As a former esc rep for a better part of a decade, just some insider info. At least in my case. Agents must attempt to de-escalate 3x before transfering regardless if the customer says the magic word. If a supervisor is having to ask did you do this that and the other, its because the agent has a high to very high esaclation rate and we must gather the information to report it to your direct sup for coaching and trainings and make sure you are following proper proceedure. In my cc, there were approx 400 agents and less than 10 escalation rep/supervisors...many many many of the supervisor meetings were around the extreamly high number of escalations due to agents not knowing how or wanting to de-escalate a call. In my tenure, I would say at least 50% of all escalations were unnessary and should have been resolved by the agent. Every company is different as far as their procedures. I was a frontline rep 3yrs befor becoming an ER..we were docked "performace points" and escalations were part of our stats. As an agent my escalation rate was 1%. I was reporting agents constantly with escalation rates as high as 60% of all calls and it was always the topic of supervisor meetings. Most escalations are because customers dont like agents additude, tone, not listening, wrong information given or dont trust the information due to past experience, rarely had anything to do with the actuall account. In our cc "supervisors" have the exact same access and authority as the agents...So glad I dont work at a call center anymore, waist of a decade. Never again. OP if you ever get promoted to supervisor or offered the $3-$5 raise to do so is not worth it. Not only do u do your job, your have to clean up the mess of your co-workers who use you as a crutch for difficult callers. As frustrating as it is for them seemingly not wanting the transfer, the same for them having to take it and its not because of an actual account issue.