MMMiii!

Yesterday, I had a total of 20 calls. That was over an 8-hour shift. That’s pretty normal in technical support for Tier 1.

But let me explain a little about my job.

I take supervisor and manager escalations 8 hours a day. Supervisor and manager escalations are calls from customers who may be highly dissatisfied, really irate/angry/livid, very unreasonable, or very happy with the representative or service that they want to give a commendation. The last one comprises about 1% of the total calls we get.

To be honest, after about 5 calls from angry customers, I get tired and edgy. I can become irate too. There are times when I can just nod to what the customers are saying and be speechless.

Just imagine 20 calls like that.

Now, for my last call yesterday, I was graced by a super annoying customer who thinks he is right and that the company I work for has no say with what is right or wrong. He said he was being paid by the government of Connecticut to sit on his ass and watch TV and complain to his service providers. He said he is the customer and he is always right. He said he knows he is a royal pain in the ass and unreasonable.

After about 5 minutes of arguing with him, I just got fed up and did what he want except putting a credit adjustment on his account. I was already shaking with anger and annoyance, and probably my blood pressure was also way over my head already. I just wanted the call to end because it was already way after the end of my shift. The whole call ended after an hour. Just great. One hour overtime.

An hour later, going home, I was still shaking in anger to the point of throwing up. My job is THIS healthy. It wasn’t like this up until the start of this month. I loved my job. I love the company I work for… but ever since this started, it’s just sickening. There are plenty of companies out there that would value my health more, sadly.

But I need to get away. I need a long vacation. I need rest. I want to go so far away and forget everything for a few days. I want to go to a place where no one would know me. Maybe I should go to a new orleans hotel and just spoil myself with first class service and feel what it’s like being a customer. *laughs*

But Louisiana is too far. Maybe Holiday Inn or Shangri-La is good enough. Or the Intercontinental. LOL.

I’m just so tired.

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I had a major headache recently. I got a call from a customer who was insisting that it was our fault for getting her computer infected. She got infected by a Windows Protection Suite virus because she refused to assist the technician who installed the service to her PC in removing her pre-existing antivirus software from her computer so that the tech could install the ISP Provided antivirus software which is McAfee. She had Norton. So of course it would be conflicting. She claims that the technician didn’t tell her that it was conflicting and just left her hanging.

Well, tough luck for her. We tried going to a website that had instructions in removing the Windows Protection Suite from her computer, but I don’t know if she’s just slow or something, but we weren’t able to remove it from her computer in the end. She said she’s going to sue the ISP. I didn’t bother following up on that, because I think she realizes its her fault in the first place.

Yey! I really love taking escalations.

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And so… yes, 4th of July came, and I had work, of course. I had a customer today who asked what kind of luck I had to make me work on the 4th of July. I told him that I had rotten luck, that’s why. He said he was also feeling lucky that tech support was open because he really needed to get some work done. I told him that troubles don’t go on holidays. Suddenly losing the service and what not, these things can happen, just like accidents.

Anyways, he had all services–TV, Phone and Internet–down. He was a little alarmed because his home alarm was going bonkers (I could hear it in the background as well). I don’t really know how home alarm systems work, but I know that they’re connected to the phone, and when something (I don’t know what) happens, they get notified or alarmed that something happened.

Anyways, it just turned out that this customer shut off the gateway where everything was hooked up because he was planning to leave for a couple of days and he didn’t want it on. And when he was about to call someone, he found that the phone was dead.

Well, fun fun. We just switched it on and everything came back up.

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No, not me. But I was looking for my cellphone earlier and I couldn’t remember where I put it so while looking for it, I remembered one of the calls I received a couple of days ago.

Customer (Cu): Hi, I have a big problem. I turned off my phone because my kid wanted to play with it. Now I can’t find it.
Me: Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Don’t worry, I’ll be more than glad to help you, or to get you to the right department. How can I help you today?
Cu: Can you turn on my phone? Is there a way they could make it sound off so I can find it?
Me: I’m not sure if they have a way…

(Then I remembered that I just got scolded recently for not immediately transferring to the right department for issues I don’t support. I wanted to say that I don’t think our wireless customer support can do anything about it, but I should just throw the customer to the wireless department.)

Cu: Could you get me to the tech support, then?
Me: I’m not from our wireless department, that’s why I couldn’t answer you. They might have a way (even if I know well that there’s none). Let me get you over to them.
Cu: Great! I don’t know what to do. I’ve been looking for it and I just can’t find it. I’m at my wits now…
Me: I can understand. Let me now place you on hold while I get you to the best department to assist you.

~~ while on hold, I was telling everyone about that call. We couldn’t stop laughing. And I didn’t tell the wireless customer support about the customer’s issue to let her deal with it.

It was just so funny… and stupid. I know I shouldn’t be laughing… but I couldn’t help it.

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It’s been a while since I wrote about calls from work. I’ve been lazy, I’m sorry. But a couple of days ago, I received this call that I just really want to share. By the way, I don’t handle just internet anymore. I handle an account that deals with IP TV and VoIP aside from internet. Of the three, I hate Internet and IP TV calls.

Anyway, I had this call from a nice old lady. She was calling because she couldn’t get her DVD Player to work. She said she wasn’t sure if she’s calling the right person, and I told her I could try to assist her or at least point her to the right direction. We tried changing the input, which is usually the reason why they can’t view the Live TV shows, but after 10 minutes of fiddling around, there was really nothing happening. She did say that her TV was somewhat old, so that’s really usually just switching from TV to Video or to a certain channel… we also tried pushing buttons on the TV itself, but we couldn’t get it to work.

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It’s been a while since I wrote about my tech support stories. My work has been hectic, my life has been .. wait.. what life?

Anyways, here’s about a call with a Mr Cox. Actually, the day I got a Mr Cox, the previous caller was a Mrs Cox. It was by pure coincidence of course. I didn’t feel any discomfort with Mrs Cox, or calling her Mrs Cox, but apparently Mr Cox got a little uncomfortable, to the point that he asked me to call him by his first name.

I don’t know why. I just paused a little saying Cox at one point because I forgot who I was speaking with and had to scroll up my notes and look for his surname. He took it as something else, it seemed at that time. And now that I think about it, it probably sounded uncomfortable on his end as well.

Me: So how can I help you today, Mr ……. Cox?
Mr Cox: Uhhhh… Call me Jim.
Me: Sure… Uhh… Jim.

Actually, I’m more uncomfortable calling customers with their first name. But there was one time, after I asked the customer for their name, they kind of got annoyed and asked what for. I said it’s so I could call them by their name. Then she said, “Oh you could call me Your Majesty for all I care. Just get this fixed.”

I did call her “Your Majesty” and luckily, I was able to fix her intarwebz :D That was really embarrassing though. My seatmates were laughing at me and I could feel my ears burning red.

Tech support can be fun sometimes whenever it’s not impossible to fix the issue.

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I’ve always been wanting to receive a call from a Filipino customer, and acknowledge his being Filipino. Sure, I’ve had others, but they were either 2nd or 3rd or nth generation already or they made no mention of it whatsoever.

The first encounter was a teen whose parents are Filipinos and he said he was going to the Philippines that Summer (last September) and he wanted to know how he could access the internet while he was here. But he does not speak any Filipino language at all since he said he was born in the States and grew up there.

The second encounter was an adult, with the surname of Alcala, although I’m not really sure if she’s Filipino or of Filipino blood. But she did kind of have that Philippine English accent. And she said that I was the very first person to pronounce her last name perfectly. She said that not even her neighbors or where she works in could say it correctly.

The third encounter was a real one. His surname is Crisostomo. And he actually asked me if I was Filipino, because I said his name right. After I acknowledged my nationality and country, he kind of loosened up and inserted the usual Filipino ‘no, ano, di ba, as well as comfortably slipping out of his Americanized accent for his English. (Think of SBC Packers but not too exaggerated).

I was glad that I resolved his wireless connection issue, although I had to inform him that for the playstation 3, they would have to reconnect that on their own.

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When I started in my first account, I dreaded coming in to work each and every day. I dreaded pressing Auto-In each and every time. And I tortured myself by coming in to work early and face the fear of taking in calls. I told myself, “I’m going to give myself until my 4th month, just until the bond is over. And if I really don’t like it, I’m going to quit.”

I don’t know when I started liking my job. Sure enough, by the time I got regularized, I was really enjoying it. Thinking back, I was the type of person who never has confidence at all. I would somewhat know what I was talking about. The tools were good enough and would guide me.

Now, I seriously hate it. On this new account, we’re all newbies. I find myself not going and asking questions because they tell me “I don’t know” or “I’m not sure” or someone tells me one thing and another person another thing. The Tier2s and the QSPs and the TLs became what they are because of their mastery of the account, or they would really know what they’re talking about, they will be able to help. But now, for some reason, I don’t want to trust anyone. I can’t trust anyone. Because no one really knows anything. At least, that’s the feeling that I get.

Each and every time I press Auto-In, I shake with fear. Not because I’m not confident enough, but I don’t know anything. I don’t know a thing about wireless. There’s no streamlined process. There’s no process flow. I’m always LOST! I don’t know what to do! I was crying after my shift today because of the frustration. It seemed that all the wireless calls I received today were unresolved because I didn’t know what I was doing. And I really didn’t.

I want to just give up. I want to up and go, leave for nearer pastures (lolz). Get a job that’s nearer. I’m really disgusted with how things are right now. Everyone’s saying that it’s because it’s a new account, basically everyone is new, and everyone is complaining, that we’re not alone.

I want to run away, maybe book one of those cheap cruises (especially now that it’s the rainy season) while eating cheap Chinese noodles. Maybe just disappear. Aside from the pressure that I’m having on this unfamiliar battleground, my boss is pushing me to do well immediately. He said that it’s a challenge that I need to overcome. I AGREE, but don’t expect me to be a master of it IMMEDIATELY! *screams* I don’t know a THING about WIRELESS! T_________T AND THEIR STUPID PROCESSES AND “TROUBLESHOOTING” HELP IS USELESS AND INCOMPLETE! *screams again*

And another thing about my boss, I kind of lost a little respect for him. He acts like he knows everything but in fact, he’s also new on this account. EVERYONE is new. NO ONE knows ANYTHING! SO NO ONE SHOULD ACT LIKE THEY KNOW EVERYTHING! They are not in any position to act like they know everything already. They got their position because of the previous account which, hands down, I would not contest their knowledge of it. But now… I’m expecting a lot of people quitting soon. THEY BETTER GET THEIR ACT TOGETHER ASAP!

/wrist.

/rant.

Ok, I’m done emoing.

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My bed was due to be delivered today and I’m using it right now. I can blog while sitting down on my bed!!!

Anyway, I already told my boss that I need to leave right after my shift because my bed’s gonna be delivered so… just my luck, 5 minutes before closing, I got a call. Within 2 minutes, I was able to figure out that it was a computer issue already and exactly, by 12, I was referring out.

But nooooooo the customer wouldn’t take that. She said we should give extra service and fix her computer, send out someone to make sure it’s working. I told her that we’re in DSL technical support and even if I sent a tech, he wouldn’t know how to fix her computer AND she will get charged. I told her that I would send her a tech if she really wanted but she has to make sure that the tech wasn’t going to touch her computer. I asked if she wanted to continue troubleshooting instead.

In the middle of troubleshooting, she SCREAMED into my ear that she has done this, done that, a million times already and that she knows it already. So I asked her something and she said she didn’t know it. Then I asked her if she wanted to continue troubleshooting. This went on like 3 more times.

We went on Safe Mode with Networking and I proved to her that her internet is working. It’s her computer that is not. I was ready to put on some tactical gear or heavy artillery armor if she still wouldn’t take that.

But… She calmed down… A lot … and I wasted 30 minutes proving it to her that it’s her stupid computer that wasn’t working. Then she brought up again that we should give her complementary service since she’s been paying for her internet for 18 months without actually using it.

WHY would anyone pay for 18 months for a service that they’re not using? WHY would they only call 18 months later and tell their ISP that their service is not working? WHY would they call only 18 months later and ask for the refund?

I do NOT get the logic. If they’re so keen on the money that goes out of their pockets, shouldn’t they have paid attention to this not so little detail? This is over $30 a month that we’re talking about, times 18. That is NOT a small amount.

In the end, I told her to call the billing department, ask them to contact technical support and check the notes that the customer really did indeed just call last month, after 18 months of paying for the service, and just actually started using it. That way, if she gets credited of refunded, she can afford the additional fee-based service her ISP has to offer to get her computer fixed. And then I told her that she needs to restart her PC because she shouldn’t stay in safe mode. Then she said, in a child-like voice as if she got scolded, “Can I at least check my e-mails?”

I said yes. But make sure to restart her PC so as not to make it worse. Then she said thank you a lot.

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I had a call today. The customer got disconnected in error. She wanted standalone DL without the phone since they said they don’t really use it. So the stupid phone people disconnected the phone. Hence, the customer’s DSL service got disconnected as well. The poor customer decided to give the company a second chance. The customer ordered again, this time specifically saying that they want their internet back and they don’t need the phone. It worked for a couple of days, and then BAM! They got disconnected again.

And then I got their call.

The customer said explicitly, specifically that she wanted standalone internet. Even someone who understands just basic English should be able to understand that the customer wanted the DSL without the phone. But it seems like the customer wasn’t understood again. This call was actually funny and annoying at the same time. Mother and son were both on the phone. The mother was telling me that I was working for a bad company (It’s not like this was the first time I heard that) and that I should change jobs and that I sounded sweet (I just HAD to add that since the customer said so) and that it’s a big waste for someone like me to be working there.

The son was trying to tell his mother to shut up in a nice way and I was really amazed that his mother was overtalking him and at the same time he was still being polite. I’ve had some mother-and-son calls wherein the way the son speaks to his mother made me cringe.

But anyways, back to my company.

My company isn’t that bad. It’s true, I work for this company who’s occasionally made errors. Maybe 1 out of 100 make a mistake. Heck, I almost made a mistake myself today. But it’s not that bad. The company tries hard to make it’s customer service level exceptional. Heck, our jobs depend a lot on customer satisfaction. And I do get some calls and the customers tell me that their service is working very well.

Sure, I don’t get a lot of calls with customers telling me the service is great. But think about this: If everything is working fine, would they be calling at all?

It may sound like sometimes that a certain application from this company sucks so bad. But of course, if it’s working properly, why would they call at all. It’s not working properly that’s why they call. It just so happens that teh fail is so hard that we get a little difficulty fixing things.

They shouldn’t be too hard on the company. I’m not defending the company. It’s not that I’m loyal, but I would say that nothing is perfect, but at least it tries and strives hard (and spends a lot) for perfection.

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