I work for one of the better call centers in the country doing tech support for Microsoft. Specifically for Office. Your Word document crashed? Can't get your Outlook set up? Chances are you're talking to someone on the same floor as me. Are you using a Mac? Chances are even higher you're talking to someone I know. Before Microsoft, I was taking in calls for General Motors.
I work long hours but am fortunate (?) enough to be on a shift where we get the least calls, are paid to stay one more hour after they close the phone queue just so we can make a full eight hours and have the weekends off. Have I mentioned I also found a way to access AIM express at work so I can talk to my girlfriend?
I make enough to buy video games, feed my family, pay my cellphone bill and occasionally take my grampa out to lunch.
But I'm occasionally fatigued, gaining weight against my will and sleep at work instead of in my own bed. My boss scares the fuck out of me. I don't have enough time to talk to Ashley.
I was browsing Tumblr's call center tag and seeing a few people saying how much they hate their job. It was soul sucking. People are terrible and obnoxious and rude.
They are, I agree.
But for some reason, it isn't the calls that made me nearly quit my job. It was everything else I had mentioned earlier. I used to have the rudest customers back in GM who would cuss us out because they couldn't afford to pay for car repair. Now, all I worry about is not making the grade at the end of the month.
What I'd give for a bleeding environment like GM's again where I could tease my boss and we were like buddies. I miss ya, ERay
Nowadays, I've just tried to keep the motivation going. I'm doing it for Ash. I need the money. I'm making lemonade out of these fucking lemons.
So for the love of god. When you guys call customer service, please remember that the person on the other line is also a human being. They have reasons for sitting there, listening to your shit and the shit of five million other people. Maybe they have kids to put through school, maybe they're just trying to make ends meet, maybe they're trying to make a long distance relationship work. Sure, your internet doesn't work. Sure, you haven't paid your cable bill. Yes, we know it's a frustrating situation but that still doesn't give you reason to yell or call us names or act like we actually have the power to change the rules with how things are handled.
We have procedures and rules to follow too.
We are not the CEOs of our company and decide that your charges get canceled with a mere snap of our fingers.
Telling us you'll be suing the company or boycotting our products or writing a letter to the CEO of whatever company we work for doesn't scare us.
You're mad at the situation. We can try to find a solution but stop acting like we caused it in the first place.
