Helpline Meltdown
June 20, 2022 – Houston, Texas, USA
The weekend was tough for Monica Valentine. She spent most of it melting outside. Her boyfriend, now ex-boyfriend, had the idea to attend a music festival in a giant parking lot. There was not shade and nowhere to fill up water bottles.
Monica and Jeff, her ex-boyfriend, argued over water and food. Monica told Jeff he should not be so clueless about the necessities of life. Jeff told Monica he was tired of her complaining and she should be more spontaneous.
Arguing led to fighting. Jeff pointed out more of Monica’s flaws and then concluded they should see other people.
Monica shouted, “I’ll bet you’re already cheating on me!” She noticed the way he hid sketchy texts from her and claimed they were no big deal. When he did not deny the cheating accusation, she knew it was true.
Monica took an Uber home from the music festival so she would not have to spend another minute baking in the sun and listening to Jeff. She begged the Uber driver to crank the AC while she wept in the backseat. She ran from the street and took the stairs instead of the elevator up to her apartment.
After closing her door behind her, Monica closed all the blinds and lowered the setpoint temperature for the air conditioner. She retreated to her room with a box of ice cream bars and laid on her bed listening to breakup music.
She was in the same place on Monday morning. When she bought them, she intended the ice cream bars to last a week. Now they were gone and so were the popsicles from the same shelf in the freezer.
Monica watched her ceiling fan spin as she contemplated taking a shower. She decided she did not want to move and fell in and out of a sleep state until early afternoon. The alarm on her phone rang to remind her that her work shift began in fifteen minutes.
Monica imagined what would happen if she blew off her shift. She was already on thin ice for taking too many breaks and ending shifts early. She trudged to her kitchen table and retrieved her laptop. Reclined on her bed in her dark room, she logged into her employer’s tracking and call assignment system.
Monica began her job at Reliance Travel Insurance six months earlier. She could do it from anywhere with an internet connection. Customers with issues about their claims called in and Monica decided whether their cases should be reviewed or if they were missing information. She also did a lot of apologizing when the company decided it was not going to pay more money.
Monica put on her headphones and microphone. She glanced half-heartedly at her laptop screen as the first waiting caller was routed to her. It was someone from Miami.
“This is Monica. How can I help you?”
“Finally. I’ve been on hold for over an hour. Am I talking to a real person?”
“Yes. This is Monica.”
“Okay, I filed a claim because my trip got disrupted by a flood. I got stuck with an extra $1200 on my hotel bill but your company only sent me a check for $300.”
“Let me check your file.”
Monica usually answered calls while sitting upright at her kitchen table. Using her mouse to click on a file was easy, but lying there on her bed, she had not motivation to even move a finger.
“On second thought, why don’t you explain to me exactly what happened to you.”
The man from Miami sounded happy to recount the story of flooding in the streets and not being able to reach the airport while he was on vacation. He added unnecessary details about his hotel room and how rainwater leaked through the sliding glass door.
Monica barely listened as she watched her ceiling fan spin. Occasionally she added an “uh huh” or “I’m sorry.” She knew how this call was supposed to end. She was supposed to say there was nothing she could do, and the company had followed all its policies. They were policies filled with lawyer-speak and meant to pay out as little as possible.
Monica’s mind drifted to Jeff. All the time she spent with him now felt wasted. It seemed fun at the time, but what did she have to show for it? What did she have to show for any of her life? She was sick of her one room apartment. She was sick of her job and getting yelled at by callers for policies she did not control. Hanging out with Jeff and their group of friends had kind of made life worthwhile, but now that was gone.
“Young lady, are you listening?”
The caller from Miami snapped Monica’s attention back to their one-sided conversation. “Yeah, I’m here,” she answered.
“Then what can you do about my claim? Why aren’t you paying for the whole hotel bill?”
Monica was about to repeat her worn out phrases about policy, but they seemed so meaningless. Her despair instantly changed to rage. She wanted to burn it all down – Jeff, her job, her life.
“You know what,” Monica said in a sickly-sweet voice, “you do deserve more money. But this is above what I can help with. I’m going to do something I’ve never done before. I’ll give you the company president’s personal number. I want you to call and explain everything to him. He can help. He can approve anything you ask for.”
“The company president? Really? You don’t think he’ll be too busy to talk about one case?”
“No. This should be his top priority.”
“Can you redirect me to his phone?”
“Our system doesn’t work that way. You’ll have to call his number directly. Are you ready for it?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
Monica recited Jeff’s mobile number. “Be sure to ask for Jeff. You can tell him Monica sent you. And don’t take no for an answer. You deserve all your money and Jeff makes the rules.”
“Okay. Well thank you!”
“And if he doesn’t answer, make sure to leave a detailed voicemail. The more information, the more likely he is to call back.”
“I appreciate your help.”
“My pleasure.” Without thinking, Monica repeated the standard message used at the end of every call, urging the customer to say on the line and answer a simple survey.
When the Miami caller was disconnected, Monica laughed out loud. She had never felt so satisfied after a call. It was the perfect way to spend her last days on the job. She got revenge on Jeff while providing callers with a little bit of hope. If they redialed the Reliance Insurance number, some other operator could break the bad news about policies and not getting more money.
The computer system connected Monica with the next caller in the queue. She half-listened for a few minutes and then explained how their problem was unusual and deserved to go right to the top. She recited Jeff’s number and pleaded with the caller to be persistent.
“Leave a long message and keep calling back if he doesn’t answer. Jeff loves specifics. The more information you give him, the more willing he’ll be to raise your payout.”
With each new caller, Monica grew more enthusiastic. She promised Jeff would help as soon as they reached him. Then she sent them off to complete their satisfaction survey before saying goodbye.
Across town, Jeff was busy flirting with a coworker when the first mystery call arrived. He did not recognize the number, but he recognized the 305 Area Code as coming from Miami. He knew someone in Miami and figured they must have switched phones or phone companies.
“Hello?”
“I’m looking for Jeff.”
“This is him.”
“I’m sure you’re busy, but Monica said you were the only one who could help.”
Before Jeff could stop him, the caller recited what happened with his insurance claim and how his hotel room had almost flooded. Jeff tried to interrupt, but the caller plowed straight through his story.
“I think you’ve got the wrong number. I can’t help you.”
“You’re the president of the company. You need to take responsibility.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Jeff hung up while the Miami caller yelled about getting ripped off and how he would take Jeff to court.
Calls came in for the rest of the day. Jeff made the mistake of answering only one more. He let the rest go to voicemail. People left angry messages about their ruined vacations and unsatisfactory payments. They demanded Jeff fix the problem.
Jeff was not the sharpest bend in the road, so it took him a few hours to realize the mystery calls had something to do with Monica’s work. He eventually realized she was sending irate callers to him on purpose. Over the next week, it was obvious when Monica was on a shift because Jeff’s phone rang nonstop. When he started getting long, angry text messages about insurance, he figured Monica was telling people to either call or text him.
Jeff thought about blocking numbers but since they came in randomly from all over the country, he did not know where to start. He could not block everyone. The constant pinging by his phone grew so annoying that he fled to a phone store and changed his number. Letting all his contacts know about the change was a gigantic hassle, but he had no other choice. He had to reboot his life.
No one told Monica about Jeff’s number change. She continued handing out the old number and enjoying her job like never before. She no longer looked up customer records or stared at her computer screen. She simply listened sympathetically to customer stories and blamed problems on Jeff – the company president – and his policies.
Monica did not expect to continue for long. The company would find out what she was doing and she would get a call from her supervisor explaining she was terminated. Every customer call was supposed to be recorded for quality assurance. Surely someone was reviewing Monica’s conversations. And after being ignored by Jeff, some of her callers were bound to call back to the company and tell them about the girl giving out the president’s number.
Monica was looking forward to being fired. She would move on with her life and do something different. She might get a job working with her hands or something that felt like she was truly helping people. When the firing call came, she would show no regrets. She would laugh at her supervisor and rage about all the things wrong with company policies.
Monica waited, day after day, but the supervisor call never arrived. Although the company threatened to review recorded calls for quality, in reality they were ignored. And while plenty of customers called back to report her giving out Jeff’s number, the callers could not quite remember her name. Was it Mary or maybe Mallory? Monica’s coworkers had no interest in reporting on each other. They ignored customer complaints about being sent on a wild goose chase to contact President Jeff.
Before customers ever had a chance to call Jeff’s number and grow disillusioned, they were automatically routed to a customer service survey. Immediately after speaking with Monica, they were impressed by her compassion. They had finally reached someone who cared and was willing to break the rules for them. On a scale of one to ten, Monica was a ten. Monica’s average rating soared. When compared to the other call operators, she went from the bottom of the pack to the top – by a wide margin.
The reprimand call from Monica’s supervisor did not show up, but one afternoon Monica did get an unexpected call from company headquarters. The man on the other end of the line introduced himself as Philip Wagner. “I’m president of the company.”
Monica gulped.
“We’ve never met,” continued Philip, “but I like to personally call and thank our employees who are doing exceptional work. I’ve been shown your customer ratings and they’ve skyrocketed over the past few weeks. Very well done.”
Monica automatically said, “Thank you.”
“How about sharing with me what you did to make such a big difference.”
“Well . . . uh.”
“Go on. You don’t need to be modest.”
Monica hesitated as she remembered her plan to burn down her life and start again. Her confidence grew as she said, “Before I tell you my secret, I guess I have two questions for you, Mr. Wagner. First, are you truly interested in what customers want to hear from us? And second, are you calling from your personal phone number? Because if you are, I need to write it down.”
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