phone monkey
1
9.9
- noun
- /foʊn ˈmʌŋki/
- Offensive
:
telefonista (despectivo)
- Tired of his phone monkey duties, Sam decided to look for a new career.
Examples
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The new phone monkey handled the calls efficiently.
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She got her first job as a phone monkey in a bustling call center downtown.
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Despite being called a phone monkey, she handled complex customer issues with professionalism.
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Many phone monkeys work long hours at the call center.
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The phone monkey answered all customer inquiries with a friendly attitude.
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As a phone monkey at the call center, his main job is to assist customers over the phone.
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Every morning, the phone monkey prepares to handle dozens of calls from clients.
Synonyms
2
2.2
A person who connects phone calls to the right person or service
1
5.8
A person who answers phones and connects callers to others
A person who connects phone calls and directs callers to the right person
How Experienced
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'phone monkey' is partly compositional: 'phone' clearly signals work involving phones, but 'monkey' here is a slang/metaphorical use meaning a low-status or repetitive worker rather than the literal animal. Because understanding the occupational sense requires familiarity with English slang collocational patterns (e.g., 'code monkey'), a B1 learner who only knows the literal meanings would likely not infer the exact job role, so it is semi-transparent.
Etymology
Phone monkey is a slang term that may come from the image of a monkey doing quick, repeated tasks while sitting at a phone, a picture of busy, simple work. So it came to mean 'a person who answers many phone calls', especially in a call center job.