The Truth Behind Waiting ‘on a Brief Hold’ Forever- Tik-Tok Trend

I am sure we have all experienced the dreadful ‘brief hold’ that can last an unnecessarily long, seemingly forever, amount of time. Mixing the concern of why, with the frustration of passing time, can attract some interesting thoughts to our minds, often in the form of irritation.

Today, I want to provide insight on what customer service agents are covering up in this time of unmannerly timing. Being an ex-customer service rep/agent, I’ll reveal all of the secrets I know — in order from understandable, to the worst.

Disclaimer: I have experienced these situations first hand, I am in no way implying that I have personally done any of them!

Approval. Agents are waiting on the approval to perform certain actions on an account. Managers are unusually slow to respond, so you are on hold because they can’t really help until your request has been approved, and if rejected…

Rejection. When a request is rejected, that is not only extremely frustrating for you, who’s been on hold for so long, but also for the agent… the one having to break the unfortunate news to you, and facing the potential backlash. It feels awful not being able to help someone who’s been waiting so long, for close to nothing.

“Technical Difficulties”. A variety of tabs, software, and applications are all open at once, which can cause the system to glitch out, or extremely slow down more often than you would expect. Reps have to play it off, as it can be considered unprofessional to tell customers, which can account for longer hold times.

Confusion. A customer might have an unusual request that reps are not used to handling, so they need the help of coworkers or managers. “Let me take a look, I will be with you briefly…”

Eating! I know how unprofessional that sounds, but agents typically get close to no time in between calls, and occasionally no breaks. As you are on hold, they are handling your case, and also swallowing food whole.

Bathroom Emergencies… Going to the bathroom. Yes. It sounds like agents are being tortured here, but just like eating, they don’t necessarily have the time to use the restroom either, and it can be an…emergency sometimes. Call centers can be very strict about meeting metrics, and holds don’t count much towards call time. So we will be right back with you momentarily, hopefully.

Extremely chatty customers, and it is messing with agents’ call time metric. They are going to put you on hold so it can be sorted out faster, and more efficiently without distracting conversation. Reps do appreciate your friendliness though, please don’t take it to heart.

Bad Attitude! If a customer has an attitude, the rep might be trash talking them with their co-workers. So part of the time you spend on the forsaken ‘brief hold’, is spent venting about how demanding or rude a customer is being. Letting that frustration out helps some reps to control their own attitudes. They do get it though, agents don’t want to accept some of the policies either.

A Mental Breakdown. The agent truly wants to help, however repetitively handling people’s issues without much rest in between, can be mentally draining. It’s not always easy to fake a positive tone, especially if the rep is having a bad day personally. Some calls push them over the edge, so the rep might need to cry or scream a little.

If you read through all of this, thank you so much! I hope I was able to shine new perspective on the employees who put you on a ‘brief hold’. They are imperfect humans as we all tend to be. Also, thank you to Tik-Tokers who present ‘the brief hold’ in a lighthearted and funny manner.