Eating on the phone...really? :) "rant"

[FuryofFive]

Call center jockey here, was wondering does anyone else get really really peeved when someone gets on the phone and just starts wailing away on food/drink or gum.

None of my co-workers seem to care, and i probaly shouldn't. I just feel like its a lack of people skills

 

[Azraele]

That would bother me.

 

[eplebnista]

Doesn't bother me.

 

[ScottSwing]

Call center jockey here, was wondering does anyone else get really really peeved when someone gets on the phone and just starts wailing away on food/drink or gum.

None of my co-workers seem to care, and i probaly shouldn't. I just feel like its a lack of people skills

Yes, but it's your job not to care.

 

[Whisper]

If the person is calling you, then yeah, it could be slightly annoying/inconsiderate. If you're calling the person, then you're the one potentially interrupting their schedule and/or meal, so I wouldn't see it as rude.

 

[Perknose]

Sadly (for you), as a call center jockey you don't officially exist as a human being for most anyone calling you, or being called by you.

You are an appliance, and one that does not particularly work well in most people's eyes.

Smile and bear it. It's your job to do so.

That's why you get the small bucks.

 

[olds]

I would tell them to call me back after they are done eating.

 

[caddlad]

Rude and obnoxious.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

I had this happen one time... I just kept saying, "I can't understand what you're saying." The person apologized and called me back 30 minutes later.

 

[angminas]

Not enough info. It can be done unobtrusively. Also, you don't know why they're eating. Maybe they're short on time through no fault of their own. Do they have to skip their lunch break just because you (a paid customer service representative) don't like the sound? They don't need to be chomping and slurping, but I would definitely not blanket it as a problem worth doing something about.

 

[SeaSerpent]

I only do it to people that I really do not want to talk to.

 

[SampSon]

I totally hate it, but you're a phone jockey, janitors command more respect than workers of your ilk.

 

[Sea Moose]

Well, stop calling during dinner time.......

 

[Jeff7]

Sadly (for you), as a call center jockey you don't officially exist as a human being for most anyone calling you, or being called by you.

You are an appliance, and one that does not particularly work well in most people's eyes.

Smile and bear it. It's your job to do so.

That's why you get the small bucks.

I usually find call centers to be the obstacles between me and the people I actually need to be talking to, as the ones at the call center are usually only able to tell you the scripted responses, and can't effect any of the required technical changes. All they can tell you is that one of the administrators or technicians would be needed to solve the problem, but since they're only a call center, they can't do anything about that.
So as a company, you have a call center set up to give the appearance of offering customer service, without actually having to follow through on any of it.

</pseudorandom rant>


Even so, I generally don't eat while I'm on the phone. (Though the headset/mic I have now has a handy button on one earpiece, which is used to mute the microphone.)

 

[FuryofFive]

I work for an IT helpdesk for a very very large hospital system.Many campuses with thousands of employee's. So its not like an in-house type of thing.. i do everything short of fixing actual hardware and server related items, we have people for literally everything,Anyone whose worked helpdesk knows how it works.

i dont expect them to skip meals at all. But in the professional sense, there not calling to get a quote on there insurance from an employee who just barely finished high school.

Im aware im a peon, ive refered to myself as such. im easily replaced if needed.
ive gone as far as to ask them what flavor cereal or gum they were chewing/eating.

 

[dahunan]

buddy-business associate of mine.. runs a multi-million dollar business and he will

run tape and pack shipping boxes while running 3 phone lines
cuts the warts and callouses off his feet with a pedi-egg (sp?) while TALKING on the phone...lol

eats
pisses
buys food
buys drinks at 2 in afternoon while running two cell phones

lol

 

[SampSon]

I work for an IT helpdesk for a very very large hospital system.Many campuses with thousands of employee's. So its not like an in-house type of thing.. i do everything short of fixing actual hardware and server related items, we have people for literally everything,Anyone whose worked helpdesk knows how it works.

i dont expect them to skip meals at all. But in the professional sense, there not calling to get a quote on there insurance from an employee who just barely finished high school.

Im aware im a peon, ive refered to myself as such. im easily replaced if needed.
ive gone as far as to ask them what flavor cereal or gum they were chewing/eating.

You just used a lot of words to say "phone jockey".

Asking the wrong person what they are eating is an easy way to lose your shitty job for being unprofessional.

 

[Bateluer]

Such behavior conveys a lack of respect for the customer. Both call centers I've been affliated with banned food from the floor, and one banned all drinks as well. The other only allowed water in sealed containers.

 

[thescreensavers]

Call center jockey here, was wondering does anyone else get really really peeved when someone gets on the phone and just starts wailing away on food/drink or gum.

None of my co-workers seem to care, and i probaly shouldn't. I just feel like its a lack of people skills

Professionally it should not happen, with friends or random people who gives a fuck

 

[alkemyst]

It's rude, especially the fatties that are so into stuffing their pie holes that they talk to themselves while doing it...

"ummm....slurrrrrppp....man that's good...smack smack..ummm....slurrppp"

I will usually say "let me call you back when you are done eating", which usually gets them focused on listening and putting down their twinkies for a bit.

I do know some people that pretend to be eating when getting a call they don't want. I don't get that either. I just tell them not interested and hang up. Seems easier to me, but so many think some call center dude is going to put out a personal vendetta to get them if they say no.

 

[FuryofFive]

You just used a lot of words to say "phone jockey".

Asking the wrong person what they are eating is an easy way to lose your shitty job for being unprofessional.

i do it subtle and never to the wrong person. knowing the people you deal with helps in that equation. and i never said it was shitty.

for cereal ive asked "what kind of cereal ya got there" and for gum ive asked what kind of gum,
only have done that once each. a couple times ive asked if i could call them back. mainly like you said, the wrong person can complain. But its gonna take more than a complaint to get me fired.

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

Sometimes my boss would call me in the middle of a meal, and let out a loud burp mid-sentence. I found it unprofessional, but it was dealing with working and my income so /shrug.

 

[vhx]

I worked for tech support. They told us if we are unable to hear them properly, to give them notice 2-3 times that you cannot understand them well, before telling them to call back. This includes them eating into the phone.

 

[alkemyst]

I worked for tech support. They told us if we are unable to hear them properly, to give them notice 2-3 times that you cannot understand them well, before telling them to call back. This includes them eating into the phone.

this is an excuse I hear a lot. I understand it now. I never have a hard time anyone hearing me on my phones. Some support jockeys claim it and bail. Never got a call back.

This is a creation of workers not wanting to work.

 

[shortylickens]

There are so many things I hate about cell phone use these days its not even worth complaining about.
I just add it to the list of things I can never change, and it doesnt make me angry any more.
Also, I fantasize about stabbing the person with a wedding cake knife. Then I giggle, and all my cares wash away.