I work in a Call Center...Need I say more???

“Cartoons by Randy Glasbergen, used with special permission.”

I work in a call center for a telecommunications company. It is an extremely stressful environment. First there are the demands of the company. To work in a tech support environment, an employee must learn (literally) dozens of software systems and programs, they must display the ability to be flexible enough to handle calls on numerous different phone brands and models. They must be able to handle several calls per hour and must be able to identify, access and resolve both complex and simple issues in the course of a few minutes on the phone. The employee must also meet quality standards and must meet goals that the company has assigned to them. Many centers also have sales requirements and require employees to take ongoing training to be able to keep up with the needs of the growing industry. And, as most of you know, in the modern wireless environment, phones are not just instruments used to call people. They now offer radio, television, picture and text messaging, computing, gaming and software packages, cameras (both still and video clips) and a variety of other services.

The employee must also deal with the wants and needs of the general public. Every day, I handle large numbers of calls dealing with the issues people experience with their cellular service. Most of those calls are from regular decent working people who just need a little help to get started or some assistance with a device feature that may be a little tricky to operate. Most are polite courteous and cooperative in helping the technician identify their needs and guide them to resolution. Some are frustrated and need time to vent or even on occasion to cry. And some simply have limited ability and need someone who is more skillful to help them get up and running. The vast majority have legitimate issues and just want a little help to resolve those issues. And of course, they all want to be treated with dignity and respect. But then, there are the others.

Everyone who works in a call environment knows who 'the others' are. They are the people who believe that bullying and attempting to intimidate technicians will somehow enhance their service experience. A couple of nights ago, I had a call from one of the others, let me share how that call went.

I greeted the customer in my standard friendly way. Before I could even finish the greeting and ask what his issue was, the Neanderthal was shouting and screaming vulgarities in my ear. I had apparently somehow managed to insult him by welcoming him to the center and asking how I could assist him today.

I generally allow a customer to vent and do not become particularly rattled when they use profanity, unless they direct the profanity at me and start to make personal attacks, which is exactly what this guy did. As I checked the account notes, I discovered that his pleasant attitude was widely known and recorded by several other technicians in the call center, in fact, there were 5-6 calls earlier that very day and they all ended the same way, with the technician disconnecting Neanderthal after deciding that his abuse was just not worth being made subject to. Every time I would try to break into his dissertation and ask him to identify his issue so I could assist him, I would be called incompetent and would have to again listen to a long string of profanities that would make a sailor, or worse yet, my mom blush! Apparently, I was supposed to pick his issue out of the ozone and resolve it before he had to call in, I was about to tell him that I had forgotten to bring my magic wand to work today when I snapped to reality and realized that my call may be monitored for quality purposes and that I had to be polite and handle this in a professional manner.

I again struggled to get him to calm down a bit and identify his issue. Neanderthal responded by starting his pre rehearsed litany of vulgarities and abuse. Finally I decided that enough was simply enough. I told the Neanderthal that if he could not speak to me without using profanity and if he would not identify his issue so I could assist him that I would disconnect the call.

I had no idea that Mr. Neanderthal was also a constitutional lawyer. He informed me that he wasn't about to allow the likes of me to violate his right to free speech. At this point, I truly had to hold back the urge to laugh, but I think it is sad that our right to free speech has degraded from the protection to speak new and different thoughts and ideas to protecting the vulgar profanities of garden variety thugs. I struggled to stay cool and told Mr. Neanderthal that I had no desire at all to violate his right to free speech, in fact, I defended his right to speak that way as long as he wants to, even until his voice gives out. However, I was not going to allow him to violate and disrespect me in that manner.

I then informed him that he had a choice to make, he could either continue the call in a civil manner and he could provide the information necessary to identify his technical support issue or I would disconnect him and he could call back, wait in the queue and see if another agent was willing to tolerate his abuse. I also informed him that I had been recording his call as he was speaking, that I had read the notes documenting how he had treated other agents and that my employer also defended my right to disconnect calls from abusers. I wanted to make sure he knew that his ugly manner was well documented.

Neanderthal again tried to argue the issue. I let him know in no uncertain terms that this was not a debate, he had a choice to make and he would not be given any more time to abuse, he could either clean up his act or disconnect. He opted to clean up his act just long enough to get his issue out. When I identified his issue, I realized it was something that would take only a few seconds to fix for him. I politely asked him to hold for just a moment as I fixed the problem (I did not put him on hold, I just asked him to hold so I could look up the data needed to make the fix.) Neanderthal responded with a litany of new vulgarity and hung up. I did not have the time to fix the issue before the next call came in, and frankly, I am happy that I did not have the time.

Neanderthal, if you (or others of your tribe) are out there, I have a simple lesson for you that my mom and dad taught me. You can draw more flies with honey than with vinegar!