I work in customer service...

[Chibichibi]

And i need help.

We get callers every so often who are the disgusting creepers with the heavy breathing and inappropriate attentions. I don't want to have to have my supervisor "save" me on these calls.

I need some things I can say to these asshats to get them to take me seriously or leave me alone

 

[lurker]

Re: I work in customer service...

I have five (three sir!)... three ways of trying to circumvent this issue.

1. If they try to make advances, try to work in the words 'My Boyfriend/Girlfriend/Significant Other/Cuddle and-or Fuckbuddy' into the conversation. That should dissuade the ones looking for the easy route.

2. If all else fails thus far, ignore and stay professional. Reply strictly to the letter as written by your job. If they ask the weight of YOUR peaches, simply continue the transaction by asking them how they wish to pay, and so on.

3. And if those two fail, you can always try to out-creep them by mentioning some weird fetish. Femdom or BDSM in general seems to chase most of them away rather fast, as they tend to be self-centered arseholes anyway, so showing you got some balls behind you by mentioning your next 'session' will probably lead to a prolonged silence through the rest of the transaction.

 

[Obsidious]

Re: I work in customer service...

3. And if those two fail, you can always try to out-creep them by mentioning some weird fetish. Femdom or BDSM in general seems to chase most of them away rather fast

Dude. If she did that, I'd start calling her myself.

In my opinion you should just avoid engaging your caller in any off-topic conversation whatsoever, if you don't feel comfortable about it. Trying to bluff your way out might end up leaving you in a position you won't know your way out of (while keeping a professional appearance). First and foremost, these guys want a reaction from you. So don't give them any.

I personally would just hang up, since no business interaction is to be expected. You should prepare a one-liner for cases like these ('If this is not a serious inquiry, I will have to end this conversation' or something along those lines) that you should stick to. And you really should stick to it, word by word, in order to avoid any emotional interaction with these people and them getting into your head in the long run. Just say your prepared sentence like a robot, or like you had done so a thousand times before (which you probably will have at some point, if you stick to this job), count to three and hang up.

I'm surprised you weren't trained for this though.

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: I work in customer service...

We're trained to be personable and to get a male sup on the line in case of creepers. But fuck that.

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: I work in customer service...

Hmm. Hate to just be a nay sayer, but I'm not sure number 1 and 3 there are the best ideas. The average creep likely isn't going to care whether you're single or not. It just unrails the conversation towards the exact personal matters that you don't want to talk to them about, and keeps them on the phone. If you feel the need to say anything to make it clear you're not interested/available, just keep it very short and plain, and try not to give them anything they can latch onto.

The third one I probably don't need to elaborate on. Same reasons as the first, in addition to how I assume the calls are recorded, and can probably be overheard by half a dozen co-workers. I also really doubt trying to spook em with stuff like that would work in any reliability. >_>

The second idea is probably the by the books policy, though I have no idea how well that works myself. I assume you've tried it some. Polite but to the point and all that.

Have you tried asking your supervisor or co-workers for tips about these types of calls? I'd bet most of them have had to go through the same and at some point have dreaded or groaned at such calls themselves.


[edit]
Beaten by Obs. But everything he said too. In general, it's probably a bit like trolls. "Don't feed the creep". There will be a variety ranging from slightly distractable people, to outright creeps only on the phone because they're bored. Both of them are fed by personal reactions and emotional responses. I'm not exactly (read: remotely) the kind of person qualified to say, "be assertive", but that seems like the order of the day.



Additionally: Don't be creeps to phone ladies guiz. It's bad. Also silly.

 

[Obsidious]

Re: I work in customer service...

We're trained to be personable and to get a male sup on the line in case of creepers. But fuck that.

What the fuck, that's no training to speak of at all! This is the equivalent of police officers being issued a whistle to call for help.

But maybe we all interpreted your OP the wrong way? Do you want something sassy and witty to reply to these folks? Otherwise, I'll just stay with what I said in my previous post, especially when taking Squid's comment into consideration with calls being recorded and all.

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: I work in customer service...

Yeah. I was thinking the last thing you want, is to shake off a creepy customer by shaking them off with off putting comments about bondage and their dog, only to be faced with a co-worker in the breakroom awkwardly offering to wear the collar. Or any other such thing.

 

[Obsidious]

Re: I work in customer service...

Yeah. I was thinking the last thing you want, is to shake off a creepy customer by shaking them off with off putting comments about bondage and their dog, only to be faced with a co-worker in the breakroom awkwardly offering to wear the collar. Or any other such thing.

Then on the other hand this wouldn't be so bad if it was an actual fetish of hers.

 

[Vazdah]

Re: I work in customer service...

If you're working at a call center then don't you have the ability to just hang up on the call? If its incoming then I can understand why they won't let you hang up. I would honestly ask your supervisor to be moved to outgoing section instead of incoming because then you're in more control over what you can do. I've had female co-workers hang up multiple times and not get fired over it and if you heard some of these calls then it was completely justified as to why they hung up.

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: I work in customer service...

Theres no outgoing dept here. We're Verizon wireless customer service. X.x. but yes I was thinking something sassy and witty that wasnt transphobic because I considered saying something like "so the hormone replacement is working, thanks." But saying that and fostering transphobia makes my skin crawl.

 

[Shadow the Fallen]

Re: I work in customer service...

Wait you work for Verison wireless customer service I'm totally going to try and get you when I need tech support.

 

[Kat]

Re: I work in customer service...

I work for the front desk of a hotel overnights and the same thing happens occasionally (usually with drunks after the bars close).

However I have the luxury of being able to threaten them by calling the cops (who are like 5 minutes away) or saying I'll trip the silent alarm. If all else fails there's an aluminum baseball bat in the coat closet behind the desk... but the first two have always been enough to get them to leave.


I don't suppose there's any way you could tell the customer their calls are being reported and sent to the police, is there?

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: I work in customer service...

Thats not a bad idea, Kat. I like that idea...

 

[ToxicShock]

Re: I work in customer service...

You can do it beforehand without sounding threatening. Can you start convos by saying something to the tune of "Hi my name is ___, this call is being recording for quality assurance" or some shit. This way, it sounds like you're only saying it for their potential benefit in the form of review or convenience, but they believe it's going to be heard by multiple people

 

[Iggy]

Re: I work in customer service...

Sound something ear jarring over the phone, like an airhorn

 

[Shrike7]

Re: I work in customer service...

You can do it beforehand without sounding threatening. Can you start convos by saying something to the tune of "Hi my name is ___, this call is being recording for quality assurance" or some shit. This way, it sounds like you're only saying it for their potential benefit in the form of review or convenience, but they believe it's going to be heard by multiple people

yeah, slide that into your everycall greeting. when they start to get creepy, give them a reminder, then right back to business. if they don't take the hint, then give them a flatout warning about sending the recording to the police if they continue. should work nicely.

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: I work in customer service...

Sounds perfect. That'll do nicely. I won't tolerate harassment.