that relay operators are so hated within the customer service community

[smileyeagle1021]

OK, I get it. You despise us, you hate us, you would like us all to die in a fire and go to hell. We take longer and we actually expect you to pay attention to our explanations about what is going on. I know this whole process is a huge inconvenience to you. But you know what, grow the fuck up and deal with it.
The people using relay calls have a metric fuckton more shit that they have to deal with in their lives than taking a little bit longer to take a phone call, so you can just shut up and take a little bit longer.
I understand that a lot of managers have call time expectations etc... but once again, bitch to your manager, not me, and most definitely not to your customer (which btw, if you bitch to me, your customer will have that information relayed to them).
As far as I'm concerned, the only reason that you would dislike relay calls is because you don't think deaf people deserve to have the same access to service as hearing people. If you want to find out what bad customer service is, arrange to team call with a relay operator for one shift. You will have CSRs play hot potato with your call in between departments, you will have CSRs pretend to have a bad connection and hang up on you, you will get sworn at by CSRs who don't like relay calls. And all of those are just the CSRs who are familiar with the process already... those who are unfamiliar will argue with you over how the call is supposed to work, will argue whether or not the deaf person even has a right to be calling, will question the very existance of deaf people and why if Heaven Forbid they actually exist they'd want to make a phone call to anyone other than a clinic for the deaf. Then after you actually get them to listen to your simple instructions, you will hear them bitching to their coworkers in the background during each pause while you are waiting for the caller to finish their response.
People on customerssuck have as much as said that they absolutely despise recieving relay calls, and at least one has told me (off the board) that if we weren't already friends they would most likely not have ever spoken with me because they really hated relay operators before I got the job and they saw the other side of the conversation. I've gotten to the point where I don't post about my relay job on CS because I know that in the heirarchy of things I'm just barely above telemarketers.
You know what, it's all complete and utter bullshit. There are two reasons to not like relay operators, laziness (not wanting to do your job) or bigotry (not thinking deaf people have the right to be calling the same as a hearing user does). Both reasons make someone a bad CSR and both really piss me off.

[draggar]

Just to be sure - relay operators are the people who are "inbetween" calls between deaf / mute people and who they're calling?

So, you took a job assissting handicapped people in an attempt at living a normal life?

Wow, and I thought the BS my wife gets over her service dog was bad. If they're that insensitive speak to their supervisor and then file a complaint with the ADA.

[smileyeagle1021]

Just to be sure - relay operators are the people who are "inbetween" calls between deaf / mute people and who they're calling?

So, you took a job assissting handicapped people in an attempt at living a normal life?

Wow, and I thought the BS my wife gets over her service dog was bad. If they're that insensitive speak to their supervisor and then file a complaint with the ADA.

yes, relay operators are the middle men so to speak (actually, because we do have to convert ASL sentax to English sentax we could be considered interpreters...)
And yes, that is exactly what the job is, trying to remove at least one small hurdle that a deaf/mute person has with communicating.
And as far as reporting it the the ADA, that is something I am not allowed to do. Perversely enough, me reporting ADA violations, or even FCC violations (we operate under FCC guidelines rather than ADA, why, I don't know) is a violating of both of the above's rules. For me to report the violations, I would have to violate confidentiality rules. The deaf/mute user may of course file a complaint, but sadly many of them don't know what their rights are.

[MaggieTheCat]

I always liked getting relay calls when I worked in the call center of the pet supply company. I think I only ever took 2 or 3 of them but they were always a nice change of pace for me (literally too, since they were slower paced and I felt like I could get a little breather between all the other calls.) Of course, I also studied ASL and deaf culture for a year before working in the call center so I knew what relay was before working there, and understood more about deaf people than most hearing people.

I had no idea relay operators were so hated. That's truly terrible. Smiley, if you ever want to talk about a call or a situation in confidentiality, you can always PM me. I was in school to be an interpreter so I know all about confidentiality rules and conduct.

[Boozy]

Smiley, could you briefly describe what happens during a relay call?

I don't understand why someone would try to avoid them. Are they really that much of a problem? I thought it would be just a matter of a slight pause between responses.

[smileyeagle1021]

Boozy, the slight pause between responses is basically the only difference a hearing user would notice.
How the relay system works, the deaf user connects to us using the relay software installed on either their computer or smart phone. They will enter the phone number they wish to dial, once the system has verified that they are a registered user it will forward the call to the next operator in line to take a call. Once the call is connected to us, we once again verify the user's registration status and verify that the phone number entered is valid. Once that is done we dial the number to the hearing user. If we are going through an automated menu we must record each level of the menu, disconnect, wait for the caller's response, then reconnect to go through the menu again and select their response. Once we get a hearing user on the line, we place the deaf user on "hold" (there is no such thing as hold really, just us telling them that we are not ready for them to type yet). This is the time when we explain relay to the hearing user.
The company I work for has very simple instructions for the hearing user.
1. Be aware that there is an interpreter, we are speaking directly for the deaf user.
2. Be aware we must type everything you say to the deaf user, please speak slowly and clearly.
3. Be aware that the person you are speaking to is the person on the other end of the relay connection, not the interpreter, speak as if the deaf person could hear you and we aren't there.
4. Be aware that there is a slight delay while waiting for the deaf user to type their response.
Once we get that explained we "connect" the caller (which is really just us telling the caller that it is now ok for them to start sending messages).
After that the call continues for the hearing user just as if it were a normal call with the slight delays and occassional interuption for clarification on spelling etc. On our end however, every time we send a message to the caller we must restart the arut timer (don't ask me why it's called that) for the amount of time they are allowed to take to respond to that message. Every time we hear a noise in the background we must announce as much to the deaf user. We must also inform the deaf user of any changes to the hearing user's tone of voice. On the deaf user's end they are frantically typing away and trying to keep up with the swarm of information we are sending them that hearing people take for granted.
For reasons I can't understand though, and most relay operators will agree that they've had similar experiences, a lot of CSRs, perhaps not the majority, but awefully damned close, absolutely despise getting a relay call and wish that relay operators would just all go away and stop bothering them.

[Red Panda]

I know relay calls have been used as part of pranks in the past. Is that a prevelant problem that it could affect the attitudes of workers or are they just upset because the call is differant and takes longer?

[crashhelmet]

I could say I hate the calls, but not the operators. The operators probably hate me. Every time I've gotten one of these calls, I had been working in some sort of technical support position. It can be difficult to handle the calls sometimes through the third party system. Other times, I forget that they have to type back everything I say, and I might be trying to explain to them what I'm after in hopes that they can type it to be easier understood. Like I'm trying to work with them instead of through them.

CH

[MaggieTheCat]

I remember the calls taking significantly longer than standard calls. Not just twice or even three times as long. The two relay calls that I can remember were at least half an hour each (average call times in my call center were 5-7 minutes.) I know one of the calls was a more involved call anyway, the caller was asking about a specific product and I had to look up some detailed information about it. On top of that, deaf people do not necessarily understand things the same way hearing people do, so it may take even more time to explain something 2 or 3 different ways so the deaf person can understand it. Also, the hearing person has to say a specific word or phrase when they are done speaking so the relay operator knows that they are done and that the deaf person can reply. I believe the phrase was "go ahead." Kind of like saying "over" when you're talking on a walky talky. So, if I wanted to ask the deaf person for their order number, I'd have to say, "May I have your order number, please? Go ahead." If a hearing person has never taken a relay call before, that can be kind of hard to remember to do (you wouldn't think it would be, but I remember during my first relay call, the relay operator had to remind me several times, each after a several second or even minute delay, to say "go ahead.")

My call center monitored call times but didn't really discipline agents for having longer call times so it didn't matter anyway, but I guess if a call center was really strict about call times, it could be a problem for an agent. But, like Smiley said, that's something that managers and service observers should take into consideration.

[jackfaire]

Wow man Smiley I am sorry. That sucks. I am a CSR and I treat relays with the utmost respect. Their job is difficult enough as it is.

I have never ever been yelled at for a relay call taking long even in the cruddiest call center I have worked in, the place was my own personal hell.

Usually relay calls are the easiest calls I have because even if the customer is pissed off usually that doesn't come across in tone so I can relax and do my job with less stress.

Smiley I salute you

[smileyeagle1021]

Maggie, one thing I would like to point out is that many companies, with the move towards software based systems rather than hardware based systems, are now able to do away with the use of "go ahead". That was from older systems that had line length restrictions on messages and a deaf user would need the go ahead to know whether or not that was the end of the line or end of the message... now that everything can be sent in one continuous message the phrase is no longer necassary. In all honesty, I don't think it ever was necassary, relay operators can usually tell when the hearing user has finished, asking the hearing user to add "go ahead" always was a bit redundant... but like I said, a lot of companies are moving away from using it.

[Boozy]

On top of that, deaf people do not necessarily understand things the same way hearing people do, so it may take even more time to explain something 2 or 3 different ways so the deaf person can understand it.

I think that's probably because its not just deaf people who use relay calls. I know people with severe speech impediments will also use them. Sometimes speech impediments are due to brain damage or other neurological conditions that affect cognitive skills.

It can be hard to serve customers with special needs. Perhaps its not that the CSRs "hate" relay calls, but feel unequipped to deal with them, although that's no excuse for them to offer bad service by refusing the calls or transferring them.

[Fryk]

Smiley, could you please explain the difference between ASL and American syntax? This stuff is fascinating to me.

[freeatlast]

When I worked in the Call Center from Hell, we were expected to limit our calls to 2 minutes 15 seconds average. Relay calls really played hell with our ATT and management would make no allowance for those calls. I also had a few calls where the relay operator was really slow and would ask me to repeat my answers 3 or 4 times before they could relay them to their caller. I always made a point to speak a little slower and clearer than ususal to make it easier for the operator, but there were a few that I dealt with who were really snippy with me when they could not keep up. Also, since this was a call center for a mail order music club, I always found it odd that we would get calls from deaf people who had ordered music

[anakhouri]

Huh, I never had a problem with relay calls, they're the same as any other call to me. I don't work in IT or anything so maybe it is more frustrating if you need long explanations or technical stuff, but I don't see why anyone else would think they were a problem.