Critical and Analytical Listening

masteringhouse said:
Yep, the students are aware of the thread and have been keeping an eye on it.
Click to expand...
Ah, OK. in that case I hope you don't mind if I say something to them directly for just a sec?

Hey gang in Tom V's class: I just thought that you should know that while Mr. V. is a great guy and a very smart and good engineer, there is one thing you should know...

You can't believe a word he says about me. It's NOT true, I tell ya!

;):D


Great job on the mastering project, guys. Have a great holiday! :)

G.
 
I have to say this is a brilliant thread, and I'm enjoying it immensely.

SouthSIDE Glen said:
It's often VERY difficult to explore the "hows" . Back when I was put in charge of the shit slide team at FTD in the early 90s, I was allowed to hand-select a team of the very best troubleshooters we had in our tech support department; the very best of the crop. One of the first projects I tasked them with was to start describing (on paper) some of the mental techniques they used to troubleshoot problems when providing phone support to end users. The idea was that we'd put these together into a comprehensive course on troubleshooting techniques that we could teach to increase the overall quality of support in the whole department. I already had ideas of my own as to how many of these techniques worked, but I obviously wanted to get ideas from these guys as well.
Click to expand...

At the risk of taking an old thread off-topic, I'd like to share a similar experience from my tech support days, if I may. I worked at AOL in its heyday, around 1997. While there, I developed a technique - subconsciously at first, without realizing it was in fact a technique - to get the caller to calm down, listen (there it is - listening!), and follow instructions. With a 6 1/2 minute average call time to maintain, it was important to eliminate the panicky drivel and get straight to work on the problem. What I did was adopt a manner of speaking that was almost hypnotic in its reassuring tone. I have to admit I got a secret thrill from the results where female callers were concerned, as I typically had them purring like a kitten within a few seconds of taking the call. :D

Jim
 
diggy_dude said:
I have to admit I got a secret thrill from the results where female callers were concerned, as I typically had them purring like a kitten within a few seconds of taking the call. :D
Click to expand...
There's a definite kick to becoming the "phone hero" to females on the other end who feel obliged afterwards.

Before the FTD gig, I worked for a while for the State of Illinois. One of my earliest jobs was as computer operator onthe 2nd shift, back in the days when that meant running a climate-controlled room with raised floor and all that containing mainframes and mini-computers the size of compact cars and hard drives the size of washing machines.

Anyway, one of the many main applications of this particular installation was to provide computer networking and database access to most of the suburban police and county sheriff departments in the Chicago area. As such, I fielded a lot of support calls from the female dispatchers at the suburban departments. There was one particular department that had a couple of young ladies working evening dispatch there at the time that used to make up fake problems to call in just so they could both get on the line and flirt on the phone in-between their radio calls. I gotta say it helped get through the 3:30 - 11:30 shift in an office building that was empty except for me after 5pm.

Your tax dollars at work.

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
... back in the days when that meant running a climate-controlled room with raised floor and all that containing mainframes and mini-computers the size of compact cars and hard drives the size of washing machines.
Click to expand...

Imagine having the same gig on a guided missle cruiser in the Pacific Ocean. And instead of schmoozing young female dispatchers, imagine showboating for a bunch of old fogeys from the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Your tax dollars at work indeed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top