hitting the post button...
Aug. 20th, 2013 07:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chanter1944... But I'm sure nobody wants to hear me going on again about how work sucks, how I'm sitting on my ass all day getting fatter and fatter, how I'm exhausted at the end of the day anyway, how I'm not me anymore, and how one coworker and I just. cannot. communicate. Not helped by the fact that I'm supposed to be his backup. Meeting with supervisor about it tomorrow, because I can't articulate what they are, but I keep feeling like I've got giant gaps in my knowledge base for this person's projects, and not being able to dance the A. dance of communication (admittedly a complicated dance indeed, so says Iowan K) only makes it worse. Lots worse.
... Dammit, A., if you say "Ah?" loudly into the handset instead of hello one more time, or if I have to listen to you snort the snot back up your nose one more time - yes, I know you've got allergies, but good lord... You're okay, but you're driving me bugfuck and making me gloomy, and thanks to the aforementioned sitting on ass all day and no time to be me issues, I've got the latter going already.
I'm okay. I really am. ... I need a goddamn vacation.
And I hsarding miss my dog.
... Dammit, A., if you say "Ah?" loudly into the handset instead of hello one more time, or if I have to listen to you snort the snot back up your nose one more time - yes, I know you've got allergies, but good lord... You're okay, but you're driving me bugfuck and making me gloomy, and thanks to the aforementioned sitting on ass all day and no time to be me issues, I've got the latter going already.
I'm okay. I really am. ... I need a goddamn vacation.
And I hsarding miss my dog.
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Date: 2013-08-21 02:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-21 03:43 am (UTC)If you ever want to talk, I'm here.
*hugs*
Date: 2013-08-21 09:10 am (UTC)Sometimes just expressing yourself helps, or having people to talk with.
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Date: 2013-08-21 02:01 pm (UTC)The pay is usually pretty good, the benefits are amazing, decent amount of vacation time, they offer great incentives, and they will crush your soul like a bug under a boot heel.
Get out. Get out now, as soon as you possibly can. That is ALWAYS my advice to anyone going through call center hell. You are not alone in hating where you're at, and feeling out of sorts and low and just UNHAPPY, that's what call centers DO. They mire you down in misery like an overladen mule, dangling that carrot of all their great offerings to keep you going, then beating you with a switch made up of the fears of not making your numbers, poor call times, and the threat of unemployment. They'll work you until they break you and then they'll throw a job fair to bring in a fresh new batch of phone jockeys to replace you and the other mistreated sots that've quit or been shown the door.
GET OUT.
Obviously things aren't as simple as just up and quitting when you've got bills to pay and the need to eat and all, but there are other jobs out there. BETTER jobs, jobs where you can be Happy! I'm not saying you'll land a gig where it's cupcakes and ice cream every day (unless hey, you get a job at a birthday party company or ice cream shop or something), but no one should have to live as unhappily as you feel right now. I've been there, I know EXACTLY how you feel. You sit on your ass all day, tethered to your desk by the phone, afraid to sign off for even a minute less the hand of god lay the smack down on you for not being 'available', dreading that beep in your headset that tells you a call is coming through, and all you have to do is walk down the aisle and look in on those folks who've been doing the job for years and see your future; overweight and miserable to an unfathomable degree, just waiting for the heart attack to hit.
I know there are some people who are happy in those places. Some folks who make a great living at it, enjoy the phones and reap the rewards of great benefits and high dollar incentives, but if that isn't you, if you truly are so unhappy that thinking about going into work makes you wanna vom or cry (that's exactly how I felt nearing the end), then leave. Go forth and find yourself another job.
Start applying for places and things you'd like to do. The internet is great because you can fill in applications any time of day or night, and the call center is nice because generally you've got a plethora of paid vacation/sick/personal/floating holiday time so when you do land an interview you can use that time to go and do it. And then when you get hired you can walk into the call center, pack up your desk, give them the bird and walk out FREE!
Don't wait, please, please don't wait unless you absolutely have to. People might tell you 'that's life' or 'that's having a job', but it's noooot! I'm not saying life is easy, or work is great, but call centers are HELL and no one deserves to wallow in that kind of misery and there is absolutely ZERO shame in taking your leave of the place.
I got so sick of my call center job I straight up just stopped going. I had bills to pay, and was trying to go back to school, and had no prospects at the time, but one morning I just decided enough was fucking enough, I called the attendance line (because the call center was so shitty and screwed up they didn't have a number to call for a real person, and I didn't even know who my manager was because of all the chaotic upheaval that was day to day there), told them I wasn't coming back and hung up. And let me tell you, that feeling was the most glorious, RELIEVED feeling I have ever had. I went back to bed and slept like a mother fucking champ. A physical weight had been lifted, man, it was AMAZING.
After that I worked at a temp place and then got hired on at another permanent job where I stayed five years. The transition was rough, the new job wasn't the greatest, but it was miles, worlds, UNIVERSES better than the call center.
So, what I'm trying to say is, it's okay to feel how you do and want to express that. You feel trapped and it's an impulse to put that cry for help out into the world. It's NOT okay to have to feel that way because of your job. Jobs pay the bills and put food on the table, they shouldn't be killing you slowly from the inside and crushing your persona and soul. You aren't alone, others have been there and survived, in addition to myself every member of my immediate family has fallen into the depression of call center working and escaped, I've had friends and other relations go through the same thing, I'd bet money there's support groups out there because it's that terrible. You find people out in the world carrying those scars but living better lives now that they're free (it sounds so over-dramatic, but God, it's true! talking with fellow ex-call center employees is like chatting with a war vet, it's a survival story). I would live homeless out on the street before I ever took a call center job again, seriously.
The best course of action is to abandon that fucked up ship as soon as you can. *HUGS* I am sending all the love and support your way and I hope you find your freedom and self again soon.
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Date: 2013-08-22 01:27 am (UTC)I am assuming that my boss won't fire me for my most recent lab fuck-up. Probably not, our group's overworked already, but still, I love that this is my main concern as soon as it happens. Because good lord.
We both need new jobs. =(
And take the advice of the comment above mine. I'm looking too, have been since May. At least it sorta gives me a sense of purpose or a sense that no, I am not going to be in my hell-group forever. Most likely October will come sooner than the external opportunities I'm going for and I'll transfer to another group and be gone, but gotta go for whatever I can.
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Date: 2013-08-22 01:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-08-22 02:54 am (UTC)I'll tweet at you. :) *hugs*
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Date: 2013-08-22 02:59 am (UTC)I am working customer service, but it isn't a call center thank God. There are issues, some of which I've addressed with my supervisor (this helped a lot!),
some of which are just part and parcel with that job. I'm not staying there forever; I'm putting serious thought into going for a second undergrad in a
year's time or so, and I'm not making much of a secret of that. I know this isn't a forever and ever job. I... oh darit. I relaly don't mean to be the
pin in the balloon here, Batty. *hugs you!*
I do honestly like most of my job, and am quite grateful it's not a call center, believe me. It's amazing how one coworker who's hard to work with can put a dent in things, but really, it isn't so bad as this post made it out to sound. I was having a frustrated, gloomy moment.
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Date: 2013-08-22 03:21 am (UTC)I'm rather glad you're not caught up in that particular kind of hell, but I gotta say I do still worry. I've wanted to comment on previous posts you've made about job unhappiness and troubles, and hope the pros really are outweighing the cons here. Regardless of what you're doing, you shouldn't have to feel miserable doing it.
Here's hoping that the supervisor talk helped, and that this coworker starts being a little less douche. A second undergrad would be wonderful, and I wish you luck and all the best!
And pfft, no apologizing for the venting! We all have those moments when we just gotta scream out loud and sometimes that's all one needs. To get some of the weight off your chest and after the screaming's over sometimes you can look around and decide 'Well, shit, this ain't really so bad, is it?'
Take care of yourself, Chanter, and hopefully the gloomy is past *hugs*