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I can tell this story now that I no longer work for the company. I listened to all relevant calls after this happened which is why I have so many details. I got suspended for a couple of days over this call.
***TL;DR at end.***
I was a team lead/supervisor. Did the time cards, listened to their calls, listened to their joys and woes, and depended on them day after day. Had a fresh out of training people pleaser on the team. First week in the pod and she got a call from hell. I saw she was having problems, eavesdropped on her call for all of 15 seconds and sent her an IM to escalate the call to our Assistant Lead.
I told her to go take a ten minute personal coaching, which was my unofficial way to give an agent a break when they needed it the most. I though all was good but then the Assistant Lead motioned that he was having trouble. Another 10 minute personal coaching and I take over the call.
I could understand that the customer was upset about something. I could understand my n00b getting rattled, they do that sometimes. I could not understand what could have rattled the mountain of a man both physically and spiritually that was my Assistant Lead at the time.
**Now, here was his problem.** He turned off his voicemail and wanted her to remote in and turn it back on for him. Our company does not offer that, we do not have the ability. The moment this poor girl informed him of that he imploded and exploded at the same time.
By the time I got him, he was demanding a month’s free service and a free phone for a problem he fucking caused himself. He had become increasingly abusive with two different members of my team. I was not fucking pleased. So I jump on the line, intro, recap issue, recap compensation request, and receive confirmation of all of the above.
>ME: Great, so I am going to be able to resolve this quickly. As it happens the compensation request is dependent on the troubleshooting. The longer this takes, the more you will need to be fairly compensated.
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>Satan: Of that you can be sure.
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>ME: Great. Turn on your voicemail.
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>Satan: That’s your job.
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>ME: As I have no software here that allows me to do that, it is quite unfortunately, not part or my job. We keep submitting requests for that kind of software, but so far, no dice. So the only way your voicemail is able to be turned on at this moment is if you do it. Please turn on your voicemail.
A few rounds later.
>Satan: I want your supervisor.
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>ME: As it happens there is no one above me that I have the ability to transfer you to. There are about 9 who hold the title, one who I see more than others but there is no line, direct or indirect to any of them. Escalations above my level have to be submitted in writing.
A couple more rounds of this.
>Satan: Fine, I have turned on my voicemail.
I test to verify voicemail is working and that he can receive it. At this point he is saving his energy for the compensation conversation.
>ME: Great. So now that the problem is fixed, you were inconvenienced. As this was for, by your statement, an hour before you got to me plus the hour we have been talking, we would be looking at best a day of compensation, not a month.
He talks about his lost business during this time, I add an hour. He talks about potential medical inconvenience that he may currently be unaware of. When he was done listing things he could have done with that two hours, we were still only at 16 hours.
>ME: So I will round this up to a day of compensation which would be $1. Since I know you are not going to be happy with that, I will round up even further and credit you with a whopping five days of compensation.
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>Satan: So all I am getting is $5, after all you people have put me through.
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>ME: Yes, sir.
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>Satan: What about my phone? Are you going to replace my phone? The voicemail doesn’t work right.
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>ME: Sir you have a voicemail from me that you played and both you and I heard it. The voicemail works fine as long as you do not turn it off.
When I got off the call, I put my own coaching packet together and sent it to my supervisor. By the time his letter got to anyone, the matter had already been reviewed and addressed. The only part of the call they faulted me for was sounding like I was enjoying it/lack of empathy. I enjoyed it and the two day suspension I got because of it.
Why did I out myself? The odds were in my favor. This happened around the time COVID hit our call center like a thunderclap of doom. Entire teams had been sent home and they couldn’t afford to fire me at the time.
Nor was firing the policy; first offense was almost always suspension. If you outed yourself and did not have a history of not giving a shit about customers, you could get away with far worse than I had done.
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***TL;DR Man who turned off own voicemail calls phone provider to have them remotely turn on his voicemail. Company does not provide option. Man demands heavy compensation. Gets denied.***
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