The Witch in Switchboard

What does it mean to be a customer services representative? It means for seven hours a day you clean up for other people's mistakes. Frequently you get yelled at by the insurance subscribers. The pay doesn't justify the stress and it certainly doesn't justified the personality twist you might experience over the years.

I am a switchboard operator. My job is to transfer and direct confused callers to the right department. However, the "right" department usually isn't the answer that they want to hear. What irritates me most is when people act like they know the company better than we do. Then they act like they're the king of the world and demand someone equal of their (imaginary) status. I had long feared that I would become so desensitized to people screaming abuse at me and eventually stop caring all together. I still care and now I care more for my hardworking colleagues who take this torture everyday.

This was a very civil call, unlike some of the ones I've had before that were filled with profanity and mindless rage. It went something like this:

Me: Pacific Blue Cross, Where may I direct you call?

Subscriber: Do you have a person named Jayde in your company?

Me: Yes we do, are you returning her call?

(At this stage, I had already formulated the possible nature of the call like I was trained to do. Only that Jayde wasn't doing any contact rep duties today.)

Subscriber: Is she a supervisor?

Me: We have different rank of titles, you can consider her as a supervisor in many cases, although we don't call her a supervisor.

(I was being very technical here, she is a senior representative, but also a contact representative, she handled a lot of the supervisor call backs in the past.)

Subscriber: Now, I want to talk to the person above her. What's her name?

(OH SHxT! I began to run through my memory of any recent conversation Jayde's had in the last 30 minutes since we sit practically right beside each other. There was one incident where it sounded like a troubled call.)

Me: Her name is Beth. She is the supervisor, but she does not answer calls directly. I can take down your information and the nature of the call and have her call you back within 24 hours.

Subscriber: Why can't you transfer me to this supervisor!?

Me: It is our procedure. Would you like to leave a message with me?

Subscriber: No! I don't want to leave a message. I want to speak to her right away.

Me: I'm sorry, that is the procedure. May I know what your calling about first?

Subscriber: I don't feel comfortable discussing my personal matter with you.

(At this point, I don't feel obligated to help her since she thought I'm not trustworthy.)

Me: Then I am not even sure if it's Beth you should be speaking to.

Subscriber: Get me the person above Beth.

Me: That depends on what you're calling about.

Subscriber: Why do you want to know? Just transfer me to that person.

Me: No, I will not.

Subscriber: Boy, they really brainwashed you good. Fine, transfer me to the head of the company.

(I feel insulted. I am acting on my own accord and very proud of it. If I didn't approve of what I do, I would've quit a long time ago)

Me: Why do you believe the CEO will have any idea what you're calling about?

Subscriber: Oh, he'll know when he speaks to me.

Me: No, I will not transfer you to the CEO.

Subscriber: Is it because he'll give you hell if you do?

Me: No. Like I said, there are procedures to be followed. Even if I transfer you, you might get a voice mail if they're not in the office.

(It was 15 minutes before closing, executives usually don't stay that late)

Subscriber: You're telling me that there's NOBODY in this company that'll pick up the phone?

Me: That's not what I said. I'm saying the ones you're asking to speak to will have NO IDEA what you're talking about.

Subscriber: Why won't you TRANSFER!!!?

Me: Procedures are there to protect the company.

Subscriber: Remember, without members, the company is nothing. So just get me the name of the CEO and transfer me to him.

Me: His name is Ken Martin....

(CEO and VP names are available on our website)

Subscriber: NOW we're getting somewhere.

Me: ....and I will NOT transfer you to him.

Subscriber: WHY NOT!?

Me: Procedures. And that he will not know what you're talking about. In fact, I don't even know why you're calling.

Subscriber: .......argh...It's about extended health.

Me: Alright, Beth is the supervisor you're looking for. I can only take down a message for her to call you back.

Subscriber: NO! I told you I don't want to leave a message. I need to speak to someone right now!

Me: If you want, you can put down your complain or your request in writing.

Subscriber: No, I won't write a letter. Transfer me to the CEO right now.

Me: No, I will not transfer you.

Subscriber: Are you really there? or are you a machine? because you sound just like a machine that you keep repeating yourself.

Me: We're running in circles.

Subscriber: You bet!

Me: We're not going anywhere with this conversation. You have refused my help and there's nothing more I can do for you.

Subscriber: What is your name?

Me: Kenneth, the switchboard operator.

Subscriber: Kenneth who? What is your last name?

Me: Company policy, I'm not allowed to give that out.

Subscriber: WHAT!?

Me: There's only one Kenneth in this company. If you need to find me, just ask for Kenneth and you'll get me.

Subscriber: I am going to the media about this. You better be prepared.

Me: Okay.

(I didn't hang up, she hung up instead.)

I spoke to Jayde afterwards. This lady wanted a plastic card that has emergency contact information for medical assistance when she goes out of country. Our procedure states that she should contact her company plan administrator as they have a supply of those. For some reasons, she doesn't want to speak to her plan administrator at work and decided to raise hell. Someone suggested that perhaps it would've been better if we just send out that brochure to her. Jayde stressed that we should ALWAYS give out consistent information to the subscribers, instead of always yielding to their unreasonable demands. I agree with her. We do it by the books. Our actions are law-abiding and fair to all the subscribers. Should any subscriber get special treatments just because they're rude, unreasonable and condescending? Yet, that is what most people will yield to.

Without the people, the country is nothing. But I don't ask to speak to the Premier when I didn't get my full tax return.