Wait a fricking minute will ya! (impatience rant)

[katie kaboom]

Usually I DO tell them it will be a moment and they still come back with a "Hello?" after a mere five seconds.

don't you wish you could just go "goodbye." *click*

[hotelnpa]

I can relate. When I take reservations over the phone, I have to first get to the correct screen, which can take several seconds, and people will say "Hello!" Or "You need to speed it up!" It seems like the most impatient people don't have the most important information I need: Date of arrivial, number of adults, credit card number. They tell me they are hurry....If they are in such a hurry, then why don't have this information when they call???????? This would happen at the bank call center too. People act totally perplexed when you ask them such basic information.

[greensinestro]

don't you wish you could just go "goodbye." *click*

Operators at Bellsouth had a button that said POSITION RELEASE, which was also known as the "hang up" button. One day, one of the more talented employees who was good at art drew a picture of this bright orange button on our computers, and below it said COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT - PUSH FOR INSTANT ACCESS!

[CorDarei]

Usually I DO tell them it will be a moment and they still come back with a "Hello?" after a mere five seconds.

yah, that can be a pain... thankfully my phone support job is specialized and i don't deal with that many mean people. Also, i thelps that i can do internal stuff while external support is covered by my coworkers.

[air914]

I always loved talking to computer guys/helpdesk that would start humming or something to fill up the dead air...... or the ones that narrated everything... or the ones that just were waaaay too talkative about nothing in particular..... if I can hear you typing into the computer, I figure you're doing something....

The confirmation thing of "okay hold on a minute while I look up your account" is good - then they know you're doing something - but yeah they need to at least give you a minute before asking if you're still there.... unless they're on a cell phone that drops calls frequently - I'll give them a little leeway there

[wagegoth]

When I was in a call center for reporting lost and stolen credit cards, I ended up hearing a lot of conversations that the caller would not have wanted me to hear.

I had to fill out a two-page form, then it took two to thirty seconds after I pushed enter for the form to process and give me a verification of receipt screen. I would say, "Thank you, it will take a few moments to process." Before I said anything else, suddenly these people would say the most embarrassing things, because they would ASSume that I had put them on hold. I never said I was putting them on hold, they just ASSumed.

I heard a married guy hitting on his office assistant, who sounded half his age.

Another guy started ranting to his friend about how he was going to make sure his wife got nothing in the divorce, and that reporting his card stolen would make sure she couldn't use it.

A woman telling her friend that now her husband would have a b***h of a time that day when he tried to pay for lunch with his girlfriend.

I had to mute my end of the call because I would find myself fighting not to laugh. My supervisor told me to just take the report, it was the cardholder's decision, and not to worry about it. But it was then required that I had to tell the latest story to everyone in the department.

[Pezzle]

I always loved talking to computer guys/helpdesk that would start humming or something to fill up the dead air...... or the ones that narrated everything... or the ones that just were waaaay too talkative about nothing in particular..... if I can hear you typing into the computer, I figure you're doing something....

Yo my favorite guy ever was the Verizon technician I talked to during an in-home installation. It was taking quite some time to dig up some info, so we started chatting on about Warhammer 40k, BattleTech, and D&D 2nd Edition. Oh man he wins at life.