Friday, September 02, 2005

working girl

So, I've been at my new job for six weeks now. I answer phones at a call center for a housecleaning service. People call in; I tell them about our services; figure up a quote for their home and (hopefully) get them to schedule a cleaning. After doing this approximately 100 times so far, I have memorized the script. I don't think this is any major accomplishment...I would think after reading through anything 100 times, you would have it memorized.

My favorite part of my job: going through the script with an accent. The service I work for has several offices in Canada, so we frequently speak with Canadians. Oftentimes I won't realize I'm speaking with an accent until I'm halfway through the script. This isn't a new thing for me; I've noticed before that when I'm around people who are speaking English with accent, I start emulating their speech. I'm not saying I imitate accents well, it's just something I subconciously do.

My least favorite part of my job: people who get mad at me because they don't like the price I quote them. You wouldn't believe how angry some people can get when they want their house cleaned, but they don't want to pay the price you quote them. Come on people, I didn't make up the prices, I'm just quoting them for you -- don't kill the messenger.

One interesting thing I've learned at this job: complete strangers will tell you a lot more than you wanted to know about their lives when they can't see who they're talking to.

One of the most important things I will take away from this job: to be especially nice to anyone I talk with on the phone in any kind of service industry job...and you should too. Trust me, anyone you're talking to on the phone for a company has already talked to several mean people that day, so make their day a little bit brighter by being cordial and patient.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

completely agree about being nice to people in the service industry. after working several years in retail i always make sure to refold the item i was looking it and put it back where it belongs...it makes one person's job go that much quicker after closing.

Anonymous said...

very cool about the new store. if you really want to get the canadian accent thing just swing up at the end of every sentence...say right, right as you tell a story and throw in an eh? every once and a while.

Anonymous said...

No kidding. I worked as a telephone survey taker, and I could not believe how cruel and nasty people were willing to be to a stranger. Phoning is weird, but not as weird as internet. Just think of how much we tell perfect strangers about our lives through blogs!!