Within hours of failing a job interview for a customer service role at Barclays bank, I was contacted by a Liverpool based recruiter informing me of “exciting customer service opportunities” available through, you guessed it, employment with Barclays. My failure to cement a second interview was entirely self inflicted, I did not prepare sufficiently for the telephone interview, because I knew, deep down, that I could not bring myself to step back into the heinous call centre environment. The thought of donning my fiddly headset, to talk twaddle with someone who places themselves on a precariously high pedestal when taking to call centre staff, did not appeal to me in the slightest. I don’t mean to cast all call centre customers as ignorant individuals, but the sweet and delightful ones are few, and even further between.
For my sins, I’ve worked in call centres before, amounting to two mind-numbing periods of employment, totalling 10 months. For those of you reading this that have also had the pleasure of working in call centres, you’ll know where my grouch manifests from. Remaining stationed in a chair, staring at a computer screen for hours on end causes time to pass painstakingly slow. Adding to the frustration is the clock, at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen, which you glance at every available moment. It feels as if this tiny, grating clock is smiling at you, winking your way, as your day drags and drags. Ex and current call centre staff can identify with the exasperating ‘BEEP’, ‘BUZZ’ or ‘HUM’ which molesters your ear-drums, acting as a signal to indicate a new customer’s presence, or contrastingly, the joy and rejuvenation one feels, when required to come off the phones, and complete some routine form regarding your employment. The latter of these two examples is unfortunately not as frequent as the former.
I believe there’s a toxin residing in the unsightly water –containers, arbitrarily dotted throughout offices, which renders staff miserable, critical and docile. I’ve never worked in such a negative environment, with continual waves of complaints from staff and customers alike. It’s the fuzzy, unconvincing attitude that representatives are required to convey, and overtime, such falsities simply don’t cut the mustard. Towards the end of my last role, I purposely annoyed customers, instigating disputes, to get a rise from them. This was a very childish and unprofessional attitude to work, but I despised the role and did not see myself at the company long-term. I was feeling well and truly unperturbed after a particularly heated debate, when my manager informed me she’d listened to the call in question. How I did not get fired, I’ll never know, but I was the talk of the office for the remainder of the day.
Team leaders have the undesirable job of making call centre life seem fun, enjoyable and (laughably) worth-while. The meaningless targets, emphasised despite lacking in value, make for the most uninspiring of goals, such as ensuring your call time is the desired length, or that comfort breaks, (breaks in addition to allotted rests and lunches) do not exceed stated times. I once spent 5 minutes of ‘comfort’ stood in a toilet cubicle as light relief from being on the phones. Feeble encouragement from managers, telling their team that they can be ‘the best team’ fall on deaf ears, no one cares about being the team with the ‘best’ statistics, and I’m sure the mangers couldn’t give two hoots either. Staff are aware of the limited career progression available, resulting in their diminished enthusiasm, not concerned with impressing managers. Add to this the repetitive, and tedious nature of the work, it doesn’t make for an enjoyable, stimulating job.
It’s this emphasis on protocol that seems unnecessary, becoming wearisome the longer one remains in the job. Agents are required to advise customers while reading from scripts, taking the form of brain-dead robots, unable to add an ounce of individuality or personality to the job. Difficulty booking holidays and changing shifts is another customary obstacle that arises due to the strict rigidity governing company policy. It’s this lack of flexibility that fuels the fire of frustration in such roles, and it’s no surprise that call centres have such a high turnover of staff, when you bear in mind the rules and regulations governing staff.
Graduating students, or individuals considering employment in call centres, need to be aware of what such work holds for them. I understand that jobs are scarce, with people having to apply for jobs they wouldn’t have considered doing previously, and call centre work is one area recruiting in abundance at present. I understand that many people enjoy working in customer service roles, seeing the job as a stand-up, honest way to make a living, which it is, when compared to some of means by which people come about money. However, I feel so strongly about some of my negative experiences from call centre life, where I worked with people who really did not want to be there, putting minimal effort in, but continuing to complaining about the situation they’re in, without instigating change. When you’ve witnessed one of your co-workers swearing at customers while their phone’s on ‘mute’, and flicking V-signs into a handset mouthpiece, to relieve work based frustration, you would suspect that they’re in the wrong line of work.
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