Call Center -12

A quick sketch that I did about my part time job for the spring/summer. The school year is going to be over in a month and I need a job to tide me over until the fall. I decided to go work at a call center mostly for the experience. It’s been… interesting. I’ve always hated talking on the phone growing up because to me it is so awkward to be hearing someone’s voice but I can’t see their face (I need to be able to read facial expression and body language). I’m actually glad to have this opportunity to really come out of my comfort zone and learn some new skills. It’s quite an adventure with both the good and bad stuff. I get angry people and funny people all day every day. Plus I can draw while I am making phone calls which is an added bonus!

What I do is take surveys, not one of those annoying scammers that steals your money. I thought that people in this country would be more keen on sharing their opinions because we’re so good at complaining. The way peoples’ minds work is interesting.

From left to right, top to bottom:

- I present myself as cheerful and polite and then some people start cussing me out. It doesn’t offend me greatly because it is the company they are rejecting, not me. But you know, I feel sorry for people who resort to that as a form of expression. It tells me that you refuse to be happy and make the best of things. Other people sometimes begin ranting how they are not interested and blah blah blah before I can tell them what I am calling for. Sheesh… I’m tempted to say “I was just going to tell you that your medical bills had been paid off. But apparently you are not interested so we’ll take it back.”

- Oh my gosh!! Do people know that there is a difference between ETHNICITY and NATIONALITY? I want to bang my head on the desk when I ask for ethnic background and the response I get is, “I’m American.” Duh, we ALL are in this country, genius! I could have told you that.

- Because this year is full of political stuff for the US we are in great need of polls and data on what people believe and choosing to do. Because of that we sometimes have to work extra hours which we don’t find out until it is the normal closing time. I get in the mindset that, “Hooray!! Just 15 more minutes and I can go home to dinner and chill.” And then… the happy moment is yanked out from my reach.

- We make calls from both coasts so I get to hear all the accents in between… some of which I can’t believe is still classified as English. One day I got this man I swear his accent was scottish . I was so excited until I realized it was an answering machine.

- Old people are so cute, can I just say that? We have to ask everyone what their age is and this sweet old man heaved a sigh and made that comment. Poor thing, it took him a while to remember heehee.

- Just the other day a coworker was stumped on what to do because the old lady he was doing the survey with fell asleep on him… or perhaps died.


So, if anyone in the country gets one of those annoying phone calls asking for surveys don’t hang up... because it might be me