Are people generally stupid without realising it?

illuminate

lesinge2k wrote:

That brings up an interesting point. When speaking to call centre staff (UK ones), they often promise to do something after dealing with my current request. They are often so eager to end the call that I have to remind them of the thing they promised me a few minutes ago. This has happened so often now. I haven't found that problem with Indian call centres though, who remember everything they promise.

Because of the language issues, Asian call centres are likely to stick much closer to the provided script. In UK call centres, though we start off with a script, within weeks, familiarality breeds contempt.

lesinge2k

plumduff-2 wrote:

Just remember my personal favorite...

British Gas I think... disputing the amount of money being stuffed in a meter every week...

"well how often is the heating on for..?" [her]
"an hour in the morning and two hours of an evening" [me]
"oh, well thats why she is using so much gas, she needs to leave it on all day - its cheaper...!"

D'oh....!

This isn't necessarily wrong. With a room thermostat, and TRVs on secondary room radiators, having the heating 'on' all day can be cheaper than just a few hours at night and a few hours in morning.

Honeydog

illuminate wrote:

Nah not jealous..... you couldn't pay me enough to spend all day with a classroom full of kids.... can't handle the 2 nephews for more than a few hours !

We do have staff here with the qualifications to fulfill teaching roles. Its a myth that all call centre staff are brainless numpties. Many are taking career breaks (but still have a mortgage to pay) and others have just found themselves unemployed from jobs they have had for years and consequently lack the skills to look elsewhere.

The most comman problem is people calling up after very specific information, but getting shirty when you ask for more than just their name.

I don't recall me or anyone else saying call centre folk were "brainless numpties". I personally hate call centres because you have to explain yourself all over again every single time you ring up - which you frequently have to do because the person on the other end has not done what they promised to do. Then the next person you speak to almost always contradicts the previous person. It gets very frustrating for the customer.

I don't know why you can't rely on people to do their job properly maybe it is just a sign of the times.

You on the other hand made a point of quoting the old "those who can...... do, those who can't..... teach" comment stating that you know this because you deal with them every day. Then you just say that they "get shirty" because you need more information from them. How is that linked in any way to your quote?

I can't wait to read your reply!


Edited to add.........my experiences above are almost exclusively limited to call centres for British Gas/Powergen/ Credit card companies and Lovefilm.

illuminate

honey dog...Look.... I'm not having a go at you... "calm down dear" :A

One poster did infer that call centres tend to employ anybody with an "IQ over 10" (pretty sure that equates to clueless numpty) thats just not the case. As the 4 out of 10 on our team who possess degrees will concur.

The comment I made was certainly a generalisation about teachers, but I'm amazed on a hourly basis how perfectly well educated, experienced professionals fail to understand very simple and straightforward processes.

I empathise wholeheartedly re. your comments about having to repeat circumstances etc when ringing to sort stuff out. Generally here thats almost a disciplinary offence as "cold transfers are forbidden. (Thats handing a call over without fully explaining the circumstances to the person that is taking the call from you).

As for my "get shirty" comment, it was in a different post but nevertheless I am amazed that a teacher can fail to understand that I am not about to discuss details of a contract or payments to them, without first knowing exactly who I am talking to. Its them that I'm trying to protect, and apart from anything else, its illegal (DPA) for me to do so.

Just for the record... I use call centres too and generally hate it.

Voyager2002

illuminate wrote:

The comment I made was certainly a generalisation about teachers, but I'm amazed on a hourly basis how perfectly well educated, experienced professionals fail to understand very simple and straightforward processes.

Just for the record... I use call centres too and generally hate it.

It is not a question of not understanding the processes. Rather, these processes are generally irrelevant to the caller's agenda, but have been defined by the call-centre management to deal with a limited range of situations, probably none of which match the caller's concerns.

illuminate

Voyager2002 wrote:

It is not a question of not understanding the processes. Rather, these processes are generally irrelevant to the caller's agenda, but have been defined by the call-centre management to deal with a limited range of situations, probably none of which match the caller's concerns.

Think you're getting the wrong end of the stick here..... surely you can grasp that before I discuss personal information over the phone with anybody then I need to establish that they are who they say are ?

I've had callers wanting to know about payments they might have received and getting "shirty" because I ask them their full name and post code... I mean I can't even tell who the hell they are at that point.

It goes back to what I said before..... they have rung me up for help and done it unprepared.... suddenly they get angry with me because they can't remember their post-code or other private info and its apparently my fault coz I am neither a mind reader nor prepared to break the law !

When they just slow down at this point and get the relevant info its fine..... but a small minority start screaming !..... AT ME .... BECAUSE THEY ARE UNABLE TO ACCEPT THEY ARE WRONG !

Honeydog

illuminate wrote:

honey dog...Look.... I'm not having a go at you... "calm down dear" :A

One poster did infer that call centres tend to employ anybody with an "IQ over 10" (pretty sure that equates to clueless numpty) thats just not the case. As the 4 out of 10 on our team who possess degrees will concur.

The comment I made was certainly a generalisation about teachers, but I'm amazed on a hourly basis how perfectly well educated, experienced professionals fail to understand very simple and straightforward processes.

I empathise wholeheartedly re. your comments about having to repeat circumstances etc when ringing to sort stuff out. Generally here thats almost a disciplinary offence as "cold transfers are forbidden. (Thats handing a call over without fully explaining the circumstances to the person that is taking the call from you).

As for my "get shirty" comment, it was in a different post but nevertheless I am amazed that a teacher can fail to understand that I am not about to discuss details of a contract or payments to them, without first knowing exactly who I am talking to. Its them that I'm trying to protect, and apart from anything else, its illegal (DPA) for me to do so.

Just for the record... I use call centres too and generally hate it.

Thanks for the reply illuminate.

Shortly after I graduated I worked for a branch of Dillons the Bookstore for a couple of years and there were 7 people on my floor - all graduates. We were paid peanuts (£100 per week) if I remember correctly and I hated it for lots of reasons - not just the money. I remember then how people assumed you didn't have a brain because you were behind a till and blamed you for their own shortcomings. It wasn't enjoyable at all.

When I look at my job now I feel totally different - it excites me and is challenging and fun in equal measures but teaching does demand an enormous amount from us both in time and energy and can be incredibly stressful (not the kids but the paperwork and endless meeting and politics).

I guess when someone on a usually supportive forum suggests that you are only teaching because you can't do anything else then you resent it quite a lot. Especially when it is mentioned on a thread about people being stupid. Teachers aren't perfect and have their fair share of faults but I can honestly say I've never met a stupid teacher.

I wasn't the only teacher who resented your comment - a couple of others had a bit to say as well.

But anyway here's an end to it. Maybe I'm a bit oversensitive because I'm tired. Never mind - only 5 more get-ups before half term. Funny isn't it how kids count 'sleeps' before a big event but adults count 'get-ups'

HD

Voyager2002

Honeydog wrote:

I guess when someone on a usually supportive forum suggests that you are only teaching because you can't do anything else then you resent it quite a lot. Especially when it is mentioned on a thread about people being stupid. Teachers aren't perfect and have their fair share of faults but I can honestly say I've never met a stupid teacher.

I wasn't the only teacher who resented your comment - a couple of others had a bit to say as well.

But anyway here's an end to it. Maybe I'm a bit oversensitive because I'm tired. Never mind - only 5 more get-ups before half term. Funny isn't it how kids count 'sleeps' before a big event but adults count 'get-ups'

HD

I think that children have to tell each other that teachers are in reality stupid, un-cool or whatever, as a kind of defence mechanism when teachers are in charge of life and learning, at least during school hours. But I hope that most of us have grown out of that and recognise that teachers are responsible and over-worked professionals. I am still in awe of the wisdom of my kid's teachers, despite (or because of) having a PhD.

Mercenary

VickyM wrote:

It is truly scary how many Americans send us stamped addressed envelopes - with US stamps on them...

We had a wedding invite from an American couple in LA with ornate engraving on it and on the matching, beautifully printed envelope enclosed for the reply....with US stamps already on it :cool: .

Most of America really doesn't understand that there is a whole other world out there :rolleyes:

gyzmo

illuminate wrote:

Think you're getting the wrong end of the stick here..... surely you can grasp that before I discuss personal information over the phone with anybody then I need to establish that they are who they say are ?

I've had callers wanting to know about payments they might have received and getting "shirty" because I ask them their full name and post code... I mean I can't even tell who the hell they are at that point.

It goes back to what I said before..... they have rung me up for help and done it unprepared.... suddenly they get angry with me because they can't remember their post-code or other private info and its apparently my fault coz I am neither a mind reader nor prepared to break the law !

Reminds me of a procedure change in my old office. we were told that if we called someone back, we had to go through the "Data Protection" questions every time. I queried this, asking if it needs to be done if I call back one minute later. the answer was yes. I then asked if I put someone on hold for five minutes and got back to them, would I need to do it then. the answer was no. So there you go. Your identity can change in one whole minute off the phone, but its impossible if your on hold.

Also reminds me (gettin off topic) of BT directory enquireies when they changed from their greeting of "Directory Inquiries which name please?" to "Good afternoon and welcome to Directory inquiries, my name is [name], how can I help you"

Ok - I know its directory inquiries, I don't need to know your name, and you can help me by performing the one function you carry out by giving me the telephone number for a certain name / address".

Thankfully, they went back to the old greeting soon afterwards, but it bloody annoyed me.