To all call center agents in mylot
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32507)
Calgary, Alberta
August 30, 2012 10:35am CST
I just want to ask few questions then I will share my story,
What is your current position in your call center?
Are you in sales department or customer service department?
What specific department you wanted to be in?
Do you prefer inbound or outbound?
What is your dream position that you wanted to promoted to?
Now here is my story, I started as telemarketer in a certain call center that I wont name. It is extremely stressful because customers are very disrespectful i cant blkame them though, everybody hates telemarketers badgering them with calls.
Well they fired me after they found out that I lied in my resume, 
I said I was a "college graduate" Luckily they didnt send me to Jail or black list me.
Then I found a call center that accepts Highschool grads like me (they dont anymore)
I started as a customer service rep, Its like a complaints department, Customers are irate but at least I wont sell them things, its stressful but compared to telemarketing, customer service is heaven.
as years gone by I got promoted,I became a team leader, I trained some newbies, then I became a Quality assurance Specialist.
there are certain points where I want to quit but I didn't, my current position is easier than talking to nasty customers.
There is a position I wanted, I want to be the English Teacher for the newbies, teaching people how to speak with an American accent sounds better than making calls and receiving calls. Also its going to be good for my ego, A man who had never been to College, teaching college levels and graduates how to speak English.
Call centers have ups and downs , People just come and go and I get used to it.
What is your call center story?
Well they fired me after they found out that I lied in my resume, I said I was a "college graduate" Luckily they didnt send me to Jail or black list me.
Then I found a call center that accepts Highschool grads like me (they dont anymore)
I started as a customer service rep, Its like a complaints department, Customers are irate but at least I wont sell them things, its stressful but compared to telemarketing, customer service is heaven.
as years gone by I got promoted,I became a team leader, I trained some newbies, then I became a Quality assurance Specialist.
there are certain points where I want to quit but I didn't, my current position is easier than talking to nasty customers.
There is a position I wanted, I want to be the English Teacher for the newbies, teaching people how to speak with an American accent sounds better than making calls and receiving calls. Also its going to be good for my ego, A man who had never been to College, teaching college levels and graduates how to speak English.
Call centers have ups and downs , People just come and go and I get used to it.
What is your call center story?3 people like this
9 responses
@airasheila (5454)
• Philippines
30 Aug 12
Good day CaptAlbertWhisker,
Honestly speaking I haven't got yet any experience to be a Call Center Agent. However, you have my empathy as I do appreciate the guys who do their effort in order to earn money in decent ways. And as I have read your story, its almost an ideal one. Because, even you don't have the degree, you were able to handle the position of being a Telemarketer. And being at this post, it is really difficult to please people, especially if their attitude is quite odd. But still, you were able to take care of them.
So I guess, your position now is somehow your reward. Since you have taken care your post last time, so now you are just reaping what you sow. Meaning, you have done a good job last time that is why you are being trusted with a good position today.
And that is a job well done.
1 person likes this
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32507)
• Calgary, Alberta
30 Aug 12
isnt it sad that after the company found someone like me and they never had problems with me. They stopped hiring highschool grads, they prefer people with college degrees,in fact they were highly prioritized. You don't need college degree to be in customer service, but They have the assumption that College grads are better in English. I never been to college and I think I don't need to.
I guess I am an exception. I consider retiring in few years. I want to be an apartment land lord. I am saving money so I can buy a house.
@airasheila (5454)
• Philippines
30 Aug 12
Hi there CaptAlbertWhisker,
Maybe it is the company's rule so better leaved it as it is. What matters now is the present. Since your position now is really much better than before. Aside from that, you are setting your mind into another endeavor so it will be best to pursue it and concentrate more to achieve it. Thus, if you really have the passion, I guess, everything will be put in place and accomplish.
1 person likes this
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32507)
• Calgary, Alberta
31 Aug 12
I trained some college graduates, I cant believe I was more stable than them and I have better English than them. I didnt tell those trainees I am undergrad because they may disrespect me.
@celticeagle (158485)
• Boise, Idaho
30 Aug 12
I have worked in customer service for nearly thirty years. I have worked for Mountain Bell, AT&T, and ended up working for EDS which was a call center. I worked there for five years as a call director and then as a Quality Assurance Specialist. I was working for HP and I had to know the different needs of stores that handled HP products. It was a very complicated job and pretty stressful. I was offered an early retirement and also have a lifetime pention and I was only there five years.
@sweetloveforeve (13108)
• Portugal
30 Aug 12
really you have a salary higher than nurses and actors? then thats a really big salary^^ i didnt know that call center agencies paid that well. maybe in your country they do. in mine i guess they pay the minimum salary that is like 500 dollars. not much really cause things are pretty expensive in my country :( anyway dont be sad about the boring job you have^^ just think that in a few years you will have enough money to travel and have fun^^ at least you have a good paying job. maybe soon you can retire if you save your money well ahah^^
1 person likes this
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32507)
• Calgary, Alberta
30 Aug 12
well I am in a third world country, Teachers, Nurses and no name actors are paid peanuts here. a salary of a regular call center employee in the US is a manager's salary here. well because we have a low cost of living here, its huge in my part, so yeah retiring in a third world country is not a bad idea. You can live like a princess here.
1 person likes this
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32507)
• Calgary, Alberta
30 Aug 12
I hate the fact I am here for like years. My dream is stardom and fame so yeah its not the life I dreamed of but we cant deny the payment. we have higher salaries than Nurses, teachers and character actors, so I guess its not bad at all. its amazing how we all have similar stories about how stressful this industry is. I felt old and tired with this job.
My dream is stardom and fame so yeah its not the life I dreamed of but we cant deny the payment. we have higher salaries than Nurses, teachers and character actors, so I guess its not bad at all. its amazing how we all have similar stories about how stressful this industry is. I felt old and tired with this job.1 person likes this
@Jshean20 (14349)
• Canada
2 Sep 12
I've worked in a call centre for over 5 years now and it certainly is stressful, but I know that some positions are far from stressful than others. I'm an inbound customer service representative and most people calling in are looking for help, so the beginning of the conversation usually goes well until you tell them they are not getting their money. The words you choose to say to these customers and your tone of voice makes a huge difference, customers hate listening to someone who sounds scripted they want to feel like they are speaking with a real person with real feelings. I'm glad to hear things turned out well for you in your journey in a call centre environment. I think it's interesting to know that there is a position where they try to teach an american accent to the representative, it makes sense because a lot of people get upset when they know they are talking to someone off shore.
@Jshean20 (14349)
• Canada
2 Sep 12
Sometimes when I need to transfer a customer over to a different department I will get a representative in the Phillipines and I can tell where they are from but I can also tell that the full fledged accent isn't there, so there must be heavy training involved to lessen the accent.
1 person likes this
@Jshean20 (14349)
• Canada
3 Sep 12
In my experience I find it best to let these people yell as much as they want and just sit there quietly, then when they say "ARE YOU THERE!!!!???" I say in a very soft and innocent voice: " yes I'm here I just didn't want to interupt you". This seems to work because it makes the client feel somewhat guilty for yelling in your ear and 9 times out of 10 their tone changes drastically.
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32507)
• Calgary, Alberta
2 Sep 12
I got that smoothly. I already have the American accent before the training but my diffuculties then are the angry clients. you know those people who are irate the moment you answered the phone.
@valerie37 (1002)
• Christiansburg, Virginia
28 Nov 12
I know all about working in a call center. I work at one called Results, in sales for SiriusXM satellite radio.
I definitely know what you mean about disrespectful customers, but I'm inbound so they're calling me. Our center does have an outbound team too, but I don't know that I would want to be outbound.
I would like to one day be a team lead, but I'm not really sure I have what it takes. Maybe one day I will though.
1 person likes this
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32507)
• Calgary, Alberta
29 Nov 12
I experienced both inbound and outbound but inbound had been a better experience for me as I was badly stressed by the outbound department. Outbound customers tends to be more disrespectful as they dont want calls.
@allen0187 (58438)
• Philippines
28 Feb 13
let me just say that, given a choice, i wouldn't have applied in a call center. there are just a lot of things that i do not like in that industry. anyway, my employment in a call center was purely due to circumstances beyond my control.
i have had two call center stints.
the first was as a collections agent for bank of america. that was a stressful job because we had monthly targets that we need to reach otherwise, your job is in jeopardy. good thing was that i was a consistent top collector for our account, i was able to surpass my collections target seven out of the eight months that i was in that company. i got bit by the sophomore jinx so my second month was off by a couple of dollars.
anyway, i resigned and joined a second call center. they were starting a new account and i was part of the first wave as they like to call it. it is a customer service account providing support to clients of one of the biggest customer service companies in canada. i was able to get promoted there and be the first local team leader and eventual supervisor. when the company started, all of the supervisors and team leaders were either canadians, spanish, or british. so being the first was quite an achievement. i was in the running for being promoted to manager although in a different site in barcelona but office politics got in the way and then i had to resign. i would love to be the first local manager and then subsequent first local site director but life had other plans for me. up to now, there aren't any other local managers only supervisors. so lame!!!
booooooo!!!!!
1 person likes this
@allen0187 (58438)
• Philippines
1 Mar 13
when i started firing people, i felt genuinely bad. however, honestly speaking, there are people who deserve to be fired. my personal mantra, 'i don't fire people, people fire themselves!'... sounds harsh but that is the truth.
i've always maintained a professional and respectful relationship with subordinates and i do not give them any reason to loathe me. however, like what you wrote capt, this is business and we should all look at the bottom line. if one person is adversely affecting the bottom line of the company despite of the assistance we have provided to that person to improve his performance, then there is no recourse than to let the person go.
1 person likes this
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32507)
• Calgary, Alberta
28 Feb 13
I was very nice to my subordinates but i can see those ingrates stabbing me in the back when i am not around. Before I feel remorse when I fire people but now, I am worried about my self if I still have conscience as I don't feel any more remorse. If the trainees are not doing well, I have to cut that fat and remove the rotten eggs out of the basket. I am already used it. Its all business, nothing person and I just do my job. I thought I will never experience stress again once I am out of the phone but not anymore. promotions are nice at first but after realizing how heavy my responsibilities is. Damn it....
I hate this industry to but this industry had ben feeding me for 8 years almost. (damn I feel old now, I started as a teen on this industry)
@chiwasaki (4694)
• Philippines
25 Nov 12
I am currently an IT Technical Support Agent. My department is more like a Customer Service and Technical Service department. I handle inbound calls and chat, and I respond to email queries as well. There are a lot of promotions in our account but surprisingly, I do not want to get promoted yet. I don't know, probably there is something wrong with me haha. But I like my work, I can relax and once I am done with my shift, no pending works and no quota that I need to meet.
1 person likes this
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32507)
• Calgary, Alberta
26 Nov 12
promotions sounds awesome in the beginning until I realized how much burden and stress they caused me. my shift gives me 4 hours of sleep only.
my shift gives me 4 hours of sleep only.
@jaiho2009 (39142)
• Philippines
30 Nov 12
I wonder why you can't apply for the next level - as Trainer.
My first call center experienced is very challenging (I can say)
Working on Telecommunication account (inbound/technical) is not easy but challenging and fun for me.
90 percent of our calls consist of trouble shooting- and that's where the fun is.
I came to know how other people doesn't know how to use their gadgets -huh...
maybe because you know it Capt- here in our country, even 3 years old kiddo knows how to turn on and off mobile phones- 5 years old knows how to use the camera- where to play the song and where to find the photos (gallery)
not to mention some kiddos knows how to use the internet (wifi) using mobile phones.
And here these people calling why they can't send or receive text messages, where to find the photo sent -how to send photo via bluetooth 
Okay....and the worst ever call I ever experienced is "the customer called in asking why his phone is not working. He said that he just bought it from the store and he charged it for hours following the salesperson instruction. Why the h*ck is not working blah blah blah....okay, I ask the caller to turn off the phone, open the back cover and take out the battery...there was a pause- and I heard the customer chuckled and said "f*ck...I forgot to put the battery
Okay....and the worst ever call I ever experienced is "the customer called in asking why his phone is not working. He said that he just bought it from the store and he charged it for hours following the salesperson instruction. Why the h*ck is not working blah blah blah....okay, I ask the caller to turn off the phone, open the back cover and take out the battery...there was a pause- and I heard the customer chuckled and said "f*ck...I forgot to put the battery@jaiho2009 (39142)
• Philippines
30 Nov 12
My second call center experience is much better...it's a backup solution.
A home based job so it's not stressful.
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32507)
• Calgary, Alberta
1 Dec 12
I am a trainer now and I thought it will be fun because no more phones. Training people who are not eager to learn in frustrating and eliminating people who didn't pass the training is heartbreaking, then when the people you trained graduated, they thought they will get the job but they will end up in another job interview to and seeing those Amalayers from HR not passing them despite of the fact they were good hurts my ego as a mentor who worked hard for them.
@LetranKnight25 (33121)
• Philippines
30 Aug 12
I stop working there, i didn't have the passion anymore. would you believe it that I took like two trainings for this thing and still people think I wasn't good enough. unlike some nursing students there who can take the job as their own temp.
I hated outgoing, you never learn from it compare to the inbound calls. the last time I was applying for a British account when I was stop because no one's looking after my mom.
DON'T QUIT! because it's harder to get a job now most specially in call center industry.
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32507)
• Calgary, Alberta
31 Aug 12
I will quit once I have my planned business happen. You know I wanted to be an apartment land lord. I will earn lots of money doing nothing. My days as an outbound had always been the worst. Its very stressful to the core. I will never work on that department again.
@sweetloveforeve (13108)
• Portugal
30 Aug 12
ahah yes thats great that even you dont have a diploma you can still teach american accent to newbies that are graduated^^ at least that can make you feel better. im sorry that they just accept graduated people in call centers. in my country they accept even if you are just high school graduated. about telemarketing i never worked on it but i had a proposal too. i refused cause the job i had to do was call
people to buy trips. so i would be paid only if i could sell a lot of trips. i would receive a percentage of the sells i made. so i decided not to take this job. what if i couldnt sell any trip? or only one? then my salary would be none. i think that some call center agencies are good but others not really. im happy that you could at least be promoted^^ wish you be promoted soon again^^
@CaptAlbertWhisker (32507)
• Calgary, Alberta
30 Aug 12
The telemarketing department fires the most people. They fire people who cant have sales for a week. so you can imagine how stressful it is. Customer service is also stressful and boring but its not as traumatic as the sales department. I am not an American accent instructor yet but its my dream position. Good salary and no more phones. I am so sick of telephones. Listening to calls is less stressful than making and receiving calls but yeah... That is my dream position,
Listening to calls is less stressful than making and receiving calls but yeah... That is my dream position,