Devoted to the call center industry, the agents on the phones, and their managers

Now, that's out of the way.

I'm conscious that I'm continuing with a blog that was created by my boss's boss, Tim Stay, the co-founder of Know More Media and a former call center owner.  Fortunately, 'Jam' Mayer, who had been at the helm of this ship since early 2006, will continue to write occasionally. And I expect we'll see some more call center comics from Ozzie Fonseca.

In my eight years of call center life, I've seen the highs and I've see the lows. My first call center was recognized by J.D. Power and Associates for providing exceptional customer satisfaction. A few years later, our company was bankrupt and our CEO was in prison.

I learned a lot about customer service during several years of overhearing the Executive Escalations department, who sat next to my desk. I found out how calm and professional customer service can be, even when a caller has complained to the president of the company, or to the state attorney general.

I also spent several months answering small business calls for another company. The company's billing techs didn't understand why it would have been better not to send all their bills on the same day. (Can you say "being hammered by the call queue?") So for several days, the same time every month, I spent every shift telling caller after caller that their account would be canceled and credited in full. And no, their fast-moving sales rep was no longer with the company, though he had probably had escaped jail.

For several years, I worked in the Tech Support department, specializing in explaining to other phone companies why they should help their customers. It helped to have access to call detail records that showed where the problem was. I never got the chance to speak with the Chinese national phone company about their poor call quality, though I was told they attributed it to solar flares.

I've never been a manager, but I've had their respect. When Michael Jordan wanted to make changes on his long distance account, they asked me to do it. And I won a couple of Employee of the Month awards, went to a few high achiever's parties, and so on.

My goal in writing for CallCenterScript is to help you understand call centers, how you can survive in them, and how you can make them better. Keeping the customer in mind.