Sunday, December 1, 2013

The holidays have arrived...RUN!

I'm like 99% sure that the holidays bring out the worst in people. Just watch the videos of people trampling one another at Walmart for $100 TVs or better yet--$10 crock pots--if you think I'm wrong. People are whack. And not the good whack like wiggedy-wiggedy-whack (in the words of everyone's favorite Kriss-Kross). Today at work I took about 6 escalated calls. This is more escalated calls than I've taken in the last two months combined. People are out of control...


On one of the calls, this woman was pissed because her card was declined. The charge was out of her pattern and we wanted to make sure it was legit. She screamed at me that she was "embarrassed". Perhaps she was unaware that I could see the charge--it was done online, so I'm not sure how she was so embarrassed. It's not like a store full of people witnessed it happening. But let's back up to her screaming at me...for like ten minutes. I kept telling her, "Ma'am, I don't appreciate you yelling at me. I'm not yelling at you. If you keep it up, I will disconnect the call." Finally, she asked to speak to my supervisor, but first she wanted my full name. I said, "I don't give out my full name. My first name again is Heather and--" She cut me off to get smart with me. "Oh...Your name is Heather. I'm sure you're the ONLY Heather in ALL OF (insert business name here)! I'll just call back and say, 'I talked to Heather' and everyone will magically know you." *rolls eyes* Before I could say, "Yes!" she started screaming again, "This is fucking bullshit! You tell me your name now! I demand that my card never be declined again! I want you to promise me! I pay your salary!" *rolls eyes again* I tell her, "Ma'am, I've warned you repeatedly to stop screaming at me. I'm going to disconnect the call if--" Her response, "Ohhhhhhhh, Heather, I'm so sc-sc-sc-scared! Don't hang up on me!" I said, "On that note, you can call back and talk to someone else. I warned you." And I hung up. As I was noting her account to warn the next rep who crossed her path, she called back and got to another supervisor. She refused to talk to that supervisor and demanded to talk to someone over that supervisor. They asked me to take the call. I said, "No way! I just talked to her and had to hang up on her!" (Although, looking back it might've been funny to get on and ask, "Have you missed me?" haha I would never do that, but it's funny...) I got one of the other leaders to take the call and this lady, after only hearing the leader say hello, said, "Forget this shit. I'm calling back tomorrow. You don't even sound like a supervisor. I think they just let anyone fill in over the weekend. I want a real leader--A Monday through Friday 9am to 5pm leader! You guys are idiots!" And then hung up. For real? All this over a declined charge that was out of pattern. I'm so sorry that we're looking out for your well-being and ours since we cover you for Fraud.


The last one I took tonight was from an old man who was yelling at one of my reps because she refused to give him a credit to cover the cost of AAA since our Roadside Assistance was going to take too long to get to him. I got on the phone and he started in on me. "What's your quality standard for your tow trucks to get to a card member?" I said, "I have no idea. That's a great question for our Roadside Assistance Department. I would assume that they try to find you the tow truck with the least amount of wait time, but I can't say for sure. Do you want their number or for me to connect you to them?" He says, "Heather! Heather you are not answering my question! My question was not, 'Can you give me the number to that department so I can ask them?' No, I'm asking you what the quality standard is." And I said, "And I understand that, but I work in Customer Service for Card Services, not in Customer Service for Roadside Assistance. So I don't know the answer to your question. I can tell you where to find the answer." Again he starts in, "Heather! Heather I am not asking for you to tell me where to find the answer. Clearly, we both know where the answer lies. I'm asking for you to find out and call me back." As the clock clicks 10:05 I think that I should've left early because now I'm leaving late because of this guy. I wanted to tell him to stop using my name as a weapon. I fucking hate that. Don't use my fucking name if you can't use it correctly. And don't talk to me like you're my mom and I'm in big busted trouble. Holding in my sigh, I say, "Of course I can call over there, but that's not what you asked in the first place, sir. You asked if I knew and I said I did not. But please hold and I'll call over there." So I call over there and find out that my assumption was correct...I got back on the phone and explained to him that they said there were long wait times in certain areas due to the weather and other issues and that the quality standard is to find the tow truck with the least amount of wait time, but that we can't make any promises or guarantees since it's through a third party. He was happy with this knowledge. Then he starts in with his fee for AAA. I was like, "I'm not paying for your fee for signing up with them for a year." He says, "I wasn't asking for that. I was asking if you could take care of the $30 they charged me for using the service within the first 24 hours of signing up." This was never what it was about...He wanted a $100 credit. I said, "That I can help with. I'll credit you $30 because we don't want you to have to wait around in the cold Massachusetts weather for a tow." He says, "Oh, it wasn't even a tow. It was for a jump start because my battery died." I said, "Oh. The cold weather kills batteries quick." He laughs, "Well, it was actually me. I killed it. I was listening to the Patriots game and I had my laptop plugged in too, so I killed the battery really quickly." *pounds head into desk* I can't believe I gave a credit to a Patriots fan...In the end, he wished me a Merry Christmas and thanked me for being so nice. I told him Merry Christmas too and hung up before he could use my name again. I hated the way my name sounded in his mouth.


In between my escalated calls, I was fielding questions from all my reps. I was all over the place tonight and got nothing done. I hate days like today. And now I need to hurry up and go to sleep so I can go in early tomorrow because I need to be off early so I can go to some training on Tuesday morning. I need a vacation...

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