Don't Leave Me Hanging!

(Warning: Rant Ahead)

Today, I got another one of those automated calls.

You know the ones "This is your last chance to lower the rate on your credit card. We've attempted to contact you previously..blah-blah-blah..."

In the past I would try to connect with a real person and ask to be removed from their call list. I would get hung up on. This has happened approximately five times.

So today, when I pushed the button for customer service, I played along.

"Hello. This is Kenneth in Guest Services. How can I help you today?"

"Um. I got a call from you guys saying I could lower the rate on my credit card."

"Why yes ma'am. That's true! I just need to verify your identity." He proceeds to tell me my name (Another rant for another time...WHO sends them my information????) and asks me to verify. I tell him "I don't have any credit cards." He says, "So that's your last name "Idonthavenaycreditcards?"

Can you believe he talked to a customer like that?

Because he got belligerent and smart-alecky I asked to speak with a manager. Here are his exact words:

"Well okay, but I can wait just as long as you can."

We'll see about that.

Ten minutes goes by. Fifteen. I tell him all I want to do is be removed from their call list and that I have been hung up on in the past and I am really irritated with their sales practices. He tells me that I have to verify my identity. I tell him I have no idea who THEY are and I won't, and is the manager still busy?

"I'm not going to hold my breath because I could die before the manager gets over here." He retorts.

((Click))

Wait, did he just hang up on me?!

I hope I obliterated his handle time.

(For those of you who haven't worked in a call center, the handle time is the length of time that you spend on a phone with a customer. In call centers you have to keep it low to meet performance expectations.)


I think the next time I am going to tell them that they haven't reached so-and-so but I would love see if I could lower the rate. I think I am going to think up a psuedonym and use up their precious handle time and resources. I am tired of getting bombarded by calls WHEN I DON'T EVEN HAVE A CREDIT CARD.

Oh and to just add to the extreme annoyance, those calls always come up "Unknown Number, Unknown Name" on my caller ID. So I can't even figure out who the company is!

One time when I was younger, telemarketers kept calling the house. My mom, sister and I were so tired of getting up to answer the phone and have it be a telemarketer trying to sell us something we didn't want or need. So I told my family that the next time I answered and it was a telemarketer, I was going to scream. (Most people mean it figuratively, I was so fed up I meant it literally!) The phone rang again, and you guessed it, it was a telemarketer. Well, this poor telemarketer heard the most blood-curdling scream on the line and then I hung up. We didn't get any more calls!

Maybe I should try that strategy again....

Perhaps, if the notation next to my name read : "Wacko. Don't waste your time!", I would have less annoying calls to deal with.

What would you do?

I'm baaaaack

First of all, let me start of with a yell of celebration. I HAVE MY BLOG BACK!!! The sign in process is a little cumbersome, but I figured out a way to circumnavigate the glitch! YAYYYYYYY!!!!

I can't post much more than this because I have to get to work cleaning. We have an ant infestation and I have exhausted every natural means available to deter them. So we are going to annhilate them. We bought RAID foggers yesterday and we are going to set them off on Saturday while we are visiting my parents. You have to be out of the area for 4 hours and then you have to ventilate for 30 minutes. But I don't care how long it takes just as long as they are all DEAD when we get back. Gross... Hundreds of dead ants, spiders, mites, beetles, etc. Ewwww. But dead ones are better than live ones! Oh yeah, back to the cleaning. You have to make sure that all foodstuffs and dishes are not in the area. So what am I going to be doing today and tomorrow? Taking everything out of my kitchen and trying to find another place for it to safely stay until the nuclear warfare is over. Yay. ( Can you tell how enthused I am about having to take EVERYTHING out of my kitchen? ) Sigh.

So the evacuation awaits me. Gotta go!