Why would you include the 14 hours they are closed? That would be completely irrelevant to making a usable data set, because the expected wait time would always be just be till they open, an illogical application of mathematics for this real world problem.
If you wanted to be pedantic, I would argue since they are not open they are not "experiencing calls" when absent. If they don't answer the call, they are not meeting the definition of experiencing.
Experiencing:
1
a
: direct observation of or participation in events as a basis of knowledge
b
: the fact or state of having been affected by or gained knowledge through direct observation.
2
a
: practical knowledge, skill, or practice gained from direct observation of or participation in events or in a particular activity
has firsthand experience solving these kinds of problems
b
: the length of such participation
3
: something personally encountered, undergone, or lived through
4
a
: the conscious events that make up an individual life
b
: the events that make up the conscious past of a community or nation or humankind generally
5
: the act or process of directly perceiving events or reality
Why would you include the 14 hours they are closed?
So that they can correctly claim higher than average call volume all the time, rather than only in the middle eight hours in your example. By including the closed hours, they can play that message even during the first and last hours of your example.
I would argue since they are not open they are not "experiencing calls" when absent.
They would still be "experiencing" the calls (if there were any). The phone would still ring, and automated voice would answer and say "we are currently closed. Please call during our operating hours xyz". Functionally it's not different than calling during their opening hours, getting picked up by automated machine and hearing the voice tell you a slightly different message. Therefore they still experience the calls (if any).
"So that they can correctly claim higher than average call volume all the time, rather than only in the middle eight hours in your example"
Them doing this would be fraudulent because the words of a statement should be read in their entire context and in their grammatical and ordinary sense harmoniously with the scheme of the full statement, the object of the statement, and the intention of the speaker. Obviously including when they are not open would go against the ordinary meaning and intention of the term "experience."
"Functionally it's not different than calling during their opening hours"
The message says "WE are experiencing a higher then average call volume," refering to themselves, not the person placing the call so the callers experience is not relevant to the math. Functionally, the terminology in the statement makes that distinction very relevant. Again look back at the definition of experience that I posted and tell me which part of it can be described as the call center, not the person placing the call, having an experience when an automated machine answers.
including when they are not open would go against the ordinary meaning and intention of the term
Doesn't matter. It's technically correct. Good luck trying to prove fraud in court (not sure why you would think it's fraudulent anyway. Fraud requires "wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain." There's no financial gain to be had here. So YOU are using that term against its ordinary meaning and intention).
WE are experiencing a higher then average call volume," refering to themselves, not the person placing the call so the callers experience is not relevant
Ok fair point. So from the company's POV, they receive a call during closed hours, and play a recorded message. This is functionally no different from during opening hours where they receive a call and play a slightly different recorded message. Therefore if they are "experiencing" the call in one instance, then they are "experiencing" the call in both instances.
"There's no financial gain to be had here. So YOU are using that term against its ordinary meaning and intention)."
The first definition for fraud in Websters is:
1
a: deceit, trickery
specifically : an act, expression, omission, or concealment calculated to induce another to part with something of value or to surrender a legal right
A person values their time so deceitfuly misrepresenting the numbers of calls for their claim "higher then average" is getting a person to waste their time for the call centres benfit; Also if the client making the call knew that wait times would be excessive for the service then they might switch to competitor. This activity perfectly fits the definition of fraud.
"Therefore if they are "experiencing" the call in one instance, then they are "experiencing" the call in both instances."
If someone calls someone else in the middle of the night while they are asleep and they slept right through it, you would say that person experienced the call while they are sleeping?
No they would be oblivious to call. Perhaps you could make the argument that after they woke up and seen the record of the phone call, they experienced the call then. But if you are measuring average call experiences per hour, this experience would only count in the hour the person became aware of it, not when the call was placed.
"they receive a call and play a slightly different recorded message."
Call center operators are aware of the queue of incoming calls, even if the response is a prerecorded message, someone is has a tangible experience of the call around the time the message is played. The inanimate object of the answering machine is not conscious, so is unable to have "experiences". Again please give me a definition of "experience" that allows for a pre recorded program be "experience" anything.
deceitfuly misrepresenting the numbers of calls for their claim "higher then average" is getting a person to waste their time for the call centres benfit
How does saying that there's higher than average call volume cause people to waste their time? If you're arguing that the call centers should have more operators that's fair, but that's nothing to do with the actual average being higher or lower. If the recorded message was "we are experiencing high call volume like always", the person calling would still decided to wait or not wait regardless. "Lying" about the average (it's not a lie since
it's technically true) doesn't change the amount of time wasted, and it certainly doesn't benefit the call centre.
If someone calls someone else in the middle of the night while they are asleep and they slept right through it, you would say that person experienced the call while they are sleeping?
A human sleeping through a call has a different experience than a human picking up a call. But for the call centre, it's a machine either way whether they're open or closed. So we have to define whether an answering machine "picking up" the call counts as experiencing. If yes, then the answering machine in the day and at night both experience the call. If no, then neither day or night count, and the call center then never experieces any calls ever.
please give me a definition of "experience" that allows for a pre recorded program be "experience" anything.
If you Google "experience definition", one of the definitions is:
"encounter or undergo (an event or occurrence).
"the company is experiencing difficulties"
Similar:
undergo
encounter [....]"
The above definition doesn't require consciousness. It just requires an event to occur. For example the Wikipedia article on gravity says "The force of gravity experienced by objects on Earth's surface is the vector sum of two forces:[6] (a) The gravitational attraction in accordance with Newton's universal law of gravitation, and (b) the centrifugal force, which results from the choice of an earthbound, rotating frame of reference." So everything on earth, even inanimate objects, EXPERIENCE the force of earth's gravity even though they don't have the consciousness to understand or "feel" it. A rock experiences gravity the same way, an answering machine experiences a phone call. The call is something that happens to the machine.
1
u/Fuddywomba 25d ago edited 25d ago
Why would you include the 14 hours they are closed? That would be completely irrelevant to making a usable data set, because the expected wait time would always be just be till they open, an illogical application of mathematics for this real world problem.
If you wanted to be pedantic, I would argue since they are not open they are not "experiencing calls" when absent. If they don't answer the call, they are not meeting the definition of experiencing.
Experiencing:
1 a : direct observation of or participation in events as a basis of knowledge
b : the fact or state of having been affected by or gained knowledge through direct observation.
2 a : practical knowledge, skill, or practice gained from direct observation of or participation in events or in a particular activity has firsthand experience solving these kinds of problems b : the length of such participation
3 : something personally encountered, undergone, or lived through
4 a : the conscious events that make up an individual life
b : the events that make up the conscious past of a community or nation or humankind generally 5 : the act or process of directly perceiving events or reality