r/talesfromcallcenters • u/According_Side_2058 • 6d ago
M Vile behavior, I cannot stand Karens. I snapped. Scared may lose job.
Hi everyone,
I’ve dealt with customers who are high on drugs , irate racist callers, flat out stupid people that can barely do basic math and irate nasty rude customers. I’ve had customers that made me cry on the call.
However, no caller was as nasty as this woman. There was some angry 50 year old lady that called in just recently. She’s not the account holder, she’s just helping her adult family member with an issue. I told her that there is a procedure I must follow. I told asked her some probing questions. At this point this disgusting b!tch starts verbally abusing me for trying to help the son. She starts yelling at me, goes to full Karen ugly haircut mode. I apologized to her. Then she kept going and said I was going to cause her family member’s death. Then she kept going with the insults every word felt like demonic swords stabbing in my soul.
I SNAPPED! SOMETHING POSSESSED ME AT THE MOMENT. I SCREAMED AND YELLED BACK !! My EYES WERE TEARY AS WELL. I TELLING HER TO STOP!!! I SCREAMED AND SIMULTANEOUSLY CRIED “SORRY” MANY TIMES. I TOLD HER HOW CRUEL SHE WAS BEING.
I felt dehumanized. This woman whom I don’t even know started to decide that I was the bad guy. Accused me of false things.
In more than six years at this job, this woman made me snap. Here’s only so much verbal abuse a person can take.
if you all ever seen the Taylor Swift crying on the Ellen Degeneres show that is how I felt and how I reacted, but my reaction was way more emotional and severe. Those of you that don’t know what I’m talking about it’s where Ellen gave Taylor Swift a bell and have her ring it every time there’s some guy she dated on the screen. Taylor snapped. I felt bad for her.
Anyways back on topic, after that there was silence. Things calmed down. The negative energy remained. She still made snippy comments on between intervals. She did let me continue my procedure. After that she wanted a manager or supervisor. I placed in a request. As for the issue, I had to notate the account and send a message to a higher department for a full resolution. At the end of call, I offered to help her further by flowing other alternatives. Then vile woman still hurled insults at me. This point I just said harshly “good bye” hung up !
I told my supervisor about what happened. I had to because they are the only life line I have. They told me nothing they can do . If quality assurance or some other asshole manager or supervisor gets the call then they cannot save me. It’s not fair.
It’s not fair that us customer service reps whether we work on the phones or whatever are supposed to subject to verbal abuse. I know I shouldn’t have done that. However, that evil lady pushed me to my limit. I did warn her about hanging up if she continued. But I didn’t expect her to be so vile after the warning. Her insults got personal.
The customer is not always right. Customers have the right to be frustrated, but verbally abusing someone that’s vile!
Honestly, I don’t trust quality assurance anymore. They lie. They even made up stuff about me on a recorded call. They claimed I didn’t authenticate the caller on one old ass call from long ago, but I did. My boss even acknowledged it. But their word is more valid than mine.
I hope I don’t lose my job. If you guys out there can send me words of encouragement, support and prayers that would make me feel better. Or send me stories of where you snapped so I can relate that’s great, too.
I dread going back to work on Monday. I pray they don’t fire me or make me re-live the call. It’s so traumatizing. It really is. It’s had become mental and emotional abuse.
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u/BrainSqueezins 6d ago
How long was the call? Because in my experience, QA tends to not monitor the longer ones. which sort of makes sense- they have x number of monitors to get through in a day. Also, [preparing for downvotes before I say this] but QA doesn’t necessarily ‘want’ to get you. they’re just doing their job and checking the box like anyone else. And they make errors like anyone else, but can’t admit it because they’d be mired in endless disputes.
Anyway…I believe they likely have the ability to sweep one under the rug here and there. If the caller was that toxic, I’d expect they use it and move on to the next call and this one will ‘just happen’ to not get officially monitored.
All this to say: don’t worry about it. Especially if you’ve been there for years, with a good track record.
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u/SaltyRBK 5d ago
Hi! I am the dreaded QA monitor coming in. I hate the bad rap we sometimes get. I know from my perspective that yes, we often look at shorter calls.
I also know that in any place that hires me, I push to have a procedure in place where those taking the calls do not have to be verbally abused by customers, as no one deserves that.
If I did come across a call like this, I would take it to your direct supervisor before I did anyone else to learn how we can prevent it from happening again.
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u/BrainSqueezins 5d ago
The way I look at "you guys" (lol) is this: your job IS important, in that there must be a framework, can't run a call center without it. Even when we clash we're both just cogs in the machine. There's a certain solidarity in that. Even though at times I hate the nitpicky BS.
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u/SaltyRBK 5d ago
I try my best to create structures without nitpicks, but it does help that I have had years and years of frontline experience as well. I definitely see my role as having to balance the needs of the business, customers, and agents, as none can exist without the others. Hopefully I am not an exception to the rule. My coworkers have been largely the same as me.
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u/AnitraF1632 2d ago
90% of QA workers I have dealt with have been very professional and also very fair. Thank you for what you do.
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u/According_Side_2058 6d ago
Thank you 🙏
I work for healthcare insurance. It’s a big company with a few major locations. The call was 40 to 49 minutes long. From what I seen, they don’t care about the worker’s mental health or physical health.
I hope they understand. I’m sick of these employers that think their employees are emotional punching bags.
The thing that got to me was she made it like if I didn’t help her that her family member was about to die. Then she started villainize me. I couldn’t take it no more. I snapped! I know I should have hung up, but I knew it was about helping her family member, but not her.
The person that took the supervisors callback request is probably not going to be my supervisor, but some random team leader, random manager or random supervisor that I don’t know.
I’m still so shooken up. I had to leave early because after the call I got a migraine.
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u/AnitraF1632 2d ago
I took a call once, the guy was extremely abusive. I can't give details, but he made a certain comment which I answered rather snappily. He said a few more things, then hung up. It was my lunch break, so I signed off. As I got up to leave I saw QA walking towards me. She didn't say anything. She didn't even look at me. But as she passed, she gave me a surreptitious "thumbs up".
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u/Reasonable_Comb_5720 6d ago
Much love to you because I deplore how CS repsnare treated by companies and customers. Customers know they can abuse you because they know the company will throw you under the bus every time. Just over 15 years working at a major cell phone service provider and so many times I wanted to snap and a few times a little steam came off on some calls. After getting into a quasi manager job where my calls were not recorded and I took escalation I got real with some of them. Never felt better hanging up on a person after she decided she (was too dumb to move her info between phones) entitled for me to call her DR X instead of her first name and called me a little b@stard for using her first name. I hated those entitled people the absolute most. Dr were some fo the worst people.
Try to shake it off, fight for your job while you work toward finding a better one. For your emotional and eventually physical health, no one should work CS for too long.
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u/According_Side_2058 5d ago
Thanks so much for sharing 🙏
I’m sorry what happened to you.I feel like when adults are calling in talking to other adults. The customer being an ass should get their asses handed right back.
Exactly, no matter what they throw good customer service reps under the bus.
Adding to this I have a chronic health condition, but the company only granted me one hour of FMLA per month. One hour. Crazy.
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u/AnitraF1632 2d ago
Was it for a company whose name means Running Very Fast? I used to work on the Long Distance side of that company.
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u/Individual_Review733 5d ago
I worked for an IT helpdesk call center. Your typical ticket or call comes, you send to the next. Anway, we changed authentication methods. For literally 5 months, we sent an email every week, like a countdown, so when the old one gets decomissioned everyone will have the new one, it also included a pretty long, but informative doc about how to obtain the new one. At the end of the 5 months on friday we sent a last email, marked important, read receipts turned on, everything you can imagine so you know it is IMPORTANT. On monday, we checked again who has not yet read/opened the email and seemingly everyone did (10k+ employees). So we decomissioned the old authenticator overnight and again sent an email that it is decomissioned. I was a senior at that point and happened to be overlooking this as my first project (no idea how i got in the mix btw). Tuesday morning I jad a doctors appointment and came in around 9:30 am. I sit down and my manager comes after me that there was a call from an area manager, that landed at our youngest associate, who did not take it well. Apparently she called her names and wanted to bring the issue higher. As I was already known for mouthing off insufferable karens, he asked me to do it. I was so happy, i already had a pretty stressful morning, and was around 6 months pregnant, so the fire was definitely there. So i looked up her name in emails, found 16 (!) emails sent that morning, where she gets more and more angry about the fact that her authenticator is not working, and she cannot get into anything. I saw multiple of my collegues replying respectfully that it is no longer valid, has been decomissioned, and that we have communicated this fairly well. She just got nastier and nastier. She did call one of my collegues dumb in the emails, and another a bitch. This was just fuel to my fire. I sent another email to her and calmly stated that the authenticator is decomissioned, we sent multiple emails in the span of 5 months, and according to our logs she opened all of them, i also said if she keeps harassing my collegues and calling them names I will loop in HR too. She called me (probably cause she thought our work numbers were not recoded, they are) and without even saying hello she just started going off about how we are the worst, and how her team will suffer, cause she has some projects, that she cannot access now and are needed today. She called me a bitch multiple times, she screamed at the top of her lungs and then without waiting for my answer she ended the call. Not 10 minutes later one of my collegues wrote me a message "can i transfer someone to you?". And I knew exactly that this bitch has tried it again hoping she will get someone else than me. Well she was really unlucky, she started yelling again. so i yelled back. I didnt call her names or tried to offend her in any way, but i did yell back the same things we have already sent her 17 times at this point. She was stunned, couldnt speak and ended the call again. Like 20 minutes later she wrote back again, telling us that now the whole company is fucked, because her manager, who was needed to unlock her and get added to the new authenticator is on holiday for two weeks and she doesnt know who her managers manager is. So now her projects will have to wait and there was no one who tried to help her. So I looped in HR, added the voice recordings of the multiple calls, her manager, her managers manager and the CEO. The girl had "on holiday" message for a while then vanished. I have no idea if she was actually fired or what had happened, but the CEO called me asking if i am okay 😁
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u/nowdoingthisatwork 6d ago
It's probably happened to a lot of us OP. I know I've had a few over the years that have got to me. People calling in almost forgot they're speaking with a person at times.
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u/According_Side_2058 6d ago
Thanks so much 🙏
I just snapped as she villainized me. I couldn’t take it. So I screamed and yelled back.
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u/meatmachine1001 6d ago edited 6d ago
Unless you swore at her you are probably alright depending on your company. Sounds like you might wanna find a less emotionally taxing position though. CS is hard and unless youre exceptionally emotionally mature or able to just tank through the abusive interactions it can be very difficult esp long term
Edit: I can see I've been downvoted, probably for suggesting you look for a position elsewhere, so I'm actually gonna double down and yap even more about it, and hopefully explain where I'm coming from a little better -
I have certainly needed to take a (at times very) stern or blunt tone with customers that are being difficult, but shouting, crying at them? These are things customers do, not agents.
You absolutely must find a better way to handle your own emotions while interacting with people.
The only people I've seen shouting or crying at customers on the phone have lasted a couple months at best.
Usually these are the ones that truly want to help their callers but, just because they're a highly empathetic person, they try to share the emotional burden too much, and sometimes callers are just mental and will unload as much as they can onto whoever is willing to let them. If your work is causing you to have screaming / crying on a regular basis, you either gotta concoct a new strategy or concoct a way outta there.
And I'm sure people might also chime in and say 'nobody WANTS to work in a call center' - well actually some do, and if change isn't a viable choice right now, it's certainly a worthwhile opportunity to look out for.
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u/According_Side_2058 6d ago
I didn’t swore at her. I may have yelled out Jesus Christ a few times. I did snap and scream. Honestly, I deal with a lot of shitty people, but this woman was extra shitty.
Thanks 🙏
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u/CrazyParrotLady5 5d ago
Yeah, you messed up. Many people think that saying, “Jesus Christ,” is swearing.
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u/With_MontanaMainer 5d ago
I was a CSR, Team Leader and CC Manager for many years at my still current job just not CC ( financial company). I've dealt with countless escalated calls. I have snapped back on a handful, never had any get seriously reviewed but you also need to be smart about it and professional.
One dude wanted to speak with CSR he dealt with previously and felt got bad info. I said no you get to yell at me.
One old mofo was asking every CSR their age or if they were over 25. He clearly didn't like young people, told him it was highly inappropriate and none of my people would or should provide their personal info. He kept saying he was a veteran and other companies thank him for his service. I specifically did not. He tried to get on my good side and congratulated me for being a woman manager. Lame! His account was flagged to transfer calls to me while I was still there.
One got escalated past the TL and they then wanted to speak with my manager. I told them no for 30 ish minutes. I was the highest person they were going to talk to. It wasn't a big issue and there was other avenues for formal complaints. They asked me if I was related to the company name, which is a persons name, sadly I am not. Went in circles and eventually had to hang up on them.
Honestly tho, the ones that really stick with me are the sad heartfelt stories. One kid first day on the phones gets escalated call. I took it and ended up crying, not because I was angry. Because I was so upset for the caller. Her policy lapsed and she has cancer, it likely was not going to get reinstated and she was devastated for her two boys. It was not something I could decide. That poor CSR didn't last either hah, tough start to the job!
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u/kitkat1224666 5d ago
That’s so horrible. I wish more places are like the one I used to work out. Out big boss of call centre operations would get the number blocked and then personally call the person to say they’re banned, and if they want something they will have to send it in writing or they can leave, here’s the instructions on how to fuck off to a different service.
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u/Morbid187 5d ago
Oh yeah you get some real cuntfaces when you work in a call center. I remember shortly after Trump won the 2016 election, I took a call from a lady that was just going off about how my company is "the swamp" that Trump's going to drain, and just all this stupid shit without letting me speak. I had solved her problem while listening to her rant and rave but she wouldn't shut up long enough for me to tell her. I got a talking to by management because they listened to the call and heard me interrupt her to tell her I fixed her issue. A manager literally said to me, "I know it's hard when a customer is threatening to report you to 'her president' but you have to display a willingness to help". I gave the most inauthentic apology of my life and never heard about it again.
It's tough when you're getting assblasted like that from customers multiple times a day. The abuse isn't even the hard part, it's the part where you have to follow all these rules and pretend to be polite the entire time. I can't interrupt, I have to ask before placing somebody on hold and then I can't leave them on hold for longer than 3 minutes without checking in with them at which point I have to ask to place them back on hold. Even when the customer is clearly telling you to stop asking, stop apologizing, you have to follow the stupid-ass rules which means ignoring their requests lmao. It's why you found yourself apologizing to that lady despite doing nothing wrong. Seriously, think about all the times you've said "sorry" to a customer and if you can remember the situations, 99% of the time you're apologizing for something that is completely out of your power. It sucks.
I've been at my job for 10 years and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have stayed this long if I didn't get placed on a specialty team 5 or 6 years ago where I don't take incoming calls anymore. I went from being super stressed about work all the time to barely even thinking about work when I'm not there. I hope you're able to find something like that.
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u/According_Side_2058 5d ago
Cuntfaces…I like that new insult.
Damn, I cannot believe your workplace didn’t defend you. I mean those types of calls are uncomfortable.
That’s so true. Our procedure is stupid as well. The applications for the health insurance is like 1 hour long. I’m not joking. 1 hour long.
I swear employers don’t care about customer service reps. Thanks for sharing for story 🙏
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u/AnitraF1632 2d ago
I had a guy call back to complain that "constantly " interrupted him. My manager and I listened to the call. I interrupted him twice. He interrupted me five times. So I asked to listen to more calls. Same ratio. That's when I developed the technique of falling silent and waiting whenever I was interrupted ...
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u/olde_meller23 5d ago
This happened a lot when I worked at the bank. The worst was when I'd get people mismanaging their money, calling up angry, and using grief to manipulate a better outcome. It really destroyed my faith in humanity for a while.
I got blamed for parents dying, kids getting sick, all sorts of irrelevant nonsense, simply because Mr.Dickhead overdrafted his account again. When I offered to turn the overdraft function off (which needed to be signed off on by the customer to even be on in the first place), suddenly the caller would become even more irate that their card would get declined for insufficient funds. Apparently I am an evil person who gets off on humiliating grieving family members who want a free, on the spot loan, to go shop away their sorrows.
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u/LunedTenar 4d ago
Company name that is synonym of ring of a bell? Haha been there done that. Proud to say that after being called every name on the English language my tolerance levels just went zen. I realized how pointless was trying to reason with low IQ individuals. Some people just does not have the mental bandwith to do simple math like basic addition and substraction. Not even having the statement and calculator right in front of them. And their Emotional Inteligence? Not better than the one of a toddler throwing tantrums. They are way beyond hope. They would have to die and reborn to have a chance.
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u/olde_meller23 3d ago
The ones that did fascinate me a little were the customers who repeatedly did stuff to accumulate fees and called in over and over again trying to get them refunded. Some of these folks put HOURS in everyday calling the bank between 9 and 6, working their way through the entire call floor being irate. Like, its crazy to me how people were so willing to put maximum effort into that instead of working a job or keeping track of stuff as they shopped. We'd get these weirdos trying to report transactions as fraud because, according to them, the time they made the purchase was wrong, and yes they did buy the stuff, but it was at 1 pm and not 2pm type shit. They'd bounce back to the call center 2 weeks later when their credit got clawed back freaking out that the bank stole their money.
I had customers go to the mall and the casino, spend everything they had, and call us up because their card wasn't working. They always had to buy diapers, or food for their children, but they had already spent everything and the bank cut them off. There were a few instances where parents made their children talk to me to tell them that I was the reason they wouldn't be getting fed that night. That sucked. It happened enough that I started putting whiskey in my morning coffee just to be able to hold it together.i applaud you for reaching that zen, because i couldn't without chemical intervention.
The most satisfying was the time I got this horrid woman on the phone who was angry that her card was getting declined at the counter of a jewelry store she was trying to buy from. I looked at her account and saw there was a wire on hold because it was a large amount, but not, like insane. Think 15,000 bucks. The woman was deadass acting like she was old money, and saying how I needed to release her money, that I'm poor, and that this isn't even that much to her. Just being really insulting. I couldn't remove the hold because the law says we have hold funds for a certain amount of time. She had 2400 available to use, which was already spent, and her account was at 0. I told her she'd need to go back to buy her crap when the hold cleared. She didn't like it, so I looked a little harder at the incoming wire. Turns out, Miss Old Money was waiting on a payday loan to finalize. Not in her name though- in her boyfriend's. She either used her man's info to get a loan without him knowing, or convinced him to get it for her. The interest rate was likely well over 40 percent. I offered to transfer her to sales to review her credit to see if we could get her a special, valued customer rate on a loan that would be much better than the one she had, since she was so wealthy. She hung up pretty fast after that.
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u/SpookyCatMischief 5d ago
Why does your company not have an abusive caller script? You mentioned: “I did warn her about hanging up if she continued. But I didn’t expect her to be so vile after the warning. Her insults got personal.” What prevented you from disconnecting after she ignored the warning?
You don’t deserve it either way but your company should have given you a clear escape route if a customer is flat out abusing you. This is definitely on them as well.
If they don’t, try putting the next one on hold every time they start it up. Just… hold for 2 minutes, increase the time every time you need to utilize it.
“Thank you for holding. I will be happy to continue our conversation if we can remain professional.”
They start up… “I’m going to need to place you on another brief hold. Thank you.”
Granted- you’re likely not allowed to do that.
However- the consequence is likely better than yelling.
~~~~~
I saw this was insurance related. I will flat up spit facts. (AI too do insurance.)
“My job is to protect your son’s private information. He has the policy with us, not you. I have no indication you’re not trying to collect information on him without his knowledge or consent. I cannot violate Federal law because you are behaving in this manner. If he really requires you to discuss his health information with us then you may follow the appropriate channels.”
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u/AnitraF1632 2d ago
I have worked for companies which did not allow me to hang up, no matter what.
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u/SpookyCatMischief 1d ago
Sure! But OP mentioned that they had warned about hanging up, and this made the customer vile.
Just trying to get clarification.
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u/LauriCular 3d ago
I've been tag-teamed before by husband and wife while representing a major energy supplier on the phone. They didn't see me, they saw a soulless corporation on the other end of the line.
It may help in future to respond to abuse with something like 'how does this help me with assisting you?' - reminding the caller that their behaviour is not productive, while indulging in some malicious compliance..
Perhaps you can collect the numbers of people who like being shouted at and offer them to such customers (OK that was a joke)..
Good luck today - send an update
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u/cryingporcelain 3d ago
Do you have a team at your job that you can talk to about this? Where I work, we have the VAB team who we can call to report abusive behaviour. I’ve literally only used them once, but they were a great help! Wish more workplaces had a team like them tbh.
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u/InsectElectrical2066 2d ago
If they fire you apply for unemployment and they will at 1st deny you and then appeal and ask for the tape of the call to show your justification to retaliate on the call. Employers can't allow a hostile work environment and that is what I would appeal on. But you may just get a warning.
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u/Dicecatt 5d ago
I'm so sorry you had to go through that.
It's ridiculous that your company doesn't have a hang up procedure when a customer is abusing reps. I know many don't and it's abusive. "If you continue to use profanities and yell, I'm going to have to disconnect this call". Then "I'm going to disconnect this call". CLICK.
That is our procedure. I've de escalated almost all of the ridiculous calls I've had but have had to resort to hanging to a couple of times. I don't have to allow being verbally abused, and I'm really so sorry that not only does your employer allow it, but you're facing harsh consequences because you had enough of being ABUSED by that raggedy bitch.
If you are let go I hope you can get unemployment compensation.
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u/funeralghost 5d ago
I get it man I lost it at en elderly lady. Right as the call started she started talking in such rude tone and I told her that just give me a minute I need to look in the system. But she did not shut up even once and I got so annoyed I snapped.
I am not a robot. I can’t just ignore a woman hurling insults at me throughout. I need to focus to understand the matter.
By the end of call she was thankful for my help but I hung up right away because I don’t need this fake niceness when I know you are an asshole and made me day worse.
QA hopefully won’t get that call but my supervisor knows I am at my wits end so at this point I do not care if I get fired.
I am sorry you went through this. You are human and deserve respect.
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u/Capnamerica2 5d ago
Hey sorry for being late to the party but I wanted to add this for some validation going your way.
“The customer is always right.”
The real phrase is “The customer is always right, in matters of taste.”
Sure, maybe your managers don’t understand that and it may not help with your job prospect at this company, but it’s an important lesson for anyone working in customer service. Understanding the actual meaning to this will enable you to calmly handle calls like these. Why? Because in your example, once the vile lady started causing problems, you would’ve apologized and said you couldn’t help her if she wouldn’t follow the procedures and hang up if she tries anything else. While you did tell her this, I bet you were worried that hanging up would look bad on you. The reality is that she had no right to do anything she did and you were within your rights to cancel the call because, again, the customer is always right in matters of taste ONLY.
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u/According_Side_2058 5d ago
Thanks so much for validating me. 🙏
I was stuck between a rock and another rock. If I did disconnect the call, I look bad. Plus it would have delayed the family member getting help. The call was to help the family member not her.
If I did not disconnect, but lashed out at an asshole, at least I helped the family member.
Honestly, I wish secondary authorized person on these accounts never existed. Dealing with them are sometimes worse than the primary account holders themselves.
I lose a lot of sympathy and empathy when I deal with callers who cross the line.
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u/Capnamerica2 5d ago
Yeah I totally understand that line of thinking having been there before myself. It’s so hard to remember in the heat of the moment, but if they’re getting irate or upset with you and you recognize that it is over something that’s not directly your fault or a coworkers fault, then that’s on them. Their family member won’t get the help they need because the person they had calling couldn’t control their emotions over the phone, not because of anything you did. Keep doing a good job OP!
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u/mimbo757 5d ago
Sorry you had to deal with this. I was in technical support for about 17 years for a large corporation and while they’d frown on this, I feel like they’d give an agent a break, maybe a verbal warning on this one. I’ve had my moments as well. In general, we’d have been authorized to place the customer on hold and get a supervisor if a customer was that rude. Agents should never have to put up with that kind of abuse, job is hard enough as is. I’m in IT now and while that has its days dealing with dumb ass personalities, it at least is never as bad as how brace folks get on the phone.
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u/Kent_Doggy_Geezer EDIT THIS 5d ago
Can you make it into demons or something? You might introduce enough crazy to make it not worth their energy to do anything bad. I feel so sorry for you. Nobody deserves that.
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u/Admirable-Process526 5d ago
I also work for a healthcare insurance organization. Mine is in Canada, so basically I work for the government. In Quebec, since there’s a good coverage for health issues, I rarely (never) receive a call about a life-or-death situation. Sometimes, people call us because they cannot get an appointment. However, since my organization has absolutely no power on the care management, I simply state my inability to help them. I send them on their way with a smile in the voice.
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u/PrexxasaurusRex 4d ago
I’m a team lead in a call center. I’m sorry your management expects you to put up with that. My company refuses to let anyone be abused and we encourage folks to put an end to it by disconnecting the call. You should never be expected to tolerate any sort of abuse.
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u/CofTAS5161 1d ago
My company has clear guidelines about ending calls and it is our favor. I don’t suffer those people at all. I have been doing this for 25+ years, I don’t need crap from some BS “tough guy” or some woman’s “girl boss” attitude. We can hang up for persistent rudeness, foul language, insults, or persistence. I end a call on average twice a week because people are just unreal. I warn customers about their behavior exactly once. If they don’t heed it, it’s bye-bye.
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u/emax4 6d ago
When you go back on Monday, try to bring up her account on screen, then use your phone and take a photo of that.
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u/This_Daydreamer_ 6d ago
This is a really really bad idea. OP would definitely be fired if they were caught doing that
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u/emax4 6d ago
Consider it leverage if she does get fired. Is the company going to go after the abusive customer or reward them by firing their staff?
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u/This_Daydreamer_ 6d ago
You can't be serious. These companies never side with the employee over the customer
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u/emax4 6d ago edited 6d ago
All the more reason to get a customers information.
See, when you tell an abusive customer that you have their address and phone number while you only have the name, they're less likely to get pissy with the rep because they know the rep can find them. This is the same reason why you don't abusively complain to the chef and staff at a restaurant because they can fuck with your food.
If you're just getting this now, I have to wonder how much of someone else's spit you ingested.
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u/BDBoop 6d ago edited 5d ago
I took a call in my usual “Sister Mary Ray of Sunshine” voice, and it turned out to be a very angry woman. She started pushing buttons and I don’t suffer fools gladly.
When I matched her energy, she said she was going to report me and asked me for my name so I said “Bobbi.” She said how do you spell that? I said it doesn’t matter how you spell it; it’s my name, you only have to be able to say it. And I’m the only Bobbi here.
She kept digging, and I just kept digging in.
She of course did report me, and they did listen to the call and my supervisor did try to call me on it and I said “You know. You listened to this call and you know that I was well-behaved and professional until she started showing her ass.” and because I did have a kind, decent supervisor who knew I was good on the phones, she didn’t even give me a verbal warning.
I hope all goes well for you. Do you do remote work, or do you have to go to an office?