This story was related to me by Paul, the hero in this story, so I take no responsibility for the ultimate truth of the story. Having said that, Paul has experience in a Canadian lawyer’s office, and a fiesty disposition, so I believe this is exactly as it went down.
Cast:
Paul: our hero. Why Paul? That’s his name.
Dave: Paul’s sidekick.
Supervisor: Paul and Dave’s direct supervisor (Team Lead)
Manager: Supervisor’s manager (Ops Manager)
Paul worked for a Canadian branch of an India-based call centre company, on the tech support contract for an American based electronics company (based in Cupertino, CA). Got that? Whew.
This particular call centre (at the time) had an issue with fulfilling the “Agents available” criteria of their contract, and was “offering” lots of overtime. “Offering”, as in “Hey! It’s your day off! How much overtime can I put you down for?”
“That’s not so bad”, I hear you say.
True, if ”No” was an acceptable answer, and if “overtime” actually involved additional pay. Or additional time off. Or…any sort of compensation.
“But that’s illegal!”, I hear you cry.
I do believe you are correct, but I Am Not A LawyerTM. From Paul’s information, the company was playing fast and loose with “banked” overtime, storing it up for future days off, but then would never approve the time off requests, until agents simply quit (or were fired).
On to our story!
Our hero was relaxing over breakfast one morning on his day off, when the phone rang. Work? Le sigh. But wait… lightbulb!
Paul: …Y’ello?
Supervisor: Paul, we need you for overtime. What time can you come in?
Paul: Ahhhhh….
Supervisor: I’ve got you set up for 30 minutes from now.
Paul: ….OK…..shure……
Supervisor: OK. See you soon.
One call to Dave later….
Paul: Davo!! We’re going to punk Supervisor!!
Dave: Dude!
Paul: Dude!
Dave: Du-ude!!
Paul: Supervisor is going to call for overtime. Trust me; just accept it, and say as little as possible. We’re going to pretend we’re drunk!
Dave: Pretend. Drunk. Got it. Cya.
**{{A little while later}}** Paul and Dave “sneak” in to work, and log in to the phones to “start work”. Now, let me paint a picture for you. They are (apparently) wearing the same clothes as the previous day, but now wrinkled. Unshaven, they smell like they have been bathing in beer, and gargling with whiskey. And when I say “sneak”, I mean that their progress would not have been out of character for Bugs Bunny at his most outrageous.
Within minutes of taking a seat, Manager comes scurrying over, possibly alerted by the aroma surrounding our intrepid heroes.
Manager: Why are you here?
Paul and Dave: We’re doing overtime!
Manager: But you can’t work drunk! How can you already be drunk?? It’s not even 9AM!
Paul: We’re not already drunk, we’re still drunk.
Manager: Who authorized this??
Paul and Dave: Supervisor.
Manager: Fine! I’ll deal with this. You guys, go home!
Paul: But you’re going to pay us our 3 hours[1], right?
Manager: Buh…buh…buh…. Yes.
Note for non-Canadians: Canadian (or at least Ontario) labour law has a 3 hour minimum shift length, to protect part-time workers from getting by their employers.
So our valiant heroes galloped off into the sunset, secure in the knowledge they had made the world a better place. Actually, they wandered off home, and were never, ever called for overtime again. And yes, they did get their 3 hours pay.
TL;DR: Call centre agents act drunk and get paid.
submitted by /u/Urashk
[link] [comments]
