The first 5 weeks is basically just an overview of company policies and brief summary of handling customer inquiries. The trainers appear to be very likable people who love their jobs. They basically promise that angry customers are exceptionally rare so don’t stress. After 5 weeks, maybe for the first week or two you are eased in to taking calls from customers, but after that it feels like you are expected to know how to handle all sorts of inquiries, mostly from angry customers because they were given inaccurate information on pricing, promotions, or discounts by a 3rd party. You are pushed by your immediate management team to “use your resources” to find answers to the customer’s questions, and when you get stuck (not if, but when) and you reach out for support, you are repeatedly asked if you used your resources even though you know you haven’t been able to find the answers you were looking for despite, yes, having checked your resources multiple times.
Occasionally you might get some time off of the phones for some VP meet and greets or higher management staff meetings where it’s pretty much rah rah rah Verizon is so great, we love it here so much, you’re going places, kid! When all you can feel is the dread of the next customer who will scream at you or chew you out for someone else’s mistake. And even after you’ve been told by your management there’s nothing else you can do for the customer, not to issue them any credits, or any discounts, or anything else that might actually help them not want to quit VZ service, you aren’t allowed to hang up the phone as they continue to yell at, scold, and lecture you about what a terrible company you work for. You have to wait until the customer finally asks for a supervisor which is almost inevitable, unless you are meticulous with your words and so gifted at manipulation it’s concerning, but then and only then, once you have wasted anywhere between 1-3 hours with no real solution for the customer and feeling like a complete failure at your job, you can transfer them to a supervisor, as soon as one picks up the line, that is, and you are finally done with the call.
You can expect to be coached on your lack of effort to become best buddies with the customer and all of your other concerning “behaviors” for any one of these interactions in your next 1x1 with your supervisor.
