Stupid Caller Tricks...

[Mayonnaise]

Sorry to have bailed for a while... I've been in training for my new job in a Xerox Services contract call center (i.e. Xerox pays us but is not our client.) Inbound calls, help and information line, further details confidential.

There are soooooo many clincaly stupid people who call each day. I'm not answering my own phone yet, but I spend time on my mentor's line listening in. I mean plenty of them are just fine, but when you get over 60 calls a day, (up to 100 if you're good) there are going to be plenty of morons too. I can't share much but some things are super amusing and vague enough to share.

We had one guy really livid with us because we were the wrong helpline to deal with his issue. Don't know how you got this number, but we're NY, and you need to call our Florida counterpart.... *Sigh.* No really. Call Florida. PLEASE call Florida? YOU'RE IN FLORIDA. WE CANT HELP YOU.

We had a very special caller who thought repeating "I'm a 93 year old veteran" was going to change our answer. It can't. There's no grey area on our line, something either is, or isn't, and if it isn't we can tell you how to fix it, but we can't just make it go away FOR you. We're an information line, not magic faeries and besides, it won't kill you to fill out a form and send it in.

More than one caller who doesn't much care for the validation process. "What can I do so you don't ask me all these questions next time I call?" Nothing. If we don't verify your identity, it's a federal offense for us to give you any information on your shit. We can answer general and hypothetical questions only. But they don't get that... like a call center of hundreds should all just be able to remember your voice and trust that you are you? No... sorry. Have to verify your identity, unless you'd like someone else to call, not validate and get your info... no... don't want that? Then answer the damn validation questions!!!

And of course no... we can't talk to THEM like this... but yeah... it's much like how ya'll Cast Members can't talk to the guests.

Anyhow... I'm back... *Resumes floating around the site.*

8^)

[Big Wallaby]

Welcome back!

and besides, it won't kill you to fill out a form and send it in.

Well, you know, at 93 years old...

[GaTechGal]

I had to man a computer help call center once to fill in for some folks. I had one lady in Ft. Lauderdale call me (in Atlanta) and tell me that she couldn't print. I told her that we had detected that the network was down and that technitions on-site were already working on the problem. But that wasn't good enough for her. She continued to berate me because I couldn't fix her problem. I finally told her "Madame, if I could crawl through the phone lines and fix your printer I would, but it would take me about 14 hours to drive to your office, so if you will wait a couple of hours, the guys down there will probably have it fixed." She hung up on me, and I didn't get asked to fill in any more.

[reiella]

I work in a call center myself and handle about 1k calls/day (yes that does mean about 30s per call). And there are some people who have a really horrible day and take it out on us. The job is a big part of why I actively want to make sure I'm not making theme park employees' day worse.

But I feel the need to share an amusing story of a caller. It was someone who was calling while on it's a small world (so nice to hear the music coming over the phone).

[Big Wallaby]

I work in a call center myself and handle about 1k calls/day (yes that does mean about 30s per call).

That allows for some interesting calculations. If in a call center at 30 seconds per call you are interacting with a thousand callers, then a Cast Member or other theme park worker, especially in an environment where efficiency wins out over courtesy or show and "All the way down!" for every five or six guests is considered high interaction (and yes, I DID have a coordinator tell me that that was high guest interaction. I call it herding. I say potayto, they say potahto), each worker in a theme park must come into contact with somewhere around 7-10,000 guests per shift.


And on the note of Potato/Potato, here is a British version of the song... I tried to find the Christopher Walken SNL version.

[Darksin]

Number ONE question when working a call center for printers:

IS IT PLUGGED IN?!

You'd be surprised how often it isn't!

Paid my dues there, never again unless it comes with a 6 figure paycheck!

[BRWombat]

Number ONE question when working a call center for printers:

IS IT PLUGGED IN?!

You'd be surprised how often it isn't!

Paid my dues there, never again unless it comes with a 6 figure paycheck!

I still like the call center story about the caller whose computer wasn't working being asked to check to plugs and connections, and he said he'd try -- but it was dark, because the power was out!

[CBeilby]

I'll just leave this here...

[shilohmm]

I'll just leave this here...

Gigglebites! :hysteria:

Gotta start using "squishy bug" for asterisk as well. :thumbup:

[Natural Selection Fan]

I must have closed over 5000 work orders with...

"Troubleshooted down to area between keyboard and chair, cust. wcb if
further problems arise."

or

"Cust refused $500 after hours call price to reset password"

or

"Cust finally admitted they had moved to a new building, which is why
network is really down. Referred to contracts dept."

You think guests are dumb, wait until they get a computer.