Water Damage

Our customers are not always the most technologically savvy. Most of the time, this is not an issue as we can explain exactly where they are going wrong and what needs to be done to resolve their problem. However, there are times when this lack of know-how has quite the detrimental effect.

Electronic equipment is very sensitive to liquid damage and should not be exposed to it. Unfortunately, one customer dropped their device in a toilet. Knowing that his device would not work when wet, he attempted to dry it out. In the microwave.

Sparks and smoke ensued. Fortunately, there was not a full-fledged fire, but there was no saving his device and little hope for the microwave.

a string of instant message hilarity

One of the wonderful things about working in a call center is that you not only have your own crazy customers, but you get to hear about everyone else's. The below is an actual instant messaging exchange between a coworker and me.

T: THIS GUY SINGING
Me: what?
Me: on the phone? to you?
T: TALKING ABOUT ITS A SONG THAT HE WROTE FOR HIS WIFE AFTER SHE PASSED
T: OMG
Me: is he crying?
T: HE WONT STOP

Sometimes the best stories are from the customers

"So we had the phone set up so she can open it and talk to it, so she can have it call me even if she can't dial. But she's struggling with speaking to it. With my mother, there's no volume control, so she's either whispering or she's shouting. And when she whispers, the phone can't hear her. And apparently it doesn't like being shouted at either. We're still working on it."

Time Zones

Receiving calls from a variety of time zones can be very exciting. My mind sometimes fails to recall that my time is not everyone's time. As an example, here is one lovely conversation.

"Have a good night, Ms. D."

"Honey, it's daytime."

It's Not Just the Customers

Most of the time it's the customers who make me laugh, but sometimes my coworkers furnish quite a bit of amusement. Today, I heard the agent directly across from me say, "And now I have some illicit instructions for you, Mr. _"

Romantic Overages

"I got a call yesterday saying that I had gone over my minutes?"

"Yes, Ms.__, we are showing that you have. In order to avoid overage charges, I would recommend that you change your rate plan so you have more minutes available."

"Ok, let's do that then. I didn't think I'd need so many minutes, but my new boyfriend has been calling me and he's really romantic, you know? He's so good with words, it's just that there're so many of them! And he's my new boyfriend so I haven't told him much about himself and how many words he uses yet."

The Farm

I spoke with a woman whose first name was Dairy. She lived on Pig Lane. I find this very amusing.