Wow, I couldnt find a deaf bashing link on that page, but knowing it had been there once was disturbing.
I understand that being an operator is not always easy because people do get angry with you if you don't read their minds or do what they want when it goes against the FCC. I had a caller this morning get angry with me for not wanting to chat with them, when really, I would LOVE to be able to spend time conversing with a caller but we're not allowed to because it will prevent another caller from getting through. I was told that I'm mean and the caller hung up. What if that caller sends in a review of me? I'll get a bad client review for doing my job correctly.
There are dozens of things that callers get mad at us for that we can't control, and the worst part is that we're not allowed to step outside protocol to explain that a certain automated system won't connect to a live person, or that we can't call certain modalities and so on. If we were allowed to explain these things to callers properly, they would have an easier time understanding what was going on [especially callers whose english is at the level that say, my spanish is...] and then they wouldn't abuse us, which in turn wouldn't inspire some relay operators to bash the callers.
At my company we are not able to cut and paste any transcript, nor are we capable of emailing anything from a call, period. It sounds like MCI is the main culprit here, and its interesting too that word on the street is that those operators also hate the company because they aren't paid enough- I have a feeling that the higher the wages and respect towards operators from management, the better the service to the deaf community, which may be a motive for people to choose relay based on how fair each company's labor policy is.
While this obviously won't erase the entire event from your mind, you might breathe at least a small sigh of relief to know that where I work, if someone mocks a caller for their English skills etc, there are always a dozen people ready to stand up and say, 'hey, how would you feel making phone calls in your second language, if you even have one.' I simply have no time for that bullshit, especially because we exist to serve a community that already faces obstacles in communication, and we see that everyday when we explain relay to rude people at the other end of the line.
In the meantime I agree that labelling us all as bad people won't solve the problem, we all need to judge our interactions on a compassionate case by case basis. We all need to remember that when we're frustrated, there might be something on the other end of the line that is beyond the callers/operators control. Maybe the caller is trying to type while a child tugs at them, maybe the caller is a senior who isn't used to a keypad. Maybe the operator is having technical difficulty or they simply can't find a live person because its lunchtime or outside business hours etc.
Also, remember the operator numbers too, so that you can evaluate us. If we're good, please send us the feedback, it makes the job far more rewarding and encouraging. And if you need to complain, by all means do but make sure your problem is with a bad operator and not with a technical problem [like the software dropping the call so it looks like we've hung up] or a miscommunication [like getting angry at the operator for not being able to reach a live person or prevent a rude business owner from hanging up. In conclusion, you have my total solidarity and I'm glad I saw your post so I can warn my coworkers and supervisors to keep a lookout. Smile. SK