As I take a step out to the sidewalk, I realize the little scuffle had become a nightly routine. Even the scenery around hasn’t changed one bit. From my soles, I can feel the gritty gravel grind as I take steps in haste. Walking up the concrete staircase puddled by the last round of rainfall, I try to avoid slipping while evading shoulders of others that are just waiting to rub against mine. Up above, a cloud

Last Tuesday, I was on the phone with an incredibly stubborn customer. She wanted to opt out of her DSL service about three months early due to, and I quote directly here, “piss-poor customer service”. I wouldn’t know about her experience with previous CSRs, but there I was, trying my mighty best to dissuade her from cutting us off. No amount of apologies and logic (after all, she would still be p

After work, or during downtime, tech support reps have different ways of winding down or spending their leisure time. For most, it’s sleeping, to catch up on their broken Circadian rhythm. For others, its drinking, partying, or shopping, to feel alive after the tedious shift in the office. For me, it’s making music. Not just listening, but recording my own. For me, making music is the same way as making

My cellphone inbox has limited space. However, before empying it out periodically, I like to archive some of the more memorable text messages. I’m reposting a selection of them here anonymously, devoid of their particular context, with the exact same spelling and pucntuation used when they were sent to me. Rest assured that I did not include any personal details. Likewise, I refrained from posting messages th

We here at Unplugged Heroes pride ourselves on knowing our discipline very well. Sometimes, the technical aspects of our profession even intersect with our hobbies, such as music. And as any tech support rep knows, knowing how your gadget works is a blessing compared to calling the customer hotline and being subjected to muzak. According to some magazines and manufacturers, analog is on a resurgence (vinyl, but not

No matter what, every agent will one day have to deal with the dreaded irate caller. This is one of those things that will happen to an agent, no matter what. The harsh part is that there’s really no telling when it’ll happen or what form it’ll take. It could come six months after the agent’s first call, leading them to break into tears because they haven’t built up the thick skin to s

No, no matter what the title of this article looks like, it isn’t about how some of our worst calling center encounters go… In fact, it is about one of the most important skills in the call center worker’s tool kit- the ability to decompress. I’m sure that I don’t have to tell you all about the stresses that call center workers have to deal with. I would like to point out that these st

The explosion of technology in consumer society has led to the growth of an interesting, if irritating, segment of the population: people who don’t have a clue about the technology they bought. Designers and manufacturers do everything in their power to make a new gadget as easy and “intuitive” to use as they can. (I sometimes have to wonder whose intuition they are relying on, however.) It isn

The word “technical support representative” is synonymous with one thing: a headset. No matter what call center company you work for, you can’t be a true tech support agent without having this eponymous device straddling your neck or wrapped around your ears. It’s what the helmet is to the F1 driver, the rifle for the infantryman, or the cellphone for realtor selling Los Angeles furnished ap

Technology is the backbone of running any successful business in the modern society. The kind of business setup we have today requires an entrepreneur to take note of the ever evolving technology and keep pace. Many business men would be sincerely surprised at the degree of impact modern technology can make in their business. There is a relationship between a successful business today and technology. As a matter of