just wait, it's coming! dddragon presents: Is Anything Truly Random?

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Call Center Life

A funny thing happened when I started to see trailers for When a Stranger Calls. I recognized the bedding that the kids are sleeping on! It was part of our summer line last year. I printed off a couple of screen shots and showed them to our kids catalog manager, who quipped "oh, great, now we'll see how good it looks with blood splatter on it."

PBK Summer 05 Tie-Dye beddingPBK Summer 05 Tie-Dye bedding






Yesterday my "call of the day" was a 21 minute rant by an older woman who dislikes her daughter-in-law.

This Connecticut woman had called to ask if we carried latex foam mattresses. We don't - our mattresses are all the usual coiled stuff. Then she asked where she could buy such a thing. (good lawd)

I suggested that there must be mattress stores in her area, and that furniture stores that sell beds usually sell mattresses, too. She insisted that the furniture stores in New Haven do not do so. Throughout the conversation I repeated that her local phone directory should have companies listed under "mattresses" in the yellow pages - ours does.

She wanted me to give her numbers in the central PA area. I went and got a phone book and told her that none of the numbers were toll-free. She was annoyed about that. I told her that shipping costs would probably make it expensive anyway.

Then she went on to tell me that she needed it for her son ... and then the rant began. I heard "I'm so upset" many, many times. She wanted to know how a girl could "not have more design sense than that" and "what kind of parents does she have and how did they raise her" and so forth. The curtains were too short for the windows. The kids' mattresses are on the floor (actually, this is not uncommon, as some people are nervous about small children being high off the floor in a regular bed). The DIL didn't use the beautiful headboard that had been given to the son by the mother. And they put their bed IN FRONT of the window! gasp! (I didn't tell her that our bed is in front of the window. We do have a headboard, tho')

Blah blah blah for 21 minutes. And of course no sale. I SO wanted to ask what kind of mother her son had . . .

THEN she went on to tell me that for several years now her husband had been using the dining room table as an office. "I'm so upset" was heard again and again. She thinks that the dining room should be a "showcase".

I made lots of sympathic noises. A few times she seemed like she was done with me, but then the "I'm so upset" and rant would start up again.

And to top it off, she finished by saying quicker than I can almost understand "I gotta go I can't stay on the phone like this" and then hung up on me.

17 Comments:

At 7:32 PM, Blogger Sar said...

What a pain! No wonder you get those extra service awards, going above and beyond to get numbers for a woman who just blew you off. Did make for an amusing post though, as did the comment about now we can see what it looks like covered in blood. ;)

 
At 8:40 PM, Blogger TLP said...

Good gawd! What a waste of time. I can't believe she expected you to look up phone numbers for her!

 
At 9:20 PM, Blogger Minka said...

3D, you really shouldn´t make people talk so long on the phone. It does
cost money you know!;)
But seriously, what would happen if you brushed this woman off with a "If you don´t want to order anything can you please get off the line"? Is there a complaints department she could call? Just curious?

 
At 9:23 PM, Blogger Lila said...

That's pretty funny. People are incredible, aren't they?

 
At 6:02 AM, Blogger Miz BoheMia said...

Monika... the US is different from Europe in that local calls are free and so are toll-free 800 numbers! 3D had no escape! Yikes!

Kudos to you for making it through and I am with Sar on this one, made for a funny post for us! Man, it feels good to be on the other side of things for once! ;-P

 
At 7:37 AM, Blogger Doug The Una said...

Dddragon, what's the matter with you? Taking up all that poor woman's time with sympathetic clucking. Sheesh. I'm still not sure whose son that kid is.

 
At 8:10 AM, Blogger TLP said...

I gotta go I can't stay on this blog like this! SLAM!

 
At 9:18 AM, Blogger Fred said...

At least she could have given you a sale. Sheesh.

 
At 11:19 AM, Blogger Mikki Marshall said...

I'm not sure how that movie is going play out. First of all when you watch the trailers they already give away the plot of the story that the guy was in the house when calling. And I remember in the original version you weren't aware of that until the very end and that's what kept the movie suspenseful.

Dddragon also known as the St. of Patience.

 
At 12:37 PM, Blogger OldHorsetailSnake said...

Couldn't you call her back and tell her that you get upset with people who waste your time and don't even give you a lollipop?

 
At 9:56 PM, Blogger Saur♥Kraut said...

Funny about the bedding! Or...not so funny... bleah.

WHY do people think that if they catch you on the phone, they have the right to bend your ear??? It never ceases to amaze me. It's the same thing that *I* see in sales.

 
At 10:59 PM, Blogger Tom & Icy said...

my what patience you have

 
At 8:44 AM, Blogger Jean-Luc Picard said...

'When A Stranger Calls' & 'When A Stranger Calls Back' are GREAT movies!

 
At 10:25 AM, Blogger Jamie Dawn said...

I think she mistook you for someone who gives a sh*t about her DIL's shortcomings and her other life woes.
Did she think you were a directory service as well as a therapist? Good grief!

 
At 12:38 PM, Blogger Fred said...

Hey - where's the photo for today? I came to get my fix...

 
At 4:03 PM, Blogger Lila said...

Aw, no old photo? :-(

 
At 5:50 PM, Blogger the many Bs said...

Geesh... welcome to your new job as a crisis counselor!

 

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