Every customer service position has the complaint of abusive customers. I can tell you about the time I was waiting tables at sixteen and nearly lost my job for smacking a customer’s hand away when he tried – for the fourth time – to flip up my required pleated skirt as I walked by. Or the time I was spit on at Wal-Mart because food stamps didn’t cover a lollipop from the Valentine’s display. (You really don’t want to get me started on the food stamps subject, but I may have brought that one on myself a teensy bit when I pointed out that candy is not only not a food item, but also not necessary to survival). Or how about the time I was cussed out by an Air Force pilot (who really should have shown better leadership skills) when his daughter got washable paint on the hem of her shirt.
Those are all rather isolated incidents and more on the extreme side than the norm. Why is that? Because unless you’re a total jackwad like the above customers, it’s hard to scream at a person who not only can see your face, but is likely to see you again. Call center CSRs do not have that level of protection from abuse. Despite knowing the person one is cussing out has access to one’s address, phone number, and other related account information, there is a certain level of security in talking to a faceless stranger on the phone, especially when one knows they are unlikely to ever speak to that person again.
It is a general rule in most companies that CSRs are not able to discuss political or religious views with customers. I have been “blessed” many times at the end of a call for one reason or another and usually respond with “Thank you” or “you as well.” This is acceptable to both me and the company because I’ve turned the phrase into a social nicety without divulging my own views; which, in terms of religion, are more spiritual than religious. I have, however, been placed in the position of having to listen to one or more religious or political rants and even had one customer attempt to “save” me over the phone.
One particular “religious” call I received spun me up so bad I had to take my break early and walk laps around the building to calm down. This call started rather routinely. The caller asked if we had any packages that included only locals and religious channels. I informed the customer we had one that did, but it also included family-style channels like the kids channels and Home and Garden type channels. The call should have ended shortly after that with the customer first either accepting or declining the offered package.
My luck is not that good.
I should have seen it coming, he lead with, “I don’t know, maybe one of these guys is your boyfriend or something,” and finished with a twenty-minute rant filled with the most hateful things I have ever heard someone say about another human being. I sat there, stunned, while he went on and on about how we were brainwashing his son by making him think it was okay for blacks and whites to hang out together.
My first thought, “Why say all this if you think ‘one of them’ might be my boyfriend?” My second thought, “Did I just fuckin’ time-warp?” I should have known better than to think racism was eradicated from our society, I lived in the south for a while (another time-warp moment when I was called a nigger lover for being pleasant to my neighbor) and I once worked around different gangs, including the Aryan Brotherhood and Aryan Knights. And I suppose the psychology major in me knew that people like this man were mostly raised, not created, and it really shouldn’t have surprised me when he talked about how the rest of society was brainwashing his son.
But it did.
I bit my tongue and listened while he spewed all manner of hate my direction – not directly at me, but at a group he had no way of knowing I wasn’t a part of. I listened to him whine about how even VH1 was being taken over by Soul Train, and how the Disney Channel was teaching his son the wrong values by allowing white and black children to play together. He finished this rant by stating that he wasn’t raciest or being hateful, it was just his religion – he was a good Christian.
His religion?!? Seriously? What Kool-Aid was he drinking?
And thanks to company policy – and my need of a bi-weekly paycheck – when his rant finally finished, I spoke up with a lame, “We simply rebroadcast the signal from the channel owners, we have no control over the content of programming or the actors hired to portray characters. You will see the same shows, with the same actors, no matter which television provider you subscribe to.”
Lucky for me, I don’t get raciest calls very often – I’m really not sure how much longer I’d be able to hold my tongue. This next call is one I actually get quite often, though this one was the most entertaining by far.
As with any offer that requires rebates be applied to an account, people often get confused or rebates are misapplied. Neither was the case in this call. This gentleman (I use the term loosely) called to complain about his bill. I knew right off the bat I wasn’t going to be able to do anything for him because his account had been flagged by our fraud department for too many large credits, but as is my job I had to at least attempt to explain the bill.
This customer was convinced we owed him nearly $40 each month for the past seven months (the beginning of his account) because he had been over charged. I tried explaining the different packages, rebates, and extra fees (such as DVR and HD services), but to no avail, he was convinced we owed him money (though his bill was correct). This process took over ten minutes (much longer than it should have) and he dropped the F-bomb more and more often as the conversation progressed.
Me: Sir, you’ve been paying this amount, every month, since the account was opened seven months ago. Why are you suddenly calling about the bill being too high?
Customer: My girlfriend was paying the bill, but we’ve broken up and she moved out so now I’m paying the bill.
Me: So now that you’re paying the bill you feel that the price for service is too high?
Customer: Your fucking ad says the monthly bill will be (states amount for lowest package after rebates, with no extras) and mine is almost fucking twice that!
So then I get to once again explain the extra charges and how he actually is getting his channel package at the amount that is advertised. He continued to tell me I was wrong and that we did owe him money (to the tune of nearly $40 per month). Finally I could not resist any longer and asked:
Me: You did say the reason you’re calling now is because your girlfriend was paying the bill before, correct?
Customer: Yes, but then the bitch moved out.
(Gee, I wonder why).
Me: Since she was the one paying the bill, we owe her the refund for the overcharges, wouldn’t you say?
At this point, my immediate supervisor has tapped into the call to listen in. This is partially because of my half of the conversation, and as I later found out, also because I am now standing up and pacing as far as my headset will allow me to.
Customer: Obviously you didn’t go to college, so let me explain this again.
Honestly? I tuned out at that point. What the customer didn’t know, and really it’s not relevant to the conversation, is that I had just completed an Associate’s in Psychology and had just been accepted to begin my third year as a Human Services major. (A side note here: most call center employees are college students; I have one supervisor who is currently working her way through med school). My supervisor, at this point, has stopped doing his own work and is fighting to control his laughter, while others around me are beginning to tune in to my side of the conversation.
The conversation continues with the customer becoming more and more irate and more and more verbally abusive. At this point I have lost all pretense of tact and am in danger of losing my thin grasp on professionalism. Finally, he accuses me of insulting his intelligence and I cannot resist.
Me: Sir, I am not the one commenting on your level of education, however, you are wrong about the current charges on your bill. You are being charged correctly and you have been charged correctly since the account was activated.
What I have not yet informed him of is that the credits that had been issued by a previous agent (the very ones that had likely prompted the fraud flag) had been reversed. I did advise him of the past due amount on his account, which he told me he wasn’t going to pay. I informed him that was his decision.
Then, as they so often do, he threatened to sue us. Folks, this doesn’t really scare CSRs. Any judgment in favor of the customer does not come out of the CSR’s pocket and all major companies have lawyers to protect the company’s interests. Also, unless the CSR actually did something wrong or illegal, they are not at risk of losing their job just because you sue.
Me: Sir, if you would like to seek the advice of a lawyer, that is perfectly within your right.
Customer: Don’t tell me what to do.
Me: Sir, I wasn’t trying to tell you what to do, I was simply agreeing with you.
Customer: I don’t need a lawyer to sue your ass, I can do it myself.
(Yeah, good luck with that).
Me: That is perfectly within your right as well.
Finally (finally!) he hangs up on me.