I worked as an operator for Bellsouth for five years before going into customer service. Customer service does not deal with the same nitwit customers over and over again. Each situation always seemed different when dealing with bills, services, etc. But in Operator Services, it was always about repetition.
I, as well as my co-workers, practically dealt with the same people every day. Not only the same people, but the same people with the same stories. Many of them were told from pay telephones (long before cellular became as common as the TV). We had this lady who called every day claiming she lost her last quarter in the pay phone, plus she already spoke to the coin refund department and was told to have us put the call through for her. She always started this story with a whiney voice, like she was in distress. The thing was, it was every single time she called in pressing "0" on the pay phone she was using. One night, while working with a group of about 30 one night, she had called in to where anyone who got her immediately told her "no" before she even got the story out. Turned out each and every one of these co-workers got her, meaning she had to have called fifty times or more that night.
Pay phones were always my pet peeve on this type of thing. Everyone out there carries only one quarter, and they would always say they lost their one and only quarter and had to make a call. And, if that didn't work, they would try the "bill it to another phone number" ploy. At first, you have to get verbal acceptance from someone at the billed to number, but then Bellsouth shoved aside this policy due to the large number of supervisor calls. It got to where the supervisors did not want to deal with this, so they just said "put it through" even if it meant letting those people commit fraud.
Nowadays, pay phones are practically non existent, which made operators obsolete. But, ah, the memories of those days! And, I have plenty of more stories to tell for other posts.
I, as well as my co-workers, practically dealt with the same people every day. Not only the same people, but the same people with the same stories. Many of them were told from pay telephones (long before cellular became as common as the TV). We had this lady who called every day claiming she lost her last quarter in the pay phone, plus she already spoke to the coin refund department and was told to have us put the call through for her. She always started this story with a whiney voice, like she was in distress. The thing was, it was every single time she called in pressing "0" on the pay phone she was using. One night, while working with a group of about 30 one night, she had called in to where anyone who got her immediately told her "no" before she even got the story out. Turned out each and every one of these co-workers got her, meaning she had to have called fifty times or more that night.
Pay phones were always my pet peeve on this type of thing. Everyone out there carries only one quarter, and they would always say they lost their one and only quarter and had to make a call. And, if that didn't work, they would try the "bill it to another phone number" ploy. At first, you have to get verbal acceptance from someone at the billed to number, but then Bellsouth shoved aside this policy due to the large number of supervisor calls. It got to where the supervisors did not want to deal with this, so they just said "put it through" even if it meant letting those people commit fraud.
Nowadays, pay phones are practically non existent, which made operators obsolete. But, ah, the memories of those days! And, I have plenty of more stories to tell for other posts.
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