Oh joy! I got to deal with Phone SCs!

[Dave1982]

The other day I was at a new site and got the "pleasure" of answering the phone all day. I now have a lot more respect for my fellow SCers who have to do this every day. For background, this site is an insurance agency.

I DEMAND A SUPERVISOR!

Had a guy call in and ask to speak with a particular agent. I put the call through. Five minutes later, he called back.


SC: I WANT TO TALK TO [AGENT]'S SUPERVISOR!!!

Me: Well, off-hand I'm not sure who that would be but let me find out for you.

Had to put him on hold and do a little consulting with the people who are permanent to this site, and discovered that the agent's supervisor didn't even work in this office.

I found out later from that agent that this particular SC is always a bit of a problem child for them.


Please Speak Clearly

Not to make light of speech impediments, but if you sound like your whole mouth and tongue have been shot up with novocaine, and you insist on speaking at a rapid fire pace, then don't get huffy with me when I ask you to repeat yourself, or if I misunderstand what you are telling me.


Why dont' you keep tabs on everyone in the office?!

This conversation happening ONCE was too often, and it happened more than once....

This place has a computerized switchboard that shows me every phone in the office and the status of said phone. And the phone can be set to "Do Not Disturb" with an away message, in which case that phone will NOT ring; any calls directed to that extension will go straight to voicemail.

SC: Can I speak to [Agent]?

Me: I'm sorry but they're not in their office right now. Would you like their voicemail?

SC: Well where are they?

Me: All I know is that they are out of their office/at lunch/with a client right now.

SC: Well when will they be back?

Me: I have no way of knowing, but if you leave them a message--

SC: HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW?!

Me: Because you're talking to the front desk, and I don't have access to that information.

SC: *click*


Failure to Plan on Your Part.....

Another conversation that shouldn't happen, but does.....

SC: Can I talk to the agent assigned to my policy?

Me: Certainly. Could you give me your policy number?

SC: I don't know it.

Me: Alright, can I have your first and last name?

SC: Fucking Dimwit.

Me: Hmm.....nothing's coming up......

SC: Well, the policy is under my wife's/husband's/4th-cousin-thrice-removed's name.

Me:


Or, even worse...

SC: Well, my policy was cancelled.

Well gee whiz, no wonder it doesn't come up!!


Yeah, I know, fairly tame compared to what all the other phone jockeys here put up with, but it was my first real taste of it, and it was......interesting.

[Sapphire Silk]

Did anyone put in an order for pants?

*ducks and hides*

[Argabarga]

A whole village-load of pants, perhaps?

[dalesys]

We're panting to know...

[AyreBiskits]

SC: Well where are they?

Me: All I know is that they are out of their office/at lunch/with a client right now.

SC: Well when will they be back?

Me: I have no way of knowing, but if you leave them a message--

SC: HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW?!

i used to get that a lot when i had to relief the receptionist for lunch. we had a book for people to sign in and out but nobody used it much. most of the time, they would just say "i'm going to lunch" but not where or for how long. i so wanted to tell the raging idiots "i'll have to consult my magic 8-ball".

[chainedbarista]

pink camo, they must be pants of the pink camo variety at all costs.

[MoonCat]

You have my sympathies. See what we phoneslaves have to put up with? (passes bottle of brandy)

[Dave1982]

You have my sympathies. See what we phoneslaves have to put up with? (passes bottle of brandy)

Yeah, and I know that this was nothing compared to what regular phone jockeys put up with, so you can save the brandy for yourselves.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

Yeah, and I know that this was nothing compared to what regular phone jockeys put up with, so you can save the brandy for yourselves.

Yeah try dealing with people like that, for 8 hours a day, nearly without interruption, for over one year and get back to me.

Let me just say's I have a thicker skin and firmer spine and less hope for humanity than I did before I worked there.

[Dave1982]

Back at that site today, and I've got a new one.

Since this company does auto insurance (as well as homeowns and at east a couple other type of insurance) it's common to have a car dealership call to set up insurance on a new sale, or to verify insurance on a newly sold car prior to handing over the keys. So a salesman from a fairly large local dealership called up to do a verification for his customer. Since it was a new account it hadn't made it's way into the system yet (at least not in any way that i could look up) so i had to send him to the first available agent in the right department.

Me: is this a personal or commercial Vehicle?

Salesman: well it's for (Company).

Me: Ok, I'll transfer you to an agent in the commercial insurance department.

Transferred him, hung up, and went back to browsing the forums.

A minute later, the phone rings from inside the building. It was the agent I'd transferred the last caller to.

Agent: I'm going to transfer a call back to you so you can transfer them to someone in Personal.

Me: huh? He specifically said it was for a company.

Agent: I know, but the customer only works for that company and the vehicle is for himself.

Me: oh *redirects call to the appropriate agent*

Honestly, how do you make a mistake like that? Personal and commercial vehicle sales are very different things, with very differnt registration and insurance requirements (which have very different costs!). it's a good thing that got cleared up lest you cost this guy a lot ore than necessary. Sheesh!

And as a not so fun bonus, whilst i was typing this up another call came in from some moron who thought i was a machine and started punching the zero button on me. I hung up on them.

[Dips]

Me: Alright, can I have your first and last name?

SC: Fucking Dimwit.

Me: Hmm.....nothing's coming up......

I realize that "Fucking Dimwit" is psuedonym and not what the guy actually said, but at first I did think that he was actually calling you that.

In that context your response, "Hmm...nothing's coming up..." cracked me up.

If somebody ever calls me a name after I've asked for theirs, that's exactly what I'm go to do from now on. Pretend to look it up and not find it.

[Dave1982]

OK,this one is from a totally different company (what I've referred to as "Site B" in the past) but it's left me a bit baffled. This *just* happened.

Me: Good afternoon, [Company]

SC (with a very thick accent): Can I speak to (foreign-sounding name that I could not decipher)?

Me: OK, could you spell the last name for me please? (this is so I can enter it in the company directory and connect them to the person they want)

SC: No, sir.

Me:.....................

SC:......................

Me: OK, in order to connect you, I have to enter it into the system, so I have to be able to spell it properly.

SC: OK, I see, goodbye *click*

Me:

[depechemodefan]

OK, could you spell the last name for me please?

People call the library a lot for books on an author they can't spell. One thing if they were watching tv and some book of the month club gives an author, it's entirely another when they left the name at school/forgot to bring home the homework assignment/tell me "oh, you know, he's famous."

[trailerparkmedic]

And as a not so fun bonus, whilst i was typing this up another call came in from some moron who thought i was a machine and started punching the zero button on me. I hung up on them.

I often got those customers at the credit card call center, and they drove me crazy!! I also loved the customers who, when asked to give me a number (SSN, phone number, account number), would punch it into the phone. That never happened at the appliance repair call center I worked at, though... maybe smarter people own appliances vs. have credit cards designed for bad credit?

[smileyeagle1021]

I often got those customers at the credit card call center, and they drove me crazy!! I also loved the customers who, when asked to give me a number (SSN, phone number, account number), would punch it into the phone. That never happened at the appliance repair call center I worked at, though... maybe smarter people own appliances vs. have credit cards designed for bad credit?

What you don't realize is just how many of them talk to the automated menu like it's an actual person
sadly I get that way too often at the relay center where I'll be relaying an automated system (and I've explicitly told the deaf user it's an automated system) and they still respond like talking to a person... then get upset when it doesn't respond to everything they say