Thought this was weird..

***LittleMissSummer*** · October 15th, 2011, 08:47 PM

Was wondering if others thought the same.

We are considering getting foxtel put back on after not having it for 2 years. I didn't realise but i have a debt owing, anyways the foxtel rep called the call centre to help me sort things out and i spoke to a gentleman called jeremiah and he asked my name and i said "jacinta" and he said "may i call you jacinta?" i was like "umm yeah thats fine" what else would he call me? he just asked my name. Anyways so i shrugged it off and he couldn't help me so he transfered me to a guy called patrick and he asked my name and again i said "jacinta" and again i was asked if he could call me that. I don't understand what else would they call you other than your name??

Is it just me who thinks its odd or is it the new way of speaking on the phone

**MrsFabuloso** · October 15th, 2011, 08:52 PM

Maybe they encounter people who want to be called Mr/Mrs/Miss.....(whatever) despite saying their names are Fred or Jane, kwim?

***LittleMissSummer*** · October 15th, 2011, 08:53 PM

Yeah i s'pose. Still think its weird!

**Maruschke** · October 15th, 2011, 08:59 PM

Is it a technique to get you on side, soften you up, sound more friendly? I dunno... weird.

**briggsy's girl** · October 15th, 2011, 09:08 PM

It's pretty much normal in a call centre environment to ask if you can address people by their first name. Some people, especially those of older generations, and some cultures, find it really disrespectful to be addressed by their first name.

**RhiChiChi** · October 15th, 2011, 09:17 PM

^^ yeah that

**~TT40~** · October 15th, 2011, 09:24 PM

it often happens to me when i call places like telstra etc. I have to give my full name for id purpose, and they ask if i mind being called my first name, i can always go, call me my nick name. alot of people dont use their full first name only when their mother is yelling at them or something. I think its polite.

***Danni*** · October 15th, 2011, 10:24 PM

It's pretty much normal in a call centre environment to ask if you can address people by their first name. Some people, especially those of older generations, and some cultures, find it really disrespectful to be addressed by their first name.

I would get this if she didn't say her own first name when they asked her name, therefore if she didn't want to be called that, it is not what she would have replied when they asked her name ITMS. I would understand the above scenario if they were looking at her full name on paper or if she said her name was *full name* not *first name* IYKWIM... that's why I find it really strange!!

Sent from my iPhone more than likely while I should be doing something else!

**butterfly_warrior** · October 16th, 2011, 12:03 AM

Probably standard operating procedure that they have to ask - also probably normal for people to give both first and last names during calls like that. I know I always do, and I always get the question of whether they may call me by my first name. There are many out there (especially of older generations) that would prefer to be Mr/Mrs/Miss, etc.

Also - if you don't actually go by your first name - but still have to give your first name for identification purposes, the question does make a lot of sense.

BW

**~ Zarava Flutterby ~** · October 16th, 2011, 06:58 AM

It's pretty much normal in a call centre environment to ask if you can address people by their first name. Some people, especially those of older generations, and some cultures, find it really disrespectful to be addressed by their first name.

Yeah this... generally at Telstra we would ask your full name and then would say may i call you "jacinta" even if you only gave your first name we could still see your account details and were still generally advised to ask.

**[M]umma[M]ia** · October 16th, 2011, 07:20 AM

LOL abit weird yes. You would think that if you wanted them to call you something else, when they asked you would have said "Mrs Brown".. iykwim. I would have said "no, you can call me fred"...

**briggsy's girl** · October 16th, 2011, 07:42 AM

I would get this if she didn't say her own first name when they asked her name, therefore if she didn't want to be called that, it is not what she would have replied when they asked her name ITMS. I would understand the above scenario if they were looking at her full name on paper or if she said her name was *full name* not *first name* IYKWIM... that's why I find it really strange!!

ok, using the OP as an example:
she may prefer Jacinta, Jac, Cinta, Cin (these are all names i have been asked to call Jacinta's through work or in my own life). She may also prefer Miss (surname) or may use her middle name as her preferred name.

i know it sounds redundant sometimes, but it's part of building rapport and showing respect to customers. you can't assume because someone says their name is XYZ that they will actually happily accept you calling them XYZ. unfortunately there is a significant proportion of our population that will call themselves XYZ but expect those in service industries to address them as Mr/Mrs/Miss/Dr ABC. and quite a number of them will put in formal complaints against the consultant for being "too informal" in their interactions - so it's often a question that needs to be asked. I don't do it in my current role, as i take whatever name people give me as their preferred name - but when i was working with ZF, we either HAD to call them Mr/Mrs/Dr/Miss OR ask if it was ok to use their first name - and it was expected that we use name at least twice (or three times - can't recall) in every call (if we didn't, it wasn't deemed to meet quality standards and if that call was monitored, no matter how "good" the call was, that aspect had you losing major points off your quality assessment - so it became second nature, no matter how someone introduced themselves, that you'd double check...

**~TT40~** · October 16th, 2011, 09:36 AM

I would get this if she didn't say her own first name when they asked her name, therefore if she didn't want to be called that, it is not what she would have replied when they asked her name ITMS. I would understand the above scenario if they were looking at her full name on paper or if she said her name was *full name* not *first name* IYKWIM... that's why I find it really strange!!

Sent from my iPhone more than likely while I should be doing something else!

You have to give your full name for id purposes for most of these places

sent via my vortex manipulator

**Tinks** · October 16th, 2011, 09:38 AM

Next time tell them you prefer to be called Superman

**Cranky Kitten** · October 16th, 2011, 12:27 PM

ok, using the OP as an example:
she may prefer Jacinta, Jac, Cinta, Cin (these are all names i have been asked to call Jacinta's through work or in my own life). She may also prefer Miss (surname) or may use her middle name as her preferred name.

i know it sounds redundant sometimes, but it's part of building rapport and showing respect to customers. you can't assume because someone says their name is XYZ that they will actually happily accept you calling them XYZ. unfortunately there is a significant proportion of our population that will call themselves XYZ but expect those in service industries to address them as Mr/Mrs/Miss/Dr ABC. and quite a number of them will put in formal complaints against the consultant for being "too informal" in their interactions - so it's often a question that needs to be asked. I don't do it in my current role, as i take whatever name people give me as their preferred name - but when i was working with ZF, we either HAD to call them Mr/Mrs/Dr/Miss OR ask if it was ok to use their first name - and it was expected that we use name at least twice (or three times - can't recall) in every call (if we didn't, it wasn't deemed to meet quality standards and if that call was monitored, no matter how "good" the call was, that aspect had you losing major points off your quality assessment - so it became second nature, no matter how someone introduced themselves, that you'd double check...

This.
It's not just Telstra that do it too, it's a lot of call centres - I worked at Telstra for a while before moving to an electricity retailer and we also had these type of standards. Mind you, we were also permitted to use "mirroring" so if someone said their name was Jacqui instead Jacqueline or directly told us that they preferred it, it was considered permission to address them that way provided no surname was given. If a surname was given it was expected that we ask how they preferred to be addressed. Same goes for names that are very difficult to pronounce, we would ask for clarification on how to pronounce the name if it was spelt out, and were permitted to use any preferred nicknames or shortened versions.