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Customer Service Woes

inkybrowneyes October 23rd, 2018

I feel so overwhelmed sometimes. I work in a call center and any rumours you hear about the stress are true. I feel like I'm being harvested for aaaaalll the light i have in the name of a big corporation. They tell me that the clients are mean because they're frustrated but it doesn't help the feelings that come.

I feel so small and worthleess sometimes, like a number. I feel like all I have to offer is how nice I can make people feel. How polite that I can be. I dont know how to defend myself against this.

Does anyone have any tips on how to deal with the anxiety that customer service creates? Call centers and beyond.

3
Darkseed October 23rd, 2018

@inkybrowneyes

I worked in a call center, twenty years ago. At one point, I took all the supervisor escalation calls. As soon as I answered the phone, someone was yelling and cursing at me, over and over again. At some points, tears would stream down my face as I took these calls. The supervisor who put only me in that queue didn't caer about people. It was very bad, and working with the public was very bad. The military was better; you had your jerks, but most people followed a sysetm and order, and they just wanted to do their job in peace. Through my years afterwards, I haven't worked directly with the public in this capacity, but at this point in my life, I seriously doubt I could again (without going postal).

After 20 years of what you described, I still hate to use a telephone. I don't answer phone calls at home. I left the machine get it, adn then I call people back. When my cell phone rings, I can hear the tiredness and downtroddenness in my voice.

My recommendation would be to apply for promotions out of what you are doing, look for another job and find a way to get additional training to get away from dealing with the public.

AbbyHarris1976 October 24th, 2018

It

1 reply
Darkseed October 24th, 2018

@AbbyHarris1976

Ah, I used to work in the IT department for a clinical reference laboratory. I remember that kind of craziness. One woman was so wound up with getting an ASAP (or whatever it was called) sample done that she broke her ankle running in the hallway with the sample. Other than the sexual harassment issues (such as being told only women were acceptable to work there, and it would be okay if I wore a dress to work), it wasn't too bad of a job. I loved cytogentics and working with pathologists.

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