78. Okey Dockey
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Within the last 6 months, a new company came to the area, and they are primarily a west coast company. Essentially my job is to process the company’s bills and take calls from customers. Since I am taking calls, I am subject to the Quality Assurance reviews on my calls and can get a bonus depending on how well I do.
All month I have been doing fantastic on the reviews to get max bonus when my final QA review comes through. They marked me down significantly because I used the word “okey dokey,” which is relatively common in my area. They claimed that it was “jargon or slang” and that I should avoid those words.
Now, I generally change how I speak depending on the call in order to sound nicer towards customers, and in this call’s instance, I used it because I was talking to a sweet older woman who even complimented me for using the word.
After disputing it and getting the dispute denied, I instantly changed how I talked on the phone to the highest standard of professionalism I could. Now, fun fact, when someone is upset regarding an issue, speaking like you’re in a meeting with the president not only confuses them but angers them as well.
This week alone, I have made people cry, scream, and more just by talking as properly and “professionally” as I possibly could. I have also had a handful of complaints for seeming “cold.”
The quality department manager called me in for a meeting yesterday and said that I should tone down how I talk and change how I talk depending on the circumstances of the call, specifically telling me to, “use simple, friendly language more suitable for the average caller.” They then played a call where the agent used multiple “slang” words to calm the customer down as a perfect example of how a call should be handled.
The words from this agent included, “Yep,” “Alrighty,” “No problemo.” I then brought out a copy of my quality report stating that not only did I get marked down for doing exactly what they are now claiming is perfectly fine, but that it was very clear that they were marking me down simply to avoid paying a full bonus.
I took what they said and my report to the operations director today, who then had to go back and review all of the qualities monitors on me. They had to write me a check for the missing bonus. The quality manager averts her eyes every time I pass her now.
