16 Secrets Call Center Employees Won’t Tell You 

"the nicer you are the more i try to help you." And this is why I always get good service at call centers! Kindness, people. It pays off

When u get a call 10 mins before ur shift ends so u have to stretch the call to make sure u dont get another one lmao

How did they miss that when you demand my "supervisor" it's just someone sitting in the next row that makes 25 cents more an hour to tell you the same answer you didn't like when i told you.

"I may sound that I am typing details but I am just tapping the keyboard. The info's already there"

"I love it when you ask for a manager, so I don't have to talk to you anymore" SO SO true

the nicer you are? yes, we help you all the more and with genuine sincerity because out of all the customers we handle, you're a breathe of fresh air for us. that's true, no joke. :) I work in a call center.

"Giving me a bad score in the survey doesn't harm the company, it harms by bonuses, so when you score me negatively you're actually saving the company you hate money"

People who have never worked as a call center agent will never know how it feels to be answering the call. I hate rude customers for real. I feel like they forget that we have feelings too and we also get frustrated. I remember that post on facebook that say's everyone should have this job so we can all learn the value of emphaty and patience.

This kinda stuff makes me glad I'm always nice to people who are just trying to do their job.

That one is so true "The nicer you are to me, more i try to help you".

I used to be in a call center and I cant believe I even lasted eight months. Talking to rude customers eveyday is hell. Though it wasn't all bad because I learned quite a few things from being a customer service representative. I learned to be confident, mature, thick-skinned and a freakin' good liar.

I just hope that rude customers know that the moment they're gone, they become the inside joke for the rest of the day :D

well i won't be calling the suicide hotline any time soon

How about when the call comes in one minute before your shift ends, ugh

Can only assume all the people asking why they don't work somewhere else if they hate it so much are teenagers or children who have not yet experienced the soul crushing horrors of real adult life.

I work at a call center. When you ask for a supervisor and we tell you we're transferring you over, you're still not talking to a supervisor. You're just talking to a person from a different department, because the real supervisors don't want to deal with you. They only transfer you to a real supervisor if you're calling to complain about an employee who was really rude to you. Other than that, they don't care about your problems.

I worked at a call center.... these are ALL true!!!!!

I've worked in a call center as technical support and I faked migraine to get out of the line because I was sick of 60 year olds not understanding what the hell they gotta do to turn on their damn smartphones that their grandchilds gifted them. I'll never even consider getting such a job ever again.

I've worked in call centers for years, and I can confirm all of this. Especially the part about enjoying upset callers. I'm so numb from all the abuse, that the rage and venom of angry customers feels as refreshing as a spring breeze. "I'm very sorry you feel that way, and I promise to do everything in my power to fix that problem." lol...

I work in a call center for an insurance company. If I did any of this I would be fired immediately for sure.

I had a customer that started cussing at me even before I finished my opening spiel. He was upset about a letter he received. He said the company was ripping him off and he'll sue. Turns out the letter was to inform him that he got a discount and he didn't bother actually reading it.

I used to work at an Amazon call center, it was a decent job. Not going to lie, of course we had rough days but overall it was actually nice. But there was this time I get a call from a really upset customer telling me how I ruined his son’s Christmas. I asked what happened and he said that his Christmas order wouldn’t arrive on time. Important: it was December 23rd when I got this call. I asked him for his order number and once I was able to see the information of the order, he had placed his order earlier that day and he expected to get the item on time for Christmas... even when the website had a huge sort of banner on top of it where it clearly said: NO CHRISTMAS ORDERS WILL ARRIVE ON TIME AS OF TODAY. Somehow for him I was responsible for messing up and ended up asking for a supervisor who by the way ended up telling him what I had already said: it’s not our fault and you should have done Christmas shopping earlier...

No, ma'am I can't put you through to the manager because I'm sitting in my spare bedroom taking your call while studying for my Managerial Accounting finals.

I work at a call center. The mute button is my best friend but one time I forgot to press it and this guy was yelling at me and I say to my friend next to me "this guy is yelling at me and I'm supposed to be on lunch right now"let's just say that was not a fun call.

Relatable..oh wait I'm a teenager and I live with my parents. It's not relatable

That one is so true. The nicer you are, the more I try to help out. Doing extra mile and giving out discounts and promo for the customer. My Manager once said, "The customer is NOT always right, BUT we should treat them right."

please do pet store workers, pet sitters, vets, or any animal related positions

It's true, if you're really nice, we will try to help you as far as we can. We are compassionate. Customers have to understand that there are limits on what we can do. Yep, we answer customers' calls, help customers and we have a process to follow. But there are really instances that it is NOT our fault, it's impossible to do your request and you guys should not be calling us names that are hard to swallow. Yes, we represent the company as front liners but WE ARE NOT THE COMPANY. The more you get irate, the more you'll have a bad customer experience. Treat us right and with respect, you'll get an amazing service.

OMG YOU LET OUR SECRETS OUT

That's so true but no one's got the time to take down people's Email address to sign them up for some weird service or to stalk them. And yes, we love it when customers asks for a manager 😂, cursing the angry customers on mute😡 , feeling sorry for customers who are actually suffering😑 and no comment about those old people who have all the time to tell their entire life's story for a simple reason over the phone 😴

I've worked in a few call centre jobs, best moment when the guy stops yelling at me mid rant to ask when I finish work (about 35 minutes ago but I can't hang up when I get a call). He then proceeds to tell me I have wonderful conflict resolution (sincerely) then continues to yell. Fun times.

As a call center employee all of these are true except stalking people. That's just wrong. I'd get fired if anyone caught me doing that. And here's a tip for anyone calling in to somewhere: BE NICE. If you're stressed out, angry, feeling like shouting, calm yourself down before calling. Or get someone else to talk. A grown adult throwing a temper tantrum is just ridiculous and will be joked about when I get home and tell my boyfriend about my crazy customer of the day. If you're nice, I'll genuinely give a crap and do everything I can to help.

The one about being nice is true. If a customer is nice, I'll work every angle to help them. If the customer is rude, everything step is by the book. If the customer is really nasty, I don't feel bad if they get put on hold for 20 minutes and get hung up by the person they were trying to reach. I'm not calling that person back. And get yelled at again?

Just want to point out that this video is full of it. Also, if you're one of the commenters saying "Wow now I know how those people are really like" No you don't, if you're going to be rude and talk down to a call center employee than most likely you won't recive customer service that is satisfactory to you and your situation. Think of it like this, someone is asking you for help on a favorite subject and your like "Oh yeah, I can totally help you out. No problem!" But then that person that asked for your help starts raising their voice at you, having a snapping tone at you and contradicts your knowledge on your favorite subject. So what most people do when something happens like that they go "Hey man I'm just trying to help you like you asked me to" but this person starts saying that you're an idiot and that you don't know what you're doing. You might get a little defensive. These people are trained for certain subjects. If they're stuck on something they will most likely tell you that they're gonna put you on a brief hold while they do a little more research. All us call center employees are just trying to help. Maybe it will take a little while longer than you originally thought but we want to do our job right so you don't have to go through the trouble of calling us again. Moral of the story, Treat others how you want to be treated.

I've worked at a call center for a year, and it is a bit like hell. I'm the person who calls you and asks for money. If you don't say "no" I'm required to keep calling. I'm also required to hound you. I have to do three asks. Trust me I hate it more than you do; however, it pays the bills, so in some sense it's worth it.

I used to love when the cx would hang up out of frustration and I got to call them back and say "I'm sorry! I think we may have been disconnected.." Their reaction was always so good.

So much of this is true, especially hitting mute.

That "supervisor" you demand that I happily connect you too. It's just another phone agent who has been working here more than 2 years.

I did this job and I felt like crying all day long and cried on my way home every day.

I’ve worked at a call center, and this is absolutely true. But we always remember that, if somebody’s calling up to complain, they’re not complaining to you, they’re complaining about the company and what the company has or hasn’t done. Customers need to understand, that we don’t take it personally. So, stop screaming at us or we will hang up on you. Especially if you scream obscenities. Most call centers allow you to do this.

All these people are taking about how relatable this is, where I'm over here like "Someone please refer me to the furry email lists".

I work for a political survey call center and yes we can use the mute button so we don't say anything insulting but we just follow a script and hate mean people, if you tell us nicely you don't want to participate or take you off the list then we do no arguing and move on but we do need to meet a quota of completes every hour so if you get a call and have the time be nice there a real person in the other line and most of us are really nice and just doing our job. oh and it takes up to 48hrs to be off the calling list

I'm a teen watching this but.... Buzzfeed is life so why not?

My personal favourite is when you press the mute button on and off really fast while you speak so it sounds like you're breaking up, then just hang up lol

So that's why I having been getting those Erectile Dysfunction emails!!!

If you have a problem, and you approach me cruelly or rude, il make the problem worse. if you havea problem and come through kind and respectful, il go the extra mile to make sure you get better treatment over the people who are cruel or rude.

I worked in tech support for and had two occasions where the caller complains that they can't open their laptop and want either a refund or a new one. Both times I asked if the logo is facing them or upside-down when they do, and they said facing them. And may I add that I'm thankful no one can hear eyes rolling over the phone. When I said the logo has to be upside-down, both times they said that didn't make sense until I further explained that you don't see the logo while you use the thing; it's so other people can properly see the logo like a designer bag logo. I wish I could say I felt better when they finally opened it and apologized for ridiculing me, but no. Something so painstakingly obvious hurt my soul.

yeah this is mostly accurate. if you're nice we care about you a lot more than if you're a jerk. whenever someone is kind and patient as i try to solve their problem, i always go above and beyond to help them because i wanna do the best i can. but if they're rude, i just wanna get them off the phone asap so i'm not gonna go that extra mile for them. BE NICE TO US AND WE WILL DO EVERYTHING WE CAN FOR YOU WITH NO HESITATION!!!

I watched this video 3 years ago and I couldnt understand a single word. Now, I come again and I could understand everything they said ♥️

Most of that is so true. My number one thing to do for people who act a fool is to offer a call back just so I can get them off the phone, then when i call them back I tell them the exact same thing I told them before.

it is now a 2nd degree felony if someone is caught signing up someone else for something using that persons email address. it is now considered a form of identity theft.

When I know the answer to your question I will still say "let me check that for you" just so that I can go on Twitter

As someone who did indeed work in an inbound call center for three years....so much of this is SO TRUE!

It's so funny when people ask to talk to a manger, when the manager is going to say the exact same thing I just did...😂😂

this just adds so much to my anxiety for when I have to call or chat online w these people

When I worked for T-Mobile (back in 2004?), I received multiple calls from people that had asked for a supervisor earlier and were transferred to the "Reject Hotline" instead.

I used to look for their addresses on google maps and scare them at the end of the calls by saying "By the way, that's a nice car you have over there. Malibu 2015?"

When I worked in a call center, I always liked it when they asked for a supervisor for the same reason that was said in this video: I didn't have to deal with them anymore. And the person I transferred them to wasn't a supervisor, either (not most of the time, anyway). They were called "escalation reps," and they were just senior level reps who had gone through escalation training. Now, if one of them wasn't available, our team lead would take the call, but that was just a last resort.

Lol I used to do outbound cold calls at a job- I lasted literally 2 weeks....the worst job in the world- the part about hoping it would go to voicemail is too accurate!

I'm a call center employee and the most annoying part I find is when clients don't have their case/policy number ready. Like are you kidding me? You've been on hold for what, like 10-20mins and you still don't have it ready? I just know it's going to be a bad call when that happens.

i worked in a call center for 4 months doing surveys. i almost had a breakdown.

that mute button was the only thing keeping me sane

Dear buzzfeed, since Ned really love his wife please do a prank on him

Call center agents are the first line of defense for companies. And they had to deal with different types of people. And it's true, the nicer you are, the better service you will get. Not because call center agents are assholes. But because nice customers are rare. It's like a breath of fresh air. And agents will really do their best in order to help you. Even beg supervisors. This work is harder than we think.

call center supervisor here and yep i did all that when i was still an agent

I once joined a call centre and I was so traumatized that I left in few days and didn't care about salary

Why did they have to mention furrys oh god 😂

0:42, oh my god, you don't know how much of a reality it is for me and many who have college degrees and can't find anything in their field, and are forced to take these soul sucking jobs just to put food on the table. It is an insult.

Working with hundreds of phone calls a week. I wish everyone would just sit down, shut up, and follow my instructions. No yabber yabber. Whats your issue, let's get started. Going to yell at me for something not even remotely my fault? 3 Warnings then a hang up!

I worked as a telemarketer so when I speak with people on the phone, I try to be as nice as possible. Plus if your calling someone about a problem it isn't their fault.

Working at a call center was definitely a low point in my life. it was depressing as all hell x10.

As an ex call center operator and a dissatisfied customer I get both sides but you just gotta understand sometimes it’s hard on the customer too, they’re not just being aggravated for fun, they most likely have been told to call countless of numbers all for nothing because no one wants to do their job but it’s also hard for the operators because they will get annoyed for the dumbest reasons so no one is happy honestly lol

Also if you're nice, I'll offer you a full refund immediately instead of a partial one.

I work in a call center and all my coworkers love this! Its so TRUE!

I worked in a call center in the Netherlands. Idk if it's that different from America's callcenters but most of these things would give me a warning from my supervisor or i'd get fired :') A few are relatable though

when you get overly *itchy and ask to speak to someone else, sometimes i push your call back into the automated system. usually i'm just following a script, and playing with a yoyo, spinning a pin, or arm knitting. 1/5 of my calls are "my ____ blank isn't working." is it plugged in? "duh..." will you check for me please? "yeah but the power's out." your _____ will not work when the power is out. "oh, ok." *click*

soo true! I used to work in a city service call center and got rude snobby calls. the worst ones were from the rich people.

The nicer you are, the better I think and solve the friggin problem...Its hard to think when ur being shouted at...

it's soo true.. sometimes people just forget that there's an actual person behind the phone and curse at you like crazy 😒😒 one time I had to deal with a lady who threatened to call the cops if we kept on calling 😂 the thing is that she never ever picked the phone up so the computer / machine kept on calling to her house.. plus people don't know that they can tell us to simply take their number off the list and we're gonna do it.. they just say : Stop calling!! but we can't assume that it's a "do not call list" so unless you don't say the magical word were sorry but we'll keep on calling you 😕 I work in Montreal and you receive calls in both languages... usually it tells you if this household is francophone or anglophone but sometimes the information is wrong and end up getting old ladies cursing at you cause you spoken to them in English instead of french and vice-versa

Transfering your incoming call to the end of the cue so I wont answer any calls today.... :D left this one out....

I worked in a call center and it was a lot of fun, my calls went like this : Customer : "your company is charging my credit card 39$ every month, it's a scam" Me : "your credit card number is ..... and your name is ..... ?" Customer : "yes" Me : "this charge is for this website "..." (insert porn website name)" Customer : "I don't go on porn websites, you f*** b****" Me : "Do you have a husband, a son...?" Customer : " Yes" Me : "Well....oh and the website is : (insert gay porn website name)...have a nice day ! "

Extra bathroom breaks means poor adherence and conformance 🤓😆

Aren't they bound by law not to give out personal information such as e-mail addresses??

bruh I be eating hotpockets while on mute

lol I work at a call center and a good portion of this is true. except the email part.

Some call centers have a policy where you will get fired if you hang up on the customer and some callers forget to hang up their phones. It was easy to just sit there for a break waiting for them to realize they never hung up their phone.

Another secret: We don't dress up. I'm sure it differs from company to company, but the at the one that I worked at, some people came to work in their pajamas. Since we didn't have to interact face to face with callers, we could wear anything we wanted as long as it wasn't say too provocative or offensive.

*Whispering* I have a customer on hold right now

My mother works for a call center and this is all 100% true.

I was a call centre employee once. We used to switch on n off just so we got to the bottom of list and won't have to attend calls.

All true, except for looking at other jobs on the computer. We dont have internet access on ours.

When I was at MCI, supervisors would give us unlisted numbers to cold call.

"I take bathroom breaks often so i could get a moment of peace." I see wat u did there

One of the hardest job for me specially if you don't like to talk a lot. haha.. I salute those agents cause you need a lot of patience and understanding for this kind of job.

you missed that this job makes us cry because of how rude people can be ..

I worked at a call center for ages and half the stuff they said they'd do like taking your email or facebook stocking is SO ILLEGAL omg

The ony telephone service I call is Hotline Bling ;)

I can't believe they actually do that. Explains a lot.

"I will be of absolutely no help to you"

I once had a person SO unbelievably unpleasant that I took lunch off for two weeks and used it to called him 20 times in a row and then hang up. He would leave me the nastiest voicemails and it was the most hilarious thing in this whole world.