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"Phone Rage" (Cutting Edge Doc)

Started by Artemis, March 06, 2008, 09:51:24 PM

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Artemis

Anybody else watching this? If not, it's on at 10pm on C4+1.

Customer service in this country is fucking diabolical. I'm talking as somebody who has worked in these god forsaken places, both the ones that employ incompetent staff and the ones who think they're great because each team has a 'zany' name, and the jumped up clown of a 'team leader' occasionally gives his team a fucking cream egg.

The First Direct call centre that had supposedly 'cracked the secret' of great customer service looked utterly dreadful to work in, a kind of 'every day is Comic Relief!' sort of atmosphere of forced whackiness. I found myself wishing these people would die even more then the numbskulls at Powergen. If I was trying to talk on the phone and had plastic balls thrown at me, I'd stand up and yell at everyone to "grow the fuck up" then sit down, and get sacked. I really truly would.

Watching the guy patronise the workers they're exploiting in India by throwing them a 'clothes voucher', followed by instructions on how to dress and adopt a new cloned 'corporate' personality. Good fucking grief.

What's happened to just not employing amateurs? People who can just do their bloody job? I count myself as one of those people. My 'career' has largely been in customer services, often in call centres, and I always try to give the same level of service I expect to receive. I'm often seen as a 'bad egg' by people who demand I keep selling loans when somebody's overdrawn or force a new phone on them when they ring up with a complaint about their faulty current one. I just won't be a cunt, like a sizeable chunk of people I've worked with.

EDIT: That's not to say that a lot of customers aren't awkward bastards, but they're not nearly as pitiful as the clones on the business end of the line, who nine times out of ten couldn't give a flying piss about anything but meeting targets and going home.

Suttonpubcrawl

Working in a call centre is the worst job anyone can ever have. Thinking about the time I spent working in one makes me feel sick. Whenever I pass the place I used to work I breathe a sigh of relief and thank the universe that I'm no longer working there. I feel sorry for the people who do work in them.

dr beat

Quote
Customer service in this country is fucking diabolical. I'm talking as somebody who has worked in these god forsaken places, both the ones that employ incompetent staff and the ones who think they're great because each team has a 'zany' name, and the jumped up clown of a 'team leader' occasionally gives his team a fucking cream egg.

The First Direct call centre that had supposedly 'cracked the secret' of great customer service looked utterly dreadful to work in, a kind of 'every day is Comic Relief!' sort of atmosphere of forced whackiness. I found myself wishing these people would die even more then the numbskulls at Powergen. If I was trying to talk on the phone and had plastic balls thrown at me, I'd stand up and yell at everyone to "grow the fuck up" then sit down, and get sacked. I really truly would.

I loved how that First Direct team leader, when interviewed, was desparately trying to stay 'on-message' as it were, yet his attempts to do so, peppered with some fucking horrendous Corporate-Newspeak catchphrases, basically hoisted him by his own petard.

Also, that shit he was spouting about how 'if you're mate was in trouble, you'd want to know about it' - well for a start I have enough fun and games trying to balance my own books.  If a mate was in trouble I would be prepared to lend a few quid, certainly, but I wouldn't keep phoning him/her up and patronisingly suggesting that they get another credit card.  Tosser.

dr beat

Also, this practice of giving people sweets for doing something good - I find it fucking insulting.  If someone does good, reward them with cold hard cash, don't make out like they're performing seals by giving them 'treats'.

Suttonpubcrawl

Just one of the reasons why working in a call centre is bollocks. The staff are treated like children and shown absolutely no respect. I was working for a company which was entirely built on the callers but they were basically treated as scum by anyone in a more senior position (i.e. everyone else in the company). Fuck the lot of them, I'd rather be homeless than work in a call centre.

Artemis

Quote from: Suttonpubcrawl on March 07, 2008, 12:48:23 AM
Fuck the lot of them, I'd rather be homeless than work in a call centre.

Incidentally, how did you get out? I've met a lot of people who are trapped in a kind of call centre cycle, unable to go anywhere else, partly because they don't really know what else they could do, and partly because it's the only experience they have. I'm almost in that state myself, although I'm trying to break into the travel industry, with a view to getting into the immigration business perhaps. I like the idea of saying no to a brown person.

Suttonpubcrawl

Quote from: Artemis on March 07, 2008, 02:36:36 AMIncidentally, how did you get out? I've met a lot of people who are trapped in a kind of call centre cycle, unable to go anywhere else, partly because they don't really know what else they could do, and partly because it's the only experience they have. I'm almost in that state myself, although I'm trying to break into the travel industry, with a view to getting into the immigration business perhaps. I like the idea of saying no to a brown person.

I got out by getting a different job. After not much longer, I'd have quit though, regardless of whether I had another job to go to. It was getting to the stage where I'd book hours and then just cancel them because it was so easy to do that. I couldn't face going in for more than about two days a week.

Also, this might make me sound like a tosser but I am rather overqualified for call centre work, or at least for the work in that call centre. I don't know what other call centres are like and they might require you to be highly qualified, but the fact is that a 17 year old could have worked where I was as their first job, and I was a university graduate. Honestly, don't think I'm being smug there because I'm now working a job that is equally unskilled, but I really enjoy it so that's fine.

mothman

My company will soon be instituting a national IT Helpdesk - sorry, Service Desk (much fun is to be had in winding up Directors by getting the name wrong). Even better, we've already had a guy working for us for a while from a Call Centre background, whose uselessness at IT has already become legend. The standing joke in our office was that when the Helpdesk came in, he'd be parachuted in as Manager (and then we'd all quit for the sake of our sanity). Fortunately they've gone elsewhere for management, but he's still going to be on the Helpdesk. Fun times lie ahead, not.

drberbatov

Quote from: Suttonpubcrawl on March 06, 2008, 11:00:21 PM
Working in a call centre is the worst job anyone can ever have. Thinking about the time I spent working in one makes me feel sick. Whenever I pass the place I used to work I breathe a sigh of relief and thank the universe that I'm no longer working there. I feel sorry for the people who do work in them.

I second that, absolutely crap job. I worked in one that was part of the insurance industry and I must say that you cannot use rationality or logic in these jobs, there is no flexibility and basically you just need to pretend you have the mind of a crab stuck in a bowl of cold porridge. I worked with a number of talented and intelligent people and it saddened me greatly that many of these people were going nowhere in pursuit of 'middle management opportunities', sticking office experience on their CV's and paying the rent.

The Masked Unit

At least in these call centres you're taking inbound calls from people who actually have a purpose for speaking to you. Spare a thought for us poor cunts in outbound cold calling, cos that shit ain't pretty either.

Artemis

Quote from: The Masked Unit on March 07, 2008, 06:16:19 PM
Spare a thought for us poor cunts in outbound cold calling, cos that shit ain't pretty either.

I've done that, very briefly, and now will not take a job where outbound is involved in any great capacity. Utterly horrible to have to get up and do every day. How on earth do you manage it? And why?

Mr Faineant

Quote from: Artemis on March 06, 2008, 09:51:24 PM
the jumped up clown of a 'team leader' occasionally gives his team a fucking cream egg.

What's wrong with cream eggs all of a sudden?


Mr Faineant

I worked in the "egg" call center for about 18 months before i left england, and it started off really quite good to be honest, but 6 months in it became horrible. Literally tied to a desk all day, by a device that enables people to yell at you. My doctor hated those places, so i took 3 months off, fully paid, backed up by notes from him. that was quite nice.

Straight Faced Customer

I don't like writing about myself but I work in a call centre for a majorly shit bank, albeit for one more month out of four. Can't wait to leave though it's hardly a living hell. Have a good team, and it's an easy way of earning money when you've just finished uni and need 'breaking in' to the world of work (yes, I have a degree).

So I've had a taste and I don't like it, so now I get a job with real substance. You need to learn that before moving on (he says, to justify himself, hehe...)

I rarely get agro over the phone, despite the fact I know nothing about banking, mainly as I do my damned best to help anyone over the phone with a particularly messy issue, which is hard as this particular bank is particularly fucking awful and just for anyone to get any leeway in any sort of difficult situation involves so much red tape and faffing around with fools that it's an absolute nightmare.

I've only accidentally annoyed a customer once, and that was last night actually. To paraphrase Larry David, I was being too affable when she started seething at the teeth about how the next day she was gonna take all her money out the bank to a new account. I said 'I don't blame ya!' (cue more agro...I was on her side!)

Avoid Natwest.

SOTS

Christ, has everyone here worked in a call centre? Or is still doing it?

If so, I bloody sympathise. Watching all of the shit being spouted on this documentary last night made me angry. I honestly hope I never end up in one. Knowing my own personality, i'd probably burst into tears.

Straight Faced Customer

Ah, I see Suttonpubcrawl has a degree too...

Didn't watch this show last night for reasons of sanity but I'm glad where I work isn't wacky international. That said, the manager is a goon. And not in an endearing Colin Hunt/David Brent way. She's just clueless & ineffective. The big joke on our team is wondering where she disappears to for most of the day. She is never there. She is awful!

Incidentally, I did see someone burst into tears once at work.

The Masked Unit

Quote from: Artemis on March 07, 2008, 06:34:46 PM
I've done that, very briefly, and now will not take a job where outbound is involved in any great capacity. Utterly horrible to have to get up and do every day. How on earth do you manage it? And why?

In short, it pays about five grand more than any other job I could hope to get locally. Also, I'm hatching a dastardly plan that should take me away from the wretched place before the month's out.

Suttonpubcrawl

Quote from: The Masked Unit on March 07, 2008, 06:16:19 PMAt least in these call centres you're taking inbound calls from people who actually have a purpose for speaking to you. Spare a thought for us poor cunts in outbound cold calling, cos that shit ain't pretty either.

That's what I was in. It makes me feel sick to think about it. It's completely wrong. It's disgusting. The managers viewed the people we were calling as nothing more than wallets, and any human emotions they felt were just things we could exploit to make them open up and give us money. That was trying to raise money for charity, I can't imagine what it must be like when you're trying to sell something. Oh God I feel ill now, I need to drink MOAR TENNENT'S

micanio

Quote from: Mr Faineant on March 07, 2008, 07:26:46 PM
I worked in the "egg" call center for about 18 months before i left england, and it started off really quite good to be honest, but 6 months in it became horrible. Literally tied to a desk all day, by a device that enables people to yell at you. My doctor hated those places, so i took 3 months off, fully paid, backed up by notes from him. that was quite nice.

I worked for egg as well, in Dundee back in 1999. I previously worked for BT doing billing. Jesus, talk about bleak. I ended up doing call centre work for about 3 years. Soul destroying.

When I speak to call centre workers on the phone now though, I'm polite as possible as I know what it's like. It's shit enough without people giving you fucking grief down the phone, especially if they've called you....

Suttonpubcrawl

The problem is that the way call centre workers are trained to work, the things you usually talk to them about, and the strictness of the situation all combine to mean that it's actually impossible for you to properly treat call centre workers as human beings because they aren't allowed to act like human beings and the way they are allowed to act usually makes you hate them. I remember the way that you're not allowed to use any kind of normal reaction to what people say, everything is about manipulating people to produce some desired response, and if you can't do that then you at least aren't allowed to react in certain ways. You're basically not allowed to be yourself, you are only allowed to be a drone saying exactly what the company wants you to. And if you don't say what the company wants you to, then chances are someone is monitoring your call and you'll be given a telling off.

Milo

Halifax One was a bit grim to work for. There were all these unbelievable transparent tricks for selling things like saying, "What provision have you got to protect yourself against fraud at the moment?" followed by (mock surprise) "Nothing? Well, we offer xyz for just an extra insulting amount per month"

I only lasted a week on the phones as I couldn't bring myself to sell payment protection so they sacked me. In a very cowardly way - they called the agency after I went home on the Friday, the weak fucking arseholes. Payment protection is just horrid. We're supposed to prey on the sorts of fears and insecurities that you really shouldn't have if you're getting a credit card. If there is a reasonable chance of you not being able to afford to pay the bill in future then you are simply not financially secure enough to be going for credit.

Responsible lender, my arse.

The only thing that provided anything approaching joy there was when the computer refused to give them credit. "you're saved, run away, run away!"

Though that was tainted by the thought that they'd simply go to Capital One, the people who will give credit to absolutely anyone.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: Suttonpubcrawl on March 06, 2008, 11:00:21 PM
Working in a call centre is the worst job anyone can ever have.
While they are very bad indeed, I'm willing to bet there are worse jobs out there. I did a week in a sub-cellar of a glass factory, catching all the run off from the glass making in these huge crates which I had to wheel under the chutes where the glass would come out, then run with them, still boiling hot, to the end of the room, grab the freshly emptied ones and repeat the process. I bet I'd rather work in a call centre than do that again.

olafr

Quote from: Artemis on March 07, 2008, 02:36:36 AM
although I'm trying to break into the travel industry, with a view to getting into the immigration business perhaps. I like the idea of saying no to a brown person.

Well, you're going to need some experience. So why not build a portfolio of saying no to brown people? Something you can put on a CV? Why not practice on a picture of Bill Cosby and work upwards?


olafr

If I'm ringing a call centre - usually because I'm fucked off with something the company has done - I always try and be as polite as possible, even if I am really quite fucking angry. I know it probably doesn't help that much but I always explain that I'm not holding the poor cunt on the other end of the phone personally responsible for what's happened and I know they're just the poor bastards in the firing line. A few times I've asked to speak to a manager, but not because the drone wasn't helpful or incompetent, but just because I didn't think it was 'fair' to be shouting at someone on their wages and because they happened to be the random that answered my call. I've actually told the manager this when I've spoken to them.

I don't know whether the calls are being recorded thing is a scam, but I always exploit the opportunity. If someone has been genuinely helpful/interested, I will always say how grateful I was for their help/politeness/whatever, just in case someone is combing through the recordings looking to see which drones deserve to get fired or not.

I've done some customer services (read: complaints) in my time, face-to-face stuff, so I can empathise with call centre drones getting a buckshot of ire right in the face.

Straight Faced Customer

All calls are recorded... they're listening in...

Suttonpubcrawl

Asking to speak to the manager is always a good idea because the people you start off talking to don't really have any power so they don't really have the ability to offer you much help, whereas the manager can.

Artemis

Quote from: Suttonpubcrawl on March 08, 2008, 12:07:41 PM
Asking to speak to the manager is always a good idea because the people you start off talking to don't really have any power so they don't really have the ability to offer you much help, whereas the manager can.

Some do. I worked for a bank and had quite a bit of responsibility despite being a simple call centre phone person. The trick is to make it clear you wish to make a complaint. Once it's a formal complaint, it's usually dealt with by a specialist team or at least goes through some specifically defined steps rather then vague promises made by somebody who'll forget why you even called in five minutes time.

ozziechef

When I used to work in the call centre of a large electricity supplier - the manager was just a normal lackey but on a rota.

Also when sending letters tot he cusomer, the name at the bottom was a code word so if someone called asking for that person you knew what it was about before telling them they were unavailable.

terminallyrelaxed

I worked in a few before I got skills and prospects. Nynex (now Cable and Wireless), BT and Ericsson. Nynex was horrific, customer services and sales for Cable TV and Phone. Death-threats from people on the Whitehawk Estate who were on benefits but still had a £30 a month Sky package and bought the pay-per-view Tyson fights, and then phoned up and claimed they hadn't. BT was just fucking boring, sitting in the dark surrounded by screens and cables and still being required to wear a shirt and tie. Can barely remember anything about Ericsson.
Did a year or so at Nynex and BT each, and three weeks at Ericsson. Walked out of all three jobs. TR's job tip of the week: References don't matter a fucking damn. I haven't bothered providing the for most jobs I've had for the last ten years.