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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Alexia and Things 