what my company says - I do not make enough money to put up with that. I told my sup and they excused. Oh, gee wiliker, thanks for forgiving me for hanging up on the douchenozzle.

No one can be required to deal with verbal abuse. If someone turns an insult into a personal attack you are perfectly justified in removing yourself from the situation, regardless of (with great disdain I say this next phrase) "Company Policy". It doesn't matter if it's a racial slur, a religious slur, a sexual oriented slur, It's still a SLUR. Regardless of what kind. And it's being directly directed at you.


I would usually inform them that this is called verbal abuse and "this call will end if this continues. And you will be FORCED to start over with a new rep."


I like to call this the "talk to someone who cares!! Mr. Dialtone!!!" ultimatum.

or the

"you've just won a special gift!! A deluxe, all-expenses-paid trip through the IVR <click>"

or the

"you just barely qualified for a free gift!!! A brand new dialtone!!! <click>"

or the

"let me transfer you to the complaints department." <transfers to the fax machine>

[RebeccaOTool]

You did the right thing. Way to go!

[AdminAssistant]

"let me transfer you to the complaints department." <transfers to the fax machine>

That is brilliance. Nice to know fax machines are good for something.

That said - You did the right thing, absolutely. You shouldn't ever have to take that kind of abuse. People need to learn some manners before they deal with the public....but that would but this forum out of business, now wouldn't it?

[Andara Bledin]

People need to learn some manners before they deal with the public....but that would but this forum out of business, now wouldn't it?

Nah. We'd still have all the entitlement whores, scammers, and utterly clueless to keep this place going.

^-.-^

[allniter]

your co-workers are idiots. I'm so sure their common reaction is to be nice and finish the call. Betcha anything they're hypocrites.

[PepperElf]

/agree!

Sure it's easy to say "You were wrong!" when they're just listening to the story. But when they're the ones getting the abuse, it'd be totally different.

i'd say... let them handle brianna-brendan from now on, since they feel it's ok to be called names.

and two ironies here:
1) a male with a girly voice ... calling someone else a f****t?
2) and right afterwords you went and smoked a fag. (brit slang version of course)

[tropicsgoddess]

The hang up was definitely in order for that SC.

[Blisskat]

I agree with AdminAssistant. If people are never punished for outrageously bad behavior, they will continue the behavior, and probably will continue to believe that it is acceptable because they are not face-to-face with the victim of the abuse. The SC's continue to act like this because they are aware of the no hang-up rules that employees of companies like this must follow.

The best punishment is to deny what the SC wants, which is to get what they want, as quickly as they want, with the least amount of effort on their part. IMO