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Unnecessary & Troubling Kafkaesque Experiences (starting with the Apple store)

Started by 23 Daves, November 01, 2011, 08:00:49 PM

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shiftwork2

Quote from: icehaven on November 05, 2011, 05:22:46 PM
But yes, it's alos true that most call centre workers don't care about the job or your problems, aren't being paid very much and probably won't even work there by the time you call back to complain about them. And then there's the general culture of assuming that most customers are stupid, rude, just plain wrong about everything and need to be treated with officious contempt masked by obviously enforced politeness, so you've also got that to overcome before you even get to 'hello.'

Honestly, that paragraph encapsulates the call centre experience more succinctly than anything I've read previously.

I worked in the national call centre for long-since-defunct UCI Cinemas in Manchester in the mid-nineties.  Not much stands out apart from the crazy authoritarian attitude of those blessed to wear supervisor-red (as opposed to pleb-green) polo shirts.

Once, when we'd discovered that Edinburgh UCI had wrongly rated Judge Dredd as a 12A (I think it turned out to be a 15 meaning that they could easily have sold advance tickets to underage punters and hence cost them their licence) we collectively decided to let nature take its course, and to laugh very hard at the consequences.  If we had flagged up the wrong certificate to our supervisors we would have been reprimanded for 'looking too far ahead' in the schedules, or something.

If you nitpick and are a general fucking arse with your staff then you'll engender an atmosphere where they honestly don't care about you, your life or loves, or even the future of Edinburgh UCI.  There is a lesson there, in how not to do it.

olliebean

I get the feeling some call centres have very mixed ability employees. A couple of months ago I called Lloyds TSB to get a block taken off my debit card; spoke to a guy who had to put me on hold to look up my details, then said he'd have to transfer me to another department and cut me off. Called back, got another guy who called up my details on screen immediately and then sorted out my card straight away with no delay. Nice to speak to someone who was helpful and competent and not following a script, but annoying that they also employ people who don't know what they're doing.