Commenting Counter Thingy, take three!

[anyjen]

Well, I've done this before, in 2009 and in 2010, but I'm always curious about this kind of stuff... so without further ado:

Comments

[anyjen]

Do they actually expect you to be able to connect them to with whomever they wish to speak with?

Yeah, they do. Most of the time they just misdialled and got an error message telling them to check with their phone company (which gives them a number that eventually connects them to me) so all I haver to do is ask them what was the number they were trying to call in the first place and transfer them to it. Though not before offering thm our services, of course. Can you believe that even wrong numbers are considered sales opportunities, and we get sh*t from our supervisors if we don't attempt a sale? If I misdial and reach some kind of telephone company instead of the office of my doctor, the last thing I want is somebody trying to sell me something. -_-

Well, it wouldn't be very smooth, but it would get the message accross. XD

(and anyway, even if you said that, word per word, you still wouldn't be in the top ten weirdest people we've had to talk to. Just last thursday, I had a call from a guy who insisted he was Royalty, and who claimed all current economic problems in the US were because he got in a row with the owner of the US central bank and refused to send them more money, or something like that. And it wasn't even a prank caller, he was a legitimate customer! God it was hard to supress the giggles. XD)

I don't have skype yet, but if you do then it would be worth trying to understand that beastie... we could arrange one day and time to connect and have a proper conversation isntead of one in which we would have to pretend we don't know each other and in which I would have to call you ma'am. XD

[popkin16]

I definitely wouldn't want to hear a sales pitch if I misdialled a number. Though ever since you got this job, I'm always careful to be as polite as possible to the people on the other end. Not that I was rude before, but I didn't focus on it as much. I spent all this weekend on the phone with first my router company and then my laptop maker company

LOL And just imagine if I got the wrong person?

(Seriously? Wow. I'm impressed you managed to surprised the giggles at all; I wouldn't have been able to. Clearly all our problems are caused by a member of some Royal Family not lending us money.)

I mostly use Skype IM, which comes with phone calling or phone calling + webcam. But honestly, I just IM people. I could help you out with it, if you needed. AH, yeah, it'd be difficult to not laugh if you kept calling me ma'am.

[anyjen]

Good to hear! Trust me, they appreciate it. If you want to be even nicer to them, make sure you take a few moments before placing the call to figure out what it is you need of them and gather all the relevant information they could ask you (account numbers, the last bill or two, receipts, anything that could contain details that would help identify you and your concern), plus pen and paper (vital, yet so many people forget it!). We have a time limit for the calls, so if you can be clear and brief when expressing your concern, and have everything ready for when they ask you for something, you will be making their day. :)

If you have a landline, there are a couple of inside tips I can give you so you can get the best deals and service. Just ask me and I'll spill the beans!

Well, if you got the wrong number you would still get one of my co-workers (if you call a certain number at a certain time, there's only five or so of us taking calls) and I could instruct them to take the number and give it to me so I could call you back ("If any of you get a giggling woman who keeps spouting nonsense about a blue box and a doctor, it's for me!"). We still wouldn't be able to talk more than a couple of minutes (I would still have to, you know, work) but it's another possibility.

(INORITE? and he kept mentioning he was chums with some important-sounding figure or other, and telling me surely I must have heard of them, and I had to be all serious business and politely prompt him to go back to matters of his telephone instead of telling him I didn't give a crap about politicians and such in England or the US. XD)

Skype IM, gotcha. Now it's all a matter of getting it and figuring out how it works... if I managed to learn how to use close to forty different programs to fix/install/configure a person's phone line and calling plan from across the world, surely Skype can't be that much of a challenge... I hope. ^^U