"Are you a robot?"

I’m Phone Slave. I can’t tell you my real name, because I live under a very real threat of termination or a lawsuit if my Big Corporation (BC) finds out who I am. This blog is going to chronicle my experiences in the call centre industry, both good and bad. Most of my friends have worked in them, even some family members of mine. So I have lots of tales to make you shake your head.

To protect the identity of my fellow drones, names have been changed. If I call someone Erin, all posts referring to that name are about the same person.

I’ve worked in a few call centres for what seems like forever. I am still bemused by the ratio of useless managers to working employees; it’s about 45% vs 55%. There is enough middle management to sink a boat. Doesn’t matter which call centre you look at, they are all the same. The number one reason you wait on hold so long is because call centres are notorious for taking capable people off the phones to do pointless stuff; HR crap, paper pushing, nothing useful.

Today was a bad day. I am struggling with the futility of my job. I didn’t dream of answering phones all day as a child. I help a lot of people most days, but at the end of the day, my job enables capitalism. I’m not saving lives. Some days I feel really burned out.

I think for now, I’m going to open new posts with an actual quote from the stupid people in Canada. Anybody who tells you how nice Canadians are, is really full of shit. Some of the most vicious and mean-spirited people I’ve ever spoken to are my countrymen. It's shameful. People think that because they can't see me gives them a lisence to be cruel. I feel sorry for most of the people I speak to, because they are really rotten inside.

I've learned more about humanity, or the lack there of, in call centres than any other industry.