If you’ve ever worked in a call center you know that a good part of your time there will be kind of a struggle. It’s definitely not the most glamorous job but somehow you got roped in. Maybe it was the decent sized paycheck, or maybe it was the flexible hours the company bragged about in ads or online. Whatever the reason, you’re there for a couple of hours everyday, sitting in a cubicle with a headset strapped to your head. The call center life definitely has its ups and downs.
1. Even when you’re answering your own cell phone you answer the way you answer at work.
“Thank you for calling (insert company name here) how can I help you…wait whoops, sorry! Hey mom.” With out you even realizing it your job has changed your brain chemistry to only answer phones in that tone of voice and with those words.
2. Your shift always seems to go by so slowly, and then all of a sudden it’s over.
For the first three hours of your shift the minutes were dragging by and your eyes couldn’t keep off the clock. You felt like every minute actually lasted thirty. But then as you kept taking calls and you lost track of time the hours went by in seconds and then it was already time to leave…and turn around and do it all the next day.
3. Mouthing entire conversations across the cubicles to your coworkers.
There’s the craziest lady talking to you right now, and you really want to laugh out loud and tell your friend across the aisle. You throw a wadded up post-it to get their attention and mouth/pantomime the entire tableau to them without making a sound. All the while, the crazy lady on the other end has no idea.
4. Depending on the company’s dress code, looking like a complete potato at work.
Some companies may have a dress code where you need to dress professionally, or you may just have a crush on one of your coworkers so that motivates you to look decent. Either way, sometimes you may have to dress nicely when you work in a call center but a lot of times the dress code is pretty lenient. Let me tell ya, when the customer will never see you or what you’re wearing it gets pretty easy to wear pajama pants and slippers to your daily shifts.
5. You talk to some of the dumbest people.
You encounter this at really any job that involves talking to the customer, but call centers always seem to have a little extra in the idiotic people department. The plus side, you gain tolerance. You get good at getting yelled at for something that wasn’t your fault or answering the dumbest questions. Your patience will grow ten fold, and that is always a great skill to have for future, better jobs. And when all else fails you can usually pass the call along to your manager.