Call Center Agent: A No-Brainer Job? July 17, 2014 Me: Hi, thanks for calling - - - - Customer Service. My name is Griffin. How can I help? Customer: $@%&^$!!!!! Why my bill so high, you F@$# thief! Me: Sir, I understand that you are confused about your bill but dont worry. Let me clarify each and every charges with you to make sure every single cent is accounted for. Customer: No! Why would I listen to F$%#ing liars! Youre stealing my money! Lo and behold, just another ordinary day in a life of a call center agent. A massive misconception of working in a call center is becoming increasingly widespread in social media, and I would normally shrug it off but my recent encounter with a critically misinformed person with his noxious comment about my profession compelled me to demolish that social stigma inflicting our society today. STIGMA # 1: No-Brainer It is not surprising that majority of the people that harbor this detrimental perception are those people who have never been part of the industry and out of that scanty knowledge they made a huge judgement that its a no-brainer job or those people who applied but didnt make it and from the bitterness of their hearts springs a conclusion that its a job for dumb people whose primary ability is to pick-up the phone, and read scripts. What failed to materialize in their understanding is the complexity and the dynamics of what seemingly appeared to be simply sitting in the cubicle and answering calls. They have no idea how emotionally exhausting it is when your caller bombards you with insults and profanity or when you are faced with issues that are ridiculously simple its inexplicable why they even bothered to call or an issue thats so hard that your knowledge base has no idea about it and your Floor Support instinctively switched to defensive mode giving you BS spiels to tell your caller just to prevent Sup Call. A call might ensue a complicated argument; a pleasant interaction or simply a call for help and help given but on top of these, we also need to ensure that we are meeting our metrics like Customer Satisfaction, First Call Resolution, Average Handling Time and many more. Hence, only a person with no brain can call it a no-brainer job. Stigma # 2: We are filthy rich People think that if you work in a Call Center, you have a lot of money in your pocket given the fact that we receive huge paycheck. What they dont know is that majority of us only live luxuriously two days after payday, and suffer a call center phenomenon we fondly called CRITICAL WALLET DAY 13 days before payday. Therefore, unless that person efficiently manages his/her finances or fortunately born with fortune, working as a call center agent doesnt make you rich. We work our ass off to get paid and sustain our lifestyle. Stigma # 3: Call Center Agents are promiscuous and unfaithful. Someone said that since I work as a call center agent, I highly likely have multiple boyfriends. Promiscuity is a lifestyle that other people choose to practice regardless of their profession. So, it is not only limited and isolated to call center agents. A construction worker, a nurse, a sales lady, a beautician or even a bum can be promiscuous and unfaithful if they choose to. Stigma # 4: Easy-breezy job In theory, it looks simply easy but in reality, what appears to be just sitting in an air-conditioned office is being complexified by several professional hazards like working in ungodly hours and face the danger of being mobbed in transit to work; having to make biological adjustments whenever your schedule alters almost every week; having to work even if youre under the weather because unless you are dying you have to drag yourself to work; having to work on holidays and spend very special events like Christmas, New Year, Valentines day, and even birthdays in the office instead of celebrating them with your family; and having to act like everything is perfectly well when you take that call and pretend that the simple internet connection issue of your caller is more important than your life when you feel the Earth menacingly shaking( when I was taking calls and Cebu had an earthquake and experienced countless aftershocks), or youre experiencing the super typhoon ever recorded in the planet ( when Yolanda hit Cebu too) or even if your whole small world is devastating because of any dramas in your life ( when my Grandma died and I still had to take calls instead of mourn). Now, tell me if its easy breezy. I immensely hope that society will commence on demolishing these stigmas against call center agents, and help us combat and manage the numbers of professional hazards we face each and every day because just like you, call center agents work hard to support their families, finance their studies, improve their financial status or whatever motivation they have to wake up and go to work in those hours when every one are soundly asleep. So instead of discriminating the industry, lets be grateful for the industry that generates more jobs for Filipino and empower them to support their family. For once, lets START BEHAVING LIKE REAL FILIPINOS and stop acting like crabs.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 03:26:50 +0000
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