today

90% of work was boringness as usual, though there were two extra bad ones.

One of them was not even my call, the girl next to me got it. Apparently this guy was a bastard. Now, I guess I think most people who call in are bastards, but this guy takes the cake. He started cursing at her, and saying misogynist things like saying she must be blonde, and, after he got her crying, saying "oh, I made you cry like a little girl? Well I'm glad! I want to make you cry more!" And he was insane and retarded, he'd ask for something and then not let her actually do it. I.E. he originally called in for a quote, but he wouldn't give her his zip code so she could find an agent in the area to give him the quote. He eventually asked her to get him a manager, but wouldn't let her put him on hold so she could get a manager.

She did finally hang up on him, but it was after a good long while of abuse. People kept telling her afterwards, "if I got the call..." and saying things they would've said or did to the man. Which... I dunno, it's great if you're able to think on your feet like that or aren't worried you'll get in trouble, but they were all unrealistic solutions. What I personally would've done was hung up on him, because they have told us we can hang up on people like that. It wouldn't teach him a lesson or keep him from calling back, but it would save me a little grief. I told her that, not in the "if it were me" format like everyone else, but just told her to remember we have the right to hang up on assholes like that.

My own problem is I get assholes not quite far enough over the line that I could hang up on them, which is a pity. As for all sorts of mean people who call in: I really wish I knew what your problem is, that you can just yell at someone for no reason and still feel good about yourselves so that I can go to your house and see if I can fix that problem with a sledgehammer to your face.

My bad call of the day was this crazy asshole. He called up wanting the corporate address. Now.... that address is useless, if I wanted to help this guy I would probably ask probing questions to find out dept he really needs, but I could tell right away he was a dipshit. So anyway I try to give it to him, but he gets angry that my voice is loud and hangs up on me. Which, btw, my voice IS loud in person. But I've taken thousands of calls, many of them with people who feel completely free criticizing my voice to me, and no one else has said that before, and some have even said I'm not loud enough. So I know this guy is just retarded and has his phone on too loud.

Well... lucky me: the 1/200 chance of getting someone the second time they call in happened, and I got him again. So I give him the address, and the name of our CEO which he asked for. I hope he'll go away but then he starts wanting to tell me about his situation. Which, it was claims related and I tried to get him to let me send a message to claims, but he wants to tell me this info personally because he already spoke with claims. Again, I don't act like I normally do, I BLUNTLY tell him (usually I'd say the same thing but with more finesse but I know this guy won't understand finesse) that telling me doesn't do anything, I'm not related in any way to his claim and the information he gives me personally will go nowhere. But he still keeps trying to tell me. His story is liberally peppered with, "You know what I'm sayin'" so finally every time he says it I start saying, "No, I told you, I DON'T know what you're saying, I have no training in claims, I would have no idea why they made a specific judgement, to find out you would actually need to speak to THEM." Finally, he busts out the word "fraud," which anyone who says fraud is immediately given to a supervisor and he's finally off my hands. What a great way to end the night.