Emotional labour, emotional dissonance at work in customer service jobs

[killer b]

A quick check of the people I'm still in contact with who I used to work with on the phones suggests that two people are still working for the same company, now as team leaders! Otherwise, one has just been made redundant from a supervisory position in a similar company, and the remainder no longer work in the field.

Encouraging numbers.

 

[J Ed]

Although customer service jobs are typically entry-level positions, they can lead to more advanced positions within an organization.

What a weird fucking post, what is a parasitic cunt like you doing on a forum like this?

In any case, your vomit disguised as insight raises some interesting points. What opportunities does the average full time telephony-based punching bag have? Well, in outbound call centres DotCommunist is right, very small benefits but at least you get off the phones. For inbound call centres in my experience of three call centres of major UK financial institutions generally the supervisors are recruited from other businesses as 'expert people managers' which as far as I can tell means a willingness to fuck people over at the slightest provocation. It certainly does not require any competence with the processes followed or systems used by employees, at the Santander call centre I spent a good proportion of my time explaining very basic processes to my line 'manager'. She was very fucking good at telling you that you were about to be sacked for daring to be ill though. The manager of the Sheffield and Bradford Santander call centre does not know how to use excel, but he does know how to deliberately walk into working-class teenage girls fresh out of school and accuse them of rudeness because they didn't dodge out of the way.

In fact, just prior to leaving I saw the metrics by which interviewees are judged during interviews, one of them is 'realistic attitudes about prospects of call centre work' which explains why I was laughed at during my interview when I pretended that the prospects were good.

 

[weepiper]

Although customer service jobs are typically entry-level positions, they can lead to more advanced positions within an organization.

looooollllllllll.

 

[dervish]

What a weird fucking post, what is a parasitic cunt like you doing on a forum like this?

In any case, your vomit disguised as insight raises some interesting points. What opportunities does the average full time telephony-based punching bag have? Well, in outbound call centres DotCommunist is right, very small benefits but at least you get off the phones. For inbound call centres in my experience of three call centres of major UK financial institutions generally the supervisors are recruited from other businesses as 'expert people managers' which as far as I can tell means a willingness to fuck people over at the slightest provocation. It certainly does not require any competence with the processes followed or systems used by employees, at the Santander call centre I spent a good proportion of my time explaining very basic processes to my line 'manager'. She was very fucking good at telling you that you were about to be sacked for daring to be ill though. The manager of the Sheffield and Bradford Santander call centre does not know how to use excel, but he does know how to deliberately walk into working-class teenage girls fresh out of school and accuse them of rudeness because they didn't dodge out of the way.

In fact, just prior to leaving I saw the metrics by which interviewees are judged during interviews, one of them is 'realistic attitudes about prospects of call centre work' which explains why I was laughed at during my interview when I pretended that the prospects were good.

What a lot of bile. Was that really necessary?

My experience certainly wasn't like that. I started off as entry level tech support, ended up as the top escalation point for queries, I could have gone on to do many other roles in the company but our office was closed and I was made redundant, I took the money and ran. In that job I worked with many, many people that have started as entry level customer service and have gone on to work as team leaders, moved to hr, gone on to technical roles etc.

I think you've worked in some particularly bad call centres. Most of the call centres I have had experience in have not been great, but one thing they did have was a number of opportunities to get the hell out.

You do have a point about the managers though, many of them are woefully unprepared or untrained to manage people and as such can make the frontline staffs lives hell. I learnt a lot about how not to manage people from watching call centre managers.

 

[butchersapron]

Came across this article, I thought that all of it was worthwhile but this particular bit stuck out to me



The expectation in call centre roles is that a person can, and must if they want to pay the rent, simultaneously personify a company while not taking a constant stream of abuse personally deferentially to tens and in some cases up to a hundred people a day. I am just watching a new 'team' starting at work, the horror of the first couple of days for them is turning to numb depression, and it has to otherwise you simply cannot do the job.

He's now bumped this into a book being published by Pluto Press later next month - obv he had to finish his PhD at Goldmsith first and then get a job at the Cass Business School before finishing this bottom up non-workers inquiry.

 

[Tankus]

Still preferable to JSA.....just....!

 

[emanymton]

He's now bumped this into a book being published by Pluto Press later next month - obv he had to finish his PhD at Goldmsith first and then get a job at the Cass Business School before finishing this bottom up non-workers inquiry.

Meet him once, struck me as a bit of an arrogant dick, and sounded bloody posh. Assuming it was the same guy that is.

 

[butchersapron]

The story is now that he was working undercover now he's a Dr. About as far as a workers inquiry as you could get. 6 months work 6 years career out of it.

 

[AllEternalsHeck]

I've been doing outbound dialling (marketing for insulation, boilers etc) for coming up on five years now. Very interesting thread to read through. It's true that you adapt and become normalised to what you're doing quite quickly, but it never stops being an utterly shit way to spend 8-hours of your day. I feel quite unwell after work every day: really frayed round the edges, stressed out, can't really get much joy out of normal activities like watching TV because my brain just feels all wired.

I live for my days off.

The dialler is relentless. The workplace itself is hot and busy and fucking LOUD. Managers constantly on your case. My favourite is when are supplied with bad data (tons of wrong numbers, ineligible customers etc) but still have to dial it because it isn't vetted first, just fed into the dialler... then managers start complaining when the appointment rate falls: 'you need to objection handle more'. Mate, I've just tried to sell a boiler to a customer that WE installed a boiler for six months ago! This is my fault!? They listen to your calls and make sure you're objection handling i.e. not taking no for an answer.

As a natural introvert who hates loud places, hates speaking on the phone, isn't a great fan of conflict and people being annoyed at me... I really hate this fucking job.

 

[J Ed]

I've been doing outbound dialling (marketing for insulation, boilers etc) for coming up on five years now. Very interesting thread to read through. It's true that you adapt and become normalised to what you're doing quite quickly, but it never stops being an utterly shit way to spend 8-hours of your day. I feel quite unwell after work every day: really frayed round the edges, stressed out, can't really get much joy out of normal activities like watching TV because my brain just feels all wired.

I live for my days off.

The dialler is relentless. The workplace itself is hot and busy and fucking LOUD. Managers constantly on your case. My favourite is when are supplied with bad data (tons of wrong numbers, ineligible customers etc) but still have to dial it because it isn't vetted first, just fed into the dialler... then managers start complaining when the appointment rate falls: 'you need to objection handle more'. Mate, I've just tried to sell a boiler to a customer that WE installed a boiler for six months ago! This is my fault!? They listen to your calls and make sure you're objection handling i.e. not taking no for an answer.

As a natural introvert who hates loud places, hates speaking on the phone, isn't a great fan of conflict and people being annoyed at me... I really hate this fucking job.

I can identify with a lot of this. I am also an introvert and I think that it is particularly difficult work for people like us especially when it is probably too much back to back interaction for even the most extroverted people out there.

I know exactly what you mean, the feeling constantly stressed out even when not at work was a really key feature of call centre work for me. I haven't had any non-call centre based job where I felt as stressed out while not actually at work as I did when working in a call centre, I found it really difficult to actually think about anything else at the time. I imagine that the worst aspects of the job I did, inbound, are compounded when doing outbound. You really do have my sympathy.

 

[AllEternalsHeck]

I can identify with a lot of this. I am also an introvert and I think that it is particularly difficult work for people like us especially when it is probably too much back to back interaction for even the most extroverted people out there.

I know exactly what you mean, the feeling constantly stressed out even when not at work was a really key feature of call centre work for me. I haven't had any non-call centre based job where I felt as stressed out while not actually at work as I did when working in a call centre, I found it really difficult to actually think about anything else at the time. I imagine that the worst aspects of the job I did, inbound, are compounded when doing outbound. You really do have my sympathy.

I've been meaning to get back to your reply for ages, kept forgetting.

In some ways as an introvert I think I've done better than many extroverts. You get tons of outgoing personalities coming out of training who can't last two weeks on the floor. The boredom and repetitive frustration wears them down pretty quickly and they lose their cool. I consider myself an outbound survivor, and do take some pride in that. On the whole the environment suits extroverts better though. I'm surrounded by very loud young guys who cope with the job by just having a riot everyday: tons of rowdy raucous banter. They are good guys but I'd love a bit of peace and quiet sometimes.

I'm handing in my notice next week to go to graduate school. Relief doesn't cover it.

 

[J Ed]

The story is now that he was working undercover now he's a Dr. About as far as a workers inquiry as you could get. 6 months work 6 years career out of it.

Someone else has worked out that they can monetise this schtick https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hired-Months-Undercover-Low-Wage-Britain/dp/1786490145

 

[The Pale King]

'taking on the country's worst jobs'

...the 'our intrepid reporter' angle is grim. Like he's doing a bushtucker trial or something.