Call Center Momma
If you’ve read Not That Kind of Girl, you know it takes place in a beach town north of Seattle where the protagonist, Julia, works in a newspaper call center. What you may not know is that I worked in a newspaper call center for thirteen years, nine as a manager. I included some real-life kooky customer stories in the book, like the one about “Lola,” who often called to tell us what she was doing, like “sitting, naked as a jaybird on a hotel bed clipping my toenails.” No connection to a newspaper whatsoever. Another time, she proclaimed she was sitting at a bus stop smoking a doobie, watching people go by and cussing them out if they looked at her.
I kid you not. We had some callers that made us go, “WTF?”
On holidays, lonely people called in, mostly wanting to reminisce about the long-gone days when their children came around for Thanksgiving dinner or a Fourth of July picnic. If they didn’t have their newspaper, it left them with nothing to occupy their minds so they could forget about their loneliness for an hour or so. Usually, the Customer Service Reps would let them talk and insert an “uh-huh” and “I can understand” when they could get a word in.
Random people called to ask about the ferry schedule. “What are the departure times for the Bainbridge Island Ferry on Saturday morning?” Some called to ask what temperature to cook their brisket or about the weather forecast. Maybe they thought that as a newspaper call center, our employees should know everything under the sun. I coached them to find the information for the customer if there weren’t too many calls on hold. Part of our job was to leave a good impression. As I say in the book, we were like the public relations department without the public relations pay.
Some customers were dirtbags. We got yelled at. We even got threatened (“I’m gonna come down there and blow your head off!)—all over a missing or wet newspaper, as if the Customer Service Rep was personally at fault for those things.
Customer Service Reps are an easy target. People on the phone are likelier to scream at whoever’s on the other end. Nowadays, it’s the same on social media. When you’re not face-to-face with someone, you feel emboldened to be a schmuck.
I felt like the call center momma when my employees got rattled by a customer. Some even cried after a tough call. My heart went out to them, and I did my best to calm their nerves.
Here’s to all the call center reps, the servers, the bus drivers, the front desk greeters, the grocery store cashiers…anyone with a public-facing job—I feel you. Don’t let the nasties ruffle your feathers. It says a lot more about them than about you. Finish the transaction with your head held high. YOU are the better person in this scenario. YOU deserve thanks for putting up with every kind of person (nice, nasty and plain ole weird) and doing it with class. Customer service is hard! This call center momma applauds and appreciates you.
And to the NASTIES: Abigail Van Buren once said, “The best index to a person’s character is (a) how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and (b) how he treats people who can’t fight back.”
And as bumper stickers everywhere say, “Mean People Suck.”
I NEED YOUR HELP, POR FAVOR
Tell me what you thought about the book, and if you would kindly do me a favor, post your review on every website you can think of, such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, TikTok, Instagram, your personal Facebook page, etc. Your vote of confidence in Not That Kind of Call Girl will go a long way in helping to promote the book. ¡Muchas gracias!
PS: Knowing that many of Julia’s experiences were my own, you might wonder how my son turned out. Well, as Mary Poppins might say, he’s practically perfect in every way. I’m not biased or anything!
Author Nova García hails from Laredo, Texas. Her Mexican-American family is a source of great pride. Not That Kind of Call Girl is her first book in the women’s fiction genre.
Nova writes to dispel Latino stereotypes and recognize women for the everyday miracles they make possible with determination, smarts and a generous helping of kick-a** attitude. She knows postpartum depression first-hand and wants women around the world to know they’re not alone.