by Paula Megginson

Created on: February 20, 2009

I have been working in a call center now for the past three months and at first I liked the challenge of seeing how many people I could get to volunteer. As time went on the challenge of learning the scripts and keeping a running score to stay in the game so to speak was great. I am all for challenges. Over a period of time monotony sets in, and with time the monotony of the job becomes boring, which is a little too much for me to handle. No more am I challenged to score so to speak especially when people say to you on the phones things that sometimes breaks your heart, it is no longer fun at those times. The times you must push past humanity and say things that are designed to convince people to change their minds and swing them in your favor no matter where their pocket books are at that time is too much for me to bear. There are times when people are in the midst of burying a loved one and we must get that volunteer any how, after all they have a whole 30 days to do what we are asking. Sure life goes on after death but grief must be considered too. The constant chatter of all the other workers in your ear is mind boggling and over whelming to say the least.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /

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The other thing I don't like is the need to ask for permission to go to the bathroom or get a drink or simply stretch and get away from it all for a few moments. Listening to people for extended periods of time can be quite challenging, especially when they are angry or sad or in a dilemma and feel as if you do not care. Some times you want to reach out to them and let them know you truly understand and may also be going through the same thing, yet you must remain unbiased and insensitive to a degree and get those numbers up as high as possible. Keep smiling they tell you, the people can hear your smile through the phone, yet the smiles on the other end are few and far in between.
It is a job, an unfortunate job that has to be done for lack of a better way to increase. But it can be quite degrading at times. It requires the worker to be very strong mentally and know who they are otherwise it will strip you of everything you have going for you. Communicators are the front line in the battle and get very little recognition for what they do daily that makes their company shine in the eyes of solicitors. Plugging away daily at the same old ox is redundant but you do it to pay the bills. Not so much for the love of what you do. I believe there is very little to love, but necessity keeps you plugging on as hard as you can for as long as you can. Doing something more rewarding is a definite must in the near future for me. With the economy as it is I pray that will come sooner than not. It is past time to say goodbye to the call center life for me. This is just some of the reasons call center work is not a lifetime priority for me.

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