Hold your tongue

"This call may be recorded for training and quality purposes." Heard before almost any customer support phone conversation, I had never thought much about this warning/disclaimer. But did you know that, when such a phone call is recorded, very often the entire call is recorded, including your time on hold? I heard about an interview with a quality assurance/training guy whose job was to review these recorded phone calls. He said he heard all sorts of things while people were on hold and thought they were in private. Arguments, drug deals, and some things about which he just said that, had the call been live, he'd have dialed 911.

Apparently this is not a new thing, and I suppose it makes sense that the recording machine wouldn't necessarily know if you were on hold or not. One Internet wag suggests using the hold time to describe exactly how you feel about being placed on hold, in the hope that it is being recorded. Anyway, it's worth being aware of and may be a good reason to learn how to work the mute on your phone.