I've been working for the same company for nearly 9 years, the last 2 in the payroll call center. I receive upwards of 30-50 calls a day from all over the country to record payroll for our clients. That might not seem like many calls, but that's only a fraction of what I do in a day.
The majority of our clients that call are a delight to wait on. They're organized, prepared and polite. Then, there are the others. They're ill prepared, disorganized, and often times so clueless that it's a wonder they're still in business. Organized, or not, polite or rude, sharp as a tack, or dull as a lump of coal, that's what you'll find in all areas of customer service and I've learned to take the good with the bad. Is it what I thought it would be? No. It is much more complex and when I first started I had to ask myself, "what the hell were you thinking?" But, I really like my job, so I accept the good with the bad.
Of all the things I've encountered during the course of my job, there is one thing that really gets on my nerves; the use of the speaker phone. You may have the latest, greatest, most expensive smartphone but the sound and clarity is horseshit.
It's difficult, at best, to understand what you're saying if you have a strong accent, 16 can sound like 60 and when it comes to reporting hours at $10.00 and hour, there is a colossally big difference between 16 and 60. But, I prefer accents to the speakerphone.
Sometimes the wait times are insanely long to speak to an Account Manager, that's what we call ourselves, so I understand putting the speaker phone on while you continue to work while waiting on hold, but as soon as we answer, please take it off speaker phone. Don't walk around the office shouting across the room to report payroll hours, and please feel free to ask all the other people who are in the office to either stop talking, or step out of the office.
For those who call in payroll while driving; well don't. It's stupid and dangerous, but if you absolutely feel you are so busy and cannot do it at any other time, at least roll up the window and turn off the radio, and please, please make the call before you pull up to the fast food drive up window to place your order. And on that note, can you also eat your fast food before you place the call? Because that would be swell!
