"Uncommon" Telephone Service
(This story was not happened in a call center company, but it was share by a call center consultant ; this was related by Pat Routledge of Winnepeg, Ontario, about an unusual telephone service call he handled while living in England) It is common practice in England for the telephone company to signal a telephone subscriber [ring the phone] by applying 90 volts between one side of the two wire circuit and ground (called "earth" in England). When the subscriber answers the phone, the phone switches to the two wire circuit for the conversation. This particular subscriber, an elderly lady with several pets, called to say that her telephone failed to ring when her friends called and that on the few occasions when it did manage to ring her dog always barked first. Torn between curiosity to see this psychic dog and a realization that standard service techniques might not suffice in this case, Pat proceeded to the scene. Climbing a nearby telephone pole and hooking in his test set, he dialed the subscriber's house. The phone didn't ring. He tried again. The dog barked loudly, followed by a ringing telephone. Climbing down from the pole, Pat found: a. Dog was tied to the telephone system's ground post via an iron chain and collar b. Dog was receiving 90 volts of signalling current c. After several jolts, the dog was urinating on ground and barking d. Wet ground now conducted -- and the phone rang. Labels: call center, call center agent, call center agent stories |
