People Who Should Not Have Access to Telephones, Chapter 92

[slipjig3]

On behalf of all Verizon Call Completions Operators in the northeast U.S., I hereby request that every prison inmate on Long Island be stricken with chronic laryngitis. Thank you.

The preceding requires more explanation than I have the energy to commit to bandwidth at the moment, since I now ache in places I'd forgotten were there (if anyone out there gives backrubs, please contact me), but I can tell you this: At a certain suburban correctional facility, the inmates used to be able to use prepaid cards to make calls. As of a few weeks ago, in the wake of a long story, prepaid cards are no longer allowed. And, oh frabjous day, those calls to prepaid card access numbers are now rolling over to us, because it is our job to inform the caller that they may not use said card from said prison phone.

At 6 this evening, Darlyn, a coworker, unceremoniously walked out of the office in the middle of her shift, saying that she refused to be called a name involving alleged consumption of certain bodily fluids ever again. The rest of us very nearly followed.

*sigh* This used to be a decent job. What happened?

Comments

[odheirre.livejournal.com]

Hey, at least you're out here and they're in there.

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

Small favors, but yes.

[koyaanisqatsi.livejournal.com]

Eh. not cool. The change, or the reaction to it. Unfortunately, I used to be one of those people who was quite rude to sales reps & occasionally customer service. Then I got a job taking interviews over the phone, and that adjusted my perspective a bit.

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

An old boss of mine once said that everyone should work in customer service for at least one year of their lives for just that reason. That sad part is, some people do customer service, and then still don't learn. (Thank you, by the way.)

[merowme.livejournal.com]

Aw, but how are they going to call their mommies. Sorry, too early in the morning.

Been in customer service. I know how you feel. But I agree with odheirreat least you are out here and they don't know your name or where you live.

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

They can call their mommies collect, like every other inmate in the country. *grin*

I may be too techie for words

[taisidhe.livejournal.com]

*please note that my tongue is so far into one cheek that I appear to have the mumps on that side*

... but can't the company have those calls routed to an automated message saying the same thing? That saves the humans from being harrassed while the message is still delivered.

Of course, I have no idea how this would be accomplished, but it HAS to be better than subjecting CS reps to such crap. (Having once upon a time worked for IBM CS, I do relate and wish you much peace and serenity in the very near future.)

Re: I may be too techie for words

[slipjig.livejournal.com]

I wish it were feasible. Unfortunately, the only way to do that would be to have a comprehensive list of calling card access numbers, which is pretty nigh well impossible (there are hundreds of companies offering them). Ah, well, at least we're getting the hang of knowing whom to hang up on before the call goes through.