I cried on the phone to a customer

[TheChild]

I have had the shittest of shit days today, need to let it out because I can't stop crying.

I work in a Call Centre, worked at the same place for nearly 6 years now. 5 minutes before the end of my shift and 5 minutes before we actually close I get a call from a customer who I could tell striaght away was not happy.

It was nothing I had personally done, he had problems with our (admittedly outdated) systems and the way we have to do things. Nothing I said or did was good enough, the options I gave going forward weren't options, I had to repeat myself multiple times when he kept asking the same question, saying that I did not have the answer because it involved a 3rd party who's systems we don't have access to. I never ever lose it on the phone, show any annoyance or emotion but this man just pushed me to the edge. I asked if he's like to speak to a manager, ignored and told again how useless I was. Asked what I could do to put the situation right, was told I could tell him the answer to the question that I already said I could not answer, offered to raise a complaint so we could fully investigate. Nope.

What made it worse was that I was working from home, no colleague next to me to listen in and take over the call and my voice broke and I started crying, whilst at the same time apologising for being unprofessional. Ended up staying on an hour and 30 minutes extra doing everything I needed to do. A colleague will need to listen to the call as I logged a complaint, so they will have to hear my pathetic snivelling.

I'm so cross with myself that I let someone get to me that badly, and that I had a panic attack afterwards whilst trying to sort it all out. I'm back in tomorrow and I just feel sick, I'm so fed up. I don't want to go to work tomorrow and deal with more people being arseholes over something that is not my fault.

I will add a disclaimer to say that the majority of the people I speak to are lovely, but it's the rare arseholes that can just ruin my day. My confidence is completely knocked

Please someone tell me SOMETHING happy?!

That fucker will wake up and still be an arsehole. Whereas you’ll be a good person who had a crummy day.

People can be right arseholes. Sorry you've had a shit day.

Happy news. The world is not full of arseholes. Lots of people are lovely. I'm sure you'll get to speak to them tomorrow.

Ps: a pox on him.

Here's a nice tale - my friend who's been through a load of shit over the last five years is using her small inheritance from a relative to buy a Labrador puppy to train as a hearing assistance dog for her and her daughter (and a pet for her other children) 🐶 How gorgeous is their Christmas going to be?!

Hugs to you OP

What a horrible man, how dare he be so bloody awful to you. You don't go to work to be spoken to like that. I hope you're ok. Please don't feel bad for crying, he should feel ashamed of himself for upsetting you. No one deserves to be verbally abused.

You need a break. This happened because it has been building up and up. You must be feeling so stressed out and if you're company dont recognise how close you are to breaking point then they're shit.

See your doctor. Ask to be signed off sick for 2 weeks and see if you can start something that might help. For me, it was doing stupid Joe Wicks workouts in the morning with my kids. I tried yoga and meditation but I just held the stress with me every day. Then my kids wanted to do joe wicks and asked me to do it too so I did and it made such a difference. The exercise and messing about with the kids just helps me be ready for the day. Find something that helps you.

I feel you. Recently got a job in a call centre environment, majority are nice, but some are absolutely vile, and I wonder how they’d feel if it was someone they knew who had to receive their vitrol.

Enjoy your evening try not to dwell it on. I know it’s hard x

Sorry you've had such a crappy day. I cried once when a pupil told me I looked like the fat one from Scooby Doo! And I went home and looked in the mirror and I did! New glasses, new hair and new wardrobe later...
On the plus side, today a student hung back and said thanks because they'd been struggling with a concept we'd gone over in class and the penny had finally dropped.
Here's hoping some one will come along tomorrow and you'll sort out their issues and they say thanks xx

Aah OP, I understand how you feel (ex call centre staff myself).
I've also cried on the phone but the person didn't hear me as a manager took over the call as by this point the customer had gone nuclear. Our engineer had apparently ruined the flooring in his mansion whilst fixing a leak. The guy was calling me a f b, telling me he would wait for me outside work to serve legal papers on me (not the company, just me).
A muslim friend of mine was called a P* and subjected to the most racist vitriol i have ever heard, he was the most patient, helpful guy ever but it honestly floored him.

Big hugs to you.

Did the bastard at least show a bit of humanity when he realised how upset you were??

Some people are total twats OP.
Something happy.....im resigning from my retail job tomorrow...thats the best news for me 😊 oh and i made my first Christmas cake last week, it was fab and weve eaten it all already 🙈

I'm sorry OP. People are just utter dicks sometimes.

I got told today that my email response just wasn't good enough because I hadn't had time to investigate an ex employees grievance raised on Friday evening as I have so much work on that I'm doing 13 hour days and only getting paid for 8 hours.

Deleted the email before I could respond telling him to print it out, roll it up and ram it up his arse!!!

@TheChild

Tomorrow is a new day

He'll still be vile

You'll have a much better day tomorrow ❤️

@QuattroFormaggi

Here's a nice tale - my friend who's been through a load of shit over the last five years is using her small inheritance from a relative to buy a Labrador puppy to train as a hearing assistance dog for her and her daughter (and a pet for her other children) 🐶 How gorgeous is their Christmas going to be?!

Hugs to you OP

Thank you all so much, he did stop being such an arsehole when he realised he had upset me. But honestly why be so rude to someone who is just trying to help?! I always try and do the best for the people who call, I'm actually too soft, if I was a manager I would just agree to whatever they want to make them happy and prevent further kicking off (this is why i'm not a manager!)

I will speak to a manager tomorrow just to let them know, they are all great and I know would reassure me that it's ok.

@QuattroFormaggi that is lovely ❤️ a very good use for the money, I bet they will have the best Christmas! I just met my sister's Springer spaniel puppy yesterday and he is the most gorgeous thing, definitely made me a bit broody for a dog although we don't have the space ourselves!

I wouldn't have continued with the call. I've worked in various call centres and if someone became rude or I had given all of the advice I could give, I would terminate the call. I would usually warn them first that I would terminate the call if they continued. You do not go to work to be spoken to like dirt.

I've been there. You need to forget about it, move on and continue being great at your job.

Please don’t feel bad, the type of job you have is very stressful and everyone who has ever worked in a call center will understand and your work colleagues won’t judge you. Everyone has had a breaking point when working on the phones at some point. It’s a horrible environment to work in. The collegue that will listen to your call will have been there too and will totally understand.

He’s an arsehole and you’re not 💐

Call centre staff 20 odd years here,

It happens. Don't make yourself feel worse about it by thinking you did wrong.

Even now there will always be a customer who has the ability to get under my skin, and we are all human at the end of the day.

If you wanted, reach out to your TL or the escalation point you sent the complaint to, and say I sent this on to you/had a shocking customer, ignore the crying, it's been a day!

They will totally understand.

I've spent the whole day reading letters and emails about how much people hate what I do (local council, controversial area of work). Its so demoralising when you genuinely are doing the best you possibly can with an under-resourced system.

When I got home my teenager was having a massive strop and exuding negativity from every pore.

Butt then I found a bunch of flowers from my church and I realised that I do have people that care when things are a bit shit. And so do you - here we are trying to cheer you up and help you move on .

Are you getting the support you need from your employer? Having to WFH and getting a call like that must be so awful.

Can you tell your manager that you need support and you are genuinely struggling. No one should be spoken like that at work. It’s unacceptable.

And then I mis-spelled "but" which made me snigger like a six year old

I’d have cut him off the minute he started.

Or have an empty pack of crisps handy to rustle down the phone and then shout, “I CAN’T HEAR YOU! YOU’RE BREAKING UP...!”

I’ve been working from home since March last year too and it can be really isolating. I also think it’s quite difficult feeling under attack (even on the phone) in your own home. When did you last have a decent break away from work? I would speak to managers and see if you can take some time off. Are there any plans to get back to the office in the coming months?

You're all so bloody amazing. Being at home definitely made it worse, sitting in my own living room being made to feel like a useless idiot really hits hard. To top it off, I knew DP and the kids were due home not long after my shift ended so had the panic that they would come home when I was still on the phone.

DP gave me a cuddle and ran me a bath, I feel more human now.

I just feel shit as I've really tried to develop more of a backbone when dealing with difficult customers as I'm working towards a promotion and it will be something I'll need to deal with more. Turns out I'm still rubbish at it!

Can't believe some of the awful things people have had to deal with through work, although personally it's made overly friendly when I have to phone people up. I can be so cross at something that has gone wrong but when I speak to someone I'm always so apologetic and nice because I know it's not the fault of the person who answered the phone.

I will stop thinking about it now, going to find something good to watch on Netflix so if anyone has any recommendations I'm all ears 😊

for you. Some people are twats.

l work in retail, l do not hesitate to shut the conversation down should the need arise, my advice would be you cant argue with a fool so nip it in the bud , times have changed and the customer isnt always right.
No one should tolerate abuse.