I work in a call center. I don’t like it, and I don’t plan on doing it longer than I need to. I probably won’t even put it on my resume. However, I believe that whatever job you find yourself doing, you have an obligation to do it to the best of your ability. It’s called work ethic. It doesn’t matter if you hate the job. It doesn’t matter if you’re underpaid. You knew what the wage was, and what the job entailed, when you accepted the position. You made a committment. By all means, look for something better. But in the meantime, do the job you’re being paid to do. You may not like everyone you have to work with. You may not like some of your superiors. But you’re in the workforce, so presumably you’re an adult. Are you going to act like one, or are you going to act like a 14 year old who has to sit next to her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend in class?
I watch the behavior of some of the people I work with, and I think, who raised you people? TV? The internet? You have no work ethic whatsoever. You wander in late, you sit there in “not ready” for way longer than you need to finish up your case notes. You call in sick when you’re really just hung over. And you mock people who actually do their jobs.
I am starting to think that some people work in call centers because they’re not fit for anything better.
This article appears in May 8-14, 2008.
My question is, why are you so interested in what these people are doing, why don’t you just do your work and stop worrying about other people!!!
It’s hard to not notice when people are blatantly slacking. I agree with the OP. If you keep that attitude, you’ll get ahead much faster than people who treat their work like it’s beneath them.
I think I can answer that, Elle. Having done my time in call center hell, I can tell you that for every minute one person spends dicking around, the “que”, as it’s called, gets that much longer. That means people are on hold longer waiting for someone to answer their calls, and when they finally get through they are proportionately crankier. It means somebody is going to get stuck on a call at the end of their shift, maybe missing their bus. And it means more neck breathing supervisors lurking around. If a few people in a call center aren’t pulling their weight, the job gets harder for everyone. And it’s a shitty job to start with.
“you’ll get ahead much faster than people who treat their work like it’s beneath them” Unless of course they are getting “underneath” someone in management…if you know what I mean. ; )
Christopher, I found that getting “on top” of management has done wonders for my career… jk… ;)Miranda, your description gave me icy cold chills. I spent 3 months in a call centre 10 years ago and still can’t talk about it without shuddering… *shudder*
Well I’ve worked at plenty of call centers myself, and yes it is a horrible job, not to mention I spent a little time at the one in dartmouth, that I’m sure your all familiar with. All I’m saying is, stop worrying about everyone else, if your doing your job, people will notice this and you will get ahead, but don’t let that bother you what other people are doing. Trust me the managers do notice, and the people who are slacking don’t usually last too long! But keep in mind you can’t take those jobs too seriously either or you will go crazy! That work is hard on the head and there not paying people enough to work there! I guess maybe my work ethic was out the window when I worked at a place that couldn’t even provide me a work station to work at, and that I had to walk around the center for 2 hrs looking for somewhere to sit, I think these places are hard to take seriously, maybe the company should look into treating their employees with a little respect and then I think they will find people putting in a little more work ethic.
I know what you’re saying, Elle – it’s hard to keep giving 100% when you get the same results with 25%. If you work hard regardless, though, it turns into a habit and an ethic you carry throughout your career, and you will eventually find an employer who appreciates it and rewards you accordingly.
Oh and I definately agree with you, Qwerty, all I’m saying is, in those kind of enviroments its a little hard to have great work ethic because everyone is slacking. I’m saying don’t worry about other people in these kinds of places because its not going to make any difference, just keep your work ethic and don’t worry about everyone else! If you want to be 100% at a call center then great, but say someone is only 50% at this place, I can’t really blame them and doesn’t mean that they won’t move on to something better and have better work ethic. I do know what you mean, maybe my way of looking at the topic is wrong but its just how I feel because I have been in those places and I couldn’t take it seriously!
True.What I think we can ALL agree on is that call centres are soul-sucking vampires… I’m trying to remember funny stories from my time, but I think I successfully repressed every memory I had of that evil place… does anyone else have a story? For some reason, I’m fascinated by call centre stories… it’s like the whole car accident curiosity thing…
I understand what you’re saying, Elle, and I agree it’s not the kind of job you can put your heart and soul into. But I think if the OP’s coworkers’ slack work habits are making his job harder, then he has a right to be pissed at them. As I’m sure you know, in a call center everyone’s work habits affect everyone else.
See I didn’t really find everyone elses work habits did, because everyone was just sitting there doing the same mind numbing work, I guess I could see how it would affect the que, but the que was always up so much I didn’t notice the difference if someone wasn’t taking any calls because regardless there was 200 in the que. I’m just saying you can’t expect too much from anyone at these places and if it bothers you that much, time to move on, don’t worry about what other people are doing its not going to make a difference!!!!! Everyone is slacking, no one wants to be there, and you cannot put any kind of pride into your work at those places!
I worked 12 hours backshift in a call center for a year, over 4 years ago, and to this day I still feel sick to my stomach if I hear that certain type of phone ring. It was inbound for a lot of different companies, which included selling everything from NSCAR calendars to Viagra. I had one guy keep me on the phone after his order was complete for 45 minutes just talking about whatever.
All this talk about work ethics is making me think seriously about getting back to the work I am currently trying to avoid…..OK, I’ll read just one more bitch…then back to the grind.
Whoa whoa whoa… slow down there Miles… Let’s not get carried away here…
In my office, work ethic seems to be going the way of the dinosaur. I blame in on the union we belong to. Everyone has job security, so they do the bare minimum at all times. There’s no incentive to ever go above and beyond.
Thanks for talking me down Qwerty, I almost got something accomplished today….and that would only make everyone else look bad here at work. But kidding aside, work ethic is alive and well where I work, possibly because we don’t deal with the public and maybe because there are no unions working hard to give us more for less. Not that unions are bad, but they can give workers a sense of entitlement that results in a decline in work ethic. But that attitude is everywhere anyway, union or not….look at some of the bitches on here about shoddy sales people, sandwhich makers, bus drivers etc. Like the OP said, these people know what the job entails, suck it up and do your job properly. Every job has a shitty side.
Sears Call Centre was the best place to work. I loved it there and I was getting paid $8-something an hour, back in the mid 90’s that was awesome for a student working part time! I never worked at any other call centre but I’ve heard some pretty terrible stories…
Lori, the Sears call centre is where I worked for 3 months 10 years ago and I HATED it!!! It’s the only call centre I ever worked in too, but it felt like a dungeon. Ugh, I’m all shivery again just thinking about it… Maybe it’s because I wasn’t a student anymore, it was one of my first jobs out of school…
Maybe I would’ve hated it too if I had to spend 40 hrs/week there. But, I made friends for life, and had a lot of laughs in the few years I was there.
Yeah, student jobs are way more fun anyway. I loved every waitressing job I had when I was in school, but once I was out of school for a few months, it turned bleak in a hurry.I will say this for call centres, though – they can be solid stepping stone into a somewhat decent (but low end) office job…
you couldnt have worded that better!i am also a call center employee but on my way outgo back to school and you will relise their is somethign else out there