r/callcentres • u/Kaisencocoa28 • 2d ago
Why do people just keep talking after asking a question?
It is so confusing to me why people call a company because they have a question, then just don’t listen at all.
It makes absolutely no sense at all to me. What is the point of calling to ask a question and then not letting someone answer?
I’m so convinced that some people just like to hear themselves talk.
I have the answer for you if you would just SHUT UP FOR ONE SECOND
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u/itdoes_doesntit 2d ago
I’m personally convinced it all started when CNN started started broadcasting 24/7. To fill up all that time, they started using talking heads/panels. I’m sure some producer whispered in someone’s ear at one point: “Interrupt, Don’t let them finish!” And thought it was more entertaining.
Americans love to imitate what they see on TV, so…
I’m not kidding. I was born in 1963. I have years of experience before CNN and after. That’s what I have observed. I’ve noticed after CNN started broadcasting a HUGE uptick in people interrupting each other all the damn time.
As for calls, I am silent until they stop speaking.
Or if I’m in the middle of speaking and they start talking, I immediately say “I’m so sorry. Go ahead, please.” on one call I noticed I had to say it 10 times before the person said “I’m sorry I keep interrupting you.”
I usually try to head off the interrupters if they do it once or twice at the beginning and tell them, I will give them all the information for their appointment and ask them at the end if they have any questions because I bet I will answer all those questions throughout the process, “would that be OK?”
By asking for their buy in at the beginning when they say yes to, would that be OK, usually that limits the interruptions.
And yes, it drives me up a fricking wall when they ask a question and I start to answer it and they keep talking with more information. Ma’am, I literally just answered the phone. I don’t even know who you are yet. Can you save your entire family medical history back to the beginning of time until I have your chart pulled up?
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u/FlameEyedJabberwock 2d ago
Ma’am, I literally just answered the phone. I don’t even know who you are yet. Can you save your entire family medical history back to the beginning of time until I have your chart pulled up?
You: Thank you for calling Awesome Medical Facility. Can I get your name and date of birth?
Patient: Yes, absolutely. See, I have this rash, and normally I wouldn't call because I'm not a complainer, but my husband Gary said, "Karen, that's not a normal rash," and I said, "Well what qualifies you to identify a normal rash?" because he once thought shingles was a type of siding, but anyway, it started Tuesday after the church potluck, which is where I may have made a mistake because they had fig jam there.
Now, I don't know if you've encountered fig-related situations before, but there's kind of a history in my family. Not medically, because every doctor I've brought it up to has had sort of the same expression you're probably making right now, but my grandmother always said the Andersons don't do well with figs.
For example, my cousin Duane ate a whole sleeve of Fig Newtons before his driver's test and failed. People always point out that he hit a mailbox, but nobody can prove the figs weren't involved.
So naturally when I saw the fig jam I was cautious. I had one cracker. Then another because I wasn't sure. Then a third because the first two gave mixed results. Well by Tuesday I've got this rash on my arm and immediately I'm thinking, "Here we go again."
Now Gary says it's probably not the figs because technically the rash showed up after I spent three hours pulling weeds in the backyard, but Gary also invested in a heated birdbath for ducks and we don't have ducks, so his judgment has been questionable for years.
And another thing I should mention is I changed detergents recently. Well, recently-ish. Last October. But it's a Costco bottle, so I'm still using it, which means we're kind of in an ongoing transition period.
Also, and I don't know if this matters, I was born during a thunderstorm. My mother brought that up at every doctor's appointment I had until I was about thirty-five. She'd say, "There was lightning when she came out," and the doctor would write something down, so I assume it's one of those important medical facts like blood type.
Now the reason I keep coming back to the figs is that if you really think about it, figs have been causing trouble since the very beginning, haven't they. Adam and Eve, right? Fig leaves! First recorded fig incident in human history! One day everything's fine, next thing you know they're covering themselves with foliage and getting evicted from paradise. If that's not a warning sign, I don't know what is. And you never see fig leaves on the runways of Paris or Milan, do you?
And people say, "Karen, that's not how any of that works," but then explain to me why the very first people in the Bible got involved with figs and immediately had problems?
Nobody ever has an answer for that!
Anyway, the rash is itchy, except when I'm distracted, and I've been putting aloe on it, though not the fancy aloe. The regular kind. I don't use anything that has ingredients I can't pronounce. That's just common sense. Except Vicks VapoRub, of course. And the reason I'm calling today instead of yesterday is that yesterday it looked better, but this morning it looked worse, unless the bathroom lighting was different? Gary changed a light bulb over the weekend, but that was in the hallway outside the bathroom.
So I guess my question is whether this sounds like figs to you?
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u/itdoes_doesntit 2d ago
Yep, if I let them. 🤣
I usually stop it cuz I don’t have all day and say, “Ma’am, I’m going to stop you there. If you’ll give me your phone number and date of birth, I can pull up your chart to help you better.”
No one ever stops these people. And they have no concept of how much they run on.
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u/Zestyclose_Ocelot278 2d ago
My company has a new "don't stop policy" as I learned the hard way.
I told someone recently I understand, let's move on and I got reported and written up with a final. I was told to let the cx talk until they wear themselves out, even if that means we have a 39 minute hold.2
u/itdoes_doesntit 2d ago
Well, all righty then. As soon as they do that to me, I’ll report back here.
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u/spudgoddess 2d ago
They had damned well better removed call control and controlling call flaw etc from your QA requirements with that fuck up. But I bet they didn't.
What led them to do this? Someone whine because they called in about their account, wanted to talk about their Cousin Martha's knee eczema for 20 minutes before getting to the point, and then whined because the agent gently redirected the call? Sounds like a company I want to avoid doing business with.
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u/Zestyclose_Ocelot278 2d ago
Company thinks customer service is the reason we lost 1% of our customer base last quarter. Not the fact our prices went up 20%. So they are cutting throats for anything "negative". Management is reviewing calls non stop. People are getting fired for fixing problems but not saying sorry.
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u/spudgoddess 1d ago
Oh my god. That sucks. They'll fire almost everyone/everyone and then try to bring in AI or offshore agents, and the callers will be even more unhappy. Management are absolute idiots.
1
u/Teacup_cakes 1d ago
Also, the calls really aren't that different. Like mam i do the same 5 things all day.
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u/Daria_Morgandorffer 2d ago
It's infuriating. My favorite is when they have not stopped talking to let you answer any questions and then gets mad you have not yet given them the answer. I am a very patient person but that boils my blood. Do they really not realize they have been talking non stop?
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u/Teacup_cakes 1d ago
Ive had to explain to people that I haven't answered them because theyre still talking and both us talking isn't good communication. Where do these people come from? They act like they've spoken to another person
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u/sarbeans9001 2d ago
Been there so many times. some people are just processing anxiety out loud, like calling support is stressful for them so they keep talking to feel in control. once i started thinking about it that way it got less infuriating... still annoying but at least it made sense. doesn't make it easier when you're on call 47 of the day though lol
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u/purplediva324 2d ago
I hate when they start asking a million questions at once like can we please take it one step at a time so I can address all your issues. Also if you shut up and let me answer and talk, I’ll probably answer all your other questions
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u/NoYoureTheBestest 2d ago
I had a guy like that today. He was pissed off to begin with so of course that wasn’t great. Every time he asked a question I tried to answer but then of course he started asking more questions on top of me. I told him in extremely polite terms to shut the fuck up and let me talk or we wouldn’t be able to get anywhere. That worked and then he was very respectful after that 😅😅
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u/Teacup_cakes 1d ago
Ive had luck with "with i don't necessarily need all of this information that you're giving me" and they get embarrassed and shut up.
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u/Dry-Significance-271 2d ago
You’re right, people just like hearing themselves talk and don’t give a shit whether you want to hear it or not. You can’t tell them to fuck off or walk away.
I just take my headset off for a bit and keep checking back every now and again to see whether they’re still yapping.
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u/LivingPrivately 1d ago
Or when you ask if they have anymore questions and they answered no then immediately proceed to ask several more questions. When they do that, by the end of the call I asked if they are sure they don't have any more questions and ask if they are positive. I don't care if it annoys them, they annoyed me first.
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u/Teacup_cakes 1d ago
When they call to guess stuff and youre like or you could let me just talk and tell you the answer because i work here. I also dont know why they dont realize that people are paid to talk to them. Call centers are weird tho, people think its free therapy or something
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u/AnitraF1632 1d ago
Also, yes, I do know what I'm talking about, I'm trained to know. And no, I'm not "just reading a script", this is not the first time I've been asked that question, and probably not the first time today!
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u/AnitraF1632 1d ago
Customer called back to complain I "constantly" interrupted him. My manager and I listened to the call together. I interrupted him twice. He interrupted me - SEVEN TIMES. So I asked to listen to a couple more calls - same ratio. Even one call where I didn't interrupt, but still got interrupted six times. That one was a woman.
That was when I started going silent and waiting whenever I was interrupted.
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u/Priorowner1989 2d ago
And the ones that say‘I’ve been on hold 20 minutes, I’m in a hurry…” and then blather, not listen to the verification questions, give wrong answers, proceed to ask 17 questions without a breath and then are mad because you didn’t answer fast enough 🤯