It's always amazing to me how cold people can be when someone complains about working in a call center.  I found a thread on the Straight Dope message board titled "It's called 'staffing levels,' a**holes.  Look it up."  found here: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=457243 .  In it, a poor fellow traveler works in a call center that is horribly understaffed (aren't we all?) and is complaining about how they have to answer overflow for another call center.

 

5 posts below, we get the always predictable response: "Why don't you just get another job?"

 

Yeah.  Out of all the days in the year that this poor soul has worked, he's complained 9 times.  That's pretty good odds, if you ask me.  It may come as a surprise that some of us are actually happy with our jobs: we get paid relatively well, and we have a decent support system behind us.  Yes, the calls get backed up.  Yes, there's a good bit of stress.  But yes, it can be worth it if you look at it in the right way.

 

 

No recent problems, although I really dislike February. It's such a short month. It's so hard to do anything in February.

Just a small personal note today.

 

To the love of my life: Happy Valentine's Day.  I hope to spend the rest of my life making you as happy as you've made me.  I thank God for you every day of my life.

 

Thanks for loving me.

Oh, and as a note to JT, who said to me:

 

The big flaw in this post is when you say:

"The CSR may be sick: they may have personal problems: anything that could be affecting the performance. While we care about the situation, we can't take any of that into consideration."

Of course you can take it into consideration, and the customer would too, if they knew. If you're judging quality, you need to take everything into account. Otherwise you come across as ... robots."

 

I disagree with this.  When we walk in the door of our job, we are expected to leave our personal problems at the door.  If we are sick, then we should not be at work: we should be home, drinking chicken soup.

 

As a customer, when I call in with a problem, I expect my problem to be fixed.  I don't expect to hear what could be the lyrics of a bad country song.  Most customers, including myself, can be sympathetic to a point.  But if your situation is so bad that it affects your job performance, then find some way to solve the problem or get help.  The customer calls in with a problem: he/she doesn't need to hear about ours.

 

I judge quality each and every day, whether I'm at work or not.  While at work, if I know about something that is going on with a CSR, it will affect my judgement of the call.  I may think, "Oh, she's not doing well today because she's sick:" or, "His dad's in the hospital, and that's why he handled that call that way."  If I take that into consideration, people will get scores they do not deserve, which could skew the metrics of the call center.  It could also have an impact on bonuses, incentives, etc. 

 

I have to be fair and honest across the board.  If performance sucks, I can't be afraid to say so.  I can't cloud performance issues with outside influences.  I have a job to do.  The people I work with know I am not a robot, and they know I'm a decent human being: but they also know I will tell it like I hear it. 

 

So, that's my answer to the statement.  Thanks for the feedback!  :)
 

QA Phrase of the Day!

 

(drumroll)

 

"By the eaches."

 

(cymbal crash)

 

Now, this particular phrase really chafes.  "You can purchase this item by the case, by the box, or by the each."  Or, "That item comes 150 eaches in a case."

 

Whatever happened to, "This item is sold individually?"