TLDR at bottom.
While I primarily worked retail, I once worked in general care at a call center for just under a year. I was in my 2nd week fresh out of training so my calls were being monitored by a senior representative, who would IM me notes and suggestions throughout my call then sit me down for feedback after.
At the time, one of the metrics the company highly emphasized was callback rates like if the customers called back within 48 hours. If a customer said they needed to call back, we were instructed to offer a follow-up to protect that particular metric and to provide a better customer experience knowing the company “cared” about them.
During my 2nd week out of training, I received a call from a customer in a not-so-nice area of Chicago (supervisor recognized the area and later told me this). The call was cordial, forget what it was about, but I heard an argument growing louder and louder in the background. I was focused on my task so I didn’t think much of until I heard two loud POP sounds.
The customer and everyone in the background went dead quiet, as did I. Then the screaming began and the customer relayed what happened to me.
“(Random name) has been shot! I’ll call you back!”
And me, being the naive idiot fresh from training, immediately snapped back into work mode and offered the following.
“Would you like me to call you back? One less thing you have to worry about!”
I couldn’t believe what I just offered, it was instinctive. I could hear the bewilderment from the customer and, I’m pretty sure, the senior monitoring the call started to laugh.
“Sigmund! Go into feedback aux code!”
It was the senior, telling me to get ready for a feedback session. She came up to my station, looking grimly amused and chuckling, as I typed in the account notes.
“Well, Sigmund, that’s a new one for me. I better congratulate your trainers for a job well done as someone may have been fatally shot and your first instinct is to preserve your frickin’ metrics.”
All I could do was shrug, completely feeling like a cold jerk about it. The senior patted me on the back as I kept typing the notes.
“That’s OK, nothing you can do except finish the- *she looks at my notes* did you type ‘shots fired’ in the memos?!”
I nodded sheepishly as, if the call is interrupted, we have to notate why so our corporate office can trend the calls effectively. I explained what we were told in training and the senior shrugged.
“Well, leave them in. I hope nationals scores this call as I’d love to see their feedback.”
They did, I scored a near perfect for “maintaining composure during an escalated situation.”
I got out of there less than a year later.
TLDR: 2nd week out of call center training, someone is shot over the phone, I offer callback to preserve my metrics, put “shots fired” in the account notes and get commended for it.
submitted by /u/Sigmund_Blake
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