A DAY AT WORK
In life we all have to do a variety of tasks. Today I am showing the life of a call center agent. The job which is done by an outsourced firm involves handling customer queries and complaints for a telecommunication firm. The question is, CAN YOU DO IT?. Remember that your time is managed and you don't enter the floor with a phone?
MONDAY
I wake up before 5 am to prepare myself and to beat the jam. I am supposed to be at work before 6.30 am.
I arrive at work 15 minutes early and I acquaintance myself with the systems before I finally Auto in or Log In. The first call I receive is of a client whose phone has been out of service for the last 3 months and he has been complaining daily but nothing seems to be done. My hands are tied since I can only book the issue and it is the parent firm to take it up from there and their is no way I can make personal follow up and that's how it is that I am just an employee of an outsourced firm. At 4.30 pm I log out. It was a long 9 hrs with only 2 fifteen minutes break and a 30 minute launch break.
TUESDAY
The same routine repeats only that I have a chest pain that's intense. I think of skipping work but I quickly remember that even if I am sick or not and I ask for a sick off, still I wont be paid for the day I was absent. This is contrary to what I was told during orientation but their is nothing I can do since as the MD usually thunders that their are many people who are ready to take the job for a much less. The pay is $200 per month. At the end of my shift, I am requested for an overtime work and the pay for the overtime work is $0.50 per hour. Phew! take it or leave the job?
WEDNESDAY
Finally I am off. How I spend it don't ask.
THURSDAY
Am back at work. One caller becomes abusive since we could not communicate clearly because of a network problem. The Irate guy didn't mind telling me that I am challenged Intelligently and Am better off being a beggar. I couldn't take it anymore and I disconnected the call. The quality analyst listens to that call and I am reprimanded and given a warning letter. I am told I have to be humble in abuse and to wait until the caller speaks his mind then he is the one to disconnect the call. What the QA doesn't know that when it becomes personal my whole day will be ruined which translates to poor customer service. In short I am damned by whatever action I will take.
FRIDAY
The account manageress is Mad because my percentage of ticketing is low. What happens is that when a call comes the first thing to do is to code which means to type like 111 according to the type of query. The 2nd thing is to ticket which is to use CRM (customer relationship management) software to generate the query. The problem is that when one transfers a call or receives a prank call, one is not supposed to book it. When the results are generated it supposedly deducts transfers and pranks and thus ticketing becomes less like 60%. Which is not my fault but since the manageress isn't prone to understanding, I am told I would be fired. I am also told that the company could be altering the results so as not to pay commissions to those achieving set service level targets and also as an excuse to reduce the workforce.
SATURDAY
I am off and I spend the day dropping CV and applying for jobs. I also brainstorm on how to start my own business.
SUNDAY
The starts on a good note and I get many customers who are understanding but I also received calls of people inquiring for further explanations on SMS they received concerning new products. The sad part is that most times when the parent company launches new products they don't inform us and they send their customers SMS telling them to call customer care for further information. Sometimes when their is network disruption they don't notify us in advance and we are left wandering how to respond to such queries.
MONDAY
I wake up before 5 am to prepare myself and to beat the jam. I am supposed to be at work before 6.30 am.
I arrive at work 15 minutes early and I acquaintance myself with the systems before I finally Auto in or Log In. The first call I receive is of a client whose phone has been out of service for the last 3 months and he has been complaining daily but nothing seems to be done. My hands are tied since I can only book the issue and it is the parent firm to take it up from there and their is no way I can make personal follow up and that's how it is that I am just an employee of an outsourced firm. At 4.30 pm I log out. It was a long 9 hrs with only 2 fifteen minutes break and a 30 minute launch break.
TUESDAY
The same routine repeats only that I have a chest pain that's intense. I think of skipping work but I quickly remember that even if I am sick or not and I ask for a sick off, still I wont be paid for the day I was absent. This is contrary to what I was told during orientation but their is nothing I can do since as the MD usually thunders that their are many people who are ready to take the job for a much less. The pay is $200 per month. At the end of my shift, I am requested for an overtime work and the pay for the overtime work is $0.50 per hour. Phew! take it or leave the job?
WEDNESDAY
Finally I am off. How I spend it don't ask.
THURSDAY
Am back at work. One caller becomes abusive since we could not communicate clearly because of a network problem. The Irate guy didn't mind telling me that I am challenged Intelligently and Am better off being a beggar. I couldn't take it anymore and I disconnected the call. The quality analyst listens to that call and I am reprimanded and given a warning letter. I am told I have to be humble in abuse and to wait until the caller speaks his mind then he is the one to disconnect the call. What the QA doesn't know that when it becomes personal my whole day will be ruined which translates to poor customer service. In short I am damned by whatever action I will take.
FRIDAY
The account manageress is Mad because my percentage of ticketing is low. What happens is that when a call comes the first thing to do is to code which means to type like 111 according to the type of query. The 2nd thing is to ticket which is to use CRM (customer relationship management) software to generate the query. The problem is that when one transfers a call or receives a prank call, one is not supposed to book it. When the results are generated it supposedly deducts transfers and pranks and thus ticketing becomes less like 60%. Which is not my fault but since the manageress isn't prone to understanding, I am told I would be fired. I am also told that the company could be altering the results so as not to pay commissions to those achieving set service level targets and also as an excuse to reduce the workforce.
SATURDAY
I am off and I spend the day dropping CV and applying for jobs. I also brainstorm on how to start my own business.
SUNDAY
The starts on a good note and I get many customers who are understanding but I also received calls of people inquiring for further explanations on SMS they received concerning new products. The sad part is that most times when the parent company launches new products they don't inform us and they send their customers SMS telling them to call customer care for further information. Sometimes when their is network disruption they don't notify us in advance and we are left wandering how to respond to such queries.
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