24 Hidden Struggles You'll Understand If You've Worked In A Call Centre

    Who wouldn't want a job where they get called all the insults under the sun every day?

    Flo Perry
    by Flo Perry

    BuzzFeed Staff, UK

    1. It ruins talking on the phone for you, forever.

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    When you spend eight hours a day talking to angry people on the phone, calling your friend doesn't seem so appealing.

    2. You have to be professional while someone is being an absolute bellend on the other end of the line.

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    After the tenth time that day a customer blames you for all their problems, all you want to do is lose it at someone.

    3. And you have to grow a thick skin pretty quickly.

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    But you do become deaf to the insults eventually.

    4. Some people are more stupid than you thought possible.

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    Just when you hang up on the most clueless customer you've ever had, the world will surprise you and produce an even dumber one.

    5. But people on the other end of the line will often assume that you're the stupid one.

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    The customer is always wrong.

    6. And your level of patience has to be super high to deal with those people.

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    Sometimes you think you've become numb to frustration, and then something so frustrating will happen that you think you might explode.

    7. Sometimes you have a difficult customer that you just want to make someone else's problem, but your supervisor is refusing to deal with them.

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    So you have to think of a way to make them hang up.

    8. And when it all gets too much you've been known to "accidentally" hang up on people.

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    And pray they don't get put through to you again if they call back.

    9. As soon as you decide it's safe to have a snack someone will ring and you'll have to talk with a mouth full of Quavers.

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    You have definitely put someone on hold before just to have another bite of sandwich.

    10. But somehow you always find time to desk-snack.

    11. You talk so much that you're always getting a sore throat.

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    12. When a call comes in just as your shift is ending and you have to pray it's not a long one.

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    It's always a long one.

    13. You have to memorise the phonetic alphabet, and translate everyone else's random versions of it.

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    B for bee. So helpful.

    14. Sometimes you have to put people on hold just so you can pee.

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    And you probably use the time to finish your sandwich as well.

    15. You can't use your phone at your desk.

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    So actually have to combine toilet, food, and phone breaks.

    16. You have to sound 100% confident when you have no idea what you're talking about.

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    "Let me put you on hold while I get some more information."

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    17. It's surprising difficult to work out whether to call someone "Sir" or "Ma'am" sometimes.

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    You're always thinking of strange strategies to avoid it completely.

    18. If you work at an outbound call-centre you'll often feel guilty about calling people in the evenings.

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    "You just got me out of the bath!"

    Sucks when your job is partly just annoying other people.

    19. And if you are in an outbound call centre you will get asked 100 times a day to be put on the "do not call list".

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    Often this is a mythical list that doesn't exist, but luckily they always hang up before you have time to explain that.

    20. On top of actually doing your job you have to deal with the insane amount of office drama that happens in call centres.

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    Call centres cultivate gossip.

    21. Sometimes you get people who decide to tell you their entire life story.

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    Which is annoying if you have targets to hit.

    22. Just like computers at home our systems get slow and crash too.

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    Which is annoying until they completely break and then it's glorious.

    23. Your boss being there constantly, watching your every move.

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    And probably making a detailed chart of how often you go to the toilet.

    24. The fact that working in a call centre is actually your job.

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    And however annoying people randomly calling you up is, being the person in the call centre is certainly worse.

    And you will never, ever be mean to someone in a call centre ever again.