Jim’s “...on hold...” Café November 5, 2020

[dandelion s]

@extraterrestrialone which guy you are talking about?

that guy above who showed up in my photo and yours! 😁🤪

 

[pooky]

that guy above who showed up in my photo and yours! 😁🤪

lol

 

[dandelion s]

@Kira @Unknown_111 @The Tigress ♡ @Raven @ravens @Mato @DowntheRabbitHole @Acy @Angie @Rockclimbinggirl

 

[Inya]

I think my record is an hour and a half.

Around three hours.

Holy hell! I think I'd strangle someone.

 

[dandelion s]

its late but here’s some more tags... sorry for forgetting...

@Autumn1973 @Butterfly @Dark111 @ameliaQ @BlueGreen @ChildOfHope @charlietgirl @lost_in_a_fairytale @Sane Man @Sunday16

 

[Dark111]

its late but here’s some more tags... sorry for forgetting...

hope you're keeping well, ET.

 

[Sunspots]

Holy hell! I think I'd strangle someone.

You sort of get past the point of no return. Even though you'll never get those hours back, if you hang up you'll have wasted the time you've spent so far.
Plus, my life is so boring it gives me something to do

 

[Legate Lanius]

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[StrangeRanger]

Howdy howdy! Thanks for the fun @extraterrestrialone , being on hold can be tedious & annoying evidently it can also be a good challenge for gaining patience kind of I'll take on one question for now

• Have you ever been disconnected immediately at the moment they finally picked up after an excessively long hold?

Yes I have! Twice if I recall, with stuff pertaining to a home schooling program when the online server completely crashed & dealing with doctor appointment changes. There was once I called the doctor & was transfered a number of time & each time placed on hold with some orchestral type tunes on a loop everytime. Wasn't the funniest thing to do, but glad it all got sorted out & dealt with 😒📞


Hope everyone has had a stress free, & brilliant day

 

[Inya]

This terrible week I discovered I belong to impatient demanding nation that refuse to be fucked around with on holds and talking to machines. Seriously, i will never again complain about custemer service in my original country. There's not much obnoxious on hold music and they tell you you're xth in line while they're describing all they have to offer, or if they're too busy that will call you back. And they actually do 90% of the time. But you always get to talk to real people. Of course, sometimes you run into an idiot but generally they are nice and helpful because in the end of the call you can evaluate the service with pressing 1 to 5 and they're soon replaced if they suck.
Sometimes calling a medical specialist to make an appointment can be a mission impossible but you can do it by email.

But there's totaly different story in the country where I live most of the time now.
I started to write about this interesting new experience but i realized I'd bore you all to death trying to describe talking to machines, alive people hanging up after asking for my name ten times, stupidity, ignorance, incompetence...things you are already familiar with obviously.

 

[Dots]

Thanks extra. Appreciate the invite and the themed questions.

• was recorded to make you hang up in disgust? ...or do they play your favorite tune?

It was clearly chosen to drive callers to insanity.

• do they really value your call like they say / is your call really important to them?

Dunno why the hell companies have elected to have the automated voice say this. It seems, and I could be kind of biased or extreme, like the biggest paradox on the planet to have an automated voice say this to you.

• Whats the longest you have ever been on hold?

My patience only lasts so long, so not too long. An hour maybe? Many have the call back feature now, which is better.

are you having a better experience?

I stopped therapy after the first teletherapy appt, so no.

and what do you hold dear? What is really important?

Fiance, kitten, morals, education

 

[Witty_Sarcasm]

If I get put on hold for too long, then I just become annoyed and hang up. I have no idea who came up with that weird music, but they probably do that to encourage us to hang up.
I would say that I hold friends and family dear.

 

[bag_of_struggles]

I've been on hold and all they played was low fi (and not the good kind, like actual bad quality) Maroon 5 songs. "On hold' music is better than that warped garbage. And when the Maroon Five was over P!ATD came on. I quickly became grateful for innocuous on hold music, which yea, is still bad.

 

[Acy]

Who plays that music? In my experience, it varies...

 

[Kiwi2016]

A tad late...but thanks for opening & the tag @extraterrestrialone

Funny we were just talking about this today at work ...as my office mates got to listen to the hold music from my phone on speakerphone so could at least attempt to do something while waiting...

• who writes that “on hold” music?... Musakwriters aka elevatormusicwriters
• and who is/are the artists that play it?....Muskamusicians
• do you love that music?... well it is an art form of sorts I suppose...
• was recorded to make you hang up in disgust? ...or do they play your favorite tune? Usually a slight irritant...so at least you still hear it as you step away from the phone to do something else...
• “we’re glad you called”. are they really glad?... probably not....hoping you give up...
• do they really value your call like they say / is your call really important to them?... ditto
...
OK, now hold the mayo, I wanna hold your hand, hold the pickles,
what do you hold dear? Just some more things to consider....
are you waiting with bated breath? ... just hoping for a live human...
• Whats the longest you have ever been on hold? 2 hours...
• Have you ever been disconnected immediately at the moment they finally picked up after an excessively long hold?...oh more times than I want to count....

Wont tag as know the day is almost over....

 

[Baywasp]

Thanks for the tag @extraterrestrialone
Sometimes I've found hold music to be kinda catchy, but then it just gets played repeatedly and gets super annoying. And it pisses me off when they say how important your call is to them.

 

[Lane]

Good morning, thank you for tagging me @extraterrestrialone. Thanks for opening cafe. Breakfast looks sooo good. I've been really wanting a donut bcz it was national donut day.

 

[kat319]

• do you love that music? I sometimes enjoy the hold music, especially if it's classical music. I can't stand the generic stuff.
• “we’re glad you called”. are they really glad? As someone who has worked in two call centers, sometimes we're glad. We're paid to be glad.
• do they really value your call like they say / is your call really important to them? It depends on the situation. I enjoyed helping people. I could not stand the repeaters. If we told you no the first time, calling back asking the same question is not going to change the answer. Let. it. go. I also couldn't stand the people who took out their frustration on me. Hell, if I could give you what you wanted and get you off my line, I would. I don't make the rules. It's not personal.
• Whats the longest you have ever been on hold? I waited on hold for over an hour. I was calling the IRS.
• Have you ever been disconnected immediately at the moment they finally picked up after an excessively long hold? Yes! It's most annoying! On the other side of the phone, yes, sometimes, it is deliberate.

 

[kat319]

Whoever wrote that music is a git, performed by the Git-Band Skiffle Quartet


The longest was about 50 minutes, and yes I have been disconnected immediately at the point of finally being picked up by a call handler. This was during a series of calls trying to chase up a missing order I had placed. To say the call operative was useless is an understatement. They seemed too pre-oocupied with asking if it was ok to call me by my first name rathet than resolving the issue at hand.
At the end of each fruitless phone call (of which there were many) the caller asked "Ash, is there anything else I can help you with?" I finally snapped and replied, "son, you can't deal with the issue I am ringing up about, so what the fuck makes you think I have confidence that you may be able to help me with anything else?"

In all fairness, sometimes phone agents are required to ask and say stupid things. Calls are monitored and the people, who have never answered a call, think these things are important things to ask or say. At one call center, we were required to ask for a work number. Now, if you can tell someone is beyond being a senior citizen, it's stupid to ask for a work number. Some people would get downright irate. So, I wouldn't ask. I kept getting dinged for it. Most of us are with you on the fruitless calls. I finally told my manager it is stupid to say "is there anything else I can help you with?" when I know I haven't helped them, mark me off if you want.

 

[Ash600]

In all fairness, sometimes phone agents are required to ask and say stupid things. Calls are monitored and the people, who have never answered a call, think these things are important things to ask or say. At one call center, we were required to ask for a work number. Now, if you can tell someone is beyond being a senior citizen, it's stupid to ask for a work number. Some people would get downright irate. So, I wouldn't ask. I kept getting dinged for it. Most of us are with you on the fruitless calls. I finally told my manager it is stupid to say "is there anything else I can help you with?" when I know I haven't helped them, mark me off if you want.

One of the things that annoys me is when the call handler strictly sticks to the algorithmic response laid out in front of them even though I can supply them with the information to cut through the flannel and get down to the issue, resolve it and then move on to the next call. It's an unwillingness to show initiative but work in an almost robotic manner which I find frustrating. Yes, I realise in general it can be necessary, but it does helped being able to recognise when a few of the processes can be skipped.
So kudos to you, I won't mark you off lol.