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Vitae
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31# |
Status:
From:
Registered:
05/22/2006
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(Date Posted:09/15/2006 11:07 AM)
Reply to : ihatetanya
Although I am curious if that one tty user (and we all know who I am referring to) still calls those churches asking stupid questions followed withyes or no qq ga...he is a damn fool
OH DEAR GOD I know who you're talking about. I hate that guy HELLO PLEASE GIVE ME THE NAMES AND NUMBERS OF ALL THE DEAF BLACK SINGLE WOMEN IN YOUR CHURCH hufdghdhkjfghkjdfghkjdgflk
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dawndavenport
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32# |
Rank:none
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Score:0
Posts:13
From:
Registered:
11/09/2006
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(Date Posted:11/09/2006 10:05 AM)
One thing here that upsets me though is the fact that even though we do our best for the deaf, even though we type as many kind words as we are allowed to at the beginning and end of each call, even though most of us actually thought that this job was about helping the deaf community enjoy their lives rather than ordering scams, why are we still assumed to be as bigoted as the rest of our culture. I know that we arent perfect but I take insult to the idea that we are always as bad as some dude at a McDonalds who has never met a deaf person ever and calls them a retard. Some of us break rules to help you, we alert you to scams or beg store owners to speak with you by breaking with protocol, these risks we take are for you. We get fired for that kind of shit, but we do it because we care.
As for oppression in employment, this one is tricky because lots of others get this, in ways comparable to the deaf. The people in most callcenters are women, therefore even though relay has to have an equal amount of weapon and men, its a feminized space, which adds a layer of oppression because feminized working enviorments have lower wages. Many of us are gay and/or black and/or in a wheelchair and/or the list goes on! Yes the deaf community are marginalized at work, but so are the majority of the people taking their calls, and that sucks because there are serious consequences for our careers as well. I know that the asl is difficult, when hearing businesses don't understand the asl heavy english and call that caller a retard I step out of my role to play advocate and say hey, asl is this person's first language, be patient, how would you feel if you had to do your banking in french?
Finally I want to say here that just because a bunch of my callers are mean to me, I still hold out for the chance that I get a nice person. And if they're cruel i make up excuses up for them because i don't WANT to think they're mean, its just this experience we have that feels a little too common [after all, other discriminated groups don't behave so meanly across the board] and it feels like it could be systemic.
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"Of course we all know that Massachutsetts is just an anagram for ?the ass sac smut? '
- Stephen Colbert
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smoothloperator
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33# |
Rank:none
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Score:0
Posts:224
From:
Registered:
10/27/2006
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(Date Posted:11/09/2006 11:29 AM)
Dawn...I totally hear ya! I swear all it takes is ONE person to say a genuine thank you to make my day! It's surprising how good it makes you feel when 1 person out of the 100 you've talked to takes the time to say or type out a thank you or a good job or something. Probably because of the 99 that don't?
It's those little things that make the job actually feel like it's STILL worth doing.
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Verizon = Devil
Relay needs REFORM NOW!
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leavemealone
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34# |
Status:
From:
Registered:
04/28/2006
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(Date Posted:11/09/2006 11:38 AM)
Ahhh...good word "systematic".
I do get the feeling sometimes that many deaf, especially "big D", are taught to treat us like crap because we're hearing. I can't help but see the patterns of what I get berated for.
If no one answers, I'm stupid.
If I ask them to clairfy because their asl makes no sense, I'm stupid.
If there's no live rep, I'm stupid.
If someone hangs up on them, *I* totally did it, and I'm also stupid.
If a business won't take relay calls, I'm stupid.
If they ask me questions I'm not allowed to answer and ask if they want customer service, I'm stupid (and then I'll bet cust svc is stupid too).
Well send me a short bus, I'm stupid.
What I want to know is this: Do deafies walk into a restaurant and say "you give me food NOW" and if its not exactly what they ordered (or maybe it is) then do they ask to have the waiter fired and call them stupid? Hmmm...doubt it.
Big D's wanting to be superior is half the problem, the other half is the annonimity of relay. They don't know us from their own ass and they'll never have to meet us in person. They can call us whatever they want and we're not allowed to call them retarded back. They know that. The worst that can happen is a little script from a sup saying to knock it off. All they have to do is disconnect and start over, big deal. Deafies can take all their frustrations out on us because we're not right in front of them, and I think they love that.
My favorite patterns of rudeness by deaf relay users:
"redail til pick NOW"
"call back they talk me make talk me opr"
"NO u wait sec (hold for 7 minutes)"
"why u hang up stupid no hang up u stupid!" (oh i LOVE that. HEY! THEY hung up on you, not ME)
"i talk ur boss now u fire" (oh yeah...because ur mom won't answer ur call...oh yeah fire me)
"u make pick up I want talk NOW" (ohhh, but they don't want to talk to YOU)
"u waste my time!"
and my favorite...
"why no person live u get NOW u lie me u fuck bitch live person NOW!"
Oh yeah, some real charmers out there. I've read some deaf websites and lemme tell you all, there are some deafies who DO teach that hearing people will take advantage of them if given a chance, and therefore they are on the defensive at ALL times dealing with anyone hearing. They're pretty paranoid about it.
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Hello gudday do u have (clean running autos bought for high prices!) for sales qq gaga
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speedial 1
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35# |
Rank:none
Status:
Score:0
Posts:174
From:
Registered:
07/11/2006
Time spent:
7248 hours
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(Date Posted:11/09/2006 6:25 PM)
Some really keen observations here. I agree there are a ton of Deaf who take advantage of the fact you can't "retaliate" . It is being a bully at it's worst! In additon it is interesting that the most frequent derogatory word you all convey that Deaf use is " stupid". It caught my eye because that is the word for how many Deaf see themselves- so they lay it on you- what psycologists would do with that one. Because they don't want to assign it to themselves ( I bow out on this one- I never call anyone "stupid") they lay it on you. Somehow they think that if they call you stupid-it will make them seem smarter, by comparison. Now that it was brought up, I can say that does happen in other then phone situations with many Deaf, as well. The world is "stupid" I am smart, is the suggestion.
What I don't really understand is why the majority of your calls are the poorly educated, ill mannered, militant Deaf. It makes me wonder where are us regular deaf and other users-- how odd. I think many of the younger Deaf are to blame for most of the bull. The old folks are more tied to deaf history. They have heard what it was like before TTY's when to socialize you just "popped" over to someone's home, because there was no way to call about a visit. It was socially acceptable and remnents of this type of socializing remain. Then there were the TTY's and that really opened things up. Now, with relay in its various forms, there is a much greater "leveling" effect. I think the "me" philosophy of the 60's has not only caught up with Deaf but taken to an extreme.
I come from a family with a wide variety of disabilities and not one of us displays this behavior. In addition, it was very interesting to me to read that many RO's are people with various physical limitations or belong to other minorities and have felt the sting of prejudice. I have found most people in a minority situation to be much more inclusive then in "the majority". Although the deaf are, by and large, that way many Deaf are not. I also don't get it. Fortunately, not all Deaf fall into that catagory- but it seems like all the ones that do are making the bulk of calls. I really feel badly knowing that. It makes me uneasy to hear of what you have to put up with. It does not make for a good working environment and that is so stressful. I really appreciate those of you who understand a bit of what being deaf is- and those who don't that's ok because you don't have to understand to do your job (not a put down). I have said this before but it bears repeating- I am very glad you are there and I am very grateful to you for doing what you can to anticipate and help me and others. If deaf only knew how hard many of you work ,how much you have to put up with and how many you have spared from scammers and other predators, maybe they would get their their fingers out of their noses and act properly.
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dawndavenport
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36# |
Rank:none
Status:
Score:0
Posts:13
From:
Registered:
11/09/2006
Time spent:
0 hours
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(Date Posted:11/09/2006 7:17 PM)
Thanks, all I can say Speedial is that I would love to sign up to handle all of your calls. It isn't that EVERY caller behaves badly, but that there are enough who do to make us wonder if something isnt going on at a greater level, and there are enough callers like this to give us anxiety about our job security, because its likely that they will complain about us in 2 weeks and we won't be able to go back and point out to a supervisor that we were just following protocol... I have to echo as well the fact that if you know a good operator, do give them a commendation, because it is thankless on the side of management.
Seeing that so many people who call have ASL english issues, I understand that lots of stuff gets lost in translation, which can be frustrating. I live in a French speaking environment, so having to conduct business in my second language is definitely not new to me. If something isn't going as I want it to, I usually step back to ask if this is an issue of translation because I didn't speak clearly enough to make my request understood, but I do notice that callers often don't do this, they go ahead and blame it on the business or the operator and they know English well enough to swear at them. Whats frustrating about this is the fact that I take pains to explain to the voice party that they need to be patient because ASL is the callers first language, but then the caller yells at them.
Finally, yes, its interesting to think about the way your operator might be marginalized as well, especially because yes, we do take bigoted calls as well that affect us personally and theres nothing we can do about it. Immigrants relay conversations about how immigrants are evil. Queers take calls about how homos are going to hell. Its not a one sided relationship in which all hearing people are guilty and all deaf people are innocent in terms of oppression...
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"Of course we all know that Massachutsetts is just an anagram for ?the ass sac smut? '
- Stephen Colbert
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Vitae
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37# |
Status:
From:
Registered:
05/22/2006
Time spent:
0 hours
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(Date Posted:11/10/2006 12:26 AM)
Reply to : dawndavenport
Thanks, all I can say Speedial is that I would love to sign up to handle all of your calls. It isn't that EVERY caller behaves badly, but that there are enough who do to make us wonder if something isnt going on at a greater level, and there are enough callers like this to give us anxiety about our job security, because its likely that they will complain about us in 2 weeks and we won't be able to go back and point out to a supervisor that we were just following protocol... I have to echo as well the fact that if you know a good operator, do give them a commendation, because it is thankless on the side of management.Seeing that so many people who call have ASL english issues, I understand that lots of stuff gets lost in translation, which can be frustrating. I live in a French speaking environment, so having to conduct business in my second language is definitely not new to me.
I've gotten so desensitized that I hardly remember the "bad" calls. Entitlement deaf users attitudes I just brush aside, because for every 100 mean deaf call I process there is 2 or 3 that are actually a pleasure to deal with. Every so often I get that rare user who thanks me, either voice or text, and that makes me forget about the rest of the crud I go through. I guess growing up being verbally abused for being obese kinda desensitizes you to any abuse down the line. Also, venting here helps too. It helps get it off my chest to others who understand.
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