• 4am@lemmy.zip
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    11 days ago

    No sales job ever paid per time spent on phone

    Anon is trying to be wholesome but has to forge reality in this fucked up world

    • Omgpwnies@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      Spent nearly 10 years working call center jobs, every single one of them had QA people listening to random calls and grading them. If you didn’t stick to the script or try to sell the thing or whatever it was, you’d get a failing grade on the call. Enough of those and you’re gone.

      You’re also graded on how long each call takes based on a metric called “Average Handle Time” or AHT which was set by the client based on whatever fucking fantasy they had about how long each call should take.

      Fun fact, some contracts I worked on had an AHT requirement that was lower than the amount of time it would take to go through all of their required scripted sales pitches without even addressing the reason for the call. It was literally impossible to get full marks because you either had to skip most of their required scripts, not help the customer, or have the call run long.

      • sobchak@programming.dev
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        11 days ago

        Same (but only 6 months). Min wage + commission. But, during election season, because the company didn’t get commission, they just had the computers run through the lists and have us immediately hang up instead of going through the campaign scripts.

    • some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      No sales job ever paid per time spent on phone

      Having participated in the marketplace for a while, I am positive this is not true. Have you ever met a sales guy? They love executing on nonsensical strategies.

      There’s a lot of dumb money still out there. The term “dumb money” doesn’t do it justice. We should call it “braindead money” instead.

          • M137@lemmy.today
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            10 days ago

            Off script doesn’t mean not trying to make a sale at all. And you gotta realise “a long time ago” makes anything you know invalid? It’s the same thing as old people thinking young people are bad with money because they can’t afford a house, car, kids etc. on a single income, like they could.
            I used to do graphic design about 15 years ago but don’t anymore, I’m not gonna tell someone who does it now that I know anything about how it currently is. Very weird to not be aware of something like that without having to be told about it.

            • SystemDisc@feddit.org
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              9 days ago

              This greentext is also 5 years old, and there’s no way to know what year the greentext itself is referencing. One anecdote that doesn’t fit an absolutism is enough to disprove it. Very weird to not be aware of something like that without having to be told about it.

      • unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz
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        11 days ago

        Medicare Part D was or is a program to outsource prescription insurance for Medicare recipients under Bush 2. It created an absurd Matroska nest of contracts. I worked for a staffing agency to be call center agent at a company that ran pop-up call centers for various insurance companies operating under this program.

        I was told my calls were monitored but never got any feedback whatsoever

    • MinnesotaGoddam@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      When I worked at a call center, we were hiring specialists. That’s pretty much all we did. As long as we filled the jobs, it didn’t matter how long we took. We rarely took more time than we had budgeted

  • PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk
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    11 days ago

    I used to do some operator work for a major UK telecoms firm.

    Because it was free, you had all sorts of people phoning it. A good chunk of them were just old folk who were lonely and just wanted someone to speak to.

    It was nice. Some of us had additional roles too and we were generally left alone if there was nothing else to do, so it was nice talking about people’s families and interests, and hearing their voices brighten over the course of five or ten minutes.

    Growing old alone must suck.

  • Etterra@discuss.online
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    10 days ago

    Yeah at least 75% of sales, advertising, and marketing is a barely measurable metric that exists to look useful while burning money. Like those advertising mailers? They’re just employing people to do nothing but kill trees to prop up the postal service. Big brand ads? They just want to remind you that Coca-Cola exists in case you forgot since the last time they told you 10 minutes ago.

    • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      Advertisement to people who want to make money is like selling shovels and picks to people who want to mine gold.

  • istdaslol@feddit.org
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    11 days ago

    Reminds me of a story where apparently phone-sex workers had to be trained to give emotional support and suicide prevention stuff because most of their customers were just that broken

  • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    sounds like a good idea for an app using LLMs and text to voice.

    old people just want to tell their stories. let em, even if we’re not listening.

    bonus. we can record the calls and archive them for historical purposes. many of these stories have significance in relation to world events.

    edit: I’m conflicted on the response to this comment. part of me thinks it’s an overreaction while another part of me is somewhat pleased that there seems to be a line that can’t be crossed. especially in a world where I’ve been told over and over that if the ends justify the means, the motive is meaningless. 🤷

      • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        personally I hate LLMs and AI.

        but I equally hate caring about other people.

        I have more than enough empathy, why do you think I hate people so much?

        • otterpop@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          Because you completely missed the point of talking with the elderly with your statement. It’s to make a connection with another human and share a bit of the human experience. An LLM for this purpose would be an abomination.

          • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
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            11 days ago

            I don’t disagree. but the fact that nobody does it only goes to prove my point more, right?

            in general people are selfish, self-centered, pieces of shit. so why not use something that has zero practical uses for something somewhat practical in a positive way.

            instead of scamming old folks of their money, let’s use the same tech to give them a sense of support.

            • Tartas1995@discuss.tchncs.de
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              10 days ago

              Projection is strong in this one.

              " I hate caring for other people" - selfish, self-centered

              Thinks that effectively lying to old people so that people didn’t need to deal with their needs, is a good idea - Pieces of shit

              • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
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                10 days ago

                did I exclude myself from people somewhere or are you just assuming I meant “everyone is a piece of shit but me”.

                that’s a piece of shit thing to do.

                • Tartas1995@discuss.tchncs.de
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                  10 days ago

                  When did I say that? Projection doesn’t require you to deny the features that you are projecting.

                  Assuming stuff while complaining about someone assuming something that they didn’t… impressively on theme.