Mountainmanbob

there are a lot of jobs that carry with them some stress
thus it is called work

being broke with no way in which to pay our bills
I think would be a terrible thing

MM

Avice

Hi! Thank you for all the advice. First of all - I should say that the department I would be working for is the 'rescheduling team'. Basically, setting up installation appointments for people who missed the first one for one reason or another. I would also be handling overflow calls from the sales dept., which I imagine would be a lot more difficult for me since I have no sales experience.

Lance40. I'm aware of the intense time monitoring at these places. I eat very slowly, so lunch breaks will be tough. Other than that, I think I can handle getting things done fairly quickly. That being said, I don't picture this being a lifelong career. Not by a long shot. You said it motivated you on your career path...what are you doing now?

giochick. I'm glad your bill didn't get in the way! Thanks for the rundown on your experience. One thing surprised me - the part about people hanging out after work and talking about work. Uh, what? No way. I could not picture myself doing that.

FourSeasons. Thanks for the encouragement. I have to make a comment on something you said though...I'm pretty sure that it's against the rules to apologize on behalf of the company. You have a script and things you can and can't say. It's very structured - national corporations are crazy that way.

least. Thanks for replying. What did you find the most stressful about the job?

whalebelow2. Thanks for your concern, but you can only internalize anger if you absorb it. It takes a lot to make me angry at this point in my life, and only people who are close to me can do it. A stranger on the phone? No biggie.

LadyInBC. Surrey, eh? I'm originally from BC - some of my relatives live there. You brought up a good point about people asking for free services. I'm expecting to get a lot of that...yes, the good news it that you can pass them to a supervisor. When I worked in web design (10 years), I also had to bite my tongue a lot. If a client made a bad choice concerning a website, I just had to roll with it. I didn't own the company. So...I'm used to just doing what I'm told and not saying 'I told you so' when the client discovers that their design ideas are problematic.

Mountainmanbob. You speak the truth. All jobs come with a certain amount of stress. The place I'm in now is only a sublet, and the thought of having to move back to a bad neighbourhood is a big source of worry in my life right now.

I've also been thinking about asking for part time rather than full time. There are two reasons for that. Number one is that I know that this won't be my 'forever job'. The other reason is that I'm considering starting a house cleaning business. I've done it before, and I also have a great house sitting reference (I looked after a house and two kitties for three winters in a row). It's not glamorous, but cleaning is actually kind of a Zen thing for me. I was feeling stressed the other day, so I downloaded a bunch of podcasts and cleaned for four hours. I live in a very large apartment building with a lot of seniors. I could start right here. My parents also have a friend that ran a very successful cleaning business, and I know she'd be happy to give me advice.

So - I have options. I'm tired of being broke, but I need to find a balance and protect my sobriety at all costs.

jamesaltima

I worked in a call center for three years. Yes, it can be very stressful. But it can also be fun. You will be working closely with a lot of others doing the same thing. You tend to become friends with your co-workers. If a call ever got out of hand, you could usually turn it over to a supervisor or another co-worker with more patience or knowledge. Take the job and see how things go. You can always quit. Don't let a job or anything be a reason to drink or drug. Its never worth it.

Lance40

I'm the Payroll Manager for my company. I have two people reporting into me, and we do the payroll and run the benefits program for our 145 employees across Canada. I've had the job for 7 years, and it's turned out to be nice gig. The company has grown a lot since I started, so I'm always learning something new. Plus, I have my own office and a nice benefits package. I'm really lucky, and I was reaching a point with alcohol where I realized that I was putting all that at risk.

I think if you go into a call center job with your eyes open and realistic expectations you may be just fine. LadyinBC gives a nice alternate perspective of how it can work out well.

EndGameNYC

I don't know about taking the job or not, but when I think of call centers, my imagination brings me to George Orwell's book, 1984.