#287 Call Center InstructShawn

I've been working in Retail / Customer Service / Call Canters since I was 16.  That's nearly 30 years.  Here's what I know without a doubt.

In  Retail greet your Customers / Clients. But let them come to you.

In Customer Service / Call Centers when the phone rings... ANSWER IT!

So help my god, but there's a new employee that was hired a little over 3 months ago. She came from the Same previous employer as out Boss. (Can you say RED FLAG?!)  Now we are a dual Call Center. Two sets of lines, two sets of products.  When things are busy we'll help out with the lines we are not responsible for, if only to tell the caller we will be with them a in another moment (we don't have a fancy menu and hold message that repeats a canned message of how important you are to us, yadda yadda yadda) 

I will place your calls on hold when you're busy, but it's up to you to answer the calls. I will inform you once and ONLY once that I have placed one of your lines on hold. You're not a child, I will not treat you as such. Be an adult, do your job. When you fail to take the line because you're too busy chit-chatting with the even newer employee (instilling a shit poor work ethic) it's going to come back to you, not me..

Don't come back to me when they tire of holding and hang up, as was the case today, asking me:

"Why didn't you tell me there was a call on hold. I just got off the phone with a client that was upset that they were on hold and no one got back to them; what happened?", 

"Who was it, they hung up?" and 

"Was that a call for me?"; because my replies will continue to be:

"I DID tell you you had a call on hold, you just kept talking instead of taking the call. I'd be pissed off too if I was waiting 5 minutes"

"I have no idea, maybe you should have taken the call instead of continuing to chit-chat."

and

"Yes it was for you, that's why I said, [insert name], you have a call on hold. Shoulda stopped chatting and taken it."

As it was, today I was doing the work of my desk, my co-worker who took the day off, and helping another co-worker cover the desk of someone who called in sick.  I neither have the time nor inclination to do your work as well.

The kicker here:

When these clients ask her "Was that Shawn? we miss him." (I've been working on the other desk for over 3 years) It brings me such pleasure.