Call center rants

I worked at a couple of call centres for almost a year and I remember having stories but they've fully fallen away like sand between my fingers. That whole year of my life is just a blur. What I remember more than the calls were the coworkers. One of my places took anyone without an interview and then culled most of the people they hired in two weeks. So we got all sorts of people. A lot of them were young people so there was some drama. Some older people with quirks or lifestyles that made them unsuitable for other kinds of employment I guess. I dunno, call centre stuff was an almost-pleasant numbness, I definitely remember thinking I could do it for the rest of my life and be pretty much okay with life.

I worked a customer service job for a year and a half answering customer complaints, filing warranties, etc. One day I had a customer, who spent nearly a thousand dollars on one battery that was flooded, (context: flooded batteries cannot be shipped anything but LTL freight, meaning shipping was $300 at least). I carry conversation for a couple weeks, battery comes in from back order, and confirm price, and quantity with customer. 

So, I was working tech support, and this guy calls in, clearly frustrated.

Him: "My laptop won’t turn on! I’ve tried everything. This piece of junk is completely dead!"

Me: "Alright, let’s go through some steps. Is it plugged in?"

Him: "Of course, I’m not an idiot!"

I go through the usual troubleshooting—battery, charger, power button—nothing. Then, as a last-ditch effort, I ask:

Me: "Can you check if the outlet itself is working?"

Him: "Oh, hold on..."

There’s a long silence. Then I hear him say, "Oh... um... so… there’s a switch on the wall, right? And… it might have been off this whole time."

Turns out, he had his entire workstation plugged into a power strip, which was plugged into an outlet controlled by a light switch—one he had accidentally turned off.

After an awkward chuckle, he flips the switch, and—boom—his laptop springs to life.

Him: "Uh, let’s just pretend this never happened, okay?"

Me: "Your secret’s safe with me."

Moral of the story? Sometimes, the most high-tech problems have the lowest-tech solutions.

Dealing with the public isn’t for the weak. I really admire the people that work at 24/7 call center services because they have to be so patient and understanding. Naturally, a lot depends on the company they’re working for and how much training they recieve. With the right education, you can deal with the hardest issues with grace. Even so, there are some people who are unreasonable. In those cases, it’s time to learn not to take things personally. Which is easier said than done, but if you don’t, you’ll have a miserable career.