Had someone call in today threatening to attack our server room because he doesn't like our company.
Advised him this is a recorded call, and a felony.
State's doesn't care and is going to do it anyways.

Escalate it to upper management who basically said, "Ok."

I'm glad to know I can get fired over a $20 mistake but someone threatening to burn down a building doesn't even warrant a 2nd glance.

Also must be a full moon because this is 9th person today who has called not to fix anything, but to make my life hell.

Since I write for a living, I keep weird hours — aka, I’m an extreme night owl.

So last night/this morning at roughly 3:15, I start to hear an elevated voice from the balcony of the apartment above us. Eh. No big deal, sounds like I’m not the only night owl in the neighborhood.

But then the voice starts getting angry. So I quietly crack open the door because a) I’m nosy, and b) I couldn’t tell if this was a situation where I might need to call the complex’s security guard over.

Here’s the bottom line:

Hey, if your name is Anthony and you work as a supervisor for Blank of Shamerica’s call center…you deserve a raise for dealing with my idiot neighbor.

No, I couldn’t hear Anthony’s end of the call. But I was able to gather that Neighbor was either refusing or unable to properly confirm that he was the account holder. As such, Anthony wasn’t able to give Neighbor details on the account or release certain funds that Neighbor needed right the heck now, for whatever reason.

Neighbor took this very personally. How DARE Anthony not bend rules just for him? CLEARLY Anthony was lying to him about proper procedures! Anthony was a supervisor, of COURSE he could bypass all those pesky regulations!

All I could think about was this subreddit.

Anthony buddy, if you read this…you’ve got the patience of a saint.

Just email my super “lovely” supervisor my 2 weeks notice, have another job lined up already, sooo ready to quit this place, never ever in a call center again. Good luck to you guys, especially those that are looking to leave, you guys will all find a better job, believe in yourself. For now,🖕this place!

Being in sales I’m always leaving voicemails in hopes a client will listen, like the price, and call back. Recently, I’ve been leaving 35-50 voicemails everyday. Most are professional and soulless. I’ve now been leaving a handful of silly or goofy voicemails in good taste regarding the price. For example since it’s spooky season I’ll play the Vampire sound effect (Organ instrumental) in the background leaving a message in a Dracula voice. Anyone else record funny voicemails?

Curious to see how common this is. I take inbound calls for a major logistics company - 8 hours a day, averaging 90-100 calls per day. All calls need to be logged but we have ZERO acw allowed and I feel like I don’t even have time to breathe.

Anyone else dealing with the same situation??

Does this get anyone else...you're able to bring information up with the phone number people call from. You then tell them you are able to do this. They then proceed to tell you their information when you have just told them you can see it, so they do not need to provide it again, they just need to confirm so we can ensure there's no duplicate account or anything? Like-your information is right in front of me. Why would I need it again?

At my job I have been encouraged not to say anything if someone is on speaker and I can hear myself echoing in the background of a call. But unless you have a situation where it's harmful to you to put your phone to your ear, why would you have the call on speaker? Small annoyance.

On my first break in my shift and I’ve messed up on two calls so far. I just got out of finishing nesting and I messed up twice already.

I was doing so good during nesting but today I accidentally cancelled this lady’s appointment because the mechanic called and said he couldn’t get in touch with her but it turns out there was a note on her account I didn’t see. Then another mechanic called and said he had to call us to make sure that our product was functional before deinstalling it from this lady’s home and I didn’t realize I had to go through all the steps with him on returning the product because I got confused.

Ugh today is not my day. I was doing so good during training and nesting I’m not sure what happened.

This is actually not referring to customers.

Do you ever have A Day, where you start your shift and suddenly you realize you're an idiot? This morning, within my first three calls, I realized this was not gonna be my day. I can only assume that for some reason, I was having a really bad time with my auditory processing issues, even though otherwise I felt fine.

But I was mis-hearing numbers, mis-hearing names, mis-hearing letters... and when I did hear them, I was typing them in wrong. Which lead to more than one call where much confusion and/or frustration was had because I was accidentally giving incorrect information. We'd always get it sorted out by the end of the call, but I'm certain that everyone I did that with left convinced I'm a dumbass who doesn't know how to do my job.

On the other hand, I was doing fine when I was working emails.

So I know it wasn't quite a case of just not waking up properly or something. It was just... so frustrating.

I work for a company that provides tax software to tax preps and the last few years have convinced me to never take my taxes to a preparer ever again. The thing is, there's no bar to get over to become a tax prep; you need an EFIN (IRS gives those away like candy, their only requirements seem to be "breathing" and "not a criminal", and I'm not sure they're terribly strict on the first one) and some software. Now if you can't buy the software outright, you can get involved in an agreement with a bank that will effectively loan you the money for the program by sending us the purchase price and then when you collect fees for returns done for clients, an amount goes to the bank until you're paid up. Pretty simple, and I'm certain that all this is explained before you sign on the dotted line.

So I get a call one day that starts off juuuust great; shrill, rude, doesn't listen to a thing I'm saying. Demands the accounting department, I explain that I don't have that number and I'm fairly sure that they don't take calls from our users and is there something I could help with. She goes on about how she bought (big asterisk on that one, see above) the software at the beginning of the year, never used it, and is now demanding a refund. I explain that she'll need to talk to sales about that and she cuts me off, demanding accounting again or a manager. I further explain that we don't simply transfer to management, and that there's a process; I post about it, and then a manager calls back when they can.

This apparently isn't good enough for Karen, and she spends the next few minutes yelling at me about how she was ripped off, our product sucks, and then issues the sad, impotent ultimatum that she's going to blog about us online (oh no!) and smear us on social media, get in touch with iNfLuEnCeRs, and sue us if she doesn't hear back in 24 hours. I had difficulty stifling a laugh at this bit when she said she was going to write about us on FUCKING MYSPACE.

It took a lot to keep from asking her to send me a copy of the legal filing because there's no way anybody but a Cooley Law graduate would file a suit that hilariously doomed.

I passed along her sentiments and I don't know if they contacted her. I hope they didn't, because I wouldn't wish that shrieking fart whistle on anybody.

Anyone else majorly deal with this? I average 65 calls per day, and lately I have caught a few of my own mistakes where I told customers something wrong. Like I recently just found out I told someone they could get money a year before they actually could ... So I tried calling back and sending an email apologizing and explaining, with no response yet.

Now I am hyper fixated on this issue or any other mistakes I have made while trying to move on and do other work, and it also doesn't leave my head after work is finished or weekends at times! And it's starting to drive me crazy.

I honestly don't know if my mental health can handle it on top of the stress of actually doing the job, I'm always worried about something..... Can anyone relate? Anyone just quit and get a less stressful job??

Had a teams meeting with 20 others in attendance and I didn't realize my camera was on.... Didn't get any of the chat notifications of my co-workers telling me. I walked into the bathroom and was brushing my teeth and everyone could see me ! Finally my boss called my actual phone number and I picked up and he told me.... Could have been worse, but I still feel so embarrassed right now!!!! I'm cringing so oo hard at myself I hate it

I work at a call center for medical facilities, i take 40-70 calls a day for manual outbound calls. it’ll be more when i start taking inbound. but my head set is killing me i’m unsure of the model but the brand is Plantronics. the open ear side constantly gets stuck in my hair when i try to take it off and the listening side presses my ear against my glasses which causes headaches. what are some good glasses friendly headsets i could use as a replacement?

I have been working for a CC for over 20 years. (My part time cash money ) Job. Anyway today I was talking to a coworker and said, 'thank.goodness thats over' to her, but the mute button wasn't on...customer made a huge fuss, and said he's gonna complain to the.Bank.for whom.we.are the call centre.

What should I do?

Ok what is your account number? - I’m driving so I don’t have that information. Well I need that to access your account - Ok, then I would have to pull over? No ma’am, tell me your current location, Imma book a flight to you and open your wallet to help look for that number, then I will fly back to my house and assist you with that.

Hello! I currently work for a third party member services company doing inbound calls. In a couple months, I'll be able to apply for an Apple tech support position that they offer (if it's available).

Has anyone worked Apple tech support for a company like mine? How was it?

I'm hoping to get into IT - that's why I'm eager to apply for the position. Also, a little extra pay.

If it was nightmarish experience with Apple- do you know of any good companies that are hiring for a complete beginner that has no certs?

• Currently my company offers remote work, no holiday pay (but able to be off on those days [I think 6 total holidays]), birthday off (but not paid), super expensive healthcare insurance I can't afford, PTO (1.5ish hours per paycheck [Like 40 for the year])

I had enough one day about 3 weeks ago, so I told my boss I was leaving early & haven't been back since. Thankfully I've had some good leads elsewhere & received an offer this week. I just checked my old scheduling app & noticed not only am I still in the system but I'm still being scheduled in the call center. Why haven't they terminated me yet? Lol

The company I work for is changing the structure of part time and now I won’t be roistered for weekends so I get no penalties which sucks! You get time and a half on Saturdays and double time on Sundays. So I’m gonna loose money 😭 I know I should just do full time but I prefer a 4 day week as opposed to 5.

They are calling out racism but they are also racist

I never took any of my calls as something personal even with all the cursing and yelling from customers. I understand their frustrations and always try to put myself in their situation. But I have this call that really hit the nerve in my head and didn't think for a second that this will end my career. Before taking the verification she specifically ask if I am in the Philippines and I said yes. During the call, she didn't even want to elaborate her concern about a credit and kept yelling that it's all documented. Then I first read the memo from the call that was noted before our call, it was a day before and time stamped at 8:27pm. I asked what's the reason for the $1500 to further understand her concerns while I'm pulling up the case filed. She started yelling again and berrating that we, csr from the Philippines didn't even understand her line of business, she said that her business is a profitable foundation helping women victims of abuse and the phone lines from our company isn't working. I tried probing for questions because she kept saying the phones aren't working, that's when I pulled up the case filed. She's requesting an unreasonable amount of credit because her service was suspended because she's not paying the bills and it ballooned over for 2 months of non-payment. Why would you say a company owed you $1500 for loosing a potential supporter when you're the one irresponsible for not paying your monthly dues? I've seen the resolution date and its 7 business days from the day the case was filed. I told her about it and to help their foundation not to have a suspension because again she's not paying the dues for 2 months, I will set up a payment arrangement until she receives the resolution on the 22nd of the month. That's when she started saying words about not understanding the women victims of abuse. But this statement hit the nerve per verbatim because I can't forget it "You woman in the Philippines didn't know what abuse is, like you girl quit playin with me you sittin on your fuckin ass there waitin for my money to pay you over. What do you woman in there know? You woman in Philippines not understandin abuse coz ya'll takin our mans money by sittin your ass over gettin all sexed up. Philippine woman aren't decent ya'll exchange everythin for money even takin jobs from our country. Like you, that job must be for one of my people but you stupid people in that fuckin country is stealing it! We black man aren't interested in your ass, stupid whites are the ones you can control an--" ME: I'm deeply disappointed with how you think we Filipinas are doing with your country, because I think we do have a decent job not just here but also in different parts of the world. I'm sorry you're not paying your bills on time and still have service after 2 months of non-payment but this company isn't a charity, suspension of account is going to happen if there is no payment after 3 months. I also believe we have helped a lot of your people who is asking for credits to somehow helped with their payment. Isn't it ironic you're saying you help women but berrates and insult women because they are not your people? GET ME A FUCKIN SUPERVISOR! WHOEVER CAN PROVIDE THAT $1500 CAUSE YOU LITTLE SHIT CANT DO IT! Me: okay you can wait in line for my supervisor even for the manager to escalate this, but just to set your expectations they will say the same thing we can't provide that amount of credit especially there's a case being investigated by the back end office. I'm going to escalate this as well that you're asking for credits and lost a client because your service got suspended for non payment and not requesting a payment arrangement as well. I read all the notes and that's what she's doing over and over, non payment then ask why her bill is high then demand for credits, those were all the notes. She is almost, most of the time, gets a free service because of the credits. BEYOND THE DREAM, giving nightmares to agents, shouting out racism yet they are racist as well. And please stop the events and gala that's the reason you can't pay your cellular service, you simply wanted free service, almost 3/4 of your bills where paid by credits because those agents didn't want to have a detractor they just give in to your unreasonable demands.

I know, I know, I'm complaining about my job too much this week. But this habit customers have is killing me.

Customer has a request. I have one or more options. I state all of the options clearly, and end it with "those are our three options" to make sure they know that's the end of the line, and they suggest their own.

Honestly half the time they aren't suggesting it, they're saying it as if they're slick. One example is debit card pins. I say "you can change this online, or I can mail it to you, or if you want you can change it in a branch. Those are our three options."

He says "so you can email it? Thanks please do that."

"It would be physical mail. USPS."

long silence

"I don't see the email."

"There is no email. I can physically mail it if you would like."

"No, email it."

I'm slamming my head into my desk repeatedly.

Other great examples are "you will send this Zelle payment for me" and "no, just tell me my password."

I love it when someone calls in several times to get a different agent, hoping to get an answer that suits them. Don't they know that accounts are notated lol. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure that out. I will say to them know that I am aware that they just called and I dont have a different answer. This customer since June has called every day, a few times a day. And they even reached out to higher ups who wont budge either. They get an A+ for effort lol. The problem is this person keeps calling and starts calling us names and swearing. Why dont they get if you treat people like that, nobody wants to bend over backwards to assist. Can someone please tell me why this is such a hard concept to understand lol

I'm not calling it Columbus day. My team agrees on this unanimously; if someone asks about the holiday, we're telling them it's indigenous peoples day. My company refers to it as such in all communications.

Keep yelling, old man. Report me to "corporate" for being "racist against white people". First of all I'm corporate, second of all that doesn't even make sense.

Our native Hawaiian manager gleefully requested she take all the escalations on this matter. Which so far is only two, but it's weird that it happened twice.

It's the same energy as the guy who asked where I was born, then said he didn't want to speak to a Mexican when I said San Diego. You played yourself. We're all making fun of you even a year later.

I find myself frequently dealing with people in call centers as in my line of work I do a large amount of returns. I want to make call center employees happy with whatever metrics they are measured on. Other than the surveys and being polite and direct, what other metrics should I index on? Does call length matter? How are bonuses handled? I find there is a huge variety in terms of people that are more helpful than others, or more likely to give refunds or returns, etc. Thanks!

I just quit my call center job after four years. Basically, I was a phone interpreter, and I’m feeling a mix of sensitivity and relief right now. I really didn’t see a way out of this job. It wasn’t that really bad, just... mediocre or dull. For four years, I was stuck in this trap of not being able to find something better versus the comfort of supposed benefits or the perception of them. You know the old meme: once a call center worker, always a call center worker.

I finally managed to get a less stressful and bit better paid job, and I can’t really say it’s due to any personal merit—it’s more about luck or act of God, or however you want to look at it. Honestly, it’s still a bit hard to believe that I’ve left this job that I came to despise at times (more than I’d like to admit).

But it has taught me valuable lessons: about the resilience of people, about being able to withstand stress, mistreatment, and exhaustion, and how all of it gets normalized. Yet here we are, still dealing with it, and how we handle that can either turn us bitter and sour or make us wiser. I have a lot of respect for all my coworkers or former colleagues still in this job. I know that they probably have it because there are few alternatives.

Going back to the idea that stress or fatigue from dealing with people can transform you, I was close to becoming bitter or even cynical, perhaps I did. There were moments when I felt the urge to be cold or cynical with customers “because they deserved it for being foolish or ignorant.” I see a lot of people falling into this trap, and it becomes normalized, not only in call centers. It’s pretty easy to jump on this train, and it even seems justified given the frustrating personalities you have to deal with.

But that’s never the way to go. We should treat people the way we’d want to be treated, even though that’s often tough. The world is already messed up, so why make it worse? I’ve been stressed and borderline depressed during these years. I honestly don’t think there are many people truly committed to this job out of enjoyment (maybe one or two). It’s clear to me that this job shows just how disposable we can become in the blink of an eye.

But there’s light at the end of the tunnel, and I want to tell everyone not to lose hope. It’s easy to fall into the trap of complacency in call centers. When you hear that inner voice telling you, “it’s time to leave,” you need to listen. Time flies too fast; four years felt way longer than I originally thought it would, even though I know colleagues who have been here much longer.

Anyway, the first step has been taken. I’m praying for all of you and hope you find a job that treats you well.

I’ve had 4 separate interactions exactly like this the past week alone.

Customer: I’m calling because I have fraudulent charges from these companies on my account on these dates.

Me: I’m so sorry to hear that, let me go ahead and…

Customer: immediately cuts me off and starts talking over me

Me: Stops talking

Customer: Can you stop talking and let me finish?

——

I also had a lady stop mid-sentence and yell at me for “not acknowledging her concerns right away” when she was literally not even finished talking. She stopped in the middle of her sentence and asked, “Are you still there?” And I said, “Yes ma’am, I’m just listening to your concerns.” And she said, “Okay, well then maybe you should acknowledge me while I’m talking!” 🤦🏻‍♀️

———

I am so done being in a customer-facing role where you literally just can’t win with these people 😭 I’ve filled out 23 applications this week in positions that don’t work directly with customers, I’m literally on my knees begging for a change because my mental health just can’t handle this any longer.

I don’t work in a call center anymore but I wanted to share because I love reading all the stories lol. I worked from home for a pretty popular tech company (you know it). I get a call & it’s pretty late in the day, the guy is furious with being transferred around. This was not an issue I could help him with, and I needed to get him over to billing. He’s not happy about that either because the last person told him he was headed to billing. He reached tech support. So I continue on just explaining what my job is as tech support and that I do want to help but I genuinely do not have the tools to look up what account info he needed.

The billing department is closed so I tell him they will be open tomorrow and someone will call him back. He starts the whole 9 of what’s your name, whats your last name, what’s your managers name, then finally “where do you live & where do you work out of”. We were SPECIFICALLY told we are not to say we work remote we are supposed to say we work in a secure brick and mortar location. Don’t know why but I went with it. Anyway I respond with “California”.. huge mistake.. Popular company I worked for is based there, so it just seemed easy and I was already flustered by his behavior. He then asks me what time it is. I don’t know why I even responded but when I said something that was totally NOT California time he BLEWWWW UP. He’s like you’re a liar I don’t want to talk to you anymore (well good because I told him 40 times I’m not the one he wants to talk to LOL) He’s like I want someone who’s not going to lie to me. Is anyone even going to call me back or did you lie about that too? It was horrible. He does end up accepting that I can’t help him and hesitated on if someone would call him back but it was beyond me at that point. He hung up I ended my shift and I never returned to that job lol. Sent my computer back the next day. I’ll never forget this call. I spent like an hour explaining I needed to transfer him and then I get caught in a lie about the TIME of all things???? 😂😂

So newbie lang ako sa call center and nakapasa naman miraculously sa fulltime (2 times hired as a seasonal employee and unfortunately not absorbed wahaha).

Then during our onboarding nag announce yung recruiter namin na we are expected to attend our training as the last batch of our account.

I'm quite anxious of what being a 'last batch' means since I anticipate to last in the account for at least a year (No more seasonal please 😭.)

Should I feel worried that I'll end up jobless again once there's no more agent hired to patch up resigning agents from the same account?

Will this mean that the account will eventually get dissolve soon?

Please give me insights sa mga recruiters dyan.

Pretty self explanatory.

Some people are hopeless. It’s not strange for customers to be alarmed when it appears that the email cut off their name, even though it should be pretty apparent that it’s just customary in some systems to shorten a name on an invoice. Usually you explain to them that the full name will show in the profile online or the app and the email has a character limit and they go about their day…

This woman was literally convinced that her name was spelled wrong, and wanted a new email. Then she wanted to change her name to add a space between the hyphenated names? And her name was “backwards”…lol the invoice puts the last name first.

I couldn’t help but ask why the concern and she says it doesn’t match her name and this will cause problems with her accounting so it needs to be fixed.

Well sorry, it’s not going to happen unless they change the interface that we use in the next 30 seconds.

I’m sure she’s going to leave a bad survey

My review was honestly going really well. First call, 3.2/5, next two calls were 4.13/5. We got to my last call. He paused and then started laughing. He says "so...this call scored quite low."

I had a feeling I knew what this was, and waited patiently for him to continue.

He says, "this was a difficult cx. You did the best you could. You were upbeat and asked good troubleshooting questions, and remained polite up until she disconnected "

He laughed again and then I knew for sure...

"It appears you ended with, 'well fuck you too then you stupid bitch.' Unfortunately, that is not acceptable language. I know you heard the disconnect and may have seen they ended the call,, too. Do make sure to completely end the call on your end before letting out whatever choice words you may have."

It was refreshing to have him react with laughter and constructive criticism versus a write up.

How do you cope with shitty call centers? Condescending supervisors and coaches? I'm tired of shitty customers, shitty work rules, shitty supervisors that talk down to me and feeling like I'm a failure, some days I just contemplate ending it all because it's hard to believe this is all I've amounted to.