Autistic. But close enough.
I sold monthly shareware subscriptions on CDs, Highlander TV show video sets and trenchcoats, animal videos, long distance, gay men’s clothing, bedding sets, golf clubs, did tech support from the days of the Nokia through birth of the BlackBerry, iPhone, Android etc, saw the death of the Windows phones and even spent time at a defense contractor. I’m one of the most overqualified Helpdesk/CS/TS call center people ever.
Funny thing about that.
One of my jobs was with the absolutely most rigid follow the script places to have ever existed. The radio ratings. Not only could you never not follow the script verbatim but between calls you could read nothing but the handbook. Countless people must have read this thing cover to cover over the years. But, apparently, not one person had ever understood what they were reading or proof read it. I found 21 errors. And in one of those errors was a little bit of text that explicitly stated to never read the script verbatim.
In most centers the follow the script thing is for newbies. Then you don’t meet the KPI numbers and they threaten you. Then people get desperate and stop following the script. If they get results then no one cares about the script anymore. The top performers never follow the script.
And as a general rule the absolute top performer not only doesn’t follow the script but is a compulsive liar. But they get results and the returns are justified by the sales.
Except at the radio ratings place. Follow the script or die. Even if the handbook has one tiny section that says don’t follow the script.
This app depends the type of call center. You are very focused on sales call centers, which I have been a part of. But tech call or just customer service call centers are much more abundant. I have been a top performer metric wise in all 3. I was never a liar in the sales centers I worked in, I just provided facts backed up and let them handle themselves and worked for places that products weren’t shady. In the 2 centers I worked that had shadyish products, I achieved top performer quickly, but quit as I didn’t believe or care about the product. I’m the other centers I’ve been in yes, tier 1 were absolutely required to follow a script. These were usually people that had 0 clue about what they were doing, so a script was needed. Beyond that you had to hit basics, but at the higher tier 3 or beyond there was no scripting, just fix the issues.
All that cellphone stuff and the defense contractor were all service/tech/helpdesk.
Much less script based. Maybe you get a script for day one of some launch but otherwise you are on your own in most competent operations once you are out of training and shadowing.
But in sales the script is god until you break free and hit those KPI.
Twenty years… Ghastly and chilling. I spent just a short stint in online and phone sales at a motorcycle parts manufacturer, ten years ago. I got calls back then that I’m still annoyed about.
I feel certain that the precious store of good will towards humanity I ever had would now be deep in the red had I stayed. Not that boat insurance has been great for my mental health, but at least I get to hear fisherman’s tales without the bother of buying them beer. I turn the inherent risk of crabbing into box wine, and if it involves calling dumbass hospital billers sometimes, so be it.
I left the building each day and left it behind me. One time my roommate worked at the same call center. I was so good about leaving work behind that I forgot to tell her about a bomb threat we had had 2 months before that wasn’t on her shift.
Autistic. But close enough. I sold monthly shareware subscriptions on CDs, Highlander TV show video sets and trenchcoats, animal videos, long distance, gay men’s clothing, bedding sets, golf clubs, did tech support from the days of the Nokia through birth of the BlackBerry, iPhone, Android etc, saw the death of the Windows phones and even spent time at a defense contractor. I’m one of the most overqualified Helpdesk/CS/TS call center people ever.
And you still have to follow the script or you’ll be written up.
Funny thing about that. One of my jobs was with the absolutely most rigid follow the script places to have ever existed. The radio ratings. Not only could you never not follow the script verbatim but between calls you could read nothing but the handbook. Countless people must have read this thing cover to cover over the years. But, apparently, not one person had ever understood what they were reading or proof read it. I found 21 errors. And in one of those errors was a little bit of text that explicitly stated to never read the script verbatim.
In most centers the follow the script thing is for newbies. Then you don’t meet the KPI numbers and they threaten you. Then people get desperate and stop following the script. If they get results then no one cares about the script anymore. The top performers never follow the script.
And as a general rule the absolute top performer not only doesn’t follow the script but is a compulsive liar. But they get results and the returns are justified by the sales.
Except at the radio ratings place. Follow the script or die. Even if the handbook has one tiny section that says don’t follow the script.
This app depends the type of call center. You are very focused on sales call centers, which I have been a part of. But tech call or just customer service call centers are much more abundant. I have been a top performer metric wise in all 3. I was never a liar in the sales centers I worked in, I just provided facts backed up and let them handle themselves and worked for places that products weren’t shady. In the 2 centers I worked that had shadyish products, I achieved top performer quickly, but quit as I didn’t believe or care about the product. I’m the other centers I’ve been in yes, tier 1 were absolutely required to follow a script. These were usually people that had 0 clue about what they were doing, so a script was needed. Beyond that you had to hit basics, but at the higher tier 3 or beyond there was no scripting, just fix the issues.
All that cellphone stuff and the defense contractor were all service/tech/helpdesk.
Much less script based. Maybe you get a script for day one of some launch but otherwise you are on your own in most competent operations once you are out of training and shadowing.
But in sales the script is god until you break free and hit those KPI.
Twenty years… Ghastly and chilling. I spent just a short stint in online and phone sales at a motorcycle parts manufacturer, ten years ago. I got calls back then that I’m still annoyed about.
I feel certain that the precious store of good will towards humanity I ever had would now be deep in the red had I stayed. Not that boat insurance has been great for my mental health, but at least I get to hear fisherman’s tales without the bother of buying them beer. I turn the inherent risk of crabbing into box wine, and if it involves calling dumbass hospital billers sometimes, so be it.
I left the building each day and left it behind me. One time my roommate worked at the same call center. I was so good about leaving work behind that I forgot to tell her about a bomb threat we had had 2 months before that wasn’t on her shift.
Goddamn. I wish I was either more autistic or less, I just mildly suffer all the time.
“You go to war with the autism you have, not the autism you want.” – Not Donald Rumsfeld
🫡