I
was heading into work last week and saw a kid (I can say kid because he was closer to eighteen than twenty one, and I am
closer to forty than thirty, both of these things are sad in their own way).
Anyway, he had on a t-shirt that read “Carpe Diem”- this is absolutely true. I asked
him if he was trying to be ironic. He said he didn’t know – for his part, probably also true.
I
did start me down a path of thought. See both of us are employed in a call center. Yes you know, one of
those tall office buildings where a bunch of drones with headsets attempt to
talk to regular people about a whole myriad of things. Perhaps you haven’t paid
your bills, maybe you just got into a car accident, or it could be that you’re
overburdened by money, and someone is desperately trying to sell you something.
Me, I work in tech support, employed by
a vendor company that I can’t mention, for a primary company I can’t name, that
supports products I can’t freely talk about.
Confidentiality.
You understand, I’m sure. Rest assured, whatever it is I may or may not do, it doesn’t
involve national defense, or require security clearance. However, there are
lots of problems with this job.
 |
| This gentleman is showing call center managers where they can stick it to their employees. |
The
main thing is, I’ve already done all this before. I mean I’ve been at this for
a month now, and all I can think about is how everyone I’ve been introduced to I’ve
either met before, and / or done their job in a previous job of my own. In my
training class there was the know-it-all (not me this time, more on that in a
bit), the trainer, the hip one, the professional, the manager, the burnout, the
person that can’t be bothered to take anything seriously (also not me), the
team lead, the immature one, the conspiracy guy, the section manager, the loud
mouth (sorry, still not me), and a few others.
Before
I get into where I fit in with all of these caricatures, let me give you some
insight on the type of company we are dealing with…
…We
started the class with 23 souls, by day two we had lost two people. They just vanished;
no one knows what became of them. By the end of week 1, two more had dropped, one for sleeping in
class, and one that was fired for having “court” and missing too much of the “training”.
In week 2, two more people were terminated for dozing during class, and one for
attendance on that Monday. He just showed up at lunch on day 6, with no
explanation, and no phone call. Midweek of week 2 a few more dropped, one of
which was due to DCS taking her kids (or that’s what she told me). No judgment
here, DCS takes a lot of kids, or so I’ve heard. The other two were let go because of cell
phone use in class. This particular employer thinks the world will end if a
cell phone comes in close proximity to a work computer. That brought us to week
three when two of the people in class decided they needed to fight one another.
Perfectly normal, and professional workplace behavior, right? However, I suspect
because we had lost so many people they let it slide. Two days later these two
were at it again, one of them terminated because he had been deemed instigator.
Finally, on the last day of training, again another person vanished, and
another failed to complete an exam we needed to pass in order to remain
employed. By the end of the three week training we were down to nine.
And
then there was me. Again, having done all this before, I wasn’t sure if this
particular place was where I needed to be, I still am not sure, if I’m being
honest. My perspective is at least different. I’m not the know-it-all, or the
class clown, or even the loud mouth.
It’s
much worse. I’m the old guy. And by
old, I mean oldest actually. And that’s only because two of the sleepers
that were fired had waved bye-bye to
fifty years old long ago. I wear glasses in class, I check CNN instead of
Snapchat on my breaks, and God help me, I contribute to the general goings-on
during class! Sadly, this is the only part of this experience that is new. I
find it hard to relate to my whippersnapper classmates, and harder still to
relate to the members of management I’ve met. Notably, I have left out my
previous career accolades, as I didn’t want to intimidate anyone. At least I’m
the socially awkward one, a role that I am used to, and can carry well.
Clearly,
I am less than thrilled with this job. So is it the fact I’m starting at the
bottom all over again? Possibly, I take issue with the job because of its
menial, repetitive nature? Perhaps, it’s because I lack the passion for the
work. Or maybe, just maybe it’s because it’s a call center.
Someone
once told me that call centers are places where dreamers weep and creativity goes
to die. If that’s true, I’ve both wiped my tears, and come back from the dead.
Unfortunately, now feel like I’m marching right back down that path to the slaughterhouse.
Also,
do you hear that ringing? Somebody answer that damn phone! Oh wait, that’s my
job…
