Reasons Why Working In a Call Center Can Be Great!


Call centres. The 9th circle of hell. A place where young dreamers are introduced to the harsh realities of human existence. And yes there are many disadvantages to working in the customer support industry. However, in my experience I have found that you can put a positive spin on almost anything. Here are some of the benefits of working at a call center.






    Being employed. Usually a call center is the last resort of the desperate graduate. Sure it might suck, but at least you are usually doing regular hours and have a steady income. Anything is better than unemployment. Being unemployed can cause all sorts of mental problems like depression and low self-esteem. Earning a wage, even a low one, can give you confidence in yourself. Maybe you’re not ecstatic about sitting in a chair all day, but it’s better than sitting in an armchair in front of the TV contributing nothing to society.





    Sitting down. Following on from that, I know there are disadvantages of sitting down for 8 hours a day but there are also benefits! For example, a lot of us have swivel chairs which can result in hours of twirling fun before the chord from our headset gets tangled and possibly wraps around our necks. I won’t lie, I have also been prone to a slight bout of motion sickness after such sessions. So those are two things to watch out for while you’re having fun; throwing up and accidentally choking yourself.




3     The staff. Having a great job must be really fun. I’m sure the people who work in fun jobs all get on very well and spend time together outside of work too. However, there is no greater bond than that between customer support agents. All that it takes to bring people together is to have a common enemy. In this case, we unite over our mutual hatred of the customers! Is there anyone worse than a customer? When they’re angry they’re mean, when they’re happy they’re patronizing, when they’re confused they’re frustrating. The question isn’t; “Is the customer always right?” The question is; “Is the customer EVER right?”





4     The stories. Following on from the previous point, does anyone have better stories than call center employees? When you go to fancy dinner parties, or (more likely considering your salary) take a trip to McDonald's with some friends, who has the best workplace tales? You! Nancy from River Island tells a gripping tale about someone who tried to get a discount with an expired student card. Nice try Nancy! That’s way funnier than the time I had to explain to a guy on the phone why his order of a Hitler-themed USB key was cancelled! Or the many confused and scared customers who call in because they have received a turtle hat from an anonymous sender through our company. But your story was good too Nancy, what an emotional rollercoaster!





5      Anonymity. I realise that the experience of dealing with customers on the phone every day can be soul-crushing and extremely exhausting. But that is the key point. You are dealing with them on the phone! They can’t see your face, they can’t physically assault you in any way, and sometimes they can’t even hear you! While you’re making reassuring sounds, saying “I am so sorry for any inconvenience this has caused you” and groaning sympathetically down the line, you can also be rolling your eyes at a colleague and clenching your fists to vent your frustration. The customer doesn’t know! You can be pretending to look up their account while actually texting a friend to vent about the stupid conversation you are having!





    Technical difficulties.  I know how you’re feeling right now. The minute you see those words your eyes light up and a wave of pure joy washes over you. Oh no, the phones are down! Oh no, I can’t access my emails! Oh no, the whole internet broke! Time to enjoy a gossip with your desk neighbours while pretending to try to find a solution to the problem. “Have you tried turning it off and on again? Hmmm. Pity Becky isn’t here, she’d know what to do. But she’s not here. Because she’s taking some time off. Nine months to be exact. What, you didn’t hear? The father is sister’s boyfriend – crazy, right?!” Ok, maybe the gossip won’t be that juicy but either way you don’t have to interact with customers so have fun!





7     Bullshit. Sure, you’ve been trained, but situations will arise that you wouldn’t, maybe couldn’t, have ever been prepared for. We all know there comes a time when you literally don’t have a clue and it is time for some Oscar-worthy bullshit to appear. It might be something simple like “Email us if the website still isn’t working for you by the end of the week”, or a slightly more elaborate explanation; “The reason the website isn’t working is because you just upgraded your Google chrome which means that the html is blocking our cookies so you need to clear your cache through the network settings, then uninstall the newest upgrade, and bathe in a lake under the light of the next full moon.” Either way, so long as you sound confident the customer will just accept your suggestion as fact. 





    Passing the buck. When your lengthy bullshit explanation doesn’t cut it with our savvy customer you will probably hear the most beautiful phrase in the English language; “I want to speak to the manager”. The customer thinks they are playing their best card, and beating the system somehow. Little do they know that the manager has had the same training as you and is most likely going to tell them the same thing you did. All the customer is doing is letting you off the hook! If your manager is nice you know they’ll understand that this isn’t your fault. If the manager is mean then sending them a furious and self-righteous customer is a tiny form of revenge! Maybe rile that customer up a little bit more before transferring the call by saying something like “We are NOT grateful for your call”. Victory!





9     Schedule life. Some call centres are stricter about clocking in and out than others, but most will have some kind of timetable that you have to stick to. Sometimes this even involves having scheduled bathroom breaks and getting in trouble for going one minute over your break time. I know it can be hard to see the positive side of having every second of your life monitored in this way but having this kind of discipline can help you become a more organised person in everyday life! Furthermore, you can make a game out of making it back to your desk and logging back in at literally the last second of your break. What a true sense of accomplishment when you sign back in at 12:59:59.





10   The customers. I know they’ve come up in a few previous points, but I’m talking about the customers as individual people. The ones we love to hate; the thorns in our side; the bane of our call center existence! Sure, when you get an angry one it can put you in a bad mood for the day but what about the rest? I’ve had so many really interesting, funny and genuinely enjoyable conversations with customers. Often they know they are the ones to blame for the situation and just want to see if there’s any way we can help. Or, they are angry just because they’re having a bad day, and once you’ve calmed them down they are really grateful. And what about the really sweet ones that want to talk to your manager just to praise you!? Yes there are a lot of ignorant, selfish, inconsiderate people out there, but if you only focus on the bad experiences you miss out on the positive human interactions you have every day!





      At the end of the day this job is probably just temporary. Keep searching and dream big!

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