I came across this excellent, insightful study of what I term 'cowardly callers' conducted by solutions firm Corizon and YouGov of abusive U.K. callers--the press release says " Contact Centre Rage: Corizon Survey Finds Scots, Men and the under-30s to Be the Worst Offenders" and it got me to thinking: has there been /can there be a similar study in the U.S. and Canada?

The closest that comes to mind was a great New York Times story 10 years ago 'When New York Is On The Line' that reports on how time-pressed/stressed out/cut-the-b.s. New Yorkers react to telemarketing and market survey calls. Anyone who lives/has lived in New York City knows the answer...the article reveals that one outfit gives staff 'danger pay' i.e. supplements when they dial New York numbers.

In fairness to callers, their frustration does have some basis, which also extends here. The Corizon/YouGov surveys "also revealed plenty of frustration with contact centre technology, at both ends of the telephone line. Levels of frustration are directly related to the number of software applications an agent needs to use which causes delays in answering customer queries.

"Nearly 75% of contact centre managers said their agents use an average of five different software applications in a typical working day, with one claiming to use as many as 18. Thirty percent said the problem of 'too many applications' had worsened recently. For their part, 83% of the consumers surveyed said their biggest frustration was long waiting times."

To ward off similar cowardly callers here how about these two sets of solutions and practices:

* Simplify the tools and cut the queues, including employing automated 'step out/step back in if need be' and callback options

* Empower agents to flick the nasties to IVR, deny them the zero-out options, and/or record, trace and sternly follow up with abusers by way of warning e-mails and letters. This method could prove amazingly effective if the abusing calls or e-mails came from the perps' workplaces or on their employer-provided (and monitored) landline or wireless devices

Here is the summary of the Corizon report on U.K.'s 'cowardly callers':

* Scots are the most likely to use inappropriate language (15%), followed by Londoners (12%)

* Welsh people are most likely to hang up on an agent (51%), followed by Easterners (49%)

* Midlanders and Southerners are most likely to hang up before speaking to an agent (61% each)

* Men are more likely than women to use inappropriate language (12% compared with 7%)

* Women are more likely than men to hang up before speaking to an agent (60% compared with 57%)

* 18-30 year-olds are the most likely age group to use inappropriate language

(Some regional pride here: nothing in these results at least indicts Northerners. My family is from Lancashire, in Britain's northwest. We are nice people, though our sense of humor is very black, which keeps up grinning no matter what b.s. we have to put up with. Then again it is our part of the world that was the first to be brutally industrialized (read George Orwell's Road to Wigan Pier)

"We may react differently depending on our age, gender and where we live, but one thing's for sure - a great many of our interactions with contact centres are frustrating," said Emma Chablo, marketing director, Corizon. "Consumers might be interested to know that agents find lengthy calls just as annoying, and a lot of the problem is down to the technology they have at their disposal. There's no doubt about it: fewer software applications equal happier agents and happier - and more polite - customers."