After several decades working in call centers, I quit.

I developed tinnitus last year and was working my insurance overtime to find a solution. It's neurological so hearing aids will not correct it. The one thing you have to be able to do if you take calls is hear. You have to be able to hear the customers, you have to be able to hear the calls you monitor as a supervisor. I am losing my ability to hear.

I could have gone into the chat department, but it pays less than my current position.

I could go back into IT, but the market is saturated.

I am going to sit home the rest of the year, live off my 401k from the job I quit, have a laid back holiday, and only apply for jobs that look interesting and do not require me to be on the phone.

Wish me luck.

TL; DR Every so often I feel the need to share the tale of Billie, to give her kudos for all the kudos she gave to others. If you read the whole tale, please post "Kudos to Billie!" in the comments. If you recognize the woman I describe, please share your own tales about Billie. If you ever got a Billie call, you know what a gem she was.

Once upon a time when I worked for a certain cable service provider, I met the nicest lady named Billie. The first time I got a call from Billie and saw that there were hundreds of pages of notes on her account, I thought I would be in for a rough ride. I could not have been more wrong.

Billie was a frequent caller and it was always to tell us what a great job we were doing. Billie had worked for the same company for a large part of her early career. Every job she ever had involved heavy phone time, though not all were in call centers. She had a warm and welcoming demeanor even as a customer and as a "phone jockey" (her term for agents), she must have been amazing.

Billie had outlived her husband and her children and everyone she had ever known. She outlived her last pet and could not bring herself to get an animal that would outlive her and be left alone. Calling in to tell people they worked for a great company and giving them a perfect survey was her human contact. In her waning years her life's mission was to give as many "phone jockeys" as possible a great call.

Just hearing "Hi, I'm Billie and I just called in to tell you what a great company you work for" would give me a glow that would last through the rest of the shift. If I had the time to spare in my stats, I would take that extra time with her. She was a wealth of tips and it would have been an honor to work with her. I got more training in Billie calls than I did from any three companies I had worked for. The time I spent on Billie was one of my best career investments.

Everyone on the team got at least one call a night from Billie; even escalation teams when she really wanted to spread the compliments around. Our company would forgive a failed call monitor for a perfect survey call and Billie was a goldmine of perfect surveys.

Billie's accounts are all closed now. She only remains in the tales of those of us who experienced her.

Kudos to Billie!

I am a team lead/coach/supervisor. Pick your title. I am the one who has to track your metrics, coach your behaviors, discuss your attendance occurrences, and write you up when you are outside of policy in any way. This is not about me.

Today I got word that one of you died.

My boss walked out on the floor way past the hour that she would normally be in the building. She took me into a training room to break the news to me. I came out and put your team mates all in AUX and took your them into the same room to break the news to them.

We are heartbroken. Some of us are devastated that you will no longer be with us. There are people in this building that won't know your name until they see it in a company email announcing your passing that will be grieving. Your pod mates will be grieving even though you only saw them at work. I will be grieving the loss of a team mate.

You death was accidental and not related to work. This is all the worse because there is no one to blame. We cannot lump you in with COVID and blame the usual suspects, there is no societal ill that led to your death; it was just fucking random. All we can do is miss your part in our day.

Your family is inviting any of us who wish to attend to your funeral. That alone makes them great people. They do not know most of us in any way, but they are allowing us to join the mourning.

It is sad that as your supervisor the only time I get to interact with you out of work is at your funeral. I would rather have helped with throwing you the surprise party you never got in life. I get to finalize the file that will be sent to the company archives of your time with us. I can post this which you will never get to read.

Raise a toast fellow reps, leads, coaches, supervisors, and all the rest of the call center hierarchy! A call center rep has died.

This tale is not from the current call center I work for but one I worked for a few years ago. The company did bundled services for residential and business accounts. I was on the residential accounts team. If you think I am making this up, you have never done graveyard shift in a call center.

Teel;deer - the title. This is just one of those calls.

Kevin = deluded customer with cancelled account that he has not paid the final balance on.

Me = underpaid rocket scientist

Me: Thank you for calling Cybernetic Shitshow. My name is BeigeAlmighty, how can I help?

Kevin: I am sick to fucking death of you assholes harassing me.

Me: How can I help you to not get harassed by us?

Kevin: I am fucking sick of explaining this over and over. I got a cell phone from you, your fucking phone blew up in my hand. I am not paying the fucking bill I owe for your service.

I look over the notes in the account. Customer first claimed that he wanted to make a simple damage claim to get a replacement cell phone. Customer had cancelled protection plan on phone. Cost to buy new phone of same make and model = $50. Damage claim shot down. Customer claims phone exploded in his hand. Could not prove damage to hand. Customer claimed his son died (not phone related) and he could not be expected to do anything for himself. Claim denied. Customer then calls in to claim that phone blew up and killed infant son. "Infant" is grown ass adult listed on account as secondary user. Claim denied. Customer is getting robocalls from company to inform him about past due bill.

Me: Oh dear, I am sorry you have had that kind of experience with us.

Kevin: You don't fucking get it. The state police are here and advised me that if you do not comply with a legal cease and desist order that I will be arrest along with everyone I have previously spoken to.

Cease and desist orders are civil matters, not criminal.

Me: Sir, for this kind of issue you would have to talk to our legal department. You can send them an email at [email protected].

Kevin: You aren't fucking hearing me! You are going to be arrested! You will never work in this state again!

I am not even in the same part of the country, let alone the same state.

Me: Sir, as I stated, you would have to discuss this matter with our legal department. You can send them an email at [email protected]. Also, if you continue using profanity and being unprofessional, I will have to end this call. Is there any other matter I can assist with?

Kevin: You can press whatever fucking button stops your company from calling me about a bill I am not fucking paying!

Me: Sir I would love to say I had such a button that I could press for you, however the same automated phone system that connected you to me also automatically calls any past due account to remind them they have failed to settle their account. I am sorry to have to repeat this, but if you continue using profanity and being unprofessional, I will have to end this call. Is there any other matter I can assist with?

Those wondering about my repetition of certain phrases have never worked for a call center that has a policy for when you can hang up on a customer.

Kevin: Bitch! I tell you what you will do. I do not have to email your fucking legal department! I am already suing your company and I WILL FUCKING WIN! The only thing you have to do is make your company STOP FUCKING CALLING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! REEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me: Due to your continued profanity and insistence on referring to a legal matter with a representative that is not with the legal department I have no choice but to end this call. I am sorry I was unable to assist you more. Thank you for calling Cybernetic Shitshow. Goodbye.