Jerk-O-Meter to Meter Jerks

prostoalex writes "The Jerk-o-Meter from MIT will analyze voice patterns of phone conversations and display a relative value of jerkiness factor on the scale of 0 to 100. For now, the Jerk-O-Meter is set up to monitor the user's end of the conversation. If his attention is straying, a message pops up on the phone that warns, 'Don't be a jerk!' or 'Be a little nicer now.' A score closer to 100 percent would prompt, 'Wow, you're a smooth talker.'"

Comments

Re:as if working on the phone didn't suck enough

[Vo0k]

Well, not necessarily. There are basically 4 groups of customers:
- With a clue, nice. They ask you a specific question and expect specific answer. Easy to deal with if you know your job. If you are a moron, jerkometer could work against you, deservedly. Few, pleasure to deal with if you have a clue. Usually people who have worked in user support.
- With a clue, jerks. They want more to unload their frustration than to have a problem fixed, and for example set you a task they found unsolvable earlier, trying to earn you "dissatisfied" ticket, etc. Not easy to get rid of. But if you're an ace, you'll beat them with their own weapon proving them they are morons after all. (say, give them a page number in the manual together with the answer to their "unsolvable".) Most of tech people that get frustrated with something that isn't directly your fault, but, say, your company's. Generally, pain in the ass but luckily few.
- Clueless, nice. Usually victims to support jerks - they are desperate to get help, and you are their last hope. They hate tech, but withstand the suffering quietly (sometimes with a smile) as you guide them through, and are grateful if you solve the problem. Difficult, challenging (sometimes in a painful way) but generally okay. Bunch of moms, secretaries, grandmothers, tech people new to given field etc.
- Clueless jerks. They think they know better, but they don't. So, you're in pain because even if you know the solution, they won't accept it and make it all as painful to you as they only can. These would be best filtered through the system. Less time wasted, better success ratio (they wouldn't count towards the success average) and if you're told by a machine that you're a jerk, you may rethink what you do.