Questions and concerns FOR operators

[operatorally]

Hi, I'm a relay operator dealing with the US and because I haven't seen a thread here for this I'd like to offer that if anyone who uses relay has anything they'd like to ask or tell relay operators, that would be really helpful. Let me add: I DO NOT WANT ANOTHER THREAD FOR OPERATORS TO WHINE ABOUT OUR PRANK CALLS OR THE NIGERIAN SCAM (my company doesnt get Nigerian calls anymore at all) I do know of sites where operators talk about problems we have on the job, but I would also like to hear from callers and offer them an opportunity to give informal feedback. thanks. ga

 

[VamPyroX]

I do have one suggestion.

Give us more time to reply.

Sometimes, I use my Sidekick for relay services... especially IP-Relay. From time to time, the connection may be a bit bad and the replies won't show up until 5 seconds later. Yet, the operator will say something like... "If you don't respond, I will hang up." Of course, they hang up before I even get to reply.

First of all, 5 seconds is too short to wait before saying that if you don't hear a response... you will hang up. Second of all, 2 seconds or less is too short to hang up before saying that you will hang up if I don't respond. :roll:

 

[guido]

I do have one suggestion.

Give us more time to reply.

Sometimes, I use my Sidekick for relay services... especially IP-Relay. From time to time, the connection may be a bit bad and the replies won't show up until 5 seconds later. Yet, the operator will say something like... "If you don't respond, I will hang up." Of course, they hang up before I even get to reply.

First of all, 5 seconds is too short to wait before saying that if you don't hear a response... you will hang up. Second of all, 2 seconds or less is too short to hang up before saying that you will hang up if I don't respond. :roll:

You will never have just 5 seconds to reply. The shortest amount of time you will ever have to reply is 20 seconds. And would you like to know why the time ROs have to wait has been shortened? Because many deaf don't disconnect when they're through, or they walk away from their computer or Sidekick. I saw cases where the caller would walk away and stop responding during the middle of a conversation. You'd honestly be amazed how many times I saw this happen. I hear all this talk about "functional equivalency" but one thing hearing people sure as hell don't do is get up and walk around while they're in the middle of a phone conversation. That's not only rude and inconsiderate, but its not fair to the operator and the other callers on hold. That's why non-responsive disconnect procedures are in place.

 

[operatorally]

Thanks VamPyrox. I have to say that I do understand how you feel in terms of people being impatient- often a called party who isnt used to relay gets upset about waiting a moment or two and I have to explain to them that some devices take a few seconds before we see new text. We do follow rules though and it might be the rules and not the operator that you have issue with.
In terms of rules, I know that my company has the rule that after a caller has hung up and we ask if you want to make another call, we have to disconnect if you dont say yes after 60 seconds so that we can help other users. This is standard because lots of people just leave instead of hanging up.
Also, we do not disconnect at my company if we have to wait during a call and havent received word from a caller in a few seconds, sometimes the called party, if theyre impatient [most often happens with busy restaurants] will just hang up even though we tell them that it takes a few seconds for a response to register. Sometimes though we are blamed for the called party hanging up though, which is upsetting because we have no control over that.
At the beginning of a call, if you havent entered a 10 digit phone number and we prompt you for one, we have to wait 60 seconds and then disconnect and the reason we do that is that we get a lot of calls where people call us by accident but hang up but stay on our screen, or because of a technical problem, so after 60 seconds, we are required to hang up.
If I were you I would check the guidelines of whatever relay service you use and then either switch services or tell the operator in your initial instructions option that your device is slow so that they can warn the called party. Thanks for the comment though, I hope my response makes things clearer...

 

[LMM]

RO,
I have to reply for my grandma LMM because she can't type English very well... Her frist Language is ASL, And I have to terp English thread's.
She wanted me to reply to yours.
Grandma LMM use both TTD/V/P/ISP RO everyday. She have no trouble w/RO
hang up on her. They take the time to wait. Grandma shakes bad, So sometimes her trembles are streamily horriable.But the RO can see and understand her condition and wait for her relpy....
If a RO throu TTD/ISP svc don't understand Grandmas type they get one that does.... Grandmas type isn't like our English type words. She has never in her whole life really had trouble w/ a RO about her Language skills. She has even teach RO ASL skills. I'm very proud of my grandma, She has help not only me but others see her world!
Thank -you for helping the Deaf, Have a great night,

LMM granddaughter

 

[operatorally]

You're right LMM, we do actually learn quite a bit about how ASL works and how to 'translate' second language English for called parties who don't understand. Operators who have second or third language skills tend to have more understanding because we know what its like to try and negotiate worlds in a second language. Its tough! Thanks for the feedback LLM and granddaughter, I really appreciate it. I do feel very lucky for the chance to learn from deaf folks who experience the world differently than I do...

 

[diehardbiker]

IMHO The relay service have improved significantly since 1980's! I am glad that I am living today because back then in 80's each calls were limited to 15 minutes! And there have been so much flaws that we have to deal with in the past. Now with VideoRelayService, I can not live without VRS! No question about it. In fact, I have seen alot improvement with VRS quality, thus causing demand explosioin for VRS. From time to time I would use IP-relay, that is only when I don't feel like expose myself.

Whats more, I have seen plenty of VRS centers set up almost anywhere in the United States! I like this because this would give VRS operators more transparency. For example, when I have to make confidential calls, I live here in Rochester, and I called though one of VRS, and ask them if they are outside of New York, they said yes. Later on, this operator realize that I was trying to avoid conflict of interest and this operator finally said, Im from southwest. That really gives me huge relief, I hate to ask her to drop off the call and transfer to out of range operator so that my privacy will be protected.

 

[webexplorer]

(1) I would like the operators to let us know if they hear a voicer's drunk. For example, my father was drunk at night when I asked him to drive home. I did not know that he was at a bar. I would have picked him up. It is a sort of not a big deal to me he is a very good driver for many years, and I just don't want something happen in one night.

(2) Another subject, do they let us know that there is a voicer's background noise?

(3) Do we need to say "Please dial ###-####"? Should we just give the operator the number only? I think it is a polite for us to say please dial the number. Can't they say, "I'm ... relay operator, may I have your number?" Do they have a computer program that automatically typing for them without typing the whole sentence manually?

(4) Is there another way for me to say the operator in a short? "Please dial ###-#### Please hang up 4 rings before an answering machine picks up. If it is an answering machine, please hang up. " It is kind of long sentences. You know, many operators have received so many phone calls everyday.

 

[diehardbiker]

One thing I hate about the operator, when start the call, The first question came out from the operator's mouth is... "Is there any specific person I can ask?" This is kinda of annoying because it makes it sounded like a "Person to person" calls. I know back then with telephone hey day, person to person calls is the most expensive of all calls. I think it is the user's responsible to let the operator know who they want to contact instead.

 

[diehardbiker]

You could bet on that! You can check on FCC website to see how much calls has been made each day, unbelieveavle numbers, and yes they are still explosing. No telling when it will cool off.

(4) Is there another way for me to say the operator in a short? "Please dial ###-#### Please hang up 4 rings before an answering machine picks up. If it is an answering machine, please hang up. " It is kind of long sentences. You know, many operators have received so many phone calls everyday.

 

[operatorally]

(1) I would like the operators to let us know if they hear a voicer's drunk. For example, my father was drunk at night when I asked him to drive home. I did not know that he was at a bar. I would have picked him up. It is a sort of not a big deal to me he is a very good driver for many years, and I just don't want something happen in one night.

(2) Another subject, do they let us know that there is a voicer's background noise?

(3) Do we need to say "Please dial ###-####"? Should we just give the operator the number only? I think it is a polite for us to say please dial the number. Can't they say, "I'm ... relay operator, may I have your number?" Do they have a computer program that automatically typing for them without typing the whole sentence manually?

(4) Is there another way for me to say the operator in a short? "Please dial ###-#### Please hang up 4 rings before an answering machine picks up. If it is an answering machine, please hang up. " It is kind of long sentences. You know, many operators have received so many phone calls everyday.

1] we are not permitted to say that someone is drunk because on the phone we have little way of being totally sure; after all they might be speech disabled or just excited about something etc... We can say that someone is slurring, but we also have to be careful because we call all over the states and we don't want to confuse accents with slurring. I honestly couldnt tell you the difference between a drunk person from Kentucky and a sober one because they're both difficult for me to understand. Also, we would get in really big trouble for saying that someone WAS drunk if they were not.
One thing though is that for certain relay services, you can ask the operator for their opinion after the call, understanding that this is only an opinion. On a rare occasion when someone is really rude, I will sometimes also let the caller know so you can avoid them and take your business elsewhere.

2] I'm required to provide all background noise I can detect, be it a tv, traffic or a baby crying. I thought this was standard, you're right, it should be because it makes it easier for the caller to contextualize where the called party is.

3] we dont think youre rude if you just give us the number to dial. Most callers say thank you and are really generous with friendly comments at the end of a call, and we know they're good people with good manners.

4] where i work, we're web based and have a 'special instructions' box so that people can specify instructions like your example, or let us know that they are looking for someone in customer service etc. I don't know about TTY based calls though...

I hope this covers some of it, thanks for the feedback!

 

[operatorally]

One thing I hate about the operator, when start the call, The first question came out from the operator's mouth is... "Is there any specific person I can ask?" This is kinda of annoying because it makes it sounded like a "Person to person" calls. I know back then with telephone hey day, person to person calls is the most expensive of all calls. I think it is the user's responsible to let the operator know who they want to contact instead.

I don't know why this is standard though I will take a guess and say that sometimes the called party assumes we're a telemarketer no matter how many times we explain relay unless they know that the caller is asking for them or who the caller is. In these cases its easier for us to keep that person from hanging up if we have that kind of information.
But you're right, it should be the caller's decision, this seems to be an adaptation made to suit the called party and not the caller, even if the relay service does do it because they think it will make the called party more likely to take the call...