this one almost got me fired

[chainedbarista]

or typhoon paka, which knocked out services for about five weeks.

maybe it wasn't professional, but i don't care, the bitch got what she deserved. if only more received their 'just due.'

[Magpie]

You certainly know how to make an entrance. You did what everyone wishes they could have, and we really appreciate you getting put on probation for us

[DeltaSierra]

This is priceless!!! I needed a laugh today!

[aurelemsrealm]

I like it! To hell with sucktomers like that, anyway. My own sanity survival tactic is to regard the sucktomers with lots of indifference, and the occasional insult. They don't deserve to be treated with respect or professionalism if they're going to be stupid and obnoxious.

[EvilEmpryss]

CSR: Worst case, it'll be 4 hours until the power's back on.
SC: That's not good enough! Give me a different time!!!!!
CSR: Okay, I just checked again and it should be about 240 minutes or less before the power's back on.
SC (unable to do the conversion between hours and minutes in the middle of a rant, calms down): That's better. Why couldn't you just give me that time in the first place?

I would hope that people who need electricity for life-saving equipment generally would be letting the power company know *first thing*, so that someone can make their block (or house) a priority.

And no, the charger for their cellphone, MP3 player, TV, and/or computer is not life-saving equipment.

[Pairou]

Oh wow. I hope your boss was cracking up when he heard that! If I'd been the customer you would have brightened up my day. ...Not literally?

[BlaqueKatt]

Me: *sigh* Sure thing, but I'm going to need a... head dress and a monkeypaw staff...

Customer: You, what?

Me: Oh powerful and benevolent outage reporting system hear my plea and give me sight beyond sight! Grant me the vision to see through the veil of time to divine when this woman will be in darkness NO MORE! aaaaand... nope didn't work. Timeframe's still 4 hours.

Customer: *seething with rage on the other end of the phone but she barely whispers this* get me your supervisor.

Me: *adding insult to more insult* *pfft* why? he doesn't even have a head dress.

for some reason I read this and my brain had Richard sitting in the cubicle with his fork of truth.

[sylvier]

Oh please tell me that they'll use this call in training rooms! Seriously, it would be good if potential CSR's could hear some of the calls they're really going to be taking.

[csquared]

Great first post. I hope you manage to keep the job so that you can provide more.

My worst was 40 hours during the ice storm of January 2000. My house is all electric and I have a well. No heat, no water. Couldn't even flush the toilet.

CSR: Worst case, it'll be 4 hours until the power's back on.
SC: That's not good enough! Give me a different time!!!!!
CSR: Okay, I just checked again and it should be about 240 minutes or less before the power's back on.
SC (unable to do the conversion between hours and minutes in the middle of a rant, calms down): That's better. Why couldn't you just give me that time in the first place?

I would not bet on that. 240 is larger than 4. Sounds worse. I have heard stories about people complaining that 120 minutes was too long, but two hours was fine. Then again, I am sure I have heard stories about the reverse.

This story does remind me of this old joke:
Typical time frame estimate, "We will be there between 1 and 5".
2:30 rolls around and the person is getting a little impatient. So he call up and asks for a better estimate.
"Certainly sir. I can do that. It looks like we should be able to have someone there between 2:30 & 5."

[EvilEmpryss]

I would not bet on that. 240 is larger than 4. Sounds worse. I have heard stories about people complaining that 120 minutes was too long, but two hours was fine. Then again, I am sure I have heard stories about the reverse.

*snicker* Yup. I've heard stories about people griping about something taking 30 minutes, but if you say "half an hour" they're suddenly happy. Never can tell which way it'll go, but emphasizing the minutes may throw them off their game.

This story does remind me of this old joke:
Typical time frame estimate, "We will be there between 1 and 5".
2:30 rolls around and the person is getting a little impatient. So he call up and asks for a better estimate.
"Certainly sir. I can do that. It looks like we should be able to have someone there between 2:30 & 5."

Or, after being told that something will take about 45 minutes to complete:
SC (after 15 minutes): How much longer 'till this is done?
CSR: About 30 minutes.
SC (after ten more minutes): How much longer?
CSR: Ten minutes less than the last time you asked!

[EricKei]

I can't confirm, but I have heard that power companies will sometimes prioritize grids with certain demographics -- for instance, elderly people who might very well NEED the power on to survive. I *do* know for a fact that the grid I live on tends to come on sooner than the next one (literally across the street) after an outage, and that my grid had a hospital on it at some point in the past. Maybe they just never reconfigured the order after the hospital moved >_>

[tropicsgoddess]

It might be, JJC. I heard a story about a woman whose power was cut... She died. Because she was on oxygen that required power, and the batteries didn't kick in like they should have. The article didn't say if the power company had even given them notices or not, though.... But this gem of a woman does not sound like it, because she did not say so.

For those kinds of things, don't you need to send a statement to the utility company citing that you have medical and life sustaining equipment that needs to be on all the time kinda deal? As for the SC, yeah she was a bitch but those kinda remarks I save for the mute button (that is whenever it works). I'm glad the OP didn't lose his job over it.

[Hyndis]

It might be, JJC. I heard a story about a woman whose power was cut... She died. Because she was on oxygen that required power, and the batteries didn't kick in like they should have. The article didn't say if the power company had even given them notices or not, though.... But this gem of a woman does not sound like it, because she did not say so.

For situations where it actually is a life or death situation call the fire department. They will get things taken care of for you, including bringing a portable generator or bringing you to a hospital.

Missing your WoW raid because of a power outage is not a life or death situation.

[venroses]

It might be, JJC. I heard a story about a woman whose power was cut... She died. Because she was on oxygen that required power, and the batteries didn't kick in like they should have. The article didn't say if the power company had even given them notices or not, though.... But this gem of a woman does not sound like it, because she did not say so.

In that case the power company wasn't really at fault. They had a policy in place about medical notes (if they really needed the power, they wouldn't cut them off, but they needed to be renewed few months, maybe people moved etc....). They sent them 2 notices about them renewing the medical notice, and then one about cutting the power. They also sent someone to the door. The family weren't even sure if battery back up was working...in the case of a regular power outage during a storm she would've died also. And she was alone as well.


I work with a lady who also works at the town power company, and she has some storys...I couldn't work in one of their call centers without losing my mind!

[Sarcastro]

I'm glad I found this place to vent. I've never seen the type of crazy here in Florida anywhere else. It's like this whole state is a Walmart. I have to hold back smart-ass remarks on a daily basis and mostly it's worked but this lady was a special case and caught me on a bad day.

And there are instances where there's medical equipment at the property that needs to be run on electric. With bills and things that are past due if you get a doctors note you're pretty much guaranteed power until you die. I've seen bills that are tens of thousands of dollars past due and they haven't been disconnected in decades. You didn't hear that from me though. Outages are different though. If lightning strikes your line and we have to completely replace the pole, lines and all equipment on that pole then it's best to plan to be out for a long time. Usually it's just some unlucky squirrel climbing on a fuse and meeting his furry maker while he knocks out your power. That's usually pretty easy to fix. Restoring the power not resurrecting the squirrel I mean.

But we get at least one of these customers a day.