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Here goes... (warning, this will most likely be very very long, but enjoy!)
Fast Food Flunk
==========
The first one's more of a customer point of view, but the person I was dealing with was definitely lacking of courtesy and a bit in brainpower. Now, I suppose most people do know what to do in a fast food drive through.. pay the first window, get food at the second. Though, some people don't know, and it IS polite to SAY something to the customer. I was told my total, handed over my debit card... young blonde thing takes my card, swipes it, waits a moment, hands it back... doesn't even LOOK at me at all and just walks away from the window. No thank you, no "there you go", nothing. Me, being the stubborn person I am, raised my eyebrows at the lack of manners and waited. Five minutes later, she comes back and says in a snotty voice.. YES??. I simply replied that I wasn't sure if I was done with payment or not as I wasn't told anything or even given a receipt. She looked at me like I was stupid and said "Well, YEAH.. you get your food up there.. *points*". I nod and smile and say as sugarlysweet as I can "Well thank you very much." and pull forward, get my food and leave. I know fast food drive through process isn't that hard but at least a THANK YOU or a smile and nod in my direction for my patronage would be appreciated and attitude is definitely not required. I'm the sort of person who believes highly in the golden rule (serve/treat others like you want to be served/treated) and I'm generally patient and polite. Good grief...
Clothing... OPTIONAL???
===============
More about a coworker for this one. I used to work at a large supermarket (naming no names! D'oh..) that combined food and clothing... and there was one older lady I worked with that was generally and old crab to put it politely. Always complaining, snapping at everyone, whining that no one does their job when she hardly did hers and everyone else did more than their share. Well, generally, she should have been fired ten times over and no one liked her. One night (I worked overnight shifts.. horrid thing!) I went into the restroom during my break to find the horror of seeing said old crab standing in the middle of the restroom - not the stall but the whole restroom itself - with her pants and underwear around her ankles, giving me a nice, clear, full wrinkled-butt shot!
Needless to say I immediately turned right around and went to find my nearest supervisor. As far as I know she STILL wasn't fired.. but that's something that regrettably will stick with me for a long while.
Emergency Services
==============
Working at a call center, you get all sorts of crazy people calling in. Especially when you deal with something as needful as electricity. Yes, I deal with people's electric accounts and bills. I hear soooo many sob stories and sad things... though some are true, but it makes you wonder after a while which are and which are not. In this case, a coworker of mine just had to tell me what this lady said on a call he took. It went something along these lines...
CW = coworker
SL = screaming lady
CW: I understand that you have made your payment to restore services ma'am, but unfortunately we cannot have your electric back on until tomorrow.
SL: WHY!?!?!
CW: It's rather late in the day (5pm, we close at 7pm), and in order to restore services the same day we do need payment before 12:30.
SL: WHYYY!?!?
CW: We don't have the manpower to do any more reconnection orders past then. We simply wouldn't be able to get to you in time.
SL: Well can't you just put my order near the top of the list? (We hear that one ALL THE TIME).
CW: No ma'am, I'm afraid I can't. Firstly there is no "list", and if there were we wouldn't have access to it. If I put your order in for today, it would simply be ignored by the field workers. They would not do it.
SL: BUT WHAT IF MY HOUSE IS ON FIRE!?!?!
CW: ... ... IS your house on fire?
SL: NO, but it COULD BE. What would I do!??!
CW: ... Well, ma'am, if your house is on fire I would hope you would call the fire department.
It went on and on in that regard, but my main reaction was torn between hilarious laughter and a braindead gape.
Food Storage
=========
Another one we hear all the time, that I thankfully haven't gotten yet, is "But my food's going to go bad!". A few scenarios I remember off the top of my head...
CW = coworker
UC = upset customer
UC: I demand that I have my electric on in the next hour! I can SEE my food spoiling right in front of me!
CW: Well ma'am, I suggest you close your refrigerator then. If you keep it closed from the time your lights go off food will generally stay cold for at least 24 hours. Or you can purchase ice to put in there to help it stay cool. You can also see about taking the most perishable items to a friend's house for the time being.
UC: *goes on and on about how they CAN'T do that because that and they just need their electric on RIGHT NOW because they cannot have their food go bad despite the very good suggestions*
and...
UC: But this is a restaurant! I can't have the electric shut off!
CW: Well... then I suggest that you make sure to have your bill paid on time each month.
and...
UC: I JUST BOUGHT A WHOLE FREEZER FULL OF STEAKS AND YOU'RE GOING TO SHUT ME OFF FOR (insert a few hundred dollars here)?!? I DON'T HAVE THAT KIND OF MONEY!!
CW: Yes, we haven't received payment on this account since October (it's April).
UC: What am I going to DO with all my FOOD if you shut me OFF?!?!
CW: *buries face in hands* (What's going through his head at the time, which of course we cannot say, is "Well WHY did you buy ALL THAT STEAK instead of paying your BILL?! It PROBABLY cost you a few hundred dollars in itself!" Ah well...)
and finally...
UC: What am I going to do? I can't feed my sons spoiled steak!
CW: *repeats all the suggestions made in the other call*
UC: Well if my children get sick and DIE because of spoiled food then I will SUE you all!
CW: ... Sir, I suggest if you suspect your food has gone bad, not to feed it to your children.
Karma Call
========
Another coworker of mine sounds quite snotty and abrupt with customers on the phone, and amazingly she never gets in trouble for it. But she's wonderful at getting the more difficult customers to back down and stop yelling because of it. Although, some customers are a bit too stubborn and vengeful. One commented to her "I hope, that when you are in the situation I am, you get to talk to someone just like YOU." At that point, all she had been saying to the customer was that there was no way we could reconnect her until monday (it was friday) due to her payment being after a certain time, and there was no way at all we could "get around the system" for her, and no, a supervisor won't be able to do it either nor would he tell her anything different. All in all, my coworker to this point had been amazingly polite considering her normal demeanor with customers. But at this comment, she just burst out laughing and the customer hung up. She then turns to me and says, which I agree with wholeheartedly, "If we were in her situation, we KNOW the rules and the fact nothing can be done so we wouldn't be so *expletive* difficult about it."
Shocked and Amazed
===============
One call I did personally take went along these lines...
Me = me!
IC = Irate Customer
IC: I just made a payment.
Me: Okay... *gets all the details of said payment* that leaves a balance of (blah) on your account and (less than 80$) on your disconnection notice for this month.
IC: My what?
Me: You have a disconnection notice on your bill.. originally it was (blah) but with your payment you still have to make (less than 80$) to prevent disconnection by friday.
IC: But I JUST PAID four hundred dollars last month!
Me: Yes... but you had a remaining balance on your account of (blah) which became past due when the new bill printed and made a disconnection notice for that amount for this month. You still need (said low amount) by friday to guarantee service past then.
IC: ... ... You would disconnect me for that low an amount!??
Me: Well.. yes.
IC: Well. That's just petty.
Me: ... Excuse me?
IC: You all are being petty!
Me: Ma'am... regardless of what you think of us, you do owe that amount and it was due last month. I've seen disconnections for $2. It doesn't happen very often at all, but we CAN do it. Your notice is for much higher than that and you've had it since your bill was printed over three weeks ago.
IC: Well! That's just petty. You always want as much money as you can squeeze out of people. If I could I'd change my electric provider.
Me: Ma'am... we don't charge you for anything but what you use in electricity. Any other company would do the same.
IC: Whatever. I'll see what I can do by then. Petty. *click*
Me: ...
Cave Dwellers?
===========
I've heard of this call several times... it seems to be popular complaint but I never have gotten it. Not yet anyway.
CW = coworker
IC = Irate Customer
CW: We won't be able to reconnect you until monday. (this happens a lot!)
IC: Why not!?
CW: Due to your payment not being made until late in the day we cannot put any more reconnection orders in for today. It will have to wait until the next business day, which is monday.
IC: But... what about my kids?? I can't have them sit in the dark all weekend!
At this point, myself and a few others have come up with sevaral solutions, none of course can we mention out of professionalism and politeness. *rolls eyes*
1. Go to a hotel.
2. Go to a friend's house, or a parent's house.
3. Candles, flashlights, books, ready-to-eat meals and snacks are handy. Make it a game to the kids if they're young enough. If they're older, they'll understand what's going on then and probably have a solution themselves.
4. Maybe.. just maybe.. instead of having them sit inside in the dark, let them go outside and play!!
More Knowledgeable
===============
I had a lady one time call in... with our system we require the person we speak with to be actually listed on the account in order to give out info. Spouses are okay to not be listed, but anyone else we have to have permission from the account holder to speak with them, for obvious security reasons. We can, however, take a payment from anyone. The lady in question was the account holder's daughter...
Me = Me!
POD = Pissed Off Daughter
POD: I want to make a payment on my mother's account.
Me: Okay, let me bring up the payment screen...
POD: How much do I need to pay?
Me: Well, due to not being on the account as a contact, I cannot give out information. I can take your payment gladly though.
POD: I don't want information. I just want to know how much I need to pay.
Me: ... that would be information on the account. I cannot tell you that. Do you have a bill handy?
POD: NO. I don't. If I did I wouldn't ask.
Me: (broken record) I'm sorry, but without your name on the account I cannot share information.
POD: I don't NEED to be a contact. Just tell me!!
Me: Yes.. you do. It's a national law, I cannot break the laws for you.
POD: I call in ALL THE TIME and deal with her account other people have told me things and set things up for me. Now tell me!!
Me: (seeing that was true, mutes her headset and flings a few muttered expletives at stupid representatives) *unmutes* I apologize, but they were not supposed to do so. Regardless of the actions of other representatives, I cannot break the law for you. All you need to do is get your mother to call in for two minutes and add you as a contact and then we'll gladly discuss the account with you. I can still take any payment you like to make.
POD: (talking rapidfire, interrupting anything I try to say) YOU need to look over the notes there then, because OBVIOUSLY you don't know what you're doing and you need to learn how to do your job before you get on the phone and talk to people!
Me: (shaky and getting pissed off) Ma'am! I'm sorry, really I am. But I cannot break the law for you. Just get your mother to call -
POD: MY MOTHER speaks ONLY spanish! If you want to speak with her, fine! But she doesn't speak ENGLISH.
Me: That's no problem, it will only take a minute to get a spanish speaking rep on the line.
POD: Yeah you'd better get someone on the line, this is *expletives*. She only speaks SPANISH and I ALWAYS handle her bills... *rant rave complain*
Me: I apologize for the confusion and the hassle, just one moment I'll have someone on the line for you. *puts on hold*
She then hung up after only a minute or two waiting for a spanish rep. I understand her situation, and previous reps breaking rules really wasn't fair for her either, but still.. insulting my competency and yelling is never a good way to go.
====
I have other stories but I think I'll save them for later! This post has become longer than I planned.
Fast Food Flunk
==========
The first one's more of a customer point of view, but the person I was dealing with was definitely lacking of courtesy and a bit in brainpower. Now, I suppose most people do know what to do in a fast food drive through.. pay the first window, get food at the second. Though, some people don't know, and it IS polite to SAY something to the customer. I was told my total, handed over my debit card... young blonde thing takes my card, swipes it, waits a moment, hands it back... doesn't even LOOK at me at all and just walks away from the window. No thank you, no "there you go", nothing. Me, being the stubborn person I am, raised my eyebrows at the lack of manners and waited. Five minutes later, she comes back and says in a snotty voice.. YES??. I simply replied that I wasn't sure if I was done with payment or not as I wasn't told anything or even given a receipt. She looked at me like I was stupid and said "Well, YEAH.. you get your food up there.. *points*". I nod and smile and say as sugarlysweet as I can "Well thank you very much." and pull forward, get my food and leave. I know fast food drive through process isn't that hard but at least a THANK YOU or a smile and nod in my direction for my patronage would be appreciated and attitude is definitely not required. I'm the sort of person who believes highly in the golden rule (serve/treat others like you want to be served/treated) and I'm generally patient and polite. Good grief...
Clothing... OPTIONAL???
===============
More about a coworker for this one. I used to work at a large supermarket (naming no names! D'oh..) that combined food and clothing... and there was one older lady I worked with that was generally and old crab to put it politely. Always complaining, snapping at everyone, whining that no one does their job when she hardly did hers and everyone else did more than their share. Well, generally, she should have been fired ten times over and no one liked her. One night (I worked overnight shifts.. horrid thing!) I went into the restroom during my break to find the horror of seeing said old crab standing in the middle of the restroom - not the stall but the whole restroom itself - with her pants and underwear around her ankles, giving me a nice, clear, full wrinkled-butt shot!
Needless to say I immediately turned right around and went to find my nearest supervisor. As far as I know she STILL wasn't fired.. but that's something that regrettably will stick with me for a long while.
Emergency Services
==============
Working at a call center, you get all sorts of crazy people calling in. Especially when you deal with something as needful as electricity. Yes, I deal with people's electric accounts and bills. I hear soooo many sob stories and sad things... though some are true, but it makes you wonder after a while which are and which are not. In this case, a coworker of mine just had to tell me what this lady said on a call he took. It went something along these lines...
CW = coworker
SL = screaming lady
CW: I understand that you have made your payment to restore services ma'am, but unfortunately we cannot have your electric back on until tomorrow.
SL: WHY!?!?!
CW: It's rather late in the day (5pm, we close at 7pm), and in order to restore services the same day we do need payment before 12:30.
SL: WHYYY!?!?
CW: We don't have the manpower to do any more reconnection orders past then. We simply wouldn't be able to get to you in time.
SL: Well can't you just put my order near the top of the list? (We hear that one ALL THE TIME).
CW: No ma'am, I'm afraid I can't. Firstly there is no "list", and if there were we wouldn't have access to it. If I put your order in for today, it would simply be ignored by the field workers. They would not do it.
SL: BUT WHAT IF MY HOUSE IS ON FIRE!?!?!
CW: ... ... IS your house on fire?
SL: NO, but it COULD BE. What would I do!??!
CW: ... Well, ma'am, if your house is on fire I would hope you would call the fire department.
It went on and on in that regard, but my main reaction was torn between hilarious laughter and a braindead gape.
Food Storage
=========
Another one we hear all the time, that I thankfully haven't gotten yet, is "But my food's going to go bad!". A few scenarios I remember off the top of my head...
CW = coworker
UC = upset customer
UC: I demand that I have my electric on in the next hour! I can SEE my food spoiling right in front of me!
CW: Well ma'am, I suggest you close your refrigerator then. If you keep it closed from the time your lights go off food will generally stay cold for at least 24 hours. Or you can purchase ice to put in there to help it stay cool. You can also see about taking the most perishable items to a friend's house for the time being.
UC: *goes on and on about how they CAN'T do that because that and they just need their electric on RIGHT NOW because they cannot have their food go bad despite the very good suggestions*
and...
UC: But this is a restaurant! I can't have the electric shut off!
CW: Well... then I suggest that you make sure to have your bill paid on time each month.
and...
UC: I JUST BOUGHT A WHOLE FREEZER FULL OF STEAKS AND YOU'RE GOING TO SHUT ME OFF FOR (insert a few hundred dollars here)?!? I DON'T HAVE THAT KIND OF MONEY!!
CW: Yes, we haven't received payment on this account since October (it's April).
UC: What am I going to DO with all my FOOD if you shut me OFF?!?!
CW: *buries face in hands* (What's going through his head at the time, which of course we cannot say, is "Well WHY did you buy ALL THAT STEAK instead of paying your BILL?! It PROBABLY cost you a few hundred dollars in itself!" Ah well...)
and finally...
UC: What am I going to do? I can't feed my sons spoiled steak!
CW: *repeats all the suggestions made in the other call*
UC: Well if my children get sick and DIE because of spoiled food then I will SUE you all!
CW: ... Sir, I suggest if you suspect your food has gone bad, not to feed it to your children.
Karma Call
========
Another coworker of mine sounds quite snotty and abrupt with customers on the phone, and amazingly she never gets in trouble for it. But she's wonderful at getting the more difficult customers to back down and stop yelling because of it. Although, some customers are a bit too stubborn and vengeful. One commented to her "I hope, that when you are in the situation I am, you get to talk to someone just like YOU." At that point, all she had been saying to the customer was that there was no way we could reconnect her until monday (it was friday) due to her payment being after a certain time, and there was no way at all we could "get around the system" for her, and no, a supervisor won't be able to do it either nor would he tell her anything different. All in all, my coworker to this point had been amazingly polite considering her normal demeanor with customers. But at this comment, she just burst out laughing and the customer hung up. She then turns to me and says, which I agree with wholeheartedly, "If we were in her situation, we KNOW the rules and the fact nothing can be done so we wouldn't be so *expletive* difficult about it."
Shocked and Amazed
===============
One call I did personally take went along these lines...
Me = me!
IC = Irate Customer
IC: I just made a payment.
Me: Okay... *gets all the details of said payment* that leaves a balance of (blah) on your account and (less than 80$) on your disconnection notice for this month.
IC: My what?
Me: You have a disconnection notice on your bill.. originally it was (blah) but with your payment you still have to make (less than 80$) to prevent disconnection by friday.
IC: But I JUST PAID four hundred dollars last month!
Me: Yes... but you had a remaining balance on your account of (blah) which became past due when the new bill printed and made a disconnection notice for that amount for this month. You still need (said low amount) by friday to guarantee service past then.
IC: ... ... You would disconnect me for that low an amount!??
Me: Well.. yes.
IC: Well. That's just petty.
Me: ... Excuse me?
IC: You all are being petty!
Me: Ma'am... regardless of what you think of us, you do owe that amount and it was due last month. I've seen disconnections for $2. It doesn't happen very often at all, but we CAN do it. Your notice is for much higher than that and you've had it since your bill was printed over three weeks ago.
IC: Well! That's just petty. You always want as much money as you can squeeze out of people. If I could I'd change my electric provider.
Me: Ma'am... we don't charge you for anything but what you use in electricity. Any other company would do the same.
IC: Whatever. I'll see what I can do by then. Petty. *click*
Me: ...
Cave Dwellers?
===========
I've heard of this call several times... it seems to be popular complaint but I never have gotten it. Not yet anyway.
CW = coworker
IC = Irate Customer
CW: We won't be able to reconnect you until monday. (this happens a lot!)
IC: Why not!?
CW: Due to your payment not being made until late in the day we cannot put any more reconnection orders in for today. It will have to wait until the next business day, which is monday.
IC: But... what about my kids?? I can't have them sit in the dark all weekend!
At this point, myself and a few others have come up with sevaral solutions, none of course can we mention out of professionalism and politeness. *rolls eyes*
1. Go to a hotel.
2. Go to a friend's house, or a parent's house.
3. Candles, flashlights, books, ready-to-eat meals and snacks are handy. Make it a game to the kids if they're young enough. If they're older, they'll understand what's going on then and probably have a solution themselves.
4. Maybe.. just maybe.. instead of having them sit inside in the dark, let them go outside and play!!
More Knowledgeable
===============
I had a lady one time call in... with our system we require the person we speak with to be actually listed on the account in order to give out info. Spouses are okay to not be listed, but anyone else we have to have permission from the account holder to speak with them, for obvious security reasons. We can, however, take a payment from anyone. The lady in question was the account holder's daughter...
Me = Me!
POD = Pissed Off Daughter
POD: I want to make a payment on my mother's account.
Me: Okay, let me bring up the payment screen...
POD: How much do I need to pay?
Me: Well, due to not being on the account as a contact, I cannot give out information. I can take your payment gladly though.
POD: I don't want information. I just want to know how much I need to pay.
Me: ... that would be information on the account. I cannot tell you that. Do you have a bill handy?
POD: NO. I don't. If I did I wouldn't ask.
Me: (broken record) I'm sorry, but without your name on the account I cannot share information.
POD: I don't NEED to be a contact. Just tell me!!
Me: Yes.. you do. It's a national law, I cannot break the laws for you.
POD: I call in ALL THE TIME and deal with her account other people have told me things and set things up for me. Now tell me!!
Me: (seeing that was true, mutes her headset and flings a few muttered expletives at stupid representatives) *unmutes* I apologize, but they were not supposed to do so. Regardless of the actions of other representatives, I cannot break the law for you. All you need to do is get your mother to call in for two minutes and add you as a contact and then we'll gladly discuss the account with you. I can still take any payment you like to make.
POD: (talking rapidfire, interrupting anything I try to say) YOU need to look over the notes there then, because OBVIOUSLY you don't know what you're doing and you need to learn how to do your job before you get on the phone and talk to people!
Me: (shaky and getting pissed off) Ma'am! I'm sorry, really I am. But I cannot break the law for you. Just get your mother to call -
POD: MY MOTHER speaks ONLY spanish! If you want to speak with her, fine! But she doesn't speak ENGLISH.
Me: That's no problem, it will only take a minute to get a spanish speaking rep on the line.
POD: Yeah you'd better get someone on the line, this is *expletives*. She only speaks SPANISH and I ALWAYS handle her bills... *rant rave complain*
Me: I apologize for the confusion and the hassle, just one moment I'll have someone on the line for you. *puts on hold*
She then hung up after only a minute or two waiting for a spanish rep. I understand her situation, and previous reps breaking rules really wasn't fair for her either, but still.. insulting my competency and yelling is never a good way to go.
====
I have other stories but I think I'll save them for later! This post has become longer than I planned.
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