What's it like working in a call centre?

[ssd]

I like selling and retail, I like the cus interaction and meet different people
Is call centre work just on the phone all day?

Customer I meant

I did it for almost 10 years
It's pretty much on the phone all the time. I worked for 4 different companies over that time and They all monitored your call times, "wrap" time (when you set the phone to unavailable) and break times. If you were a minute or two over breaks managers would ask questions.
When I did it the money was better than retail so that's what drew me to it.
I had to get out of it because it began to make me miserable. You were allowed 3 minutes to go to the toilet or you got asked to justify yourself- I didn't enjoy telling my smug male boss I had a really bad period and was trying to tidy myself up
This is probably a reflection of the company I was working for but I couldn't take any more being treated like a naughty school child.

I loved working in a call center, I worked in customer care for an insurance company and it was all about targets, sell etc
They did time all your breaks, toilet and hold time and some calls got listened into live, but I loved the atmosphere
Great job

My team leader asked me once why I took a while in the loo - I had a very big poo to get out, if you wish I can fetch you to check the pan next time...

Never got asked again about the time spent in the loo

I personally hated it. Worked in a call centre for a year before university. All outbound calls and got a lot of verbal abuse on the phone - I've heard inbound is a lot better tbf. They used to monitor how long you were on the toilet and question you about it - bit awkward when you've got IBS.

I worked in both sales and customer service. I would do a customer service role again but not sales. They never timed toilet breaks or anything like that in either place I worked.

I hated it and have developed an aversion to phones ever since! Literally every second had to be accounted for, if you weren’t on the phone you had to enter a code to say what you were doing - writing up the call, in the toilet, on break. You take your breaks when you’re told to and we worked on a rota which meant one week lunch was at 11 and the next it was at 2. Had to account for too long on toilet breaks. Time off for medical appointments etc was almost impossible to get. If you spent too long on a call or didn’t take enough calls in a day you had a bollocking. I got out as soon as I could.

I didn't like it. It's not nice being sat down all day, it gets very repetitive, customers can get what i called 'phone balls' whereby people who wouldn't so much as give you a dirty look to your face would give you attitude on the phone and you're supposed to just take it, using a computer and mouse all day can make your hand hurt and your back can hurt from your chair.

I started to hate certain syllables due to the amount of times i had to say certain phrases everyday. 'Would you like to book an appointment? Book an appointment book an appointment book book book book. Started to sound like a chicken.

The money is better though.

Yes you're on the phone all day and everything is monitored. Your activity as PP said, such as break times, 'wrap' times, loo breaks etc. All that has to be adhered to due to call flows and planning. Imagine a till at Tesco. If you were in the queue and could see the cashier chatting to the person next to them, or messing on their phone, or going off for a break or to make a brew whenever they wanted, it wouldnt be accepted. Its the same in a call centre. If you are late from your break, someone else has gone, and if there are a few of you doing it the queues start. Everything you say on calls is recorded, calls will be listened to, you will be expected to handle them in a certain manner, there may be compliance and legal checks and targets you are expected to hit. It can be a tough job and some call centres are awful. There are however some really great ones, usually direct with big companies .They try and make it a fun environment, pay can be really good for what you do. Ive always found them to be good team environments and have always had great work colleagues. Dont work for an outsource company such as capita if you can help it.

If you can get onto the amex call centre, dh works for them from home (home based call centre) and says they are the best company he's ever worked for

It was the most miserable job I ever had. Worked in two different call centres. Not for me but there were people who just loved it. I couldn't get my head round it.

depends on the company
i work in a call centre altho in a niche department where i am technically monitored however i can spend lots of time off the phone where necessarily

Fortunately I have managed to avoid the "time your seconds" call centres, so the actual environments I've worked in aren't bad. A good team / office really makes the difference in call centre. But honestly, I dislike it a lot. Any illusions I had about being super helpful have long since gone. That's not say I am unhelpful, don't get me wrong. It just gets increasingly hard to want to go out of your way.

People find it much easier to shout and get angry over the phone. They can't see your face, and you can't see them. You're easier to shout and swear at and they don't have to think of you as real person.

The last call centre I worked in was retail, online orders. You can do very little to help (at least in their mind), and they think everything is your personal fault.

The current call centre I work with is a little different. Inbound calls are instructions / checking up on jobs, and outbound calls are to customers and suppliers, as well as those who gave the instruction.

The other call centres giving you the jobs don't do their job properly // rely on their networks to their jobs and there's so much tooing and froing and stupidity. It gets frustrating telling the same companies, the same things you can and can't do, over and over again.

Even the customers who are expecting your call... don't listen to a word you say. Get annoyed that you are asking them to confirm details. "Don't you already have that...?" Yes, I'm confirming its correct, that's the point....

I think if you like customer interaction, and meeting people, a call centre won't work. It's quite faceless, even with the most friendly attitude. People don't want to interact the same way they do face to face.

The number of calls where its:
Me; Hello, x x x line, ... speaking.. how -
Customer: Order Number: 14435253. I need my delivery / I want to know x....
Me: Sorry? What was that (When it could be anything coming through, I'm not ready to take an order number in the first 3 seconds of someone talking....)
Customer Sigh....!
....
End of Call:
Customer: Okay hangs up

No Hello, No Thanks, No Bye...

I did it for 3 years and I gave me a breakdown just about. It was “booths” basically rows of computers sectioned of with partition walls. You were timed on toilet breaks, the desks were hot seats so you never had the same seat. You basically stare at a computer screen all day and take a fair bit of abuse, which people paid through the nose to give you (I worked for a very well known directory enquires company).

It shakes me to say it because it goes totally against my character, but I took full advantage of their sick pay and sickness policy while I was there because it made me that depressed. Thankfully they eventually closed the England site, in favour of the wales one and Manila one.

I’d never recommend it to anyone. The only good thing was the pay and even that wasn’t worth the shit.

I've been doing it for 6 years, our loo breaks aren't questioned but we do have a set amount of break time we can use in a shift and if you go over that will be questioned. You need to account for everything you do. Calls are listened to and scored according to policy and regulatory requirements which can impact your bonus. Handling time is monitored, so if you get difficult customers (which you will) you have to justify why a call took 2 hours when an average call should be e.g. 45 minutes. You will get complaints, rude customers, and generally difficult people who like to cause you quite literal headaches. I often go home mentally drained to the point of having a headache. We don't get paid enough for the types of calls we do either, e.g. I sometimes speak to suicidal or severely mentally ill people but get paid the same as someone who just takes debit card payments all day, UNFAIR.

I have to say though, I work with some of the greatest people and we have such a laugh. That's what makes the job bearable for me.

I was on the phone for 6 years. It was great. Yes we had limits to how long we were ‘allowed’ to go to the toilet but it was only commented on if you regularly took the piss! (Pun intended )

I think it depends who you work for. I worked for a massive high street bank doing complaints - if it’s an outbound cold calling department I’d hesitate. Inbound however is fine.

Utterly shit. Great perks sometimes but the working conditions are terrible. You're watched constantly and it's very high pressure. It's hell.(I was inbound!

I worked on commission only and earned a fair bit. Some weeks as little as £100 for 30 hours but other weeks as much as £1000 for 30 hours. Very hit and miss though and harder now with GDPR.

Contact centres are very strict and usually a set wage, boring / no drive / incentive

It’s alright in short doses, and depends what you are doing. I did mainly insurance (sales and claims).

The trouble is, if people are angry they treat you far worse over the phone than if they were stood in front of you. Sometimes, if you’ve had a day, or a week, or a month of people ranting at you it can get a bit much. You don’t have control over the calls either...literally ring, ring BEEP and your line has automatically picked up a call if you are inbound. Or if you are on an automatic dialler, your phone/computer can magically phone someone all by itself and if there is a lag between the customer answering and their details appearing on the screen it can be a bit....awkward.