Have you had any experience working in a call centre?

HI,

I am so sorry to know that this guy was rude with you. I haven't worked in a call center but Boy! I have seen rudeness as rude as it can get. I reckon that maybe rhis guy was in a dire state, and he needed a person to listen to his frustration and he vent it out on you. And I am truly sorry for it. There are friends of mine who do work in callcenters trying to sell products in America or God knows what place. They tell some really horriffic stories about being bullied. Even here in India the domestic call center agents are ridiculed. People ie. some of them dont even hesitate to use some real nasty words over phone.

I remember this girl who called up someone at 5 in the morning Indian time, she was tired of the night long shift, and this guy picks up the phone, she introduces herself and pitches her verbatim, the guy just went crazy and starts to hurl abuses at her. The reson for the guy to do so is that he tells it is his Birthday and how how dare she called him on his Birthday and sell a product. The girl was left crying for the rest if the shift.

Personally I have had some real nasty experiences but I have to accept and move on. Moreover my customers throw abuses on me directly at face, even over phone so being patient and being diplomatic is the only way out I suppose. What say?

I worked in a call centre and customers can be really rude.

I recall one incident where a customer started off the conversation with "I suppose you're a moron that can't even blow his nose without his supervisor's permission". Another guy told me that he would drive to the call centre to shoot me!

I don't think people aim to be rude but the problem arises from those consumer TV programmes that advise people to be strict with call centre workers. It's a load of nonsense because if a customer was nice with me I would go out of my way to help them - if they were aggressive or rude then I would do the bare minimum necessary.

I wrote an article some time ago giving advice on calling a contact centre - I'll dig it out and post it on here as a discussion topic!

The main thing with regards to your job however is not to let the customers get to you - once they've gone off the phone forget about them!!

I work in a call centre..thank God Only part time. Fortunately I don't have to make outgoing calls where I have to ' sell' a product, in which case I would get more abuse. Its hard being' professional' all the time when the poeple on the other end are anything but. Unfortunately its part of the job ..a very ungrateful job!
I read some research about call centre workers which found that the stress those workers experience is mainly caused by having to put on a front all day. Basically it means you have to leave your own problems at home and put on a front. This is mentally exhausting and I cannot agree more! I hate this part of the job, too, and can't wait to get out of it! having to be a robot all day is not fun!

Oh yes it can really be a difficult thing to work in a call center......they pay you really well but then the amount of abuse you have to take is tremendous......
I worked for a mortgage company, it was all about refinancing and trust me people get so furious when they get this kind of calls.....because you are not the only one to call them, there are so many of them calling in and they just get frustrated, specially if they are in middle of work......I feel their frustration is justified.....but there are times when customers are just waiting for your call.....they just want to get some good interest rates.....so they don't mind listening to what you have to offer.......although this situation is very rare......you have to go through lots of pressure specially because you have to meet those targets or else you get really fired........
In your case i would like to tell you, the customers that abuse you don't take them personally, they are abusing the agent of that process and not you personally.....so dont take it to heart just chill and do your work.....
have a nice day!!!!!

Dear friend,
The incident you faced is bit bitter for some who do have less patience. Any how I do have friends who share sorts of incidents that they had in their call centers. Hope as the clients or customers of different kinds it might be bit careful while dealing them.

hi thanusha,
i have never worked in a call center.to work in a call center you must be ready to face anything.

I had 14 months experience of working in a call center. I was told to act confident and work to a structure of talking. The main thing I was told to take as many calls as fast as I could, the worst thing about the work was the relatively low rates of pay and long hours needed to earn a reasonable wage. The work itself is demanding and tiring. The attitude on the phone I learned was to take transactions over the phone and enter them into the computer.

You wouldn't believe me guys if I tell you that I almost gave birth in a call center.I have been working in a call center for quite sometime now.More of outbound I should say...hard core selling at that.But you know what,I like the pressure it's challenging you know.Perhaps I just get used to talking to IRATE clients...huh!At times I can even turn them into a nice one.It's a must to indeed know the different personality of clients....it's easy for you to deal with them you know.However I was loosing patient to a female client since I am pregnant that time(you know the mood of pregnant women).I was trying to sell the product,we've been talking for almost an hour,when my water bag broke.I put the client on hold,since I panicked because it's my first baby.Everybody in the office stopped what they are doing looked at me with a shock.(You can just imagine..you're about to gave birth in the office in the call center at that).Remembering the client I put on hold,told my colleague to check on her,to my surprise,she's still on the phone after say 30 minutes that I put her on hold.Anyways...bottom line is...it pays off to be patient you know...

I am thankful that I have never had to work in a call center. I try my hardest to remember that the person I am talking to when I call isnt the person that has done anything wrong! I know that not all people are like that.

I worked at a bank for a couple of years. We would often get people who would call or show up that were irate about something. Most times it was something they had done, but they were yelling at us to fix the problem! Sometimes, they would call the 800 number. The 800 number would then transfer them to the branch. I always hated that. I do think that people get most upset when it comes to their money, though.

Im sorry to hear that people have been so nasty to you. I think it would do everyone some good to be in customer service at some point in their life!

Yes, well be calm down whenever the situation it is. Sometimes it's really fault by the companies or lack of employees but a lot of customers. I'm in the situation like your's. How do you handle your customers scolding infront of you?