The all-dull shift routine every agent is used to suddenly stops for a day to pay its tribute to Melinoë, the goddess of ghosts. The day becomes an absolute thrill – an adventure filled with spooky surprises. Have you had a day where agents were left to ponder whether their workspace is haunted or simply plagued by technical hiccups? No? Don’t jubilate yet… there’s still tomorrow before October ends. Halloween casts a spell of strange occurrences and unexplained phenomena. As agents don their headsets and prepare for another day of customer interactions, a series of peculiar glitches and ghostly happenings begin to unfold. Happy Halloween agents!
The black cat alert – the beginning.
Halloween is not complete without bizarre occurrences that even the best and most well-equipped tech support can’t explain.
The onset of the office Halloween hex is signaled by the sighting of a black cat by an agent/supervisor, either on their way to the office or behind the monitor. True story. Someone inevitably spots a vague shadow flickering behind the lights. Minutes later, the entire system crashes. Or the CRM stalls. Coincidence? Coincidence? I think not.
The phantom Disconnect.
Halloween is notorious for “phantom disconnections.” The moment you finally connect with that important customer, the line goes dead. Internet connection gets lost when an important client visits the office. Call logs mysteriously vanish. An agent might take a call, diligently fill out the notes/ticket in CRM, and then—just like that—every detail disappears from the system. The server that has never been shut down since the COVID era magically reboots and logs everyone out, wasting everyone’s 30 minutes (if you’re lucky – else an hour). Some blame it, but others claim it’s the curse of a vengeful spirit. The distraught spirit wanders the office, seeking revenge on behalf of frustrated callers who were once “accidentally” disconnected one too many times.
The curse of the disappearing headset.
Nothing says “call center Halloween” like the age-old tradition of headsets going missing. You place yours down, turn away for a second, and poof—gone. Some say a mischievous spirit is behind it, collecting the headsets like Halloween candy. Some say the ghosts of former agents (who never did get their final paycheck) are exacting their revenge, taking whatever headsets they can find in an endless quest for justice. Theories flourish, but one thing’s for sure: tape your name on it, and don’t let it out of your sight unsupervised. Treat it like a drink in an unfamiliar liquor joint. Or you risk becoming another victim of the Halloween headset heist.
Musical chairs – the scavenger hunt.
So, your shift starts at 10 am? And you just clocked in 5 minutes before? Precious, welcome to this year’s scavenger hunt. Who doesn’t love a good search before starting a shift? In this game of musical chairs, agents are rarely in the same seat two days consecutively. They’re rarely in the same seat in same shift! No sooner do you wake up to refill your cup (there’s no water, but I’ll come to that) than your chair sublimes into the air! Or gets swapped. Gone is the seat comfort, or the seat itself!
Glitches in the matrix.
Halloween glitches are the spookiest of all. Agents have sworn they clicked on “mute” only to hear the customer still talking. An agent will click on “mute” to catch a break from a difficult customer (or difficult question) to sigh/curse out loud before resuming the call, only to witness in real-time the customer asking “what?”. They heard that. You’re not on mute. Talk of being caught in 4k. Owe unto the rookies. An agent will put customers on hold, only to be unable to retrieve them as the hold music loops forever- the curse of endless hold music. This isn’t just an annoyance; it’s an omen. Whether an IT glitch or ghost attack, when faced with unexplainable tech issues, the seasoned agent knows to blame Halloween and hopes it all returns to normal by November 1st.
The haunted kettle and water cooler.
This is the one week you are guaranteed of water running out in the office, within minutes of being refilled. The kettle is always functional – until Halloween. Downright terrifying. If it doesn’t take a day off, it will develop a mind of its own and serve the most ridiculous drink known to the agents. Cold coffee will taste like herbal medicine. If it miraculously remains functional, all beverages will be empty. No attempt to summon caffeine will work. It’s cursed. Seasoned agents have learned to carry their own coffee stash to avoid falling victim to the haunted machine’s tricks. But do they? This is the day even they forget their stash and water bottles. These are said to be “thirsty ghosts”- former employees who left the center overworked and under-compensated, haunting and dehydrating the current team to test their endurance.
The printer’s revenge.
One (or all) of the electronics will dedicate its hate to the floor. If not the air conditioner malfunctions and inconveniencing everyone, the bulbs will flicker and cause someone some headaches. If not, the printer will undeniably take its revenge on anyone who ignored it throughout the year. Inexplicable paper jams, random “out of toner” or a messy ink stain on clothes, hands, or the very important document that has been printed from the ongoing board meeting. How about a change in font from Times New Roman to Yu Gothic font? Bet you didn’t know that existed, did you? One way or another, it will have its victim. How can the printer be spared? Lol.
The call back from the unknown.
Halloween wouldn’t be complete without the dreaded “unknown caller.” Oh, you’re used to dismissing the anonymous callers easily, aren’t you? Well, not today. Then introduce new abnormalities. What do you mean by customer “0” calling? Who is that? Was that even possible? Top that up with the callers who were left on hold music loop. They’re here again, just angrier this time. They might remember your name. This day is going horribly! (just as demons planned). The solution? Swim through the cataracts. Then once done, politely end the call before the spirits demand a full survey. Confirm the call is ended then sigh loud.
The system glitch deletes reports.
Around Halloween, the system occasionally decides to delete entire shift reports just as they’re being submitted. It says it’s a bug, but agents know it’s the work of “Digital Dark Danny”. He only ever meddles with reports on October 31st. Owe unto you if you have an unbacked-up report till 30th so that you only struggle to redo the 31st report – inevitable. Danny, they say, never got his end-of-year bonus and now refuses to let others log their hours. All the best in compiling the day’s project data in a hurry. The ghosts will be happy to frustrate you. (laughs in evil)
The witching hour error.
At precisely midnight (or end of shift), the final and most inexplicable glitch hits. It’s called the “witching hour error”. It’s a code-red moment when every screen on the floor flashes an error at once. It scrambles, agents groan, and somewhere, an evil laugh can be heard fading into the skies. The screens return to normal in minutes, but the spooky memory lingers. Another Halloween curse survived – until next year. (if you take off your headset, you will probably hear a knock. The delivery man is here with beverages and office shopping.)
By John Peter
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