Cingular Reps can't use

This started in February, my call center said they'd start deducting points in March, although, I believe so far most QAs and Team Leads haven't had the heart to enforce what just may THE stupidest rule yet.

The rule is (if you haven't heard), that CSRs cannot refer to other Cingular departments or representatives using the word "they." If we do, we get marked off for tone & demeanor (25 points off the call).

This rule flies in the face of all logic and sanity as well as good grammar and common sense.

"They" is the only 3rd-person plural pronoun we've got. In conversational english, it is also used as a gender-neutral 3rd-person pronoun -- even when a 3rd-person singular pronoun should be used. In other words, the agent at our tech support team may be male or female, I don't know yet which it is so I say: "let me call our tech support team to see if they can further assist us" (Now I say: "let me call our tech support team to see if th…um…to see if AN AGENT THERE can further assist us". This is merely a convoluted way of saying the exact same thing).

3rd person pronouns are not a means of making Cingular look fragmented. Nor have our customers been confused and wondered if we were referring to Sprint or Alltel agents (which is what Cingular seems to think using "they" implies…according to one poster I've seen). 3rd Person pronouns are a way of referring to people not involved in the current conversation. In any phone conversation there are only TWO people involved: the rep (who will refer to himself with the 1st person singular pronoun "I") and the customer (whom the rep will address with the 2nd person pronoun "You").

There are times when it makes sense to use the 1st person plural ("We") in reference to Cingular as a whole (of which the rep is part) -- e.g., "We will try to resolve your problem." There are other times when it makes sense to differentiate among the departments by using "they."

A recent example for me where it made sense to use "they" was when a Spanish-speaking customer was asking about his credit card payments. My call center is strictly prepaid, so I have no information about credit card payments. My response: "I'm sorry, I do not have access to that information. Let me call the agents in our payment center {i.e., vesta}. They have access to that information."

I actually had to refer to our agents in the payment center often in that conversation using "they." My intent was clear communication. Plus, it comes naturally as I've been using "they" for 30 years to refer to people not involved in the immediate conversation. English has been used like this for centuries.

Of course, Cingular shall now change the course of language history!

Nonsense!

This is just one more way for Cingular to ensure that customers are greeted by inexperienced reps, since using "they" means failing the call.

--William

not only am i blowing off a little steam here, but also i am curious, is mine the only call center with this inane rule? My call center is not Cingular-owned but is contracted.

i work in a cingular owned center , and we can't use they becuase it makes it seem as if we are not all one company. we should use we when referencing another department.

me too we have been upholing this "no they " bs for about 6 months now

i'd like to see the guy / gal who made this rule never use "they" to refer to other cingular agents or departments when dealing with customers for 8 hours straight per day 5 days per week.

sure he/she could do it a for an hour or two, but 8-hours per day, he/she is going to slip up sometimes.

rules like this, and there are many, make QA a Russian Roulette game.

I have survived 8 months of QA Roulette.

Cingular's QA scoring policies ensure customers will be handled by NEW representatives as by the time a rep gets experienced, he has probably failed QA too many months in a row and will be out the door.

Most reps here last 3-4 months because if you fail QA 3 months in a row you are out the door, even if you got 84.9999 three months in a row.

--William

a better response would have been "the Payment center will have that information"

too may reps are using the **royal** "they" and this is the end result.

I can see your point you did identify the department. however.(you know the rest)

the point cingular is trying to make is there are too many unexplained transfers. if the customer is lost during the transfer he or she knows what department to ask for and the royal **they** becomes a moot point.

Wow, how much monitoring and thought was put into this strategic customer-service-enhancing endeavor? We definitely don't have anything that trivial. I mean, make it something to strive for, but not punish for. It's like the Nickelodeon game That Thing You Do, say the wrong word and get messed up. Never heard of anything like this, it seems far fetched.

it boils down to actions and words. it is far more difficult to explain something to another when you are on the phone.especially when its a concept. so what may be clear as a bell to you may not to another.

as well the customer service rep is acting as an agent for the company. if you arer speaking for the company, the company can (and will) dictate how you can respond to given situations

its all part of the job

this all goes back to the dart board theory, its the same way they shoose the plans, the put up a bunch of ideas on the wall and blind fold themselfs and trhow darts at it.

No, it doesnt go back to the dart board theory. It goes back to the "Lets blame someone else for our error." theory. Even if it was another department that made the error, it reflects the company as a whole to the customer. That's why it was changed.

Cingular Reps can't use

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