I'm scared, and I don't know what to do.

[avocado_love]

(Friend blocked, because some random blogger scared the shit out of management a few months back, and... I don't want stuff to get around.)

I hate my work so much.

It never used to be like this. I remember nearly living for work. All of my friends were there -- the call center is like Cheers. Everyone knows your name.

That was when a good rep would do 20 sales in a day. That was when I was proud to be a rep, and everyone would look forward to friday's when the team stats would come out. You could see it when the emails hit the sales floor because there would be a ripple of cheering from the front to the back.

Supervisers would come out of their cubes and congratulate top reps. I was one of them. I was rarely below the top thirty, and a few times I was the #1 rep.

Top teams would be taken out to expensive dinners. They would be known, "Shit, you're on that team? You're all pro's, man. I'm going to be there someday."

I would seriously open up my email and just see random shit that I won on a daily basis for contests that I didn't even know where going on because it was so hard to keep track of them.

And I could walk around town and buy whatever I really wanted because I was 22 and making more than my mother and father combined. Me. High school education little old me. I found out that I had a gift for selling, like one of those Mary-Sue characters who waltzes in and figures out that she has this gift that she never knew she had. More than that, she was better at it then nearly anyone.

Maybe I'm painting a rose-tainted picture. I'm leaving out the 12 hour days, 6 days a week. (We'd stay seven, but there were state labor laws.) I'm also leaving out the screaming bosses when things _didn't_ go well, the backstabbing, the normal work bullshit that people hated.

Now what's it like?

Fuck.

Now a good rep will get double digits. Yeah, ten sales a day. But it doesn't matter, because it's not about how good you sell, it's about your NPS score. It's about warm transfering your customers to care, and spending an hour and a half fixing a billing issue with no chance of commision out of it. Somewhere, I can't remember when, it became our job.

It's about reps not knowing where their teams are at in the rankings, and not bothering to care because it doesn't really affect them any more.

Mostly, it's about the Confused Micromanagement.

"Warm transfer all of your cusotmers, but why is your transfer rate so high?"

"I want you to work overtime and sell more phones, but you're taking too many calls."

"I want you to slow down on your calls, but the amount of time you're taking on your calls is too high."

And the pay? November, a 1/3 of the call center didn't even hit goal. They didn't even get a paycheck. This month, our top rep made 4k.

She was a ledgend. Used to be 15k on a good month. Easy.

They want us to sell, but the sales aren't coming.

So what they are doing is pulling random customers in who have dialed customer care and are routing them into our systems. Then they expect to sell these people who are angry and in denial about how many text messages their little sweetheart has sent.

This is the third time this week (this is my friday) I've come home crying, stressed out over what my four bosses have to say. I'm second to the top in my peers, but they're pulling me off the phones for additional training because they don't like that my close ratio is below 20%.

Even in the good days, it was hardly above 20%. It's impossible. I can name two people who have closes that high and they're both off the phones now, instantly promoted.

I can't... you would think I would be exagerating how insane it has gotten. You would think I would be making shit up to say that everyone is against me. But I'm not. I'm NOT.

I tell my bosses that their expectations are too high, that things are running into the ground. They nod and agree with me, but say that they're's nothing they can do.

I just don't know. I just... need a hug or something. I fucking hate my job, and I hate that I can't make the bills, but I don't have any education and I've invested so much into it I don't know what to do. 

Comments

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

First of all, I want you to re-read this post in another day and two, and then take a long look at where you are now and where you want to be in another five years. I don't know anything about your situation, but I can tell simply from reading this that you are miserable and stressed to the max in your current job, and that's not good for you, your customers or the company. I don't know how old you are now, but my goodness, you're never too old to get an education! Start looking for a different job, and think about taking classes on the side. Schedule an appointment with a career counselor. It may be that your ideal career is something you've never considered.

Finally, let me say that I don't care how much money you were or are making; no job is worth crying over. If you're at that point, then get the hell out before you crack.

[avocado-love.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I really appreciate your words. I'm actually taking a couple days of vacation time off at the end of the week, so I think that will help. After writing that thing, I realized I need to actually bear down and job hunt instead of just thinking about it.

[inamac.livejournal.com]

What Jae says. You're stressed (you say so yourself). Your body and mind are telling you it's time to re-evaluate.

Does the company have a stress policy? They're fairly common these days - it's ultimately to the company's advantage to do what it can to keep trained personnel (assuming that they still want to make a profit). Check it out.

And have a {{{hug}}}

[avocado-love.livejournal.com]

I think I will check that out. I know they have a mental health program, but I'm pretty sure that's for another can of worms. lol. But yes, I will check that out. Thanks!