17 Annoying Things Only People Who Work In Call Centers Understand
By Luna Darcy
1. That awkward conversation about how is the customer’s day when it’s taking forever for your system to load up
When customers get asked this question, responses would range from “fine”(without them asking how you’re doing in return) to “I’ve been out to see a movie and it was crazy blah blah blah…”. Now you have to feign interest and come up with an epic response to show your engagement.
2. The struggle of recalling the phonetic alphabet
V is for Vin, D is for Diesel.
3. That awkward feeling of having to greet the customers a “Happy Birthday” when they provided their date of birth as a form of verification
You’re not even sure if it was a “happy” birthday.
4. That sudden feeling of doom when the customer asks to talk to your supervisor right after you’ve answered the phone call and won’t listen to any attempts of deescalation
“Mr. Smith, you haven’t even gave me the chance to try to help you yet…”
5. When you go to work with sore throat, cough and/or colds
The mute button is your best friend in these kind of situations.
6. That painful effort you have to exert in order to calm down a hysterical-going-to-abusive caller
You have a chance of getting them pacified if you are the epitome of patience.
7. When customer tells you that they appreciate your professionalism and that they would want to talk to your supervisor to commend you
Commendation calls mean bragging rights in this industry.
8. That crazy smile plastered on your face when you talk to customers with names like Mr. Grey, Mr. Bass and the like
You lose focus on the customer’s issue and you can’t help but imagine Christian Grey and Chuck Bass.
9. The euphoria when the systems are suddenly down
And that silent hope for the system not to be back up until after your shift has already ended (which rarely happens)
10. Massage chairs, free coffee, free iced-tea or juice of any kind, free water, free wifi and internet!
Lots of freebies, I know right?!
11. That painful itch in your ears when the customer is calling from a very noisy background
“Will someone rescue me from all this chaos, please?!”
12. Talking to a customer who has reached a toxic level of anger due to being on the queue for ages
Your apologies will land on deaf ears.
13. When angry customers ask for your full name, your employee ID and where you’re located and threaten you for blowing up their phones
These are usually empty threats but you’ll never know.
14. When it’s one minute to your lunch or the end of your shift and then a call came in
Congratulations! Now is the time to go the extra mile!
15. You get teary-eyed when your supervisor ask you to log out so he/she can deliver you performance review or you are due for a coaching session
This is your opportunity to ask as many questions as you can in the hope that you can prolong the time that you are off the phone.
16. The despair and melancholy that a bad survey you get brings
Your team stats is in jeopardy because Ms. Smith is “not satisfied” with your service. Your numbers on the big white board are now written in red, for the whole production floor see. (Ouch!)
17. Sitting beside a colleague whose natural speaking voice sounds like they are shouting
They speak so loud the customer you are talking to can actually hear them.
Today marks my 2402nd day as a call center employee. And at the end of the day, this job helps me put food in the table and pay the mortgage. So I’m going to stick to this industry through thick and thin.