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I'd have a feeling your tune would change if, like me, it was the only job that got offered to you in a metro area out of 20 interviews that paid a livable wage and benefits. For me, it was either 9.00 an hour for 30 hours with no benefits or 12.00 an hour with benefits.
Agreed. Or, if you had been unemployed for over a year and were loosing out on jobs because of it. I hate working in the call center I am in now, but at least I am working and getting experience back on my resume.
Ive done it a couple times first time worked my way up and out in the same company... .The second time was because there were no other available options to me... Now if they would of paid me more and hired less kids who worked at BK and Subway the week before and thought making 10 bucks an hour was awesome I might of stayed. I just couldnt see the light at the end of the tunnel being hired in and actually working for the company. Honestly I think I would of stayed but we all started out thru a temp service that treated everybody like your were 12.... I was very angry and pissed off all the time and jumped ship the first chance I got for a better paying job.... I think it depends on the situation and how much crap youre willing to put up with... I was 30 something working with 19 and 20 yr olds that were annoying and whined way to much... I was tired of playing mama to hungover boys and girls with boyfriend problems and listening to overprivleged over indulged complain about there washers and dryers not working when I was freaking out about being able to pay rent on time...
I'd have a feeling your tune would change if, like me, it was the only job that got offered to you in a metro area out of 20 interviews that paid a livable wage and benefits. For me, it was either 9.00 an hour for 30 hours with no benefits or 12.00 an hour with benefits.
Agreed. Call center jobs are high turnover, and are usually for people to work while looking for something else, or if they have a bad record and can't get anything else. Call center work doesn't usually pay bad and the benefits are usually pretty good, at least in my call center, but the conditions are so bad that if you are there for too long it can really start causing problems with your mental and eventually physical health. I get nosebleeds because of high blood pressure at work, many times feeling like I am going to pass out. The first two years I was able to handle it pretty well, but this last year has been torture. Sometimes it feels like prison would be a better option. The only thing that keeps me going is knowing I am getting out at the end of the summer.
1. You get yelled at all day, and or deal with negative people. That in itself isn't the bad part though. The worst of it is being unable to essentially defend yourself from almost any unpleasant thing said because you'll be penalized under guidelines that are always attained by only about 5% of the workers.
2. You're given evaluations on a bi-weekly to monthly basis that can determine whether you're let go immediately. If you're numbers our stats aren't to perfect standard, which they almost always won't be, you can be fired if the persons dislikes. The ease or willingness to terminate you tends to subside after the probation period ends.
3. Mirco-managing and the constant eye of big brother breaks peoples sense of freedom. Essentially, you're watched and under scruitiny for even the most minor of actions. Going to the bathroom "too often" is a constant aside made by many. Often, even getting up to stretch your legs garners looks of madness and murder from the eyes of those above. You are never rewards for exempliary service from manage, and rarely told so by customers. In fact, the system in place usually has some fatal limitation or hard and fast rule that 100 out of 100 time will get the customer angry.
4. You must love repetition and be able to stomach the same everything like a blank sheet of paper. Time does not go by quickly. The beep signalling another person is on the line slowly scratches away at your sanity. You begin to seethe with vile, but have nothing to release your venom upon. Next call!
5. Co-workers acting like immature children is ubiquitous. They do so to forget where they are, pass the time, and give some sense of distraction. Here, there always seems to be people that are favored by management.
Alone none of the above is too much for most, but when it's all combined it leads to high turn-over and the deserved rep the majority of call centers receives. Mind you, there are good places to work where the feeling of despair is non-existent. However, those tend to be rare, have very strong criteria for employment, and actually have a good product. In fact, I'd wager the only good ones to work at are financial institutions. The best ones where I'm at you can make about 17.80 an hour. Most tend to be between 10-12 though.
1. You get yelled at all day, and or deal with negative people. That in itself isn't the bad part though. The worst of it is being unable to essentially defend yourself from almost any unpleasant thing said because you'll be penalized under guidelines that are always attained by only about 5% of the workers.
2. You're given evaluations on a bi-weekly to monthly basis that can determine whether you're let go immediately. If you're numbers our stats aren't to perfect standard, which they almost always won't be, you can be fired if the persons dislikes. The ease or willingness to terminate you tends to subside after the probation period ends.
3. Mirco-managing and the constant eye of big brother breaks peoples sense of freedom. Essentially, you're watched and under scruitiny for even the most minor of actions. Going to the bathroom "too often" is a constant aside made by many. Often, even getting up to stretch your legs garners looks of madness and murder from the eyes of those above. You are never rewards for exempliary service from manage, and rarely told so by customers. In fact, the system in place usually has some fatal limitation or hard and fast rule that 100 out of 100 time will get the customer angry.
4. You must love repetition and be able to stomach the same everything like a blank sheet of paper. Time does not go by quickly. The beep signalling another person is on the line slowly scratches away at your sanity. You begin to seethe with vile, but have nothing to release your venom upon. Next call!
5. Co-workers acting like immature children is ubiquitous. They do so to forget where they are, pass the time, and give some sense of distraction. Here, there always seems to be people that are favored by management.
Alone none of the above is too much for most, but when it's all combined it leads to high turn-over and the deserved rep the majority of call centers receives. Mind you, there are good places to work where the feeling of despair is non-existent. However, those tend to be rare, have very strong criteria for employment, and actually have a good product. In fact, I'd wager the only good ones to work at are financial institutions. The best ones where I'm at you can make about 17.80 an hour. Most tend to be between 10-12 though.
For $17.80 an hour, I'd probably let my soul die in one of those places. Decent wage for that kind of work.
For $17.80 an hour, I'd probably let my soul die in one of those places. Decent wage for that kind of work.
I could deal with being tethered for 17.80 an hour... However its the call centers that are 10 an hour were I feel its not worth the verbal abuse or hassle if you have other options available to you...
i work in one now and it's the WORST job i've ever had, i'm actually considering just quitting before finding a new job. I'd rather work at a mcdonalds, or deliver papers. it was the STUPIDest decision i ever made
Ive worked in a lot of call centers and to be blunt about it, in my honest opinion they are not good places to work at....Like others have stated you get yelled at all day and deal with the most immature, negative customers known to man sometimes although once in a while you get a very nice person who is understanding.
Then, you are micromanaged by the management team and you have to meet monthly stats/sales quotas and after a few months of not meeting them you are out the door......the benefits are pretty good and the pay is decent, but if you're like me then you just can't stomach sitting confined to a headset and desk 8 hrs a day its just not worth it mentally or physically.
Some of my former co-workers have worked at the same call center for 16 years plus still taking calls every day and I honestly don't see how they do it....
Oh I almost forgot, the backstabbing nature of call centers really irks me.....you have people that will tell your boss if you take too many bathroom breaks, come back a little late from your breaks/lunch, some call centers I worked at you even had people who would listen in on your phone calls(not talking about quality team)and go run back to tell your manager that you did something wrong...
If you have too, work at a call center until you find something better
Ive worked in a lot of call centers and to be blunt about it, in my honest opinion they are not good places to work at....Like others have stated you get yelled at all day and deal with the most immature, negative customers known to man sometimes although once in a while you get a very nice person who is understanding.
Then, you are micromanaged by the management team and you have to meet monthly stats/sales quotas and after a few months of not meeting them you are out the door......the benefits are pretty good and the pay is decent, but if you're like me then you just can't stomach sitting confined to a headset and desk 8 hrs a day its just not worth it mentally or physically.
Some of my former co-workers have worked at the same call center for 16 years plus still taking calls every day and I honestly don't see how they do it....
Oh I almost forgot, the backstabbing nature of call centers really irks me.....you have people that will tell your boss if you take too many bathroom breaks, come back a little late from your breaks/lunch, some call centers I worked at you even had people who would listen in on your phone calls(not talking about quality team)and go run back to tell your manager that you did something wrong...
If you have too, work at a call center until you find something better
That's the sad truth. In every call center I've been in they always had the long timers. They've been there 10 - 20 years still plugging away on their computer and headset and I'm wondering how their brain hasn't completely turned to dust from all the stupid crap management has done to them over the years. I can't see how people can stand it. I could understand someone working at some retail place for 10 years, but call center work is like a prison. It's one of the worst jobs to get if you ask me, especially telemarketing crap.
And the workplace in these cubicle farms is BAD. The cubicles are poorly laid out and crammed on top of one another, the lighting is bad, the chairs are never adjusted right, and so on. And the computer systems are a joke; I swear that management uses the ****tiest slowest software in the world just to spite the employees and customers. (I worked at Gateway years ago and their systems were so slow that I had my system cut out on me on a couple of calls. Yeah, explain to the customer on the other end of the line that your system is a piece of crap when you're trying to sell them equipment from YOUR company.) You have to open up three seperate programs, enter in your User ID-Password, and wait for the POS servers to finally load the information onto your terminal just to tell the caller that, yes, we finally got that Rewards Card mailed out to you after you called 4 times already and the previous 'agents' were just plain dumbasses.
As the Californians would say, "Gag me with a spoon!"
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For me, it was either 9.00 an hour for 30 hours with no benefits or 12.00 an hour with benefits.
because they suck
