It must get pretty stressful working in a call centre as the person on the other end of the phone inevitably becomes more and more frustrated with your script’s answers and the fact that you can’t actually do what they’re asking without referring them to about five other departments.
It all became too much for one EE customer service operative though, who had had enough when a guy called Charlie Doherty from Bexleyheath in South London got into an argument with him on the phone. The operative was refusing to accept a £35 payment for the outstanding fees on Doherty’s account which he was trying to cancel, which led Doherty to lose his rag with the call handler and hang up on him, telling him ‘Fuck you, you cunt.’
Doherty thought nothing of it really, and was then surprised to find the following email in his inbox:
Ooof, that’s not good. Doherty wasn’t best pleased with this, saying:
It is one thing being rude on the phone in the heat of the moment and regretting it and another thing all together sitting down and sending a sweary email to a customer.
Quite. He subsequently complained to EE who issued the following typical response:
The email Mr Doherty received is inexcusable and appropriate action has been taken against the member of staff.
Standard. To be honest I don’t know who’s in the right or the wrong here. Mr Doherty probably shouldn’t have lost his rag with the guy – who was probably only trying to help him but unfortunately couldn’t due to the infuriating scripts that call centres issue you with that don’t actually let you help anyone – and I don’t blame the dude for finally snapping and sending a hateful email. In this game though, the customer is always right so unfortunately you’re expected to just sit back and take it.
That guy has probably lost his job now. Unlucky, but I doubt he wanted to work customer service for EE all is life so hopefully he’ll find a job where he’s able to unleash his anger whenever he wants. Or maybe he could join a bare knuckle boxing league at the weekend to help with that?
