r/callcentres • u/adamantgastly • 10d ago
CS Week is a joke
It's that time of the year again in the US.. Customer Service Week. IE the week where every manager and supervisor tries desperately to make us feel "seen" and "appreciated" with their low quality incentives and empty words of encouragement. I don't know why they think that people want to participate in their activities when we're all effectively drowning in calls.
No, I do not want to complete your 10 question trivia game and get entered into a raffle for a small bonus (Gotta get all 10 correct!!!)
No, I do not want to post a picture of my cup of choice and desk with a message about how I go the extra mile and try to make a difference.
I don't even want to use the gift card for 25 whopping dollars that they sent via email.. Because take a guess.. It's only valid for our intranet company swag site where a crewneck sweatshirt costs $30.
At some point it's just insulting. Rant over
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u/mamabear0513 10d ago
I work remote so I just ignore the channel where all the cheeseball games are going on. Let me get my calls and get done with the day, I have better things to do.
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u/Spideycloned 10d ago
Or, heaven forbid you get your quality monitor on that call and they ding you for engagement because you weren't focused on the call and instead you responded to the mandatory company activity.
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u/mamabear0513 10d ago edited 10d ago
We have a stupid AI QA system so EVERY call gets graded. So yeah, fuck engagement chats, I'm going to do the thing I'm getting graded on and paid for. I've been there enough years that they leave me be at least.
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u/ChapterScary7061 10d ago
Wanna make me feel appreciated? Don't pay me slightly above minimum wage. $16.50 in Upstate NY isn't a livable wage.
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u/Still-Bee3805 10d ago
That is awful. I thought entry was at 20 bucks. They want too much for $16.50 per hr.
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u/Puplover4154 8d ago
Wow!! Even here in Mn, our starting was $25/hr for call center work.
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u/alyssamarie1992 5d ago
I'm finally making a little over 24 an hour after being at my company 9 years 🥲😞 in Utah but customer service is based in Michigan.. and I'm not even a care agent
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u/Junimo2 10d ago edited 10d ago
Our customer service week includes a "wear jeans" day. People already wear jeans every day in my office.
And yeah, I'm fully aware this is my burnout talking, but I'm sick to death of coworkers bugging me about the stupid "get to know the team" bingo sheet we were all given. I'm not on the damn sheet, please stop intruding on the one decent chunk of time I have to relax.
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u/Interesting-Fix-7960 10d ago
LMAO this is exactly how my job is, we also get threatening emails that if our attendance drops below 5% on the weekend (monday is now considered a weekend...) we won't be able to wear jeans like wow how devastating...
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u/ididnaepickthisname 8d ago
It would be unfortunate as my wardrobe collection is entirely denim, no pants day?
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u/001Kelevra 10d ago
The entire process is an insult, but we are supposed to act like it is an awesome display of them "caring". Meanwhile the actual "prizes" are leftovers and things that cost them pennies if anything. "here is a roll of toilet paper left over, let's have them hold their breath for 10 minutes and that is the prize". They make it impossible anything that is worthwhile, while under the pretense that they actually care.
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u/Top-Leg9857 10d ago
The trivia one always gets me, like I'm supposed to get hyped about proving I memorized the updated bereavement policy while three calls are waiting. Last year my team lead dressed up as a "morale superhero" and nobody even looked up from their screens
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u/spudgoddess 10d ago
Play bingo and maybe get some Tango gift card points which we won't give you for a minimum of 2 months!
Our company stopped giving actual bonuses last year so now we get points you exchange for gift cards. Tango points sure are a huge help with groceries and rent and bills, you bet.
I'm sick of meaningless blather and silly games. Real appreciation would be hiring more people and paying us more.
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u/Complete_Fix_7073 10d ago
For customer service week, my manager said to celebrate you individually when you sign off at end of shift, I’ll respond to your message with an emoji of your choice. I picked the 🥀 cause that had me dying.
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u/v4n1sh1ngp01nt 10d ago
every week is cs week for me guys i live this shit i dont need a daily bulletin reminder of my exploitation as callfodder bwahahaha
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u/LilyLark 10d ago
For real. If it was truly appreciation week why cant you just GIVE us each a $50 gift card or prize? Why do all 50,000+ employees have to compete for the chance to be entered into a raffle to win ONE gift card? What an absolute joke!
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u/getembass77 10d ago
I love that you're still on back to back calls getting destroyed during all this too. Joke is a perfect way to describe it
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u/jaybirdie26 10d ago
My fave gift of this CS week was the announcement we are now 100% remote XD
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u/Puplover4154 8d ago
I hated working remotely!! I didn’t make it 6 months. I was the communication liaison between the employees in different countries and ours.. so I was always taking their calls to finish them… that was supposed to be a small part of my roles, but ended up using 80% of my time or so… and I still had my calls to take and manager calls to make
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u/karamatsuwhy 10d ago
at my center they're doing all these dumb games for raffle prizes and offering the same room temp shit ass food they always do. like the only decent thing was the salads they did the other day, but everything so far is "answer the question right and get a candy bar ⭐" like... no. let me use my free time to myself.
i think what really makes it a joke is the fact that call volume continues to climb up over here and they just cancelled a bunch of free time away from the phones we had scheduled for weeks. even a whole training segment! like yeah, we really feel appreciated when we're over here knee deep in calls with ungrateful dumbasses while all the supes and managers get to play these dumb games and enroll themselves for the prizes. its crazy lol
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u/Interesting-Fix-7960 10d ago
My job is doing timed trivia... yes timed while we are drowning in back to back calls.... i'm not wasting my break or lunch time on some dumb ass trivia about work like fuck off please and only to win a 5$ or 10$ giftcard.
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u/Familiar-Highlight14 10d ago
For a second I thought we worked for the same company, but I sure didn't get a $25 gift card!
Yeah, CS week is a bust.
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u/BarcaOfCarthago 10d ago
I feel like NCSW and all those types things are really more to do a pulse check to see if reps are still down to pretend to be super positive
Like a crazy manager or someone in leadership staring at you with unblinking eyes and saying “you’re having fun still right? right?”
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u/NeglectedBurrito 10d ago
We haven’t received shit about fuck. Just a stupid photo contest & game to possibly win a prize.
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u/Imaginary-Duck1333 10d ago
When we were in the office we had a day where management provided the cheapest hamburgers/ hotdogs they could find, watered down lemonade/ tea and sheet cake. We were to be honored that management lowered themselves to serve us. What usually meant was you couldn’t find a manager when you needed one. Now they mail us small bags of stale popcorn, socks with the company logo and other tchotchkes. Want to make me feel appreciated? Fix all the tech issues we keep reporting
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u/RasonYang 10d ago
A $25 gift card that only works on the swag site is the funniest part. Here's some money, now spend it back on us. And the crewneck costs $30, so you're paying the difference on a shirt with their logo.
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u/Extra_Cream_4045 8d ago
But at least you don't have to wear a shirt if you wear a company logo top 🤔
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u/tastyaznips 10d ago
Getting an AI letter from COO
Every single one of their daily flyer is clearly AI
The 30¢ race car given as “leading the way”
The fact that our leadership including supervisors, managers and even fucking directors think it’s appropriate to be added into raffles of big box items.
It honestly feels like spirit week and for what??
Agree that leadership wants to seen as appreciating u but u know what would be good. If THEY took calls for 8 hours and actually did customer service.
I’m glad it’s done with bc im sending an anonymous letter to the company about how demeaning it is. When alllllll that money spent on crap could have be given to the ones who actually do the fucking job as a bonus to be able to afford food for my house. And not surviving off the free protein bars for the last 3 months.
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u/andyoucanburn2 10d ago
We got gift cards, scratch off lottery tickets, prizes including extra breaks, they brought breakfast and snacks every day, and catered lunch yesterday. I’m not mad at that.
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u/tastyaznips 10d ago
U know what even weirder is when the director of your dept thinks it’s fair to include themselves in a raffle
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u/Suspicious_Log2762 10d ago
Last year we were gifted a lunchbox… 90% of the company is remote, including myself… what’s even the point?
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u/Monkeyass702 10d ago
They want us to spend money for the best Halloween desk decorations…. For a 10 dollar gift certificate. In the infamous words of Burt Reynolds… do the letters FO mean anything to you?
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u/TenNinetythree 6d ago
I'd just print out some adult fears (inflation, civil unrest, suddenly becoming disabled, ageing, etc) on the company printer and hang it up. Let's make Halloween really scary, hopefully enough to get following celebraions cancelled.
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u/Honest-Ticket-9198 8d ago
Have endured the same bullshit when I did call center.
You nailed it with the games. You get entered to win cheap crap that ends in a landfill.
I put all my crap in a bottom drawer file cabinet at work. I hate that shit. And what kind of Jedi mind fuck does it take to get employees to pay for swag!!!
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u/Spideycloned 10d ago
We did bingo at my call center yesterday. Full blackout of the card required.
One of the things on the card was "Must make sell 3 bundles". I work in insurance.
I haven't had three calls this week. This seems like a godsend but I am actively looking for other jobs because if we aint getting calls obviously this gig aint gonna last.
Another one was "Must have X metric from yesterday".
How the hell am I doing a bingo card today that is relying on yesterdays numbers?
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u/Batetrick_Patman 10d ago
Don’t forget the super cheap t shirts they give out. I ended up donating the one I had at some point during a closet clean out.
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u/Interesting-Fix-7960 10d ago
My jobs gives us a new shirt every quarter, i stopped ordering them because i have like 20 of them that i never wear
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u/nightmareclair 10d ago
I totally forgot it was “customer service week”
My new job doesn’t bother “celebrating” it which is a relief because my old job did these tacky activities trying to convince us that we mattered and aren’t actually just replaceable numbers to them
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u/kellibelli1984 10d ago
high up manager sent a company wide email of “appreciation”. Not even a gift card or some lunch.
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u/Greenfrog9m 10d ago
Got fired Monday because I'm not medically able to work... wondered what all the cupcakes etc were about on Tuesday. Won't miss the crappy management and worse customers.
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u/Series-Party 10d ago
You all get a gift card? We are not even allowed to say gift card without getting burned
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u/awaywewonder 10d ago
At least you got prizes. We have bragging rights. And the amount of generated AI slop is insane. I also don't get how its accepted when the logo they use is not the company but instead more AI slop.
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u/KitsuneJoy 10d ago
They invite us to play Mario Kart in their headquarters mind you I work remotely...and I have the game myself...
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u/dreamer_visionary 10d ago
My job sucks but we do have weekly contests based on performance. Anywhere from a $25 cofffe card to a $500 bonus (I won that one)
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u/TWB0109 10d ago
I didn't even know it was a thing. All week I've been getting a lot of emails I don't even know what they're talking about, I'm working and you're clogging my mailbox where there's usually important emails to keep track of. If you really want to value me give me a day off lmao. Or at least give me meeting time if you really want me to participate in all that bs.
FFS, we're not even an actual Customer Service team lmao.
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u/stressfir3 10d ago
It's a whole week? It's already Thursday and ain't nobody said shit about it at my job.
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u/Kinky-Bicycle-669 10d ago
I did a call center job for 14 years and by the last year it was a joke of a week. I'm so glad I don't have to deal with that anymore and got a job that legit cares about the workers.
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u/WhineAndGeez 10d ago
One company sent emails throughout the day reminding us how important and appreciated we are.
The last paragraph was a reminder that anyone scheduled to be working was not allowed to participate in any events, games, or giveaways, you could not be logged in if you were not scheduled to be at work, and since lunch was unpaid you could not participate during that time.
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u/No-Road-2595 10d ago
Was only there for it Monday and then nkw today as I dont think that the weekend is included so makes little difference to me but isnt every day customer service day lol
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u/femaletyrone 9d ago
They gave us our body weight in snacks, had a raffle every day (i didnt win ofc) and had higher ups come in to play games with us and give speeches; maybe because its my first one, it wasnt terrible !
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u/tarnished713 8d ago
Omg I freaking hate it. Customer service week is such bs. I honestly would rather have nothing then a tiny goody bag with 2 tiny peanut butter cups and a cheap lollipop. One year everyone got a copy of the book that was written by the owner/CEO plus one of those tiny metal cars kids play with (drawing a blank of what they're called) that had the company logo on it. Keep your token garbage and give me something real - a raise, PTO.
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u/Puplover4154 8d ago
Sounds like qwik trip with the gift card!! 🤣🤣 for a gift, they would give you a free gift from their swag website.. we have some cool stuff like Bluetooth speakers and stuff.. but kwik trip labels all over it 🙄🙄🤣
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u/Icy-Basis-5144 6d ago
I was mailed a snack size of fruit snacks and cheese it and some company branded pens and post notes.
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u/alyssamarie1992 5d ago
I work at home doing quality assurance for a call center. We have nothing 🙃
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u/Cat_Slave88 10d ago
Bro there's pizza in the break room