Suspension from work advice

[Blue Star]

I was on a call today (work for a call centre), and had this really arsey, irate customer. To cut a long story short, he started shouting racial abuse at me down the phone line. I remained calm and when I tried to interject eventually, he said shut up.

At this point, I raised my voice and said please don't tell me to shut up. The problem was manager heard me say that.

He pulled me in and he said why did you react like that. I said I'm sorry, but he was shouting racial abuse to me over the phone, swearing, and at the end i just requested the customer not tell me to shut up.

If this call was monitored and recorded, they couldn't touch me. However, this call wasn't recorded and now my manager, whose a bit of a tosser, says I'm going to ring the customer and ask him whether he spouted racial abuse at me?

Is this the most ridiculous thing or what? As if he's going to confess. Its equivalent to the police going to a criminal and asking them to fess up.

Now, I have been suspended for 2 weeks with pay. My manager has asked me to write a statement saying why I reacted the way i did?

What the hell shall i write?

Sorry I had to let some steam off.

 

[KillahBee]

So in other words, you got a 2wk paid vacation?

 

[jnevin]

What's your race? This will help decide if any racial abuse was warranted.

j/k


Write exactly what happened, and that your honkey boss is being a dumb cracker.

 

[Lestat]

sounds like a shitty fucking job bro, what exactly do you do?

and as long as they are paying you for the 2 weeks off, no harm no foul right? just explain your situation and if your boss still has a problem tell him to toss off.

 

[manny78]

You get two weeks vacation paid and you come here to complain ? There's something I dont get. You should thank God for that.

 

[Lestat]

You get two weeks vacation paid and you come here to complain ? There's something I dont get. You should thank God for that.

why would he thank the baby jeebus?

 

[Blue Star]

On a plus note, it's a 2 week vacation. However, a suspension normally leads to dismissal.

I work on the phones and deal with incoming calls from customers.

 

[manny78]

why would he thank the baby jeebus?

He pisses him off and in return, he gets two weeks vacation. Damn, thats some kind of miracle only Jesus could perform.

 

[Lestat]

On a plus note, it's a 2 week vacation. However, a suspension normally leads to dismissal.

I work on the phones and deal with incoming calls from customers.

If you get fired, you will get unemployment right?

also if you got fired, I would sue, seriously bro, you were not in the wrong, you explained your side to the boss, I guarentee you a lawyer would love to take your case.

 

[Blue Star]

In the meantime, they want me to write a letter saying why i acted like i did, and why i think my response was warranted?

Any tips

 

[manny78]

In the meantime, they want me to write a letter saying why i acted like i did, and why i think my response was warranted?

Any tips

What are the laws of your country ?

 

[Lestat]

In the meantime, they want me to write a letter saying why i acted like i did, and why i think my response was warranted?

Any tips

just explain exactly what happened, period.

 

[Lestat]

what exactly did the guy say to you that was racist?

 

[nugget]

why would he thank the baby jeebus?

Jesus <> God

Just an observation, as if you believe what's in the bible, Moses spoke to god about 1200 years before Jesus was born.

Just being a nit-picker. I myself think its mediocre fiction at best, but all them bible thumpers freely interchange Jesus with God anyway.

 

[jenscats5]

In the meantime, they want me to write a letter saying why i acted like i did, and why i think my response was warranted?

Any tips

I used to do customer service & we didn't have to take racial/sexual or any abuse of any kind......simply saying "please don't tell me to shut up" really isn't a firing offense.....

Unless you live/work in a hire/fire at will area....then your screwed....

 

[velvett]

Ach

Find a new job - getting abused on the phone is no way to make a living.

 

[Lestat]

Jesus <> God

Just an observation, as if you believe what's in the bible, Moses spoke to god about 1200 years before Jesus was born.

Just being a nit-picker. I myself think its mediocre fiction at best, but all them bible thumpers freely interchange Jesus with God anyway.

i was just trying to fit in with the thumper crowd

 

[nugget]

What are the laws of your country ?

I would guess by your use of English you're not American, so it will depend greatly on what Manny says above.

Having worked in call centers previously myself, you must NEVER take what someone says on the phone personally. They have no idea who you are, and the only thing you do by reacting to something said is to fuel their fire. If you do nothing, and let your supervisor know about it, your customer will probably wind up with account issues. If you react, you will always be the one with troubles.

I worked for a shipper and an internet provider. For the shipper, I had a customer arrested for shooting his printer and making verbal threats of violence to any employee of the company I represented. Had half dozen accounts canceled while working for the ISP for being abusive. I never once allowed it to be a personal attack on me, and continued with my calls.

If they won't stop and keep escalating, put them on hold and alert your supervisor so they are in the loop.

Hindsight being 20/20, you can do that in the future, but for now, I would write the appology, and express some of what I said. Place guilt on yourself, but show you've learned from this mistake. Hopefully they will take that to heart.

 

[thisforumrots]

you should aks fo 2 mo weeks off wit pay

 

[pintoca]

dude

what sort of riggedy ass setup is that.

In todays call centers ALL calls are recorded, not selected ones as you are lead to believe with the "this call MAY be recorded" prompt.

ALL calls are recorded, specially for this. With digital recording there is no excuse available anymore

 

[Razorguns]

write your letter

then enjoy your vacation.

 

[jaybois]

How would he know what you are,if he can"t see you?

 

[stosstruppe]

What a shitty set up. Boss sounds like a twat. Call wasn't recorded? Was under the impression for U.K. all calls had to be recorded to protect yourself aswell as the customer in your line of work.

Ah well, can't offer any advice, but my sympathies to you as 2 of my friends do that job and I hear the stories!

Find a new job - getting abused on the phone is no way to make a living.

Agreed, though working the phones pays quite well in the UK for people without a trade or university education.

 

[Blue Star]

I was under the impression all calls are recorded as well.

It really pisses me off. if you happen to have an of day, and your service levels slip, the call just happens to be recorded, and you get feedback. However, when it's vice versa, they didn't record the call.

The customers obviously going to say that i was the one who started it.

 

[Smurfy]

i work at a call center as well.

 

[nugget]

dude

what sort of riggedy ass setup is that.

In todays call centers ALL calls are recorded, not selected ones as you are lead to believe with the "this call MAY be recorded" prompt.

ALL calls are recorded, specially for this. With digital recording there is no excuse available anymore

I have worked in 2 call centers, one of which did contract work for other companies. The only segment of any call center that recorded everything was the AT&T Verification call center. They called back the numbers they were setting up LD service on and recorded a verbal confirmation that the person agreed to change their LD provider. Everywhere else, the business model didn't constitute recording every call. It would be difficult to capture all the calls in a large call center, let alone catalog them all. 500 calls at a time would mean about 500 megs a minute, roughly, so a terabyte in just under a day and a half. Then you have to have a means in place to offload them. What are your retention metrics, and so on. If you have to pay 10 FTE's to take care of your call recordings, you better make sure it fits your business needs.

 

[pintoca]

I have worked in 2 call centers, one of which did contract work for other companies. The only segment of any call center that recorded everything was the AT&T Verification call center. They called back the numbers they were setting up LD service on and recorded a verbal confirmation that the person agreed to change their LD provider. Everywhere else, the business model didn't constitute recording every call. It would be difficult to capture all the calls in a large call center, let alone catalog them all. 500 calls at a time would mean about 500 megs a minute, roughly, so a terabyte in just under a day and a half. Then you have to have a means in place to offload them. What are your retention metrics, and so on. If you have to pay 10 FTE's to take care of your call recordings, you better make sure it fits your business needs.

bor, there are way. We are running a global IPCC cluster, serving 4 Enterprise Service Centers, 24x7 and we record all calls.

We started a project this week, and we were getting 1000 cals/hour (those are crazy numbers, btw) and we were having no problem recording them all (nobody listen to them anyway). We were having congestion issues (with 120 incoming lines available, but that is another story though).

 

[Ilk]

I used to do customer service & we didn't have to take racial/sexual or any abuse of any kind......simply saying "please don't tell me to shut up" really isn't a firing offense.....

Unless you live/work in a hire/fire at will area....then your screwed....

I agree.. Nothing wrong with what you said.. I would've done worse..

You will encounter many distractions and many temptations to put your goal aside. The security of a job, A wife who wants kids, Whatever. But if you hang in there, always following your vision, I have no doubt you will succeed!

Maybe its a sign to get into something else.. What is it you like doing? If you don't like your current job, Get out of it becase you'll be lousy at it. You don't have to stay with a job for the rest of your life, Because if you don't like it, you'll never be successful in it..

With the letter, Just explain what you've mentioned here. Be honest about it and you'll be fine!

 

[nugget]

bor, there are way. We are running a global IPCC cluster, serving 4 Enterprise Service Centers, 24x7 and we record all calls.

We started a project this week, and we were getting 1000 cals/hour (those are crazy numbers, btw) and we were having no problem recording them all (nobody listen to them anyway). We were having congestion issues (with 120 incoming lines available, but that is another story though).

One of the call centers I worked in was nearly 3000 calls an hour. Tech support averaged 4 per person per hour and sales about 7. Between both groups we had over 500 people in the one building. One of 7 sites nationwide. I am familliar with crazy numbers, and I still say its alot of overhead if you don't have a business need, and for most companies, CYA for their employees is not a need.

 

[pintoca]

One of the call centers I worked in was nearly 3000 calls an hour. Tech support averaged 4 per person per hour and sales about 7. Between both groups we had over 500 people in the one building. One of 7 sites nationwide. I am familliar with crazy numbers, and I still say its alot of overhead if you don't have a business need, and for most companies, CYA for their employees is not a need.

there lies the catch.

We do most of our work with Financial institutions

 

[nugget]

there lies the catch.

We do most of our work with Financial institutions

Cool. Like I said the first time, its a ton of overhead if you don't need it which many call centers don't. I can totally understand spending the kind of bread it takes to make that happen if your dealing in financials. It will pay for itself 100 times over I am sure. In a tech support center, you'd be lucky to break even on the technology.

 

[heatherrae]

Well, when I was in college, I worked for recovery in a bank. If someone was abusive over the phone, we were to just warn them we would hang up on them in a normal tone. If they continued, we were to just hang up on them. What are the rules for this sort of thing at your work. Getting into a verbal back and forth with these nutjobs never works. I would just write in the letter that the racial slurs got under your skin that one time and that from now on you will follow company policy. mia culpa ....yada yada yada. ;-)

 

[Smurfy]

our calls are sometimes monitored by a manager but not recorded. When/if a customer gets irate over the phone, I ust say "I understand your frustration" or <calmly> "Sir, I can see you're upset. If you don't stop yelling profanities into the phone, I'm going to have to disconnect the call."

I've nevr had anyone call me names though. Mostly when people get mad, it's not directed at the person answering the phone, but moreso the company as a whole.

 

[jenscats5]

I can't tell you how many names I got called in all my years of customer service work....Bitch, The C-word, etc etc.....unbelievable.....

Use this next time: Sir, I understand your frustration, but the pervasive use of profanity/racial epithets/whatever will not further your cause and I will be forced to disconnect this call.

OR - ask them to hold on & get the supervisor to take the call.....

 

[pintoca]

I can't tell you how many names I got called in all my years of customer service work....Bitch, The C-word, etc etc.....unbelievable.....

Use this next time: Sir, I understand your frustration, but the pervasive use of profanity/racial epithets/whatever will not further your cause and I will be forced to disconnect this call.

OR - ask them to hold on & get the supervisor to take the call.....

why not ban them?

 

[jenscats5]

why not ban them?

LOL Wish I could have..... it's funny - there were actually people who'd write letter in about problems with their CC and they'd actually *draw* a hand giving the finger on their letters.....

 

[heatherrae]

LOL Wish I could have..... it's funny - there were actually people who'd write letter in about problems with their CC and they'd actually *draw* a hand giving the finger on their letters.....

ROFL...people are so DUMB...

 

[jenscats5]

ROFL...people are so DUMB...

Tell me about it!! When I worked Cust. Svc. for a secured (ie bad credit) CC place......whoooooo those people were DUMB DUMB DUMB!!

 

[pintoca]

Tell me about it!! When I worked Cust. Svc. for a secured (ie bad credit) CC place......whoooooo those people were DUMB DUMB DUMB!!

hold on

dumb people + bad credit go together???

whoooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa there Rosie, hold yer horses!

 

[jenscats5]

hold on

dumb people + bad credit go together???

whoooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa there Rosie, hold yer horses!

I know it's a shock there Pinto-bean....but take 10 deep breaths & try to relax.....

 

[pintoca]

I know it's a shock there Pinto-bean....but take 10 deep breaths & try to relax.....

If you give my turkey head a lick or two it might help me relax

 

[Sassy69]

I honestly don't even know how you guys do it- I helped set up a 70 person call center for a health benefits TPA - except they were outsourcing it to my company in India. Whoa. Not only the usual crap about call centers in general, but also w/ health care benefits where people want something paid for but half of them don't understand the plan details, and on top of that, people often w/ a very audible Indian accent. So there would be full-on Jerry Springer Southern Comfort trailer trash bitching at these Indian call agents, most of whom had at least a bachelor's level education, about their accents. My heart really went out to them. (the agents, not the trailer trash).

So, I guess first review the policies at your place of employment as far as accepted call agent behavior and then build your case from there. If its "the customer is always right", then I guess it gets tough, but I'd definitely use that 2 weeks to find something else to do for a living or at least somewhere w/ more protective policies for you.

 

[jenscats5]

If you give my turkey head a lick or two it might help me relax

Ewwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!! NO freaking way!! Bleh!