You know those annoying Sales calls, Cold calls, and telemarketers in general you have blowing up your phone? Those calls are coming from the plethora of Call Center agents that were hired by those huge companies you may or may not care for, to have you scream at us through the phone before hanging up, only to call you back again in a few days because YOU DIDN'T EVEN LET ME EXPLAIN WHY I WAS CALLING, thus deeming it an incomplete call.
Trust me, we aren't happy that we have to call you back, either, but until you give us a chance to explain the call or you ask to be taken off the call list, we are instructed to disposition the call to give you a day or two to gather your emotions before we call back.
We just wanted to let you know that, we are people too, and as much as we love being hung up on, we would appreciate some patience because we take, on average, 300-400 calls a day. The agent who called probably doesn’t want to converse with you either.
I had a few co-workers and prior agent's email me their call stories. Here are a few that'll shed some light on what we agents have to go through on a daily basis:
1. “One time when I worked at Wyndham, late night inbound:
guy called in breathing hard, and asking what color panties the girls he got on the phone were wearing and trying to book a room with them in it.
He called in 8 times”
-S.G.
2. “One time I was setting up an AMEX card application
for a small business and when I asked the guy if he wanted any additional cards, he got quiet and started whispering, ‘yeah... but do they come in a marked envelope?’ I said no, he said ok and gave me a lady's name, i thought it was his wife he had been taking to in the background, then i repeated it back to him and he whispered again and said can you lower your voice this card is for my mistress..uh, i mean secretary.”
-S.G.
3. “AT&T tech support,
A guy wanted to unlock brand new iPhone on contract, and became irate that I refused to unlock his phone due to contract, and threatened to sodomize me with a broom, and began screaming and cursing at me, then did the same to my manager who took over the call. He hung up and kept calling back getting different agents and doing it again.”
-S.G.
4. "‘Hello, I'm calling on behalf of so and so, how are you, today?’
‘Suck my d**k, b***h.’ *Disconnects call*
He didn't even give me a chance to respond. What if today was his lucky day? Completely counterproductive, in my opinion.”
- A.P.
5. "A girl completely went ballistic and damned me to hell
because she couldn't understand English very well and I couldn't speak it, even though I told her I could have a Spanish speaking agent call her back. “
-M.A.
6. "‘Hello, thank you for calling so and so, how may I help you?’
‘I just called back to say that someone hung up on me and that was very rude. Don't do that again.’
Wonder why?
‘Okay, I'm sorry, ma'am. We would never intentionally hang up on you. Do you have the name of the agent?’
*disconnects call* “
-A.P.
7. "‘Hello, thank you for calling so and so, how may I help you?’
‘Why are you calling me?’
I was only Inbound that day (receives calls) so I did not appreciate the 'tube.
‘Well, I don't have that information in front of me but I'd be happy to look up the call history on your file, can I have your first and last name?’
‘You know what, after that, I don't want to continue with this call. bye.’"
- S.W.
8. "Jealous wives are always my favorite.
‘Hello, thank you for calling so and so, how may I help you?’
‘How long have you been sleeping with my husband?’"
- T.M.
9. "‘Hello, thank you for calling so and so, how may I help you?’
‘Take me off your list.’
‘Okay, I’d be happy to do that for you. Who am I speaking with?’
‘You don't need to know that.’
Keep in mind, we work for a call center that has many dealerships as clients, and her number isn't pulling up any file at all.
I legitimately needed some type of information to figure out which call list she was talking about.
‘Ma'am, in order to take you off any list, I need your file information.’
‘Just take me off the list.’ *Disconnects call*
I didn't."
-A.P.
10. “A guy called to complained
about how the owner of the business was prejudiced against handicapped people … for 20 minutes."
- A.P.
11. "I called a lady to ask her if she was ready for her first service
on her vehicle. She had apparently confused me for an attorney's office (even after explicitly stating multiple times this was on behalf of TOYOTA) because she went on about how I was going to help her sue the police station that locked her son up and refused to give him the medical attention he needed, resulting in his death.”
- A.P.
12. “A lady had called back because of a message we had left her
and asked if I worked for her Ex-husband in a very suspicious tone. Not sure how to respond, I said ‘pardon me?’ and she laughs as if she caught me in a lie and says ‘uh-huh. Exactly’, then disconnects the call."
- A.O.
13. “I worked at a center you called if a disability check doesn't go through or anything along those lines.
A guy called, yelling at me about how his check hasn't gone through yet and now he can't even afford the pepperoni on his pizza and how he will have to get cheese pizza “Who the f*ck gets cheese pizza” I remember him yelling that and hanging up.
He called back a few days later, asking where his pizza was because apparently we were supposed to bring him one due to the fact that he had to wait so long.”
-T.P.
I had many other agents send me calls they thought were ridiculous but these are the ones I felt were the funniest, to keep the article from being too long.
I hope my readers got a kick out of this and the people that think we are the spawn of Satan created to disrupt your obviously busy lifestyles, your rude hang ups and comments sure showed us.