Call Centres- Evil places - Are they ever a career CHOICE?

Over my working career during the past 25 or so years and considering all the call centres I have worked in, I have never met anyone who left school with a grand plan to work in a call centre.

Following my previous post over a year ago about call centres being the most stressful and evil places to work, I was determined to escape the one I was working in at the time. I'd had enough of those calls which made me literally shake with anger and frustration. I never ever wanted to talk to the lowlifes who regarded screaming abuse at a stranger in a call centre as entertainment.

I told myself the next time I was abused I would inform the lowlife peasant on the other end of the phone just where to stick their mouldy carrots. No longer would I 'act the professional' when confronted by one of life's losers who had nothing better to do than call someone unfortunate enough to have to work in a call centre on a Sunday evening and tell them they would come and break the poor unfortunate worker's legs because their meat was too chewy.

Never again would I bite my tongue to the point of near severence to prevent myself from giving as good as I got.  I almost prayed for a nasty call so I could get all the pent up frustration out. Boy was that peasant going to get it.  After I gave my notice I was just waiting for opportunity. Sadly it never came.

The last call I took in that job was a really sweet old lady who rang to say we had delivered one too many tins of cat food and would we like her to bring it back next time she was in the local store.  She restored my faith in humanity. No way was I going to be anything other than charming and polite back to her.

The only call which came close to giving me my opportunity for payback was some screaming idiotic man who was at a caravan site for half term and the delivery driver was not able to find him. At 4pm he had called to say the van was an hour late and he had five kids sitting round the table waiting for their tea and they were all starving (at 4pm).  He said if we didn't get his shopping to him within the next ten minutes he would write to all the papers and the company director and the Queen and whoever else he could think of. Not able to insert a word edge-ways, I let him get on with his tirade of abuse.

This caller was not getting at me personally but just venting (it is different - trust me).  I was trying not to laugh by the end, firstly because I knew the end of my tunnel was looming and so my whole mood was lighter but I checked this man's shopping list, ten bananas,, two bottles of vodka, seven tins of cat food and a frozen chicken not entirely sure what he expected to feed the kids who were already sitting at the table but hilariously he told me at the end of the call "If I have to wait any longer to feed these six children I will charge you for child cruelty". If only I had had the nerve to congratulate him on his virility as his brood of kids had increased by one since the start of the call.

It was time to leave that job. I could almost feel an ulcer or six developing. It is surely plain cruelty to make someone sit for eight hours a day plugged into extension 666 and to have to be polite. courteous and professional to whatever wretched excuse for humanity feels the urge to grab their phone and yell abuse and obscenities down the line at whichever unfortunate is forced to answer.

I finally escaped the job from Hell last July. Woo Hoo. I found a new job...

(in a call centre).

What was I thinking?!?!

Well - the new job is with a different company in a different sector, it has a different reputation, the job is different in that the new job involves people calling BECAUSE THEY WANT SOMETHING. I am careful not to put too much information in here for obvious reasons but the difference between the old job - which was basically front line sh*t catcher and the new job are worlds apart.  The old job involved the peasants calling when they were at the peak of their frustration and anger and shouting at someone they appeared to believe was an uneducated, stupid, idiotic plank of a verbal punch bag.  The new job - still a call centre for the public, but one where the callers want what is on offer offer and are prepared to listen to me when I speak to them with some respect and with a pleasant attitude because they WANT something.  There are still the odd few who throw their verbal toys out of the pram when I tell them they can't have what they want due to factors which cannot be changed but these mainly accept this with good grace.

Odd - I am the same person with the same education, background, accent and everything else but I am spoken to as if I am at least a person.  It is a welcome change.

I am happy to report that all call centres are not the same.  The new one is different.  I have spent many hours in different call centres over my working life and the current one is probably one of the best of all of them.

My very first ever call centre job was in an outbound call centre selling advertising for the local free newspaper.  The basic wage was only very slightly above minimum wage PLUS there was commission which it was pointed out could double your wages.  WOW - full of enthusiasm I was in. Right from the word go I HATED it. The training started with how to call a customer - create a rapport - use their first name, make notes about their likes/dislikes, pet's name.  I thought this was so false and it didn't sit right with me.  There was a lot of pressure, a lot of 'These are the rules - but you will move forward faster if you break them all - although if you get caught breaking them you will get shot'. If you are a manager you can break the rules but if you are regular staff you can't - although those high fliers appear to have broken them all.

The constant calling out to see if someone wanted to advertise in the paper was soul destroying.  At an estimate 90% of people would tell you they were not interested, others would say that the last time they advertised they had a compliant which still wasn't resolved so the whole call was pointless as they spent the next half hour complaining.  The easier calls would just involve being told to go f*ck yourself, at least those were to the point. The very worst ones were those who weren't able to say 'no' so told you to call back later - when you did they told you to call again - these were the one final hope - the one you clinged on to until the end of the day - if you had no sales and then finally on your fourth call they would tell you to leave them alone - 'can't you take a hint?'

I hated that job SO much I had to go.  Outbound calling was NOT my forte quite obviously.

When an insurance company opened locally I applied. I figured incoming calls would be easier - if people were calling ME because they wanted something then this would be better.  I would not have to pick up the phone and dial as they wold come to me.  I would ask a few questions and sell them insurance and they'd be gone.  MUCH EASIER.  There were the odd few customers who were downright rude, a few who just rang us as they were bored, a few just because the number was free, a few to tell us what underwear they had on and a few rang to buy insurance.

One incident which will stay with me for ever was a late night waster - these people knew we shut at 10pm and would call five minutes beforehand purely to make someone's life as difficult as possible. Knowing we were not supposed to hang up on them they took full advantage to make the call as nasty as possible.  They would complain about everything and nothing and demand a manager.  One such call came through to a colleague who shall be nameless.  After the customer had screamed at my colleague for twenty minutes and my colleague had patiently let him vent my colleague had taken enough abuse. Firmly he said
"Mr Green.  Mr Green, MR GREEN - OK let me talk now. - Mr Green I have listened to you and it is now 10:20 at night.  We officially closed twenty minutes ago - let's try to resolve this shall we? Firstly Mr Green, let me check you have noted my name'..
The reply was "No I bloody haven't,"
So my colleague replied "Well F**k Off then' and pressed the red button.

Oh how I wish I had the guts to do that sometimes.

I moved on from there to a call centre at a loss adjuster for a year and then on to another insurance company.  I managed to get a very nice back office job where I stayed for eleven years.  Sadly this insurance company went belly up after the credit crunch and I got made redundant along with 220 others in my office.

So now I am in another call centre,  How did that happen?  I am happy to report that all call centres are not the same.