I recently had an opportunity to work at a call center. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be interested in this position. But this was a work from home Job. As you all know, this site, the one I own, is called wfh office. This seemed like a great opportunity to try out a new wfh job to see how it compares with others out there. If you’ve ever been curious about call center jobs, this is the post for you.

I was hired through a staffing agency. It’s a contract-to-hire position, meaning that after 720 hours, the company reserves the right to keep me on. At this point, I would become an employee, eligible for benefits and all of that good stuff. Furthermore, of the 720 hours, I would be released to work from home for the remainder of the contract, provided my “numbers are good”, whatever that means.

Some personal info:

• INTJ
• I do not like talking on the phone, so this should be an interesting challenge
• I’m a freelance writer

So here we go. This is the journal of my experience.

Note: Until I finished this journal and did some research, I had no idea the turnover for these types of jobs was so high. The national average is about 15%. Call center jobs have nearly triple that number. After working at one, I now understand why.

Living My Life One 15 Minute Break at a Time

Week 1

Straight up Training. We were given a packet of information and went through a training course with a test at the end. Training was from 10-4 each day and 10-3 on the final day.

There were a few other people in my class and they all had call center training and enjoy it. I have no complaints about the training. It was well set-up and taught.

Week 2

Day 1 – First day on the phones was really busy. The day went by relatively fast because of it. Some people got really upset because I was new and couldn’t answer all of the questions.

The training was solid, but there is no amount of training that can prepare you for curve balls. The company tries to filter the calls for their newbies, but they’re unable to catch everything.

I don’t get to pick my breaks. I’m allowed the standard two 15-minute breaks and an unpaid lunch of either 30 minutes or an hour, depending on how busy we are. I don’t deal well with having my life controlled like this and I spend the little bit of free time I had convincing myself that I needed to get my act together and make my own wfh businesses profitable so I won’t have to do this job forever.

At the end of the first day, I had no idea if I was going to come back.

Note: The more research I did after the job was over, the more I realized this is fairly common with call center jobs.

Day 2 – The next work day was better, at least for the most part. It wasn’t quite as busy. I did have some curve balls and douchey customers, but in this line of work, that’s going to happen.

I felt better about the job when I left on day two. Not in a “This is going to work out” kind of way, but in an “I guess I can deal with this until the contract is up” way. I’d really like to hang on to this job for the full 720 hours of the contract so I can write a full case study for readers.

One of the biggest problems is that I don’t like talking on the phone. I also don’t like people in general. So I’m afraid this is going to warp my information. On the other hand, I think most of the people who are curious about working from home and work from home call center jobs, specifically, are introverts like myself and they don’t like people or talking on the phone either.

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However, this isn’t the first time I’ve hated a job from the jump. The exception to this being freelance writing. I think this is just like any other job I’ve had in the past. It’s low pay, it kind of sucks, but it will get better as time goes on. Maybe. That’s the purpose of this journal, right?

Day 3 – Today went by ok. Similar to day 2. I’m getting more and more reps in and it’s making me better at the job. I don’t hate the job like I did on Monday. I’m slowly sliding into that mindset of “It’s a job and it’s helping pay the bills”.

The new schedule came out. Next week I’m working 6 days. Because our lunch breaks are so long, I’m going to be stuck in the office for 46 hours over six days next week thanks to a couple more training days. I was told that when the work get’s slow, they make cuts. Not sure if I’m gonna try to jump to the beginning of the line on this yet. I do have some personal projects I’m working on but it isn’t anything time-sensitive. Still, part of me really doesn’t want to be there and I know at least on some days, I’m gonna bail as soon as I can.

On a positive note, I had a customer refuse to hang up until I transferred her to a supervisor so that she could compliment me on what a good job I did helping her with a return and picking some new items to order.

Day 4 – Wake up was a struggle. I hit snooze several times. I’m not feeling quite as stressed today as I have the rest of the week and the week before. That could have something to do with it.

All of my shifts so far have started at 10 AM. The next schedule has me coming in at 11 AM one day and 1 PM another, but most of the shifts still start at 10. I’m up by 8 AM at the latest. This gives me time to drink some tea, write this journal, check emails and social media, and just kind of pull my shit together.

At 9 AM, I throw some lunch together, get dressed, and I’m out the door by 9:30 at the latest. It takes me 15 minutes to get to work and I like having the extra few minutes to hit the vape a few more times before walking in the door.

Day 5 – There were free nachos. Which is pretty sweet and definitely the highlight of the day.

Note: After looking back on three weeks of employment, this was by far the best day I had at the job.

Week 3

I feel like I’ve done a decent job so far of talking about what’s going through my head at the job. I can’t give away too much detail or else people can figure out where I work. For anyone who has never had any call center jobs, here is what I’ve figured out in the first couple of weeks at my particular place of employment:

– You have a script to read but some of it you can kind of tailor based on vibes you pick up from the customer. If they’re in a hurry, try to work faster. If they’re older and chattier, feel free to chat with them to make them feel comfortable.

– Being able to have a natural talk flow is the most important aspect of the job. You need to engage with the customer. This is definitely the hardest part for me. The organization I’m working for puts a lot of emphasis on the personal touch. They want us to go out of our way to connect with the customer on a personal level. They listen to calls and have a 100 point grading system. I failed my first two because even though I did my job, I didn’t connect personally with the customer. This just isn’t part of my personality, even with people I know, so trying to connect with strangers over the phone has proven to be nearly impossible for me.

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– There is no set schedule for the place I work, which is kind of funny considering they control breaks and meals. It’s impossible for me to plan anything in advance because of it. We’re required to work at least one weekend day and weekends and anything after 6 PM gets a small increase in hourly pay. Once I’m sent home and become a wfh employee, I think this will be fine.

– You’d think that call center jobs for a retail store wouldn’t be busy. But you’d be wrong. The phone rings off the hook. The longest I’ve gone without a call is fifteen minutes and that only happened once.

I recently spoke to a friend of mine who has been working call center jobs for years. He reaffirmed what I already suspected, which is that it’s all about the repetition. So the more I do it, the better I’ll be.

Day 1 – Today was really long for some reason. The day just dragged on and on and felt like it wouldn’t end. One thing I’ve realized is there are two types of jobs: The ones that make you dread waking up and the ones that have you excited to wake up and get the day started. An exciting job is likely only going to happen if you’re truly passionate about something. The dread job is pretty much any normal job.

I think that’s something I was used to in the past but after working for myself full-time for over six months, I was accustomed to being excited for the next day and the future.

Day 2 – I dread going to work. I’m fine once I get there and get settled in. By mid-day, I’m pissed off at the world. But by the end of the day, I feel fine. Just tired and ready to go home. It’s a bizarre roller coaster of emotions. So far, this job is pretty similar to this video:

These feelings remind me of how I felt before I started writing for money. Now that the work has dried up, my mind is rejecting the truth. I’m in a dry spell and there are no signs I’m going to pull out of it any time soon. And the sad truth is that I need to settle back into this life of trading my time for low wages. As much as I want this journal to be cold, hard facts, at this point, I actually need the work.

So I just need to take a deep breath, accept the fact that this is my life, and deal with it the best I can.

I was scheduled to work 10-7. It’s an 8-hour shift along with an hour-long, unpaid lunch. They cut my lunch to half an hour today because we were busy. At 6:40, I had a nice, but chatty elderly lady call in. I was on the phone with her for 45 minutes. By the time I clocked out and got home, it was 7:45. My entire day was shot and I was too tired to get anything done.

Day 3-4 – These were training days. For the last week and a half, I’ve been only doing sales calls and the occasional service call that slips through the cracks. Starting tomorrow, I’m fair game for anyone who calls into the call center.

I’m going to be completely honest, I’m done. I do not like this job. It is not a good job for introverts.

Who is it good for? Extroverts who want to work from home. If this is you, I highly recommend this job. Nothing beats working from home. You save money by not having to commute and you never have to take off your pajamas.

You talk all day long. You deal with rude people, people who talk to you like you’re an idiot, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. The interaction is way too much for any introvert to possibly consider this for long-term employment.

I was really nervous about telling my recruiter. He ended up being really chill about it. I told him the situation and he understood. He told me to check out their website to see if there was anything I liked and he would try to get me a job that I actually want.

Unfortunately, there was nothing on their site, so my search is going to be independent. The recruiting office has been extremely helpful is finding the job that’s right for me, so props to them.

I don’t know exactly when I’m going to put in a notice to the call center, but I hope it’s soon. I will make sure to update this journal until my last day is complete. After just a few weeks, I’m stressed, I’m frustrated, and I’m so tired and mentally drained that I don’t feel like doing anything else with my life. Check out this video to get a better idea of what I’m talking about:

Day 5 – I put in my notice today. Hah. My supervisor wanted to make sure no one did anything douchey to influence this decision. After that, she helped me to put up little notices on the bulletin board to see if anyone wanted to take some of my hours. She also told me how to get myself on the list for volunteers to go home early when the work is slow. Right before my lunch started, just four hours into my shift, I was sent home. This made me very happy.

It was a rough day from the second I hit the phones. People were calling in demanding information I either didn’t know or didn’t have any access to. It was incredibly frustrating. I was really happy to be sent home early.

Day 6 – This was a really long, brutal day. In the first two hours, I had two calls that went for 30 minutes. And neither customer was happy to be on the phone with me. I went in at 10 and didn’t get my lunch break until 3. By the time I got to eat, my head was pounding and all I wanted to do was go home. This was the busiest non-Monday I’ve experienced.

One thing that bugs me just as much as the job itself are the ancient computers and software we have to use. The computers and software crash and bug out on a regular basis. And by regular, I mean multiple times a day while I’m trying to help someone. Knowing I have the next day off is pretty much the only saving grace of this day.

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Week  4

I was off on Saturday of this week. I went to see my mom for Mother’s Day, as I was working on Sunday. On the way home, I stopped and got some groceries.

I pulled into my parking lot, stopped, and got out to get my food. It was at this point I noticed a heavy stream coming out from under the front passenger side tire. I didn’t know what this liquid was, but what I did know is that you don’t drive a car with a bunch of liquid seeping out of it.

Mechanics do not work on Sunday. It’s a thing. So I was forced to call into work on Sunday and Monday. I just moved to this town and I only know a few people, none of whom were going to drive me to and from work for two straight days. This was the final nail in the coffin. The company I was working for really doesn’t do well with noobs calling in after only a few weeks of work.

I knew how this looked and with only ten days left to my notice, I just called it quits. They were likely going to fire me over the car problems and even if they didn’t, they were going to make my life unpleasant for doing it.

If I didn’t have another career already in place, I’d be screwed. Thank goodness for freelance writing. Also, taking this job, dealing with the headaches, the lack of control over my breaks, and incessant phones ringing and voices chirping away in the call center, I feel blessed to get back to writing and being my own boss. I got so used to it that I forgot how the other side lives and this experience has made me appreciate what I had and I think the result is going to be me going harder in the freelance paint.

I’ll find another tax-paying job eventually. Right now, it’s time to grind out some words, focus on making a nice income off of them, and making another move once more chips are in place.

Call Center Jobs Aren’t for Me

And I don’t really think they’re for most people.

I do not recommend this job for introverts. However, I do think it’s a solid gig for anyone who is an extrovert who enjoys helping people, has infinite patience with rudeness, and is ok with talking on the phone all day long.

To an introvert, this might sound like a nightmare, but there are plenty of people in that call center who enjoy their work. So props to them.

Luckily for me, I have the freelance writing gig. This call center job will not be going on my resume. Other than this journal, I don’t really feel the need to talk about it ever again. I am happy I tried it out so that I could provide real information for other people who are interested in this kind of work but have yet to pull the trigger.

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