What happened to common courtesy?

Question

I work in a call center for city gov't, taking service requests from the public. It's a very stressful job. The call queue is high, and callers are oftentimes incredibly rude and down right horrible. Over the phone, people are very brave. Some operators are so burned out by dealing with angry people all day that we can become callus (sp?) and are not as sweet as your Granny might be. Not a single day goes by where at least 1/3 of the callers are pissed and gladly take it out on the operators. I understand if callers are frustrated, but why blast the poor schmuck on the front line?

Every week I even get people cursing and actually yelling abusively. I ask that they please govern their language, or I will terminate the call. I've had to do it several times.

Why is this okay? I see it in the mall, grocery store, the bank, on the bus (especially!), post office, in call centers, everywhere. At the very least, they should care about their dignity by not making an *ss of themselves.

To anyone who does this, we actually at you. Not cool, but it happens. We put the mute button on and say whatever we want, which isn't pretty. Then we spread the word around the call center about "that idiot" who's so rude.

Two wrongs don't make a right, but I common courtesy was back en vogue again.

"Yea, jealousy has caused many to fall from the high station and lofty summit of courtesy and thrown them headlong into the low depths of vain words and the writing of falsehood and slander."

(Mirza Abu'l-Fadl, The Brilliant Proof, p. 3)

True, people had to wade through lots of phone calls before getting to our call center. But they called the WRONG NUMBERS before getting to us. Is that our fault? No, it isn't.

As for the recording.. it's IMPOSSIBLE to have a live person answer the phone call for every call. Our call center would be in that case, and it isn't. People have to be informed that their call will be answered. Many many times, people call the wrong number. To help them get to the right dept, the recording offers them other choices for other depts. This is necessary.

As for the Spanish, like it or not, there are folks out there who need it, so call centers use it. For a few yrs, my voice was the Spanish voice. I did it because I was asked, not because I like to hear myself talk.

Stop making excuses for bad behavior.

Answer 1

It is mostly venting. Common courtesy isn't taught in the homes as it once was.We sometimes allow the stresses of the day to control our actions. I apologize and ask that you forgive them. Please continue to hang up if they don't stop after being cautioned. This will remind them not to act in that manner. Don't forget to record the call in case it comes up later. Peace.

Answer 2

I work at a hotel as a night auditor. I see this behavior a lot in our customers. It spans all economic and social backgrounds. I am assuming it's lack of training at home, but you are an adult now and you should be able to speak to others with dignity and respect, right? I think maybe these people have never worked in the service industry to be able to understand what it is like on the other side of the desk or the telephone line. I honestly think that this type etiquette should be taught in schools. I try to not let this behavior effect my service skills, but unfortunately it does sometimes. What can we do?

Answer 3

It is probably because to finally reach a live, human person the callers had to work their way through twenty minutes of taped non-sense recorded by someone who loves to hear themselves talk. Rambling on and on and on and on and if hearing it once wasn't enough chances are they had to listen to it in Spanish as well. Get rid of your tape machines and have a human being answer the phone in the first place and remember, this is the United States, don't cater to people who can't speak the language of this country. NO--I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR THE MESSAGE IN SPANISH--NOT UNLESS I AM IN MEXICO OR ANOTHER SPANISH SPEAKING COUNTRY! That will piss me off right away.

Answer 4

I've had the same discussion with my friends/family on many occasions. I definitely sympathize with you. I don't pretend to understand the ill behavior myself. Just know that for the most part there are more good individuals then bad. At least that's the hope that I have.