The things you do at work to keep your sanity

[hypotenuse]

I have a game I play. A perfectly harmless game really. At least, I think so.

I'm on the phone all day. Answering the same questions, giving out the same information, with the same words. Over and over and over. Gets old sometimes. Ok. All the time.

So I have a little game I play. And in all the time I've been doing this only one person has every caught on. It was a customer and she even joined me in my game.

I answer the phone with different characters.

Oh, it's still me. My voice and all. But the character could be anyone.

The character the customer caught on to was Cptn James T. Kirk. We had such a good time..

asking .... questions...

AND ... relaying... important information.



What games do YOU play at work?

Hmmm....?

Lynne

[sleeper54]

Originally posted by hypotenuse
I have a game I play. A perfectly harmless game really. At least, I think so.

--snip--

I answer the phone with different characters.

Oh, it's still me. My voice and all. But the character could be anyone.

The character the customer caught on to was Cptn James T. Kirk. We had such a good time..

--snip--

Lynne

I don't get it. You do or do NOT 'imitate' the character's voice?
I don't see how it works if you do NOT.
But I don't know why you said "Oh, it's still me. My voice and all" if you do...::&#112uzzled::

Am I missing something obvious...:-|

tom

[nicholmere]

Captain Kirk can be.....easily.....immitated by simply..... changing your speech pattern to.......inappropriately emphasize....parts of your....sentence.

Katherine <- Damit Sleeper, I'm a moderator not a doctor

[sleeper54]

Originally posted by nicholmere
Captain Kirk can be.....easily.....immitated by simply..... changing your speech pattern to.......inappropriately emphasize....parts of your....sentence.

Katherine <- Damit Sleeper, I'm a moderator not a doctor

To quote Lynne, maybe that is why "only one person has ever caught on"...:-)

tom

"d*mn it, cap'n moderator, he's giving ya all he's got"

[nicholmere]

We often stop at a Tim Horton's drive thru on the way to the Big City. Since the shop is on a major highway I think some of the staff assume that all their customers are travellers who will never be back, forgetting of course that locals can use the highway too There is one fellow there who has found a way to keep his rather monotonous job interesting. Every time we go there he has adopted a different accent - various British, American, etc. it's quite a hoot.

[magenta321]

Oh man. This reminds me of a joyride friends and I went on. We drove forever one night, across the state of connecticut, stopping at every rest stop, gas station, fast food place, etc. that we passed. We made up different stories for each one.

One of the best was when we faked Brittish accents and asked strangers for the nearest airport. That we had a modeling job, in England, and we were stranded here in backwood Connecticut. No one seemed to know where there was an airport though. We were in a town with an airport

Then we made up some story about being lost, and went into a dunkin donuts. We asked how far we were from Boston (we were in Bridgeport Ct, which is no where near Boston). We explained we were lost, and that we thought we should be right outside the city by now. The people had a lot of fun at our expense (and we had a lot of fun at theirs) and eventually we ended up getting crystal clear directions to Boston :gasp:

A few years later, after I had matured sooo much from that point (lol) I went to my Goddaughter's baptism. I met the Godfather for the first time, and thought he looked familiar. Then I remembered. He was the clerk from Dunkin Donuts. He thought I looked familiar too. I retold the story. He remembered me. It turns out my cousin and her husband had both worked at that Dunkin Donuts when they were younger, and that my friends and I were ongoing jokes there

Good times.

Oh, but at work, no, I don't do characters. I do notice that the more I don't like someone the higher my voice gets and the more I smile when I talk to them.

Katherine, I'm curious, what's an American accent? Suth'n? New Yawk? Bah-stin? Joisey? Or regular American speak, like on the US news?

[nicholmere]

Originally posted by magenta321
Katherine, I'm curious, what's an American accent? Suth'n? New Yawk? Bah-stin? Joisey? Or regular American speak, like on the US news?

Various American accents?
Just different accents from the various regions in the U.S.

[Magick1]

Maybe I should have tried this more where I worked. I used be in a call center, doing exactly the same thing, answering questions, helping, etc! (It can be dangerous while training newbies to take on different "personalitles")

I guess that I did change personalities a little bit, depending on the customer that called in, and whether or not I was training new associates!

I might use the
1) "matter of fact this is the way it is, deal with it"
or the
2)"here let me explain this the easiet way possible" using a teacher's level of patience working feverishly to make sure they understand....
to the
3) "do I have to tell you this again?" where no matter how many times, different ways, or explanations, they just aren't going to get it personality.

It's a very tough job, doing the same ole "routine" and can get boring or even frustrating.

This industry (call centers) have a large turnover and it's hard to keep employees happy when the customers are frequently getting abusive on the phones, threatening the representative or a number of other things.

(I have to say I am happy that I am not doing this job any more. I have moved to the research side of customer service. I still deal with customers, but not as directly. I will answer the calls when they come in, and I initiate calls to customers, or I write letters to them, but at least I do not have to maintain the 15 - 20 calls per hour like I used to!)

[CurtisEdmonds]

When I was a poor customer-service peon, I used to try to keep track of where people were calling from. I would free-hand a map of the United States, and then color in the states people were calling from. (This used to amaze my co-workers, who couldn't name each of the fifty states, much less draw a map.)

When I was working for the Senate (in a regional office, not on The Hill), I developed the theory that people did not actually listen to what you said until you repeated it three or four times. For example, when you talked to a person calling for the first time and asking for help, you told them:

"If you write a letter to the Senator here at the office, he will contact the agency on your behalf and get an answer."

The response was usually, "Well, but the other thing I was going to tell you was that I went to the post office to try to mail my Aunt Thelma her pet turtle because it had escaped, and then they told me that I couldn't put a turtle in the mail, and then I talked to the postal inspector and he told me that I could put a turtle in the mail if there were breathing holes in the box, but that this particular turtle was an endangered turtle, which the county agent said..."

"If you write a letter (pause) to the Senator (pause) here at the office (pause), he will contact the agency on your behalf and get an answer."

"But then there's the whole thing about my military records that they say were lost in the fire, and I need to send my copies in to the VA to get my disability for that sciatica, and I had copies, but that turtle got to them, and now they won't deliver any mail to my house, I have to go next door to get my records, and I tripped over the turtle, and my back is sore, and I can't get up to change the channel when Matlock comes on..."

(Very slowly and deliberately) "If you write a letter (pause) to the Senator (pause) here at the office (pause), he will contact the agency on your behalf and get an answer."

"But then my sister called her Congressman about her turtle, and they told her that she should take it to the university to get it checked out, and she went there, only she got a parking ticket, which I don't think was fair, and they told her that this was just an ordinary turtle, except that I don't think she had the same kind of turtle, but then she lives in a different state, and doesn't ever come over to see me, so maybe she had a different kind of turtle situation, and all I really want is maybe to have someone from your office drive out here to Midland and take a look at this particular turtle..."

(Incredibly slowly and deliberately) "Like I said, if you write a letter (pause) to the Senator (pause) here (pause) at the office (pause), he will contact the agency (pause) on your behalf (pause) and get an answer."

"So what are you saying, that I should write a letter?"

That was an everyday occurence, mind you. (Except for the part about the turtle, I made that up.)

Other fun things to say in a Senate office:

"I will pass your message along to the Senator, and we appreciate your call."

"I understand your concern, but it takes a long time for Social Security to respond to these cases."

"What are you asking the Senator to do?"

"This office cannot provide legal representation. You might consider talking to an attorney."

"If you want this office to help you, shouting at me is not really the best way to go about doing that."

Civics lessons are alrso fun:

"The Senator is the Senator for the entire state."

"Well, what about Senator Hutchison?"

"She is also the Senator for the entire state."

"Well, which district does she represent?"

"Both Senators represent the entire state."

"But what about your Senator?"

"Both Senators represent the entire state of Texas in the U.S. Senate in Washington."

"So which one of the senators is my Senator?"

"Both of them. Both Senators represent all Texans."

"I don't understand."

"That's fine. All you have to do is write a letter (pause) to the Senator (pause) here at the office (pause), he will contact the agency on your behalf and get an answer."

Someone once asked me if I was worried because all of these people had the right to vote. I said, "No, I'm worried that they have the right to drive."

[pluckyduck]

I probably shouldn't confess that I run contests each busy season for

1) Stupidest customer
2) Ugliest imprint
3) Most absurd imprint request

(our products are sold B to B, and one would think that the level of interaction would be above the cable TV service department, but in many cases it isn't.)

As long as our reps are nice and helpful and patient with stupid customers while they are on the phone, I figure giving them the thrill that they have an excellent entry for the "stupidest customer" contest is a good thing. (I'm sure I'm breaking every CS rule in the world with my contests. )

Riddle me this Batman

The stupidest customer contest always includes at least one entry of this type.

Imagine a catalog picture of a really nice tote bag, pockets, zippers, yada. Descriptive copy that it includes your imprint.

Pricing grid as follows:

50..........100......250......500......1000
10.00.....9.00.....8.60.....8.00......7.50

At least once a season, a new customer will call and place an order for 50 tote bags, go through the entire process, and then be shocked to find out that the order total isn't $10.00

Our question isn't why she is stupid enough to think she's getting 50 tote bags for $10, but why she didn't order 1000 for $7.50.

You gotta have one or two characters like this to brighten your day.

Andrea

[quasar]

Every place I've ever worked has had a stupid customer contest or gossip chain or the like. So has every company my friends have worked at because I get to hear their stories too.

My favorite make fun of ourselves type setup was the Wall of Shame we kept two jobs ago. We had an entire office wall (facing out) filled with clippings. The rules for participation:

1) The clip must come from either a published book, beta book, or public email about the product
2) It must have a boneheaded typo, grammar mistake, etc.

Some examples of actual clips:

"added to your log vile"
"contract your system administrator"
"Cache Sever Pages Reference" (the product was called Cache Server Pages)

Janice

[kurt_messick]

I worked at the Centre for Survey Research and at the Indiana University Foundation for about four months after I returned from Britain; my accent (rather RP) was still very strong. I was a great fundraiser for the Foundation (on the phones each night from 6-10pm) and a good surver conductor (on the phones each afternoon from 1-5pm). We were scripted, but the fun part came when people would ask questions -- we could deviate from the scripts in that instance; and we talked about London, I.U., and all sorts of things. Those were always the best calls. I could never convince TPTB that if I could just start out in a conversational style, it would probably be better.

Since then, whenever I have people ringing me, I try to be polite and fun, even if I don't want what they are selling. When I have to talk to a CS person, I always make sure to praise them (for the tape) if the conversation went well.

[jenninca]

I probably shouldn't tell you this, but after a child threw an absolute fit at school one day, a group of teachers and the principal made a pool for what time the parent would come and complain. The principal won the pool and used the money to treat everyone to snacks on the last day of school.

Cindy

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

I read the EA Forums posts.

[CurtisEdmonds]

Since then, whenever I have people ringing me, I try to be polite and fun, even if I don't want what they are selling.

That is good of you. I tend to mirror what the person on the other end of the line does. If they are polite and civil, I will be polite and civil as well. If they are rude and overbearing, I will be rude and overbearing right back to them.

What's hard is when I am calling into Customer Service; I always try to be polite and civil even when the situation (or the person at the other end of the line) is making me angry.

[magenta321]

I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner.

When I was in college, I was a full time employee and a full time student. I had a once a week Philosophy of Education grumble class that was three hours long and horribly boring. We had a funny little Italian for a professor, who would use the same phrases over and over and over

"We will ex-powwwwwwwnd on dis"

"Take-ah dis peas ofa chalk"

And there were more, but they were words I never use, so I forgot them. Anyhoo, I had my own little clique in the back of the room of honors kids and friends of honors kids who were unable to pay any attention in that class. We were smart, so we knew that the fact we couldn't pay attention would hurt us. Then we found a way to pay attention -- take any of his token sayings, write it somewhere in the margin of the paper, and put tally marks for each time he said it.

Eventually we involved money in this game. There were jackpots for five things -- four phrases (bet on how many times he would use each of them individually), and one jackpot for how long it would take him to get chalk on his face.

Eventaully the entire class became aware of our bets, and everyone was fascinated on how many times he'd say "expound", etc. It kept it interesting anyway.

[Prepoia[$]]

Take-ah dis peas ofa chalk"

And there were more, but they were words I never use, so I forgot them. Anyhoo

Okay, everyone.....line up and place a bet! How many anyhoo(s) will Margaret use before the end of the week?

lol

Sandy

Who also has some funny things she says when she teaches that probably make for some heavy betting in her classroom by all the bright (and probably even more the not so bright) youngsters