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Florida has its share of unique customers, particularly when it comes to phone service. I have worked in the telecommunications industry for 15 years, and I have heard it all. I was in operator services for a few years, then went into customer service where I saw first hand what these customers do after speaking to operators.
The one thing I fretted over in customer service were the customers calling in for credit on operator assisted dialed calls. If you call an operator, you are billed a charge, even on local calls. Much of the time, when I worked in operator services, many people would call and say things like, "My 8 key is not working, so I need you to dial this number for me." Many operators including myself charged the operator assisted rate because the way we and the supervisors saw it, the customer could very well buy a new phone with a working 8. Also, this "problem" with broken number keys came about once caller ID was invented. When a customer has an operator dial a call, it keeps the name and number of where they are calling from displaying on caller ID. (Later on, a service called privacy director came out to curb this problem, but of course, customers found a way around that one, too).
When I went into customer service, I always dealt with these customers who later on received their bill, and were bitching about the charges for an operator dialing the call. "I told that operator my 8 key wasn't working!" I would tell these customers things like, "Well, sir, we don't provide credit on things like this unless you have a disability and could not dial it yourself, but the operator billed you anyway." Many of these people in turn would say, "But I didn't want my number displayed being it violates my privacy! My number is unlisted!" I always wanted to tell them, "But, sir, if you have this person's phone number, why are they not allowed to have yours? Aren't you violating their privacy, too?"
Sooner or later, customers received notices that from now on, any operator assisted calls they made would be sustained, unless it showed on their account they had a physical handicap (like blindness) and could not dial the call themselves. Bellsouth ended up giving away millions over crap like this.
Next thing, we'll be giving in to lazy riff raff people, won't we?
The one thing I fretted over in customer service were the customers calling in for credit on operator assisted dialed calls. If you call an operator, you are billed a charge, even on local calls. Much of the time, when I worked in operator services, many people would call and say things like, "My 8 key is not working, so I need you to dial this number for me." Many operators including myself charged the operator assisted rate because the way we and the supervisors saw it, the customer could very well buy a new phone with a working 8. Also, this "problem" with broken number keys came about once caller ID was invented. When a customer has an operator dial a call, it keeps the name and number of where they are calling from displaying on caller ID. (Later on, a service called privacy director came out to curb this problem, but of course, customers found a way around that one, too).
When I went into customer service, I always dealt with these customers who later on received their bill, and were bitching about the charges for an operator dialing the call. "I told that operator my 8 key wasn't working!" I would tell these customers things like, "Well, sir, we don't provide credit on things like this unless you have a disability and could not dial it yourself, but the operator billed you anyway." Many of these people in turn would say, "But I didn't want my number displayed being it violates my privacy! My number is unlisted!" I always wanted to tell them, "But, sir, if you have this person's phone number, why are they not allowed to have yours? Aren't you violating their privacy, too?"
Sooner or later, customers received notices that from now on, any operator assisted calls they made would be sustained, unless it showed on their account they had a physical handicap (like blindness) and could not dial the call themselves. Bellsouth ended up giving away millions over crap like this.
Next thing, we'll be giving in to lazy riff raff people, won't we?
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