EEEEEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH#@!#!#!$!

[SilverOrb]

Grrrrrr. Rantage.

So my innocent lil Silver self is on the phones today, and a customer calls in. Has some simple, mundane question. I can hear a kid crying in the backgroung, but no biggie.

Then, almost at the end, the kid screams. Literally screams, piercing shrieks. Sounded like The kid picked up the phone and screamed at the top of it's lungs directly into it.

The mother KEPT TALKING. The kid was so loud my ears hurt and I literally ripped off my headset and through it. I was almost crying after I got off the phone. I had to hang up on the woman.

I get it that kids cry, but give me a break and GO IN THE OTHER ROOM. I seriously had a slight loss in hearing for a few minutes.

[Pagan]

Oh my Goddess. There was one like that when I was out and about today! I went to the bathroom to make sure my ears weren't bleeding. Of course, there were a bunch of people that thought it was "cute".

[Gravekeeper]

Oh I love the ones with unrestrainable banshee crotch fruit in the background. Especially if they just ignore it and continue to bitterly keep the gateway into their world open to you. Like if they live with it, so must you.

[Chromatix]

Crotch fruit.

You do seem to have a way with words, GK!

[blas]

No more fruit salad for me.

[Geek King]

No more fruit salad for me.

"Maybe pull it around to give her a nice fruitbowl or something."

[Moggie]

I've had to deal with that before, both on the phone and in person. I am so sorry for the loss of your ear.

[Primer]

In person: I try to remove myself from the immediate vicinity.

On the Phone: I've been known to say, "I'm sorry, but I cannot hear you over the child. Could you please call back at a better time?" Repeat ad nauseum.

[WageSlaveofDoom]

I definitely feel ya. Especially around the holidays, it seems like screeching spawn are more prevalent... maybe because they can tell Mommy & Daddy are busting their butts to spoil them some more?
I've flung my headset off a number of times because of brats like that, but I find that now I can't break the Awesome Service Rule and just tell them to shut the kid up.
I did once tell a customer that I could not help her if I could not hear her, and that maybe she should move to another room or take care of her child before we continued(as per management's suggestion). The woman stopped talkind, and after an eerie silence she said "Fine." The phone clunked as if being dropped, then the beat-down began, with far more screaming from both.



Yeah. The local Children in Crisis hotline got a tip from me on my lunch break, but I was done trying to negotiate. If it's that bad, I would disconnect and risk getting in trouble rather than killing my hearing, since they're kind of important!

[DGoddessChardonnay]

I have a hard enough time trying to hear the person I'm speaking with in person. And a child screaming at the top of its lungs is too distracting - I simply can't hear over that loud of a noise.

And can we please refrain from any more vulgar descriptions including "crotchfruit?" While it may seem amusing to some, it could be considered offensive to others.

[marty]

WageSlave, I had a similiar experience...when some woman started beating her child in my line when I kept having to ask her to repeat herself because the kid was screaming so loud and I couldn't hear. Just like slapping him around..until she noticed everyone watching, then she grabbed the kid and hightailed it out, leaving her merchandise behind. There was a collective silent "WTF just happened?" before everyone continued on.

[Nyoibo]

crotchfruit

No more fruit salad for me.

And of course my brain takes a dive below the gutter to salad tossing.

I need help.

[Spiffy McMoron]

unrestrainable banshee crotch fruit

No more fruit salad for me.

And of course my brain takes a dive below the gutter to salad tossing.

Alright--no more referring to crotch fruit. Seriously. This is a site where you swap stories about SC's, not come up with demeaning names for children. If you want to do the latter, buy a thesaurus.

[Firecracker]

I've dealt w/ that in person and on the phone too. The time it happened in person I had a migraine so when that child started screaming at the top of it's lungs in my line I literally burst into tears right in front of it's parents b/c the explosion of pain in my head was that bad and there is nothing I hate more than crying in front of people..but there I was sobbing like a baby.

Then just a month ago I had to be operator for a half hour while our operator went to lunch and I had a woman on the phone w/ a screaming child in the background..and just like towards the end of the call all of a sudden it was like the child was right there at the mouth piece..a loud piercing scream right in my ear. I dropped the phone and hung up. I'm not kidding when I say my ear was ringing for like an hour at least afterward but I'm pretty sure it rung for even longer than that.

[arete85]

Argh I hate this sooo much. I was once in tears at a retail job because I saw this horrible woman going mental at her kid, calling her awful names, and I just knew she was gonna get a beating (she was pretty rough in public as it was!).

The kid was this angelic little thing of about three who was tired and didn't want to take mum's rubbish over to the bin for her.

I wanted to call the cops but my manager told me not to. Grrr.