call centers part II

Hi,
Part II sort of links together with Mayor McGreed's latest... I don't know what to call it... folly, blunder, idiocy act?

It all started with my job back in December. My supervisor came to me and told me that I had accumulated vacation days (4 of them), and I HAD to take them before the end of the year. So, I did what they told me to do. Then, probably at the end of January, he came back to me again, and said, "Sorry Peter, we gave you those days in error." And gave me this professional letter saying how they're gonna charge me like 60 bucks, off of each of my next 4 paychecks. They screw up, I pay... makes sense to me! After weeks of fighting with the HR department about this, they finally came to their senses, and won't take the money off of the remaining two checks, and they will (hopefully, this is still unresolved) pay back the money that was taken off already. Big companies.

And, then there's the mayor. He came from a big, rich company, which is exactly why I didn't vote for him. Big, faceless companies are money-hungry. Anyway, so since we got tons and tons of snow this winter, the city is $23 million over the budget for snow-removal. Mayor McGreed wants to charge us, the taxpayers, $50 each to help cover this. They screw up, we pay. Sound familiar?

Last winter was hardly a winter, and it had a fraction of the snow of this winter. There must have been a surplus from then? Surely that would cover this year's overages? Oh, wait, I forgot about Mayor McGreed's fantasy of making a pile of bills, then jumping into it.

beijos

call center part I

Hi,
If you've ever met me in person, you would know that I currently work in a call center, because you would have heard me complain about it.

First, I'll let you know how it works: the call center contracts out their call center services to clients, usually big, faceless companies. We're with AT&T from the United States. The call center company that I work for is called Convergys.

I can go on for days complaining about working in a call center (I heard most call centers are better than this one, but this being my first, I am now grossly prejudiced, and I'll group them all together), so I'll just mention a few main things:

Your schedule relies on your "stats". Like most people, I would prefer to work 9-5 or 8-4, Monday to Friday. Stats include attendance, and your verbatim statements, which means, if you don't say what the company tells you to say, then you're stats are screwed. My attendance is pretty good considering that this is a call center, a haven for germs, with 500 people sneezing and coughing at any given time... the thing is, they can't tell me what to say though. I'm not rude on the phone, I just don't always use the words that I HAVE to say. I am sure that the company prefers that the rep give out wrong information, as long as they use the proper statements, getting the customer off of the phone as quickly and politely as possible. On the other hand, the rep bending over backwards to solve the customer's issue, even if it means taking time out of your "call time" to research the customer's account, and fixing the problem right the first time.

How many times have you called for support, and the rep says, "Let me put you on hold while I do this...", "Let me put you on hold while I order that...", "Let me put you on hold while I notate this..." I guess I think from the customer's point of view when I don't want to waste their time, when I just take the Credit Card info for the order, then do the order while you're offline, or make notes after the customer hangs up... I think that's better customer service, and AT&T's all about customer service. But doing stuff this way ruins your "stats". So my stats suck, and because of that I work 12:30-9 next week. But I do my best to serve the customer. I'm being penalized for that? I think these companies should re-think this whole "stats" bullshit.

beijos