[Gllug] ADSL upload speeds

[Peter Grandi]

[ ... ]

>> I've worked in a call centre and it is standard procedure to
>> only give first names.

john> True, however the fact that it is common practice doesn't
john> in any way excuse it.

>> I believe it was for security purposes,

john> This is a common reason given, although it is a blatant
john> lie.

It looks like so, because they could give employee numbers
instead of first names, and still remain identifiable for
followup purposes, while not exposing themselves (just like
the police do for example).

john> The real reason is to prevent you (the customer) from
john> being able to follow up something when they balls it up
john> yet again. Some organisations (e.g. Demon) even make up
john> fictitious individuals to sign letters. [ ... ] Common
john> practice these may be, but they are utterly inexecusable.

Like generously allowing programmers to wear ear mufflers to
reduce the noise impact from an office where their desks are
stacked as tightly as possible, there are two loud PCs per desk
(and temperature gets to 35C), and meetings are shouting matches
held in the same room because dedicated meeting rooms are
expensive?

  BTW after a bit of using mufflers I now prefer ear plugs for
  ''programmer sty'' use, there is a nice site with a group
  review here: http://WWW.WebBikeWorld.com/r2/earplugs/

Or like not getting back to job applicants after an interview
(I can excuse not replying to every applicant, as often there
are hundreds, but those shortlisted for an interview are usually
a small number)?

Unfortunately such practices are common because companies as
either suppliers or employers can get away with them...

  Does anybody remember the times when it was illegal to plug
  a non-BT supplied phone into a BT line? Nice deal if you can
  get it...

john> Boycott any organisation which uses them - the message is
john> they regard you as shit and will treat you as such.

Well, customer service is not a profit centre, except of course
in the medium/long term, and companies train their managers
(bonuses) to not care a lot about that. So things are not going
to change. Boycotts work only in the medium/long term.

But customer relationships are only part of the problem; the
poor customer facing employees have their own problems. Many
company PHBs write policies that are nasty not just to their
customers, but also to them.

Perhaps not everybody realizes how brutal can be the lot of
those poor ''robot women'' in call centres, especially offshore
ones (where the law is not quite as progressive or enforceable
as in Europe), and how cunningly nasty are the PHBs earning
large bonuses when writing the contracts for call centres:

  http://WWW.Outsourcing-Weblog.com/archives/call_center_abuse_of_ladies_still_continues_but_remedies_in_sight.html

   «Women call center workers from India take abuse
    -- sometimes sexual in nature -- from westerners to earn a
    better salary. However, some remedies are already in place
    to correct this.

    Call center employees are now allowed to end a call if they
    think it's necessary. Additionally, they can also blacklist
    an abusive person and put him in the 'Do Not Call' list so
    that other workers can be informed not to call that person
    again.»

But note the kicker below:

   «Sonal Raje, a team leader from Global Telesystem Ltd, said,
    "Hanging up in the middle of a conversation is not acceptable
    in our profession, but when they turn abusive we can now
    disconnect the lines politely, which was not the case earlier."

    Ashley D'Souza of Customer1, Malad, said, "Since February,
    we have been given permission to hang up on abusive callers,
    with the consent of our team leaders."

    However, Bhavin Dalal, proprietor of Etech Infosys, said
    that only those who are into outbound services can
    disconnect a call.»

As he says explicitly (mostly western) company PHBs have made it
a contractual requirement (as in: you get fired for cause) for
call centre workers, mostly poor and female of course, to listen
to abusive verbiage, including any incidental sexual harassment:

   «He said, "The service level agreement does not allow the
    customer care executive in an inbound service provider to
    disconnect the line, even if the caller turns abusive.
    [Such] calls need to be handled tactfully."»

For PHBs it is just a matter of ''leverage'', and everybody
is welcome to the ''because we can, and f*ck you very much''
economy! :-/

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