New here, working in first call center

[spydergurltx]

I work at home doing call center for a major wireless phone provider. I am "advanced technical support." I put that in quotes because it basically just means they've been transferred to 3 different people before getting to me so they are nice and angry. This is my first call center job and I'm having a real hard time lately with the customers. They are so angry.. mostly because the tier I tech support agent before me will place them on hold and then just transfer them to me without even telling the customer. I had one lady who began yelling at me saying she was on hold and now she was with me and I just wanted to scream back hey look they didn't tell me you were coming either and I'm equally as displeased..

Anyway, I'm still fairly new and still learning all the phones I'm supporting, but how in the heck do I survive this?? I really don't think call center is for me, but I can't quit right now as I'm in the process of buying a house. As it stands right now, I'm in tears by the end of my shifts and major dread for the next day's shift. How do I get over being this miserable? Is it something you just learn in time, not to take it so personal? Are there any tip some of you experts can provide to survive?? I'm such a friendly person, but these people are so downright nasty to me it makes me feel like complete crap.

HELP

[rentalcarguy]

Here are a few lessons:

1) Since you work from home, drink on the job. That way when the morons start screaming at you it just doesn't matter that much.

2) Make sure you have a phone with a mute button. This way when some idiot customer starts screaming, you can yell back without being heard. Trust me, it is quite theraputic.

3) Write on a blackboard "I love my job, I love my job" and then slap yourself 50 times.

4) When someone screams at you say, "You realize of course that I can hack into your account, send porn to your boss and really ruin your life right? So, on that note, cut the crap, k?"

5) Drink heavily and then blow up 7-11's for fun. Really, it is quite fun and helps relieve quite a bit of stress.

I could come up with more, but I have a 7-11 to torch and a bottle of Jack to consume..........

[smileyeagle1021]

Does it get easier? No, it never does. Will you get used to it? That's a big maybe. How do you cope? Ultimately that is up to you, but I've found that reminding yourself that it is just a job, you will never see any of these people calling you ever again, you have the advantage of when your shift ends it ends... you don't have to take the job with you.

[r2cagle]

Um.... actually... being that doing the job from home means, yeah, you've taken the job home.... sucks

I'd suggest, that you treat that area you work in, specifically as work area only.

Take frequent enough breaks where you get away from the phone for at least a few minutes. And do not take the calls personally. Yes, you want to give excellent customer service, but at the level you're taking calls, you're almost the last stop, right? So, you can be a little more firm, and more matter-of-fact. You can let the customer's rant and vent up a storm, then be able to say... 'here's the bottom the line- take it or leave it'. When customers are spewing their anger, don't say anything but let them vent, do not react to anything they say or interrupt them. When customer is done, then you can calmly respond, ' I agree, or that is terrible, let's see what I can do to help' .

And I'd be writing up anyone who is blind-transferring calls. But that's just me. I hate blind transfers.

[TheDanimal]

Advanced Tech support.... I think i know who you work for.

[Jack]

I work in a distributed call center also.

The first and biggest problem of any call center job is that it can be very difficult not to take customers' emotional behavior personally -- or, even if you don't take it personally, react to it yourself. I find it helps to remember to breathe. If you hold your breath you will cause various deficiencies in thinking, and in handling this behavior logically. Taking deep breaths also helps you to sound steady and confident.

While the customer rants and raves and yells about how "you" or "you people" or "your" company did this and that to them, remind yourself that you are not the company and you are probably not responsible for any of the policy they create. It may help to distance yourself from the "company" in the customer's eyes -- you are their independent friend and want to help them, but "the company" has these policies that you must follow. Instead of "We require" or "Our policy is", try "Company Name requires" or "Company Name policy is". I haven't used this a lot but when I do it seems like creating that impersonal strawman for them to be mad at keeps them a bit calmer with me.

It never gets entirely easy or endurable with no effects, but if you've never worked in a call center before, it's normal to be frustrated and nervous while you adapt to everything. After a short while I imagine you'll have the hang of all your resources and how you can best interact with your customers, and it'll be smoother from there.

If you Google things about 'how to handle angry customers' and 'customer service empathy', etc., you'll find useful articles on such subjects -- there are more or less concrete and consistent techniques for calming angry customers. A lot of them involve apology. It can feel demeaning to apologize for something you had nothing to do with, but remember it is the company apologizing, not you, and you are not the company.

It will also help you greatly if you are sociable in the work chat rooms and get to know what team leads or sups will give you what you need without giving you a hard time about it (I know to avoid some sups because they'll want to interrogate me or inspect something and generally waste my time before they approve something routine). If your internal documentation and Google fail you, remember that you have coworkers (I assume) and nearly everyone wants to feel useful.

You seem like you might be the sort of person who easily connects with others on an emotional level, so you would be inclined to share their emotions and become upset when they do. This wasn't a huge problem for me as I never had a strong such inclination. Since I have no experience in this, I haven't considered it as much, but I think it may be useful to pretend you're an actor, playing the role of a call center agent. You can then tweak this character to meet the needs of the job. Try staying in the role, constantly regarding your actions as a play where your character is civil, straightforward, emotionally uninvolved but empathetic (you need to be able to understand and express sympathy for the customer's problem without being affected by it).

In an emergency, when you're getting flustered on a call and think you might lose it, you might try going into computer mode, where you adopt a neutral voice (think relatively deadpan - you don't want emotional fluctuations as these can also affect the already upset customer), and stick to factual statements and instructions rather than going along with the customer's emotional line of conversation. http://people.howstuffworks.com/vsd3.htm

Bear in mind: This is my first customer-facing job ever and my first real civilian job ever. I've been at it about a year and a half so there are many people who know a lot more than I do and will probably point out some things I got wrong here. This is just an unorganized bunch of stuff I typed out as I thought of it. I'd do better with specific questions.

[Gaki]

Aw hun...I've never had a call center job but I can imagine how frustrating that is. Of course, I've always been the one on the other side who's been bopped around by countless other people, automated services that don't work and don't give the options you need (I once spent a full hour trying to convince the automated voice that the email address I gave him was correct) and I know exactly how nasty a person could be.

With the electric company I had to tell the last girl I spoke with to hold on for a second while I calmed myself down. I'm pretty sure she heard me flip a table over, but she didn't say anything and seemed pretty happy that I was delightful towards her since none of it was her fault.

My thoughts: Be a little bit more harsh and sassy, you've got to be the strong one if you're the end of the line. It's kind of like how I get sassier when my manager isn't around because I'm the highest up they're going to get. Use all the tools that come to you. If you can terminate a call for any reasons, don't hesitate (threats, swearing, anything you're allowed) because honestly these days adults are like big children. They don't understand that there are consequences for their actions because they've somehow gained superhuman powers the minute they got naked in their kitchen on the phone with you. Oooooooh, "Customer Man."

As for dreading your next shift, you should try what I do. I forget every day. Every day at work is like a year ago to me, I don't think about it ever again unless I laugh about it as if it happened a year ago with another coworker. Each day is its own separate entity, they float by themselves and have nothing to do with each other. There is such a thing as "self-fulfilling prophecy" or in other words, if you think something is going to be bad, it will be. If you change your thinking so it seems like you can survive and "win" eventually you will.

And eventually you'll get the people like me who tell you to hold on one second and flip a kitchen table before politely addressing you.

[MoonCat]

Jack has some really good advice, well, actually everybody's advice is pretty good (I never saw you torch that 7-11, rentalcarguy!)

Speaking from 30 years experience in a call center, I would add this: Be firm but polite. You are in control of the call (that release button is verrrrry useful). Keep in mind that when people are upset, they want someone to acknowledge that they have a reason (and a right) to be upset. Sometimes all it takes to calm them down is to say something like, "I do understand how frustrating that is, sir. Let me get this straightened out for you...blah blah etc."

But keep in mind that some people were born pissy and you can't please them, no matter what you do, so don't drive yourself crazy thinking you're not good enough. Nothing and no one is good enough to make some people happy, they just enjoy being miserable and nasty.

Be sure to take your breaks and lunches, and if you can do it (since you're at home this might be possible), have some good music playing that you can turn down if necessary (whatever kind makes you feel kick-ass is good to boost your confidence, or something soothing if that helps you relax).

And come to this website of course!! This is what keeps me sane these days...

[Darkforge]

well, i'll be honest with you, either you'll find ways of coping with the angry customers and you won't mind the job, or it will wind you up so much that you quit.

Unfortunately thats how call centre jobs go, and its why they have such a large staff turnover.

Remember to relax between calls, either get a stress ball, or rant at someone between calls, or insult the customer (after the call has disconnected of course) or whatever helps you relax. I used to take a perverse delight in getting the customer to give me the info of the person who had wound them up and blind transferred them to me and then getting on their side by discussing possible disciplinary measures of the lower tier staff, it got the customer laughing, got them on my side and let them understand that I wasn't just some faceless corporate drone.

To be honest, its not as bad as it seems at first, , if a customer is angry let them rant, let them get it out of their system, then explain exactly how the process is supposed to work, and what you can try to do about it, hopefully they will be reasonable. To be honest, it won't always work but then you can't help everybody, and those who you've tried to help that are still a pain were going to be a pain no matter what.

Stick with it, keep giving it a try and see how it goes, if all else fails then maybe call centre work isn't for you, try a different job that either face to face, or maybe one where you don't have to deal with the phones.

Best of Luck

[Golden Phoenix]

A few coping techniques for angry customers. (I've worked Debt collection lines for one of the big 6 power companies in the UK)

If a customer is shouting at you, stand up. It feels odd at first but it psychologically puts you in a position of power, especially if the phone "base" is at a lower level, you will equate that little machine with the customer themselves, by standing over them you feel stronger.

If a customer keeps interrupting you, remain silent. Eventually they will be forced to shut up. Repeat as necessary, they will either get a clue or hang up. If the latter, they were never interested in getting help, they just wanted to shout. Many people once they've had their rant will calm down enough to talk sensibly.

Alternatively, speak more and more quietly, they'll have to shut up to hear you.

For a little revenge, at the end of a tough call be extra polite to the customer. Tell them to have a good day in a pleasant and cheerful voice, they have failed to anger you, this will annoy them very much as a rule.

They are not angry at You, they are angry at the company. There is a knack to switching off the personal connection but no-one can describe it, you'll find your own way.

A colleague of mine treated it like a video game, certain words uttered by the customer would get a certain number of points etc, make up your own criteria. After a certain number of points she got a treat. (She actually started looking forward to tough calls as her treat was a chocolate bar, she was on a diet. Hehe!)

Laugh at them (not on the call, obviously) Once the call is over think over the things the customer said, there will almost always be something stupid in there that once you recall it you'll start laughing or at least smirk a little.

Final point, courtesy of my husband: You are right, they are not. Remember this.

[trailerparkmedic]

***hugs and liquor***

I worked at a few call centers. I second the advice to keep your work confined to a small part of your house and only use that area for work. Take your lunches and breaks away from your office area. Try to get outside during breaks. Going out for lunch, for the change of scenery, helps. If you have any opportunities to talk to other agents/supervisors/etc, take advantage of it (as long as they are decent people). Remind yourself why you have this job--put a picture of your new house (or a house) up near your computer, or a picture of your family, or think about the video game you're buying this week or the movie you're going to go see when you get your paycheck.

[Vestax]

I've worked in a call center for 7 years now. I used to work for a satellite tv company trying to save accounts from cancel (wanna see the most entitlement whores you'll ever see in your whole life, do that job lol) and I now work for a major cell phone provider asking past due customers to pay for the service they already used... so if there is a type of abuse you can take over the phone or a type of sucky customer out there, I have probably dealt with it.

The great people here already mentioned a lot of what I do to cope, put them on mute and cuss them out... etc, but here are a few thing that might help form my perspective.

-Remember they are the sad one for acting they way they are, use that to make yourself feel less like a verbal punching bag and more like a better person than they are

-Keep your tone friendly but firm, like a boss/manager would. Let them know you are the one in control by using your voice. Horrible customers love to run over reps they consider timid, and most of that is in your tone.

-If they offer a schedule with more hours per day and more days off, like a 4x10 or 3x12, try it out. For me, the less days I have to go in the better, so working a few more hours a day does not bother me. One you're there....you're there, right? Why not take a few more calls and get an extra day or two off for it.

-Be real with the customer. What I mean by that is don't let yourself get stuck repeating part of a script or trained action because the customer is acting up, tell them how it is.... be polite, but be real. Also don't slip in to a "customer service voice" (an overly fake voice), just talk to them like a real person would, this get a lot more respect from customers and may make your interactions with them easier for it. I used to struggle a lot with this myself because I thought if I divulged from the overly fake customer service voice I would get bad QA scores, which is certainly not the case.

-I am a big fan of the "log out" method of cooling down. If you have a bad call, or several in a row, just log out of your phone, take an "emergency bathroom break", just stop the calls for a minute where you are in control when they come back. This can really help to collect your thoughts and let that last customer go.

-Read this site!! You wouldn't believe how much better I feel after a long segment of phone abuse just by reading peoples stories on here and laughing at how ridiculous customers are.

If I think of anything else really good that hasn't been mentioned I'll post it, but for now keep your head up. Don't let them get to you (easier said then done I know), and remember... your the boss and they are the fool acting up.

[TelephoneAngel]

Good Luck with it.

I have answered the phone for years and years to irate customers and none of it ever affected me until our telephone service became a "real call centre" with call times, scripts and all the other stuff which goes with it including wearing the little headphones and microphone.

I find it helps now to write down at the start of the day what times i will go to lunch and break then how many calls i will take in between.

eg start at 9, break at ten = calls take twenty minutes so that's only 3 customrs then a break, i can cope with only 3 customers.

You'll find your own coping mchanisms.

[Magpie]

If you are allowed to disconnect if the customer is swearing/otherwise abusive, etc, make sure you do so. And come here to vent! That's what we're here for after all.

[Jack]

Yes, that's the thing I wanted to post but forgot. Find out what excuses you have to hang up on a customer and remember to use them. Don't tolerate being yelled or sworn at for the whole of a long call -- you could easily end it with a warning and then a disconnection.