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Boomer The Cannon posted:I had a TSR tell a customer that 'It looks like you pay quarterly, so you only have to pay 3 times per year.' Well, of course. "Quarter" means "divide by four," and 12 / 4 = 3. QED.
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Aug 30, 2013 14:11
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 18:37 |
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Starting Wednesday, I will no longer be a CONSTANT phone monkey. I will be spending 3 hours per day doing online chat. Not 100% sure this is a good thing, but I figure being yelled at over text is better than being yelled at over the phone.
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Aug 31, 2013 02:53
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I thought about chat team, but I have this insane fear I'd have to basically interact with YouTube commenters all day
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Aug 31, 2013 03:13
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Loving Life Partner posted:I thought about chat team, but I have this insane fear I'd have to basically interact with YouTube commenters all day That's not much different from dealing with them on the phone. At least taking chats, I could listen to music or something while I did.
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Aug 31, 2013 05:50
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Unfortunately the way my job is structured they don't let you "dabble" and try something else. It's like, hey the Commercial Auto team has openings, if you're interested, you'll leave your current team and work in that dept. for at least a year!
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Aug 31, 2013 12:52
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We've just moved into a new office. I have my own desk!  Unfortunately, they've put my team (service) right next to where the sales teams are. I really don't know why, but sales are so. goddman. loud. One woman in particular has the most annoying grating loud voice, people four desk-banks away are complaining. They've apparently got "smart" noise reduction, but they've taken away the desk dividers that did a really good job at keeping the noise levels down. We've complained to, well, pretty much everyone we can, but I doubt anything will be done about it.The other weird thing is that the bathroom at the back of the office has a bar-style condom machine in it. Yeah, not really sure why.
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Aug 31, 2013 14:43
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We had a guy that was so loud on the floor, they built a freaking wall of dividers around him that went floor to ceiling to try and stifle him. Looking around now, that construct is gone and I haven't heard his big dumb hoarsey voice, so he must have quit or got shitcanned.
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Aug 31, 2013 15:20
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Loving Life Partner posted:We had a guy that was so loud on the floor, they built a freaking wall of dividers around him that went floor to ceiling to try and stifle him. We have one, too. They call it Drew. Except nobody will build a wall around him, so I have to hear him all the god damned time, when I'm a bay and a half away. I used to think he was a nice enough dude, until I got caught up midsentences because I could hear his loud rear end all the time. I find if I'm talking and can audibly make out what somebody else around me is saying, it trips me up. So thanks a lot, Drew.
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Aug 31, 2013 17:13
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Pretty sure when i finally snap and walk out of here forever, the call that'll do it will be a dumb bell with a delayed phone line for some reason where we step on each other's toes and pause like 7000 times in one call.
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Aug 31, 2013 17:40
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I used to sit next to a real-life Loud Howard. I ended every shift with a full-body headache. The only way to fix it, unfortunately, was to get a new loving job.
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Sep 1, 2013 06:29
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I'd just like to give props to EA's phone and chat service, everyone I talked to was chill and was able to help me with no trouble. Phone service done right 
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Sep 1, 2013 20:52
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Well another rant from my corner of call centre hell... The newest management trend is to continually accuse me of call avoidance. Once for "aux toggling" which in their eyes is me trying to avoid calls by switching statuses but in reality its me trying to do my after call work and having the legitimate ACW aux continue to gently caress up and dump me in ready when I'm trying to note, do a trouble ticket, etc. Then I'm avoiding calls by going to the washroom maybe twice a shift. And then I'm apparently avoiding calls because I was in ACW yesterday for 10 minutes doing legitimate after call work (creating a trouble ticket) and then went into my break aux because the call I was working on came through just before my break. I think it's important to note that doing tickets in ACW is actually what we've been directed to do. So I get this bullying email demanding I justify this instance. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the pattern of accusatory behavior when I'm just trying to do my job. Going to a job fair tomorrow for retail.
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Sep 4, 2013 14:11
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I'm still basically furloughed at work. My new desk starting up has been pushed back to the end of September and I'm going stir-crazy sitting at my desk and not doing anything worthwhile all day. I just emailed my new boss to see if there's any other positions in the company that I could explore in the future because I don't see any advancement possibilities in helpdesk (duh), I've known him for a while and he's a pretty reasonable guy so I'm hoping I can set up an appointment with HR or something to talk about something else I could do here since I've got the time right now and my company is pretty big on hiring from within. Because, well, I've got a bachelor's degree and it's not even remotely computer related so I need to explore other options and not be all complacent in my lovely job, even if I do like working at it.
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Sep 4, 2013 14:18
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This is the worst job I ever had. I called in sick today and am not; I've not once done that in my life but I wanted a few days of peace. This job is like a cancer hollowing me out from within. And all that for about 5 EUR an hour. On the positive side I'll hear back on how I did on a phone interview with a cool nerdy company in England soon. But if I don't get that I really need to find a way out of this dead-end job before I lose all will to live.
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Sep 4, 2013 18:20
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Cedric posted:This is the worst job I ever had. I called in sick today and am not; I've not once done that in my life but I wanted a few days of peace. This job is like a cancer hollowing me out from within. And all that for about 5 EUR an hour. Where the hell do you work that doesn't have a minimum wage way above 5 Euro an hour?
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Sep 5, 2013 19:35
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To be fair it's 8 EUR an hour but you must consider that there is a lot of taxes. And I live in East Germany. This particular company is the biggest employer in a crumbling town. Their turnover is 90% a year. People still come to work, for a brief while, then quit; burnt out. I feel a little guilty for calling in sick but maybe I should not. I have never been lied to about so many things so quickly: about the bonus, about the vacation, about the pay, about the hours, about the chances for promotion, about the job itself- everything. Cedric fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Sep 5, 2013 |
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Sep 5, 2013 21:13
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Why are you still there? Don't say "because there's nowhere else" because that's bullshit. There's always somewhere else.
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Sep 5, 2013 23:30
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Cedric posted:And I live in East Germany. Got some news for you...
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Sep 5, 2013 23:38
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I think my brain must be broken, then, because working in a call centre (while career-wise a step down but blah blah economy in the shitter any job is a good job etc) is seriously one of the easiest roles I've worked in. You can tune out the odd abusive customer, and at the end of the day once quittin' time comes around you don't need to take any of the job home with you. Granted I'm probably luckier than most in that it's an inbound government position and the pay doesn't hurt at 55k, and I wouldn't want to be here in 5 years time, but as a stopgap where you just need to do your job and then forget about it whenever you're not physically at your desk it's tremendously liberating when compared to my previous work in consulting where I would have to work 64 hour weeks with no overtime/additional remuneration, or do rush jobs that had me working past midnight.
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Sep 5, 2013 23:56
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You make 55k for taking calls? Wow, you've got it good! poo poo, I got promoted off of the call center floor and I don't even make that much, and I live in LA! If I was making 55k when I was taking calls, I wouldn't have minded staying there for a while either. You are spot on about the nice part being "Clocked out, going home!" and not having to think about work when not at work.
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Sep 6, 2013 00:00
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It's not as easy as clocking out and forgetting about work. I often have stress headaches, anxiety (to the point that I obsessively check my work email from home though I've worked on not doing that anymore) and can't sleep properly anymore. So however you're able to clock out and not think about work when at home, by all means, tell me what the magic source of your power is because I sure as hell want that ability too.
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Sep 6, 2013 00:06
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For me, it was taking a mental attitude of "That call is over with, I never have to talk to that person again" after the bad calls and trying not to focus on those. I tried to focus on the "good" calls where customers were friendly and grateful for my help. As soon as I left the building for the day, I threw on my earbuds and blasted some jams that would pick me up and get me dancing/singing. I would never talk about work outside of work, except maybe to tell friends dumb customer stories for a laugh. Mornings were sometimes difficult, and there were plenty of "Maybe I should just call out today..." moments, but my company's perfect attendance bonus (an extra paid day off per month) was too good to pass up. E: VVV I didn't make 55k, that was Breetai. I made $16/hour, which was livable, but not amazing. WampaLord fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Sep 6, 2013 |
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Sep 6, 2013 00:19
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WampaLord posted:For me, it was taking a mental attitude of "That call is over with, I never have to talk to that person again" after the bad calls and trying not to focus on those. I tried to focus on the "good" calls where customers were friendly and grateful for my help. As soon as I left the building for the day, I threw on my earbuds and blasted some jams that would pick me up and get me dancing/singing. I would never talk about work outside of work, except maybe to tell friends dumb customer stories for a laugh. 55k, a paid day off per month for perfect attendance, and no "smart routing" to make sure you got the same idiots repeatedly? I think I could live with that. Even as a permanent career move.
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Sep 6, 2013 02:30
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Breetai posted:...at the end of the day once quittin' time comes around you don't need to take any of the job home with you... When I worked in call centres I would, on a nightly basis, wake up in the middle of the night, spring upright in bed and start my introductory speech ("Welcome to Mega Corp...") before realising I was not actually at work. I also found, when working in trouble-shooting roles or roles where I had to break down a lot of information and explain things to customers the way I would explain them to a five year old that my inner monologue was slowly replaced with the phrases that I would use most frequently on calls. So if you can leave it all behind at the end of the day then that's awesome but you might find that after a while your work has an insidious habit of following you out the door and into your personal life.
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Sep 6, 2013 04:37
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cyberia posted:When I worked in call centres I would, on a nightly basis, wake up in the middle of the night, spring upright in bed and start my introductory speech ("Welcome to Mega Corp...") before realising I was not actually at work. That's not really taking work home with you at all. That's normal poo poo that comes with spending a third of your days at a certain place, it's a completely different thing. You are never, ever going to have a job that doesn't have those weird rear end work dreams or other kind of poo poo like that. Sometimes I answer my phone "Thank you for calling Domino's" and I haven't worked there since I was a teenager. At some jobs when you clock out the only thing that changes is the fact that you are no longer being paid. There's an ever present workload on your shoulders and the fact that you aren't at work doesn't excuse you from not getting the job done. Call centers just don't tend to work that way, which is one good thing about them.
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Sep 6, 2013 05:17
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WampaLord posted:You make 55k for taking calls? Wow, you've got it good! Government department managing payments to social support recipients, with responsibilities that can affect/potentially cancel customer payments. Increased pay reflects that, I guess. Basically it's down to that fact that there are no long-term projects or things that take more than one transaction to complete; once I've assisted a customer that's it, my part is done, and there's literally nothing more that I can do once the call is over. I work hard, and have received commendations for doing so, but at 5:00 on the dot I just walk out the front door and instead of worrying about planning the next day, or an upcoming meeting, or a piece of work that needs to be completed before a looming deadline, I can do whatever I want. Sure, I've found myself using the phrase 'bear with me' a little more than before I got the job, but I no longer work hours of unpaid overtime for a sociopath who gleefully brags about instances that he's made employees cry (during team meetings, in front of said employees) anymore. So there's that. Breetai fucked around with this message at 10:09 on Sep 6, 2013 |
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Sep 6, 2013 10:06
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Well, of course I am trying to quit- I am trying my hardest to find a different, better job. It's a little difficult with no degree or work experience (don't ask; it's a long story) but I am certainly trying. And I too wake up at night and find myself saying "Welcome to your [Online Pay Service] customer service, my name is Gilligan Winter, please tell me your complete name for data comparison purposes!" - but for, after taxes, 5 EUR or so an hour it's really not worth it. The worst might be how /easy/ the job is. It's not challenging at all, yet stressful- a very strange combination.
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Sep 6, 2013 13:11
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I've had some dumb dreams about my call center. Getting assigned to take my phone home at night and keep falling asleep and missing calls, that kind of thing. No matter what your job is, you're going to dream about it.
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Sep 6, 2013 14:00
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Dreams about work are the worst. I used to work as a cashier in a fishbowl for a gas station, and I'd have long involved dreams of huge rush busy days and wake up feeling like I had worked all god damned night.
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Sep 6, 2013 14:31
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Sometimes I'll be driving home from work or wake up at night and realize what I should have done to fix a problem I couldn't resolve earlier that day. But it's always too late.
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Sep 6, 2013 14:33
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Oh my god, oh my god! I just heard back from that job in England and made it to the next, second-to-last stage out of four stages. I am so giddy! Now I actually won't mind the call center for a few more weeks, knowing I can at least make it this far in the recruiting process.
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Sep 6, 2013 15:31
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I always had spontaneous voices in my head at night when I worked in a call-centre. As in, I'd be trying to sleep, then suddenly hear the beep followed by random, mostly nonsensical phrases. I'd sometimes try to pay attention to what was being said but then it'd stop. Then I'd relax, and it'd start up again. That's when I knew I had to get the gently caress out. Humans weren't meant to listen to such constant, concentrated speaking all loving day.
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Sep 6, 2013 17:31
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ZeroDays posted:I always had spontaneous voices in my head at night when I worked in a call-centre. As in, I'd be trying to sleep, then suddenly hear the beep followed by random, mostly nonsensical phrases. I'd sometimes try to pay attention to what was being said but then it'd stop. Then I'd relax, and it'd start up again. That's when I knew I had to get the gently caress out. Ive had that too! It sounds like it SHOULD be English (inflection, the way things are phrased) but I can't make out a word at all. It can be absolutely terrifying at times.
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Sep 6, 2013 18:11
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Y'all need to learn how to compartmentalize your thoughts. Despite years of call center work, I've never answered the phone by using my work intro or had nightmare thoughts about callers. Granted, maybe I'm the lucky exception and should check my privilege. Alternatively, most call centers don't drug test, so 420 smoke  everyday. That should help with the voices, or at least make them more fun to talk to.E: VVV Sorry if I came across as lovely to people who might have actual mental problems from call center work. If that's the case, please seek therapy. WampaLord fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Sep 6, 2013 |
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Sep 6, 2013 18:38
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WampaLord posted:Y'all need to learn how to compartmentalize your thoughts. Despite years of call center work, I've never answered the phone by using my work intro or had nightmare thoughts about callers. Granted, maybe I'm the lucky exception and should check my privilege.
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Sep 6, 2013 20:48
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Breetai posted:Government department managing payments to social support recipients, with responsibilities that can affect/potentially cancel customer payments. Increased pay reflects that, I guess. you can always do your year and go to a different government department which is what people do here now.
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Sep 6, 2013 20:53
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Ugh, I wish I could hear something from the other two jobs I applied for. I'm really, really really beginning to hate my customers. (  That and I'm not getting the answers I want on swapping my car for a truck)
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Sep 9, 2013 19:34
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Gothmog1065 posted:Ugh, I wish I could hear something from the other two jobs I applied for. I'm really, really really beginning to hate my customers. And keep the car until its paid off and you have cash for a truck. You work at a call center, you don't want a drat loan! What happens when you randomly get fired?! Lol that said there were a buttton of new cars @ Netflix and you just knew no one paid cash for them. Lol.
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Sep 10, 2013 03:20
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SiGmA_X posted:Hating the customers happens. Get out. Get out now. Trust me, this has been on my mind since at least 1.5 years ago. I think with a combination of things, and the expectation of the possibility of another job, the customers are getting to me more than normal. I think something similar happened last year when I almost had a job but they "restructured" and didn't hire me. Would have been tech support, but internally with a company where being a belligerent rear end in a top hat gets reported to the CEO of the company because I was on the same floor as him. I've sent out over 200 applications and dropped the money for my A+ exams which I have to cram for and take next weekend. I think that will help me get past the HR stupid.
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Sep 10, 2013 03:32
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 18:37 |
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quote:Where do you see room for improvement in yourself? I really can't wait until my quality meeting tomorrow!
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Sep 10, 2013 17:44
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