Call Centre's Circus

Come to Citiphones one and all
Experiences galore in every call
The costume party's on this Friday
provided no nagging customers all day.
You''ll hear of a customer who called in to say
"I thought my accounts were closed today"
because he saw on his statement received
'Closing balance' - what a weed!
There'll be customers calling you on April 4
"My card hasn't reached, please tell me more."
Then they'll realize in the blink of an eye
the card says '04/04' - my o my!
There'll be Italians, Spaniards, French, Japanese,
but you'll soon learn to grapple with ease.
Whining old ladies, snappy gentlemen,
watch agents' faces slowly sadden.
Marked improvement in performance they say
- on the flip side there's a cut in pay.
Newcomers on the floor we have seen,
adieu to old buddies, on it we're not keen.
Someday in Chennai Citiphones may be gone
but till then -

Come to Citiphones one and all
Experiences galore in every call.

(This poem was probably the first to display my sarcastic vein and was written while I worked with the inbound call centre for Citibank's UK clients, debit card and accounting division (2003-4). The poem was written as part of a poetry competition organised by one of the teams as part of its activities. The costume party is a reference to the end of a month-long celebrations by the company. The references are to actual experiences on the floor.)