For the last year, I have worked at the call centre of Northern Rock. We deal with a number of customers, from people who collect their dole money then gamble it immediately, to those who have millions invested with us.

I got a phone call one evening, and gave the usual spiel; Good Evening, name, account number please. It wasn't the usually call. The guy on the phone was quiet, his voice cracking due to the macabre tone in which he was talking. He gave me an account number, but explained he wasn't the account holder. He went into more detail. His cousin had been in Iraq, fighting alongside the British Army. It was his second month there, and an ambush occurred on his cousin's troop. Two of them were gunned down; one of them being his cousin.

The family were now trying to wrap up everything, but the deceased's father or immediately family were too distraught to do anything. But, accounts needed to be closed. So, they asked the cousin to do it. The cousin was who I was talking to. I went through the procedure with him. How we needed a copy of the death certificate, probate, etc. All legal fuddy duddy. The guy started to cry, but took deep breaths and thanked me for my help.

After the phone call, I needed a couple of minutes. I went to the break room, and got a glass of water. Eventually, I felt well enough to go back onto the phones.

The first call I took was quite a rich gentlemen, who sounded so disgusted on the phone.

"EXCUSE ME, I recently had a matured bond, and I think you've duped me out of £5 interest. You silly cretins can't do anything right. Can you PLEASE put me through to a manager immediately, for I wish to make this a formal complaint."

I hung up on him.
(__, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 12:31, 23 replies)

*click*

(viciousal, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 12:44, closed)

It's absolutely like this.
People call up bereaved, massively in debt, victims of crime, often fucked over by the bank to the point of contemplating suicide - they're always friendly, understanding, patient.
The ones who decide you're an evil automaton and give you half an hour of personal abuse always turn out to have just misunderstood something. And they never say sorry when they find out.
( Zuowan, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 12:56, closed)

I looked into it, and it turned out he miscalculated the interest.
He opened up his bond on the 3rd of the month instead of the 1st.

But, you're absolutely right. That's why I loved dealing with Current Account customers. Down to earth, normal folks. The people with £100,000 Fixed Rate Bonds were often cunts.
(__, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 13:05, closed)

He believed you had cost him money.
Costing people money, no matter how small an amount, is serious.

Hanging up on someone as you see their problem as trivial and their manner as high-handed is very unprofessional. If he didn't swear at you then you should still have dealt with him professionally. Then cussed him blind once off the phone.

Have you considered that this may simply have been one in a long line of errors your bank had made on his account? Perhaps he had had a lot of cretinous service and was reaching the end of his tether.

If you were one of my staff and you did that I'd tear you a new arsehole.

Equally, I'd have been irritated that you felt a need to come off your phone because of someone else's grief. I'd have been delighted that you handled the call sensitively and politely, but very annoyed that you were incapable of being professional and getting on with your job. It wasn't your relative or friend, was it?
( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Mon 6 Sep 2010, 13:12, closed)

If you don't treat customer service staff with a basic amount of respect then you deserve everything you get.
Unfortunately some people think "the customer is always right" means the relationship they have with service staff is one of master and slave.
( Zuowan, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 13:20, closed)

I seem to surprise people when I'm complaining by being nice
I start polite and friendly, explaining my issue (it might well be my mistake after all). I ask them nicely what they can do to help. This works extremely well in person if you smile nicely. The staff on the Customer Service desk in Tesco look stunned when I do this to them.
If you still don't get what you want, get firm, but try not to get angry (I struggle with this), but whatever you don't get rude or abusive - they will be totally justified to ask you to leave (or simply end the call if on the 'phone).
Remember that these people are just doing their job - no matter how awful the customer service is at Santander, British Telecom, British Gas and so on. (Smile bank has got it right - other firms could learn from them).
( heyrudi has just found this setting, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 15:45, closed)

It works, when the staff aren't jobsworth robots - so it's always best to start off as if they're real people.
We missed a 6am holiday flight, largely our own fault, and went to the Thomson help desk. They were so astonished that we came in with a smile and the attitide that "We screwed up. We also know the next flight out to our original destination is in four days, so have you got flights today to anywhere else interesting we could take instead?" that we had three of their staff dedicated to us for over 20 minutes, coming up with suggestions and calling head office for options. In the end one of them worked out a way to get us to our original destination only a few hours later. Top service!

Shame that the company itself is so bloody cheapskate that we had to wait two hours for their single contracted baggage service team to get round to unloading our plane on the way back.
( Fronds are waving gently on, Tue 7 Sep 2010, 13:47, closed)

It's always best to be polite
I remember when I was a frontline phone monkey for Dixons/The Link/Curry's about 10 years back.

Some people were treated so shabbily by the company, but were still so polite that you'd go out of your way to help them.

Some people, despite being almost 100% in the right, were so snappy and rude that you'd go out of your way to make their lives difficult.

It's always worth being nice to people - it gets you a lot further and you finish the call feeling happy and human. It's also not the phone person's fault you have a problem. However, a bit of snappiness and frustration is understandable and, provided there is no personal abuse or swearing then it has to be coped with - it's what the phone person gets paid for.
( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Wed 8 Sep 2010, 14:31, closed)

[Deletes content]

Edit: Actually, nobody needs to know that.
(__, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 13:24, closed)

Wow, really?
I think maybe you were my boss once. Have you ever given someone exactly 2:45 minutes off to attend a funeral, bollocked them for being 3 mins late, then bollocked them again later on for, allegedly, not working up to usual standard (ie, being a bit distracted) ?

I agree, hanging up is a little unprofessional... maybe transfer the call then walk out for some fresh air.
(MrOli is ugly, but in the morning you will be sober, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 13:39, closed)

[Look, to be fair, I put the guy on hold for a moment to compose myself. Hense how I know what the problem turned out to be. But it's QOTW. You're all about twisting the truth to make a better ending.]

(__, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 13:46, closed)

Absolutely - got to have some poetic license here.
Think I prefer your "Falling Down" ending :-)
(MrOli is ugly, but in the morning you will be sober, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 13:52, closed)

well, that's entirely different, and understandable.
Oh, if only QOTWers were more honest!
( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Wed 8 Sep 2010, 14:48, closed)

If it's not mum/dad/sis/bro/child then there's no time off given!
I think if it's a family or friend an afternoon off for a funeral is fair enough, but if it's not a relative or close friend, and you're getting upset over someone else's problem then you should MTFU.

Sympathy and empathy are fine, but shouldn't affect what you do day to day.
( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Wed 8 Sep 2010, 14:34, closed)

So, just to clarify that last point there...
Upsetting things are absolutely not allowed to upset someone unless they DIRECTLY relate to them?
(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 15:34, closed)

A clarification.
Of course people are able to be affected by upsetting things happening around them. It'd be pretty inhuman for someone not to be. For example, when I heard your news I felt terrible for you, likewise when I heard about a former housemate being shot, and when a (friend of a) friend's baby died aged 3 months.

All of these events didn't directly affect me, but all of them gave me pause for thought and popped into my head on a number of occasions over the following days. It's very easy to imagine the distress suffered, and it's easy to put yourself in the position of victim.

However, none of these things distracted me from my day to day activities/work.

The point I was trying to make was that the OP handled the first call admirably; he was clearly sensitive, caring, sympathetic, professional and efficient. Great! Exactly what every frontline customer service phone monkey should be (and which sadly very few are).

However, with the second call, there was no tragedy, just a grumpy old man. He was still a valid caller and a customer of equal importance (one might even say more importance, as he was alive) to the previous caller. By hanging up there was no attempt to empathise with him, or understand his point. It's rude beyond belief, unprofessional and ignorant. The man may have been miserable, miserly and a twat but, as long as he is not abusive and does not swear he is still entitled to good service.

The fact is that moving/upseting stories are worth a thought and are worth special attention, but not to the detriment of your job or the service you provide to others.

Hopefully that clears things up a bit; I am sympathetic, and as aeasily affected as the next man, but I also believe that work is work, and very distant tragedy that doesn't directly affect you is, despite being worth a thought, not something that should be a distraction.
( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Wed 8 Sep 2010, 15:02, closed)

Correct
"you were incapable of being professional and getting on with your job. It wasn't your relative or friend, was it?"

This is exactly why whenever I see a humanitarian crisis on the news, I am left completely unmoved by it. No way am I donating a single thought to starving or suffering human beings, let alone any money! Why would I? They aren't my relatives or friends!

Thanks to Disasterprone for showing us that even in showing compassion and empathy towards human suffering there are still rules!! And we'd better follow them or he'll rip us a new arsehole.

What a coooccccckkkkkkkkkk
(Andrew Avetoom, Tue 7 Sep 2010, 15:19, closed)

Um, how does this relate to a humanitarian crisis?
Brady, I've thought you were a cock for years - you've proved it again!
( disasterprone "Pyjamas caused the Holocaust", Wed 8 Sep 2010, 15:04, closed)

so what you're saying is

(The Cat Hater punch a cow for the planet, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 13:36, closed)

(The Cat Hater punch a cow for the planet, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 13:36, closed)

Pffffft!!!!!
This is excellent.
(__, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 13:39, closed)

Is that a "No Beaker" shirt on the tought guy?

(__, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 13:40, closed)

It's 'No Cats'
but I forgot my cape
(The Cat Hater punch a cow for the planet, Mon 6 Sep 2010, 13:40, closed)