in my life before uni, i worked once in a big office, with a computer and a nice desk area. it was spacious, i could leave toys hanging all over my monitor, and i look like an office woman. except, i was earning probably half the salary that those real office workers get, because i essentially was a telemarkeer.

 
in our line, we have computers because they contain our scripts. alot of telemarketers also follow these scripts very deadly, me included, because there comes a point where you go “oh fuck it. i can only paraphrase and sound THAT interested anyways.” but it’s a job, and sometimes, i wouldn’t drop a job for anything.

 
coming here changed alot of perspectives on telemarketing for me. it’s EVERYWHERE, literally. maybe it’s because i don’t qualify for offers in singapore, but some of the offers here are just as crazy as when i received a call asking if i want a club membership… at the age of 12 back home.

 
bear in mind, for most of the time i have been here, i was 21+, unemployed, a uni student, and an international student too. so alot of things, i don’t qualify for. i guess the problem here then, lies in that most companies do not actually read the profiles, or filter it. they just call and hope they bang the right one. 

 

so yesterday, i was getting ready for work, with lots of time to spare. some dude called wilson called, supposedly from a mobile company that represents the major networks: telstra, vodaphone and optus. they have a special offer for me, which included a free cameraphone (that point was emphasized 20 times over) and a suggested monthly contract worth 49 dollars, complete with 49 free sms-es.

 

amidst his talking, i stopped him. “look, i am sorry, but i have to go to work. can you please just call me back later?“ 

 

“sure. but just to let you know…” and he started rambling again off his script about how special it is, which i presume he took it from the “not interested” part of the script.

 

“listen, i really have to go. i am late for work now.”

 

“Well, but do u know… our offer is the same as the one you would get in writing…”

 

“please, i really have to go. just call me later or something.”

 

“do you mind if i have your mobile number?”

 

“sure..”

 

then i ran. but lo and behold, bus has left. i was infuriated, but i can’t totally blame him i guess. people have told me time and again, just ignore them. people do that all the times anyways. but i honestly can’t slam down the phone now, considering how i myself felt when i was treated that way back when i was working. so angry as i was, i didn’t quite blame him.

 

i was just upset at how he didn’t care to take hints from consumers. we might be interested, but if you don’t listen, it doesn’t work out. 

 

he called earlier, and then started going, “hi miss lih? (yes he got my name wrong) remember i called you yesterday, and you said to call u in 5 mins. well you didn’t pick up the phone…”

 

“i SAID i was LATE FOR WORK. obviously i can’t PICK UP THE CALL AT WORK. i am ASLEEP by the way, and you just WOKE ME. so at this rate, these ‘calls’ between us isn’t working out, so let’s just say i am not interested anymore. thanks.”

 

“can i know why you are not interested?”

 

“erm.. you noticed that i was late for work and you woke me up?”

 

“well give me a time to call you. 2 hours from now? 4 hours?”

 

“no, i am WORKING.”

 

“well, an hour?”

 

“look, i am not interested. in an hour, i would still be sleeping.”

 

“another day?”

 

“i have the same schedule day in, day out. let’s just call this off thanks. i am really tired. i am trying to get some sleep.”

 

“ok bye.”

 

but it didn’t work out. that fool has woken me up for now. so i started browsing some sites, and school called to say my results are out and we are to pick it up from the director of the college. well at least, i am supposed to. no it’s not a bad thing. they just usually discuss it with us, to tell us which direction to go from there and so on. i am getting mine on thursday.

 

so an hour on…

 

“hi, this is wilson… wilson, the guy who just called you an hour ago?”

 

“erm…”

 

“so are you awake now, and we can talk, or are you still sleeping.”

 

“wilson.”

 

“yes?”

 

“you have to listen to your customers sometimes. i said yesterday i was late for work, and you still continued talking…”

 

now, i was seething, i was pissed as hell because he was NOT LISTENING as a customer grabber. that, in my opinion, is not how you do business. that’s just not how you treat customers at all. but what pissed me off… was how he reacted.

 

HE LAUGHED AT ME. omfg.

 

if nothing else annoyed me, it was the fact that he laughed at me telling him how retarded he was. maybe he had a great sense of humour. but 4 hours of sleep + an annoying bug of a telemarketeer = angry panda.

 

“is it really all that funny? i mean, i got woken up by you. and i said i am not interested anymore, so why are you calling?”

 

“well, you see, you have to suggest some time for me to call you so these things don’t happen.” 

 

“well, you see, i did. i said, i am NOT INTERESTED. so when a customer says that, you don’t call AGAIN. look, i work in the telemarketing line before, and in customer service. i know you have to go by a script. but you have to listen to customers to know what they want. and right now, i am NOT INTERESTED.”

 

“well, when can i call you again?” 

 

“when i say i am not interested, wilson, i meant don’t call me again. ever. please don’t call me again. i said i am not interested. i don’t want to hear you again. i don’t want to pick up the phone, to hear ‘hi, i am wilson’ ever again. i am not interested, i was, but i am not now. i don’t want to EVER EVER EVER hear you again.“

 

“ok, i am sorry bye.”

 

and now, i am still pissed off.

 

i don’t know if it’s a guy’s thing or a telemarketeer thing. but this male telemarketeer sure don’t listen. 

technorati tags: telemarketers, angry, nuisance, phonecalls, spam, promotions, annoying telemarketers

 To all my dear friends, happy chinese new year. i know some of you made an effort to sms/msn me at some stage, however my mobile seems a little broken (says that i have some system error when i try to send out sms) or by the time i am really awake, you guys are already offline. so, happy chinese new year ^_^ hongbao please, thanks.

 

 The last few days have been a mess. not just because of work, but coming home and then facing a messy room that’s in the midst of packing. it makes me not want to be here, and at the same time kind of sad.

 

while we have our ups and downs, linxy and i are friends after all, and now we are going our seperate ways, it does makes me feel a little dissed. everyone’s going away, and it feels strange to be still here.

 

the movers came this morning, and most of his things are gone. he should be taking the rest along with him in a bit, and then he would be gone home to sydney. when he does come back, he would be staying with his gf, and then helping to clean up the house abit, and after all that, we are done.

 

it makes this chinese new year so different and lonely in that sense. sure i get msn messages and smses, but when a friend is leaving amidst the so called period of happiness, i don’t find many things to be happy about.

 

he has been busy gaming the last few weeks, and i have been busy working, so we never even had the chance for a farewell dinner.

 

in a way, i guess it is a sort of relief. prior to moving out of campus, someone warned me that living with friends can be a sort of horror in it self. you can be terribly unhappy with how they are doing things, and they can be unhappy with you too. but because you are friends, it can make it harder to tell them off, or voice your concerns.  and that’s exactly how it was.

 

i don’t want to hate linxy, nor make myself all pissy because of him. and now, i am going to miss him terribly. bye bye linxy… it was good, have fun.

 

oh… the funny thing about chinese new year…. i called my dad last night, but he didn’t pick up his phone. instead, a few hours later, he called me in the dead of the night, screaming GONG XI FA CAI!!!! across the phone lines. and proceeded to tell me how he turned down a job offer because he didn’t like the guy’s face. -.-

 

parents are strange…. 

Mel walked up to me, raving, “go talk to your table please, before i throttle her.”

 

“that bad?”

 

“you think!??! she walked in wanting more and more seats. it’s not like we produce seats by the second. we are a goddamn restaurant.”

 

“aight aight… shush i will try to settle her down.”

 

running up the stairs, i looked at the table, wondering who was the offensive person. after all, mel isn’t exactly a patient person, but then again, we do have retards for customers. and there are too many of them.

 

“hi, my name’s cheryl, and i am your waitress, can i help you with anything?” i asked a likely person, with a girl on his lap, both giggling away on table 72.

 

“i don’t know, you have to ask her..” and they pointed to a short pudgy girl near the middle of the table. she looked at us without a smile and walked to my side.

 

“yes i am the birthday girl, what do you want?” she started, trying to look me down her nose. the problem was, i am kind of taller than her. i notice that i am not very tall either, thanks.

 

“well i believed you mentioned you need an extra seat or so?”

 

“oh, no need to worry about that. turns out my friend’s away in adelaide, so obviously she couldn’t come.”

 

“right, so do you need any seats at all?” and i looked suggestively at the guy with his gf on his lap, and on the other end where there were more people standing than there were seats.

 

“oh no, it’s ok now. my… friend’s…away….” she started to drag her words, in the voice where it highly suggests my language capability was not up to her standards.

 

“right. you booked for 12 isn’t it?”

 

“yes, it’s my birthday.”

 

“ah, i noticed. well, it seems you have 16 people here!”

 

“why, you’re right! they are having a birthday surprise for me!”

 

“just to let you know ma’am, on saturday nights we tend to be very fully booked. we would appreciate it if you could give us a more accurate number of guests next time. so that people wouldn’t be uncomfortable like them…” again, i looked at the 2 giggling couples on each end of the tables.

 

“oh, it’s my birthday and we don’t need to worry about them. just as long as we have enough seats.”

 

“the point is, we might not have enough seats if suddenly too much more people turns up.”

 

“well, it’s my birthday so i should have as many chairs as i want as a customer.”

 

dear lord. if this little miss important talks anymore, i would have told her to gtfo. fuck this job.

 

through out the night, we had 5 birthdays and 1 hen party. of which, hers was the SECOND lowest income, beaten only by the fact that the other table only had 5 people, yet the spent almost the same amount as her table did.

 

saturday night, when big tables = more bookings. sure, you might not be able to expect the right amount of people. we can forgive 2 people or thereabouts. but when the difference starts tipping towards 10 people (because she was calling more people to come as the night wore on), it becomes a problem for both the customers and the kitchen. not to mention that, there will not be enough seats in the house.

 

again, your birthday doesn’t necessarily means you get everything. we LOVE birthdays, we love to enjoy it with you too. but being a total ass and prick about it means you don’t get everything.

 

the table next to them had 19 people turn up instead of the projected 20, and that’s all right. often, we had people who projected huge amounts, and sometimes their friends fail them, and that’s fine. 

 

trying to stretch our patience and limited resources on a busy night, is not cool.

 

needless to say, she was an ass to any waitress that night, and while her friends doted on her and adored her, we were the least concerned with her happiness. and when she finally left, we cheered.

 

bah.

 

and good lord. in our kitchen, there are little racks to hold up salt, sauces and so on that the owners tapped in. while i was trying to make my chicken thingy, everything fell apart and all my chilli sauces, sushi rice vinegar and another sauce broke. glass aside, the smell is horrible. now i have to clean it up. grrr…..

 

bad day? nar… just another day in the clumsy life of panda’s 

technorati tags: customers, Craziness, bitches