Working in a call center can be thought of as a high stress job. Not every call center representative is out to call everyone in the country and sell them something really crappy at an enormous price. In fact the job I do has nothing at all to do with sales. Still, working in a call center is quite stressful. Its the kind of stress that will make you sweat on a 30 degree day.
Watching our new hires being trained today reminded me of my first day on the job and all the emotions I've felt.
During training there's the feeling of anticipation. You're kind of nervous but in the back of your head is "I can do this!"
Most newbies I've ever met are bright eyed and bushy tailed.
Then after a call center agent has been on the phone a few weeks, (some may take a month to this emotion) there's the feeling of absolute dread. After the third week I started having nightmares. On the way to work I'd peer through my windshield and see the call center building approaching and I'd start to groan and mumble aloud. My mind would swirl with ideas of how to escape my fate.
After a couple of months on the phones you start to go into a kind of depression. This is where you've sort of accepted that your life sucks and you have very few other options. You go in, you take the calls, you don't care anymore if people curse you out and scream at you, your life sucks and the end of the tunnel is black.
Finally you get to the point where you're mellow and you can kind of accept it. That's where I am now. I must have seen 8 or 9 paydays by now and at this point I am accepting my job. I don't love it and I don't hate it. I clock in and think "Pay day is x amount of days away"
Joe Famous just called me a stupid expletive deleted?? Okay! I am getting paid for him to call me that.
Some Spanish guy just spent 20 minutes of his evening on the phone cursing me in another language....I can dig it. I just got paid 3 dollars to hear an interpreter call me a dummy. What he really said is not what she said in translation because if there's anything I recognize in Spanish, its swear words.
I am at the point where some days are better than others but I no longer have a pessimistic outlook. Life doesn't seem quite as bleak. When there are few other job opportunities around, you suck it up, even if your job does suck. I neither anticipate or dread starting my day. Sure, some days I grumble before, during and after work....but then...who doesn't?
I find that these are the typical stages for most call center employees I've talked to. You might wonder what this has to do with writing, well nothing really. If dreams actually did come true the relevance would be that working in a call center would be a thing of the past. Other than that, this entry is more about my personal life than my writing dreams.
Enjoy...or don't but comment even if you hate it.
Watching our new hires being trained today reminded me of my first day on the job and all the emotions I've felt.
During training there's the feeling of anticipation. You're kind of nervous but in the back of your head is "I can do this!"
Most newbies I've ever met are bright eyed and bushy tailed.
Then after a call center agent has been on the phone a few weeks, (some may take a month to this emotion) there's the feeling of absolute dread. After the third week I started having nightmares. On the way to work I'd peer through my windshield and see the call center building approaching and I'd start to groan and mumble aloud. My mind would swirl with ideas of how to escape my fate.
After a couple of months on the phones you start to go into a kind of depression. This is where you've sort of accepted that your life sucks and you have very few other options. You go in, you take the calls, you don't care anymore if people curse you out and scream at you, your life sucks and the end of the tunnel is black.
Finally you get to the point where you're mellow and you can kind of accept it. That's where I am now. I must have seen 8 or 9 paydays by now and at this point I am accepting my job. I don't love it and I don't hate it. I clock in and think "Pay day is x amount of days away"
Joe Famous just called me a stupid expletive deleted?? Okay! I am getting paid for him to call me that.
Some Spanish guy just spent 20 minutes of his evening on the phone cursing me in another language....I can dig it. I just got paid 3 dollars to hear an interpreter call me a dummy. What he really said is not what she said in translation because if there's anything I recognize in Spanish, its swear words.
I am at the point where some days are better than others but I no longer have a pessimistic outlook. Life doesn't seem quite as bleak. When there are few other job opportunities around, you suck it up, even if your job does suck. I neither anticipate or dread starting my day. Sure, some days I grumble before, during and after work....but then...who doesn't?
I find that these are the typical stages for most call center employees I've talked to. You might wonder what this has to do with writing, well nothing really. If dreams actually did come true the relevance would be that working in a call center would be a thing of the past. Other than that, this entry is more about my personal life than my writing dreams.
Enjoy...or don't but comment even if you hate it.
Must be soul destroying. I'm not surprised that so many people get abusive though. Invariably I find 'surveys' turn into attempts to sell me something. I always seem to get called at the most inconvenient times by telephone sales people and have often resorted to humour at the caller's expense such as - 'You've called me at a really bad time could you call me back in about 2 hours on 010813177' (Tokyo weather forecast) or the 'Yes' response where evey question is responded to by one word - 'Yes' (my record for that one is 32 'yes' before I get the click)
ReplyDeleteAs to call centers offering support I always seem to get someone in India with an incomprehensible accent who knows nothing about the problem I called about.
I actually never ever sell anything. Our job is kinda just to verify stuff and offer customer service.
ReplyDeleteWe're actually in America. We go either inbound or outbound because according to the client we work for...its important to obtain the most accurate information for the customers.
I wish I got someone who just said yes. All I have to verify is about 4-6 things per call. Sometimes I am just verifying a current residential and mailing address sometimes I am verifying a few other important pieces of information. While it seems like a survey if anything is inaccurate such as the address I'm ready to correct it.
MOST people love me but customers can smell and pick up on fear. I say if you have to have a call center job get customer service line of work. If you get a call center job....get confidence because I've gone from being yelled at 3xs a day every day to being yelled at 3xs a week. I am firm, not rude. I have an answer to most every question. Rarely does a person make me nervous and it seems when you have confidence people are less likely to pounce.
But most of the customers I call or even if they call me....they are nice, try to work with me, or are friendly.
ReplyDeleteBut at first all customer service reps in our department are bright eyed and bushy tailed. then they get the few bad callers and they get nervous and down. then that's when it seems they lose their confidence. i think i should make a survival guide for working in any call center.