The other night I was with some of my friends and G and we were resting at around 9 PM before we hit the road back to work ( yes I’m on call )
Suddenly we got a call from his cell phone and since I was the closest to the phone, I picked it up with my voice half groggy.
Naturally If I was a Call Center Agent who is calling a guy I would think that if a woman picked up a man's phone its either
1. That’s his wife
2. That’s his GF
3. That’s his daughter
4. That’s his secretary ( for business lines)
But this woman and she was from a call center in Makati, was just plain rude.
After saying " Hello" she went ahead to look for my friend. And I don't know if our local call center companies still do any type of etiquette training, but she had no tact at all.
I asked her who is this. She responded " This is Rachel, his friend. Where is he?" Naturally, I was taken aback by her sudden rashness. And glared at G as I passed the phone to him.
Basically it was a lie. The number in his cell phone was some weird 000055444 number.
Naturally, I acted all hissy. Its 9:00 PM, The woman has no manners at all and she demanded looking for G.
I passed the phone to G. We were all now looking at him half wondering if its really a sales call or if this " Rachel" does really exist.
3 minutes into the call, it was already confirmed that the woman was selling Vacation Time Shares. Vacations to Cancun and other islands around the world. off your with a hefty price.
He told her he was not interested. Not to mention he was getting burning stares from people around him. We can hear her high pitched voice over the phone.
She had a bad English accent.
Don't get me wrong, I have a bad one too. But when I went to my first job as a CCA we had a 4 month training in Customer Service. And 4 weeks in proper tonation and phone etiquette.
This woman chucked the book and burned it too. Would even go as far as flirting to a man she barely know just to get a sale.
I told G, " Hey, just say to take you off their list."
Unfortunately that rule does not apply. They would say they will. Not call you for 5 weeks, then pass off your number to another call center department.
In some countries, that type of business attitude is deemed illegal.
My suggestion to the Call Center Agencies out there.
I was a CC Agent since 2003. I have taken great pride in the training and experience that I received. I even went far as training other agents myself.
However, since when have you downgraded your business standards by being disrespectful to family members of the people you call?
Often being rude to people who can be their significant others, spouses, or even children.
There’s a difference between aggressive sales calling and just plain having no manners at all.
I mean, what ever happen to the " Hello, good evening." " Can, I call on a better time." speech that you use to teach? And arent Team Leads supposed to listen in on these calls to make sure they don’t make such mistakes.
And flirting is a nono. Especially when you are calling some one who may be married.
Lying is a no no either. Don't say that you are a friend when you are not. Don’t tell the Wife, the GF or the daughter a lie when you want to speak to the husband. Same goes if you are looking for a possible married woman and her significant other picks up.
Imagine the misunderstanding that will ensue later on.
Yes, I am soo pissed off. And within good reason.
This is why we hate call centers.
Not only because of the late night calls
Not because of them selling us time shares we could not even afford.
But it is because of their lying, scheming and abrasive selves. lack of tact and lack of professionalism that ticks us off.
