Here’s a fun life hack for you: the next time you’re placed on hold during a phone call, DON’T SAY A SINGLE WORD.
Don’t sing along to the words of that 80s power ballad (even though it’s so darn catchy).
Don’t yell out to your significant other that they need to buy you two more packets of super tampons when they duck down the shops.
And especially, don’t talk about the fact that the bank/health insurer/Centrelink/phone company has placed you on hold and start listing all the ways they’ve ever wronged you.
Because, it turns out, YOU ARE BEING WATCHED.
Or, more accurately, you're being heard...
Remember how, at the beginning of the phone call, that lovely, robotic lady told you that your phone call might be recorded for "quality control"?
Just because you're on hold, it doesn't mean the recording has stopped too.
LISTEN: Apparently, there is an easy way to get your teens off their phones at night.
"When I put somebody on hold, they hear cheesy hold music. I can still hear them as clear as I ever have done," one call centre worker confessed on Reddit.
"My phone records what they are saying at all times, it never records hold music."
"I often hear people moaning/bitching about the company but I much prefer listening to when they are having conversations to their partners etc whilst thinking I can't hear a word," the voice stalker worker continued.
As creepy as it sounds, the 'secret' recordings can often come in handy, especially when it comes to those calling to make insurance claims.
"My wife used to work for an insurance company that is very progressive. They recorded the whole time," one user wrote.
"They catch a surprising number of people who discuss the fraud they are committing."
So next time you're on hold? Stay quiet, very quiet.
Or, just have a casual chat with someone about how lovely and helpful 'Susan' in customer service is. It might just help you out.
Top Comments
This can actually come in handy for customers as well if you have a complaint about how you were treated by the call taker. My husband manages an inbound call centre for a food company (companies call in to place orders) and he had several customers complain about the phone manner of one of the staff. My husband was able to go back over all the calls and not only hear the conversations this guy had had with customers (in which he was extremely unprofessional and rude) but also hear the calls he was making to friends (yes on the company phone) to around drug deals in the work carpark. He was escorted out of the building pretty quickly.
But WTF are they doing sitting on their ass listening while your on hold? Isn't that wasting company time by doing nothing? Or are they doing something in the background whilst listening? and if they are doing something while listening why put you on hold?
This opened up more questions than it answers