Chances are pretty good that if you work with the general public all day, you have some great stories to tell. Let's face it…there are some odd individuals out there. Call center agents often have the best stories to tell. They often speak to people when they are at home (and therefore most comfortably ensconced in their personal quirks). These agents have stories to tell of personal invitations, confessions, customer melt-downs and behavior that just leaves the rest of us shaking our heads. The hard part is getting the agents to share.

 

Interactive Intelligence (News - Alert) has given call center agents a forum to tell their best stories. And some of them are howlers. To honor the voice of the agent and inject a little humor into what is sometimes a very stressful job, the company has launched a contest (win a trip to Hawaii!) called "Outrageous Interactions." The contest invites contact center agents to submit their most outrageous customer interaction stories. The more bizarre, wacky, preposterous, outlandish, unreasonable or over-the-top, the better.

 

The contest is open to contact center agents and contact center managers worldwide. Stories must be written in English, limited to 500 words or less, and can be based on customer interactions by phone, e-mail, letter or Web chat.

 

The winning entry will be selected by a panel of industry experts, including Dr. Donald E. Brown, president and CEO of Interactive Intelligence; Ginger Conlon, editor-in-chief of 1to1 Media; Blair Pleasant, president and principal analyst of COMMfusion LLC; Art Rosenberg, principal analyst and syndicated columnist of The Unified-View; TMC's (News - Alert) president and publisher Rich Tehrani; and others.

 

The deadline for entries is Aug. 31, 2008. Interactive Intelligence plans to announce the winning entry Sept. 30, 2008. To submit an entry, or learn more about the contest, visit www.outrageousinteractions.com.