RaenieStar
Apr 26, 2010, 07:01 PM
I work for an entertainment company in the Customer Service department. There are several departments within the CS department; the portion I am in deals strictly online within an online gaming community.
When I was hired 4 years ago, I was provided with a single in-game alias, a name, to go by. This is the name I signed my emails with, and corresponded with our customers via chatting. I signed a non-disclosure stating I would not reveal my in-game information to anyone, as that name was intended to be my persona when at work.
Ex:
Support Representative Fakenamehere
[email protected]
Company Name
There is another portion of Customer Service that deals with payments, money, and things that have to do with the product that aren't handled within the online community (game). This department uses telephones as their method of contact, as well as email when needed, to service customers. These representatives do not associate with my department, and use their first name and last initial as their email and name on the phones. They use their actual names.
Ex:
Lisa K.
[email protected]
Company Name
The type of customers I personally deal with on a daily basis are of a wider range of ages (anywhere from 10 to 90), whereas a phone rep usually only talks to those capable of making a phone call and being coherent verbally. The customers I take care of also are somewhat more hidden by the anonymity of the internet, and also take their product seriously. An online community/game may be more "valuable" to say, a 14 year old versus a 50 year old, for example. This can result in explosive customers, threats, insults, to very nice people that are easy to chat online with.
Anyway. Recently, my company has decided that to unify our different "departments," that we would all begin to sign our emails only with our first name and last initial, title, and any other alias:
Sara H.
Support Representative Fakenamehere
Company Name
So that my former alias would be connected to my real name and last initial. The problem here is... ALL of our names are listed on the credits of the product that every customer buys. This list of credits are also available on our website. Any joe could potentially look up Sara H and get the last name of any Sara H's available that worked on the product. And with the magic of the internet... there are many possibilities.
I feel like this may be a violation of my privacy, considering that the company has pushed this out as a concrete policy without informing any of the representatives it would directly affect before hand. I kind of feel bullied to put my name down, even though every fiber of my being is against connecting my real name to my online alias that I use to reward, action, punish, repo, help, deny, and correct my customers with. (Keep in mind, this is on online game, a community of all kinds of people.) I don't want to be Facebooked or MySpaced by potentially angry customers, or even be near the prospect of such.
Is there some kind of law or legality against this? It seems management is pretty unwilling to yield, but may "consider" allowing us to have "stage names ..." which I find redundant and ridiculous. Any ideas? Googling hasn't helped me past looking into basic labor laws. (In California, by the way!)
When I was hired 4 years ago, I was provided with a single in-game alias, a name, to go by. This is the name I signed my emails with, and corresponded with our customers via chatting. I signed a non-disclosure stating I would not reveal my in-game information to anyone, as that name was intended to be my persona when at work.
Ex:
Support Representative Fakenamehere
[email protected]
Company Name
There is another portion of Customer Service that deals with payments, money, and things that have to do with the product that aren't handled within the online community (game). This department uses telephones as their method of contact, as well as email when needed, to service customers. These representatives do not associate with my department, and use their first name and last initial as their email and name on the phones. They use their actual names.
Ex:
Lisa K.
[email protected]
Company Name
The type of customers I personally deal with on a daily basis are of a wider range of ages (anywhere from 10 to 90), whereas a phone rep usually only talks to those capable of making a phone call and being coherent verbally. The customers I take care of also are somewhat more hidden by the anonymity of the internet, and also take their product seriously. An online community/game may be more "valuable" to say, a 14 year old versus a 50 year old, for example. This can result in explosive customers, threats, insults, to very nice people that are easy to chat online with.
Anyway. Recently, my company has decided that to unify our different "departments," that we would all begin to sign our emails only with our first name and last initial, title, and any other alias:
Sara H.
Support Representative Fakenamehere
Company Name
So that my former alias would be connected to my real name and last initial. The problem here is... ALL of our names are listed on the credits of the product that every customer buys. This list of credits are also available on our website. Any joe could potentially look up Sara H and get the last name of any Sara H's available that worked on the product. And with the magic of the internet... there are many possibilities.
I feel like this may be a violation of my privacy, considering that the company has pushed this out as a concrete policy without informing any of the representatives it would directly affect before hand. I kind of feel bullied to put my name down, even though every fiber of my being is against connecting my real name to my online alias that I use to reward, action, punish, repo, help, deny, and correct my customers with. (Keep in mind, this is on online game, a community of all kinds of people.) I don't want to be Facebooked or MySpaced by potentially angry customers, or even be near the prospect of such.
Is there some kind of law or legality against this? It seems management is pretty unwilling to yield, but may "consider" allowing us to have "stage names ..." which I find redundant and ridiculous. Any ideas? Googling hasn't helped me past looking into basic labor laws. (In California, by the way!)