To feel so stupid ? New job problems

[nereef]

I started a new job last Wednesday.
12 of us started and I hate it.
I'm quite a shy person.
All I wanted to do was come in,learn the job and crack on.
First day we had to stand up and talk about ourselves for 5 mins (fair enough ) then they did a presentation on the company.
They got everyone to read a paragraph each out loud to the rest of the group(seriously felt as if I was back in school,I was stuttering my words and didn't take in any info as I was concentrating so hard not to get my paragraph wrong)
Now the beginning of each day and end of the day ..they do a quiz.
We have to get in teams of 4 and when we know the answer (we have to mooo like a cow and say the answer)
Now tomorrow it's a dance off.
This is a contact centre for a well known mobile phone company.
I feel so stupid doing all this.
They are wasting the day with all this rubbish instead of learning the company products.
I would have learnt more if they had gave me a manual.
Aibu here or is this ridiculous?

Sounds fucking awful and pretty much a nightmare for anyone with anxiety.

Can you quit?

Did you post last week too? Perhaps this is a method of sorting out who "fits" their ideology? What sort of call centre, is it selling?

I could survive a couple of months as I've got a little savings (enough to live anyway )
I feel a bit like a failure.
If this had been a normal office job I would have been fine.
I just don't think my mental health can take it.
I have some diazepam from the doctor but I've had those a year and managed not to use them ...I feel like I need one.

@LIZS no but I did read something about selling targets on here last week.

I’d have to quit!

@LIZS it's EE

Good lord, I wouldn't have lasted 1 day doing that. Why oh why do people think that's fun??

We have something sort of similar in my office where we have to do a big dance off once a year and it is very bad form not to do it. The managers pretty much have to do it to stay on the good side of the boss and they then have to force their teams too. I've refused to do it 4 years in a row now so they've stopped asking me finally. I haven't been forced to do something ridiculous since I was a shy pushover teen and don't plan on changing that anytime soon.

Oh my god YANBU at all! That sounds like my personalised version of hell, I think I'd vomit at the thought of a dance off! As others have said I guess it depends on how much you need the money whether you should stick it out or not. You have my sympathies OP

If you've got long term (more than a year) mental health conditions you could very well be regarded as disabled under employment legislation. If this wanky shite is making you ill then I think I'd be exploring whether you have any rights to refuse to be involved where any penalising for non involvement would be discrimination. I've always found ACAS very helpful to figure out where I stand.

The hilarious thing is they were saying complaints by customers had risen.
Maybe if they spent less time with all this shit and spent the time training the advisors properly.
They complaints would be going down.

Oh god that sounds AWFUL! I would start looking for something else and leave ASAP. There’s no shame in leaving, it doesn’t make you a failure it’s just not the right job for you.

Oh my God moo like a cow 😂🐮 I'm sorry OP I shouldn't laugh, yadnbu I would absolutely hate this too!

I feel bad for laughing now! Honestly OP if I was in your position I would be feeling sick with anxiety too. I hate all these team building things, and that feeling of dread before the next working day. I wish I had some practical advice for you but I hope it gets better and you can start doing actual work soon!

I'd be off like a shot

This sounds like training you to be controlled and abused. If it were happening in the context of a relationship, you'd be advised to walk awa PDQ.

You are being exposed to pressures to adjust your personal boundaries and accept things you wouldn't usually so that you will be easier to push into behaving badly in your day job.
.

Sounds fucking awful - l would start applying for another job asap

I've been applying for everything on indeed.
I think anything would be better than this.

Just sounds really humiliating xx

years ago I worked for one2one in a call centre and had to do something similar. it was awful, i stayed as I needed the money. But I did end up signed off with depression and anxiety and left as soon as I could.
If you can, leave and get another job. your self-respect will thank you!

Please leave, you deserve so much better than this x

How horrendous. I feel for you.

I used to work in a school with heavy emphasis on team-building and staff wellbeing. Sounds lovely. Reality was interminable meetings with big pieces of paper and big felt-tips; humiliating getting-to-know-each-other shit; compulsory yoga and therapy for all staff; oh and a massive culture of bullying. At first I thought it would all calm down after the first few days/weeks, but it got worse not better so I quit as soon as I could.

If you can grin and bear it until something else comes along, do. It’s easier to get a job when you have a job.

Yanbu. What a horrible company.

Can you speak to HR? Flag that it is affecting your mental health and see what they do?

They might let you go but you'd be no worse off than if you quit and better off from the point of view of claiming out of work benefits.

Do you have a manager as yet? I would have a word with her/him if do and explain you really want the job but you are finding the training humiliating and can you sit out of some of it, or at least observe but not take part.

The companies with big call centres pay other companies to come up with these batshit ideas. I worked for M&S in their customer call centre for 7 years, every year they'd change tact on how to provide the best customer service.

One year they literally spent thousands on people dressed up as robots, to teach us that we shouldn't be 'robotic' when speaking to customers. We had to chant 'I am not a robot', it was cringe!

I'd be looking for a new job asap if I was you.