with the current economic times it is getting harder to find jobs, with them going over seas and all. i just was begining college didn't have a degree so i started work for an electric and gas company at a call center, they have a high turn over rate so are always hiring and pretty much the only choice i had other than mc donalds, where i previous worked with minimal hours. most people don't realize that our busies time of the year is in summer when most every one moves and college students rent appts. every call i would get would be i need the service on now or off now which takes time for a technition to plan a route and need the an available technition to come out to t/o the meters. depending on availability could be any where from 2 days to 2 weeks. who then want a supervisor. whom also can't schedule it for them simply b/c it is booked and over booked, besided stupid people wanting supervisors i loved my job. as far as complimenting the csr at the begining of the call it would make me want to be more helpfull but there would just be nothing i could do unless the called early instead of on the same day they needed the service.

I am working in the summers as a CSR, and from my experience, friendly people never get what they want. It is always the persistent jerks who request to speak to managers and then ream on them who end up getting their refund, discount, etc.

That's asinine. I know someone who worked at a large automobile company that only promoted from within the customer service call department. One had to have a Bachelor's degree to be hired into the company, yes even into the call center. Often that is the starting position for that particular company and others. She made pretty good money if one considers $1000 per week good for starting in a call center. The person who worked at this particular company eventually moved up to the new car marketing department working one on one with the car dealerships, because her B.S. degree is in marketing and now she's moved on to even bigger and better things and is a few months shy of completing her Masters degree. Hey, she started in customer service.

Who would be there to answer the phone when YOU call?

I have a bachelors degree in business, yet I work for a utility company as a Customer Service Rep. Why you ask? Because I make $85,000 a year doing it. So my job my not be glamorous or sophisticated but I bet I make more money than you do.

Granted you are right about staying in school and I can see your point. I do think it's funny how the average consumer thinks that CSRs make minimum wage and are in dead end jobs. Although reps that answer phones for brochures and out source call centers often make very little salary there are many help desk and technical oriented customer service positions make a really nice salary. There are also many large organizations where there is room to grow within, with options like head end, marketing or tech ops. I have stayed in my position for over seven years because most other career paths in spite of sounding more prestigious make less and require expensive college degrees.

Thought you might be interested.

Where I work, the managers are the only ones who are "allowed" to give refunds. I CAN give a refund, if I want a poor job review.

Hui, congrats. on wanting to improve your communications skills. From reading your post, I would suggest 1 to 1 ESL or literacy tutoring followed by practicing in small groups. Both cannot but help your self-confidence. Good luck!

I am always civil with CSR's, regardless of how helpful or utterly useless they are. Some say they cant help because they dont want to... Some say they cant because they actually cant. Its easy to tell from the tone of someones voice on the phone when they are legitimately trying to help or not. Thats what im talking about, the whiners vs the workers. Im referencing those who are angry at their jobs because all they hear is complaints... Well, why did you take a job where your responsibility is taking complaints, hearing them out, and trying to solve them. Its the most disgruntled employees who are unhappy regardless of their job. Lazy whiners, like i mentioned before... If you dont like the job, do what it takes to get a better one, or one more suited for yourself. You are the whiner!

You're not your. UH, I think they teach that in fifth grade.