5 Reasons Why I DONT Like Call Centers.

This past Tuesday I decided to resign from my position as a debt collector. And I have never felt so relieved. I realized this particular field just no longer suits me.

Here are some reasons why I would never go back.

 

 

1. Micromanagement

   This has to be one of my biggest pet peeves as an employee and working at a call center you will see no shortage of people under a magnifying glass for just about everything. From the calls you complete to going a minute over your break, there always seems to be some kind of reproach and I’ve found that it creates a tense environment for employees who stay on edge throughout the day because of it.

   

    Big Brother watching?

2. Workplace Environment

   When working in a call center expect for there to be some noise, most that I’ve worked in you are often side by side and in front or behind other employees who are also doing the same tasks as you and might not be aware of how loud they are. Sometimes music is played and announcements are made which can all affect your ability to concentrate.

   I can’t tell you how many times I was asked if there was a party going on in the background and the standard response was that we were celebrating a few birthdays.

   Liar, liar, pants on fire.

3.  Conflict with Employees

   Now its no big surprise that you might not get along with all of your peers, we all have different personalities, opinions and perceptions, sometimes like magnets with the same poles we repel each other but call center discord is in its own league. Though I was responsible for my own stats and productivity I was on a team and we all shared common goals and often individually were we delegated specific tasks that aligned with them. Animosity would often arise if one team member thought someone was taking advantage and everything would just blow up into this catastrophic mess where we spent many hours in conference rooms hashing out complaints. It was all pretty elementary.

    

4. The Customers

   One of the most challenging elements to being apart of a call center of course are the customers. In addition to dealing with all the not-so-great factors you have to speak to hundreds of people everyday who range from being very kind to extremely rude. You do come to realize that they’re not really mad at you just the situation but when people are spitting vulgar language at you from every direction possible it can be difficult not to take it personal. You get hung up on, taunted, threatened and just about everything disrespectful one can accomplish over the phone. I never let any incident take me out of character but there were times when I wanted to scream, the mute button allowed me to release.

   

5. Stress

   Balancing customers, your environment and the demanding expectations of the company can leave you feeling overwhelmed and eventually discouraged. There were days and sometimes weeks where I could get no one on the phone to speak about their account. I was constantly in my head trying to keep my spirit up. Failing to produce meant little to no bonus, making mistakes meant losing your bonus ENTIRELY as well as being subjected to disciplinary action. I was wrote up a few times for not meeting my metrics, no matter how hard I tried or how many times I dialed out and I begun to grow frustrated and felt my morale slowly fading away. For a year I was getting off work to eat, watch TV, sleep and repeat and I grew exhausted of it.

 

Now don’t get me wrong they aren’t all completely terrible and that includes my former employer, but I don’t plan on working in another. This is based on my experience and these are my opinions.

 

Have you ever worked in a call center before? What were your experiences?

 

Check out my last post here.

 

 

Still finding balance.

 

I was going through some of my old posts from when I initially began this blog, and I was quite surprised at how regularly I was posting though I cant speak too much for the content or writing.

Not a big surprise, and I cant say there has been noteworthy improvement since then.

But I came across a post I had written right after I had graduated about finding balance within myself. My weight loss, self-image, and insecurities were things that I had been battling since I was in middle school and I wanted to embark on a journey to self love and acceptance.

I had convinced myself that when I turned twenty-one I wouldn’t be the same girl plagued by fears of not being good enough. Not good enough to attain success, confidence, and peace within myself. No, I would blossom and vanquish the demons that I had allowed terrorize me for so long from my thoughts, so that I could grow.

But here we are at twenty one and most days I couldn’t feel more trapped by those demons. I wake up everyday heavy with emotion and regret at how I have allowed myself to stray so far from where I had planned to be.

Its been almost five years

of complacency

 of saying this will be the year I finish school

 of attempting to stick with a weigh loss journey

 of the same dislike of myself 

And I know I alone am responsible for how far I let myself decline.

Often times I don’t think we notice most of the wounds we obtain are self-inflicted, that the underlining self doubt and disdain can gnaw away until you become numb to its very existence. I don’t want to keep allowing myself to sink further.

I decided last month I was going to begin pursing a different and more positive outlook. That I would not continue to hold myself back out of fear of not being good enough. I decided to start with re-establishing this blog.

I don’t where it will go or who will even care to read but I’m done worrying incessantly about it.

So here’s to believing in ones self again and walking the road to finding balance.

 

 

 

 

Perception is NOT reality.

You know it wasn’t until I began working for my current employer that I heard the phrase, “perception is reality”.  I work in customer service, to be more specific I am a debt collector so I spend my days during the week contacting people about their unpaid accounts that are in collections. Sounds fun right?

Often to pass time we talk, sing, and play games because as you could have guessed there are so many people looking to hand over their  money on accounts they have long forgotten and/or don’t care about. But still we do our jobs of course.

Managers will often walk by and inquire if were working because they’ll overhear talking and laughter (you might as well say happiness) and its not deemed productive.  I had such an encounter.

“Perception is reality and you don’t want to appear as though you are not focused.”

Now at the time I completely understood that we were at work and from a business perspective its not but I was taken back by the statement. I turned and stated that it wasn’t true. That perceiving something a particular way doesn’t mean its factual. How did she know we weren’t discussing the job. How can you decide something based solely on what you see or hear? It grew quiet and she stated just because I didn’t believe in it didn’t make it untrue.

I simply shrugged my shoulders and turned around not wanting to appear “insubordinate” and stayed in deep thought the rest of the day.

Perception per the dictionary is defined as a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something; a mental impression.

A mental impression.

But I’m sure we all can agree that our perception is not always an accurate depiction of reality. In fact in many instances we are incorrect about the things we form opinions on and I am speaking from my own experience.

I am very quick to decide I don’t like something or someone based solely on what I overlook and see, and I know I’m not alone. We judge and base our actions prematurely and it comes back to bite us. Because things are not all as they seem.

I don’t want to embrace such a flawed concept.

 

As Jim Brown says,

“I’m not interested in trying to work on people’s perceptions. I am who I am, and if you don’t take the time to learn about that, then your perception is going to be your problem.”

 

Need I say more?