Pleeeeeeease take my survey!

Ah, the joy of call centers.
Boredom drives you to do things you never thought you'd do. When I found I'd no longer be employed by the school during my off-track semester, I hunted for jobs for at least two months. Eventually, I had to come to terms with the fact that not many employers are going to put the resources into training you if you can only give them a few months of work. 

Finally, I applied at a call center. They're plentiful in college towns. They expect high turnover and they don't require much experience. Don't get me wrong, some people are cut out for this kind of work. The reason I took so long to apply was because I just didn't think I had thick enough skin to be hung up on or cussed out over and over if I had to call people who didn't want to be called.

Sure enough, I got a call for an interview a short time after I applied. I was accepted for the job and started right away. Yup, I'm one of those people who calls you and asks you all sorts of questions from politics to how you liked your service with so-and-so.

Here are the things I've learned.

-People are pretty cool. I haven't been cussed out at all. The people who don't want to spend the time to take the surveys are usually pretty nice about it, especially if I don't talk over them and push too hard. If you're sincere, most people aren't going to be rude.

-I judge people waaaaaay too quickly. As I'm sure you're aware, telemarketers and survey solicitors such as myself don't always get a connection right away and I'll often hear the second "hello" when I start a call. One call in particular started with a guy yelling a long "HEEEEELLLLOOOOOOO" into the phone, so I immediately apologized, thinking "This guy is going to chew me up and spit me out." However, after I told him what I was calling for, he took the survey. Incredible!

*Let me interrupt to explain something so you grasp the gravity of that last story. There is a base pay for this job and bonuses if you finish so many surveys. It's good incentive, yes, but that's not the main point. The majority of the calls I make, people hang up or say they don't want to take the survey. If I go a long time without getting a survey, I just start missing having human interaction. The minutes drag on and I become aware of how annoyingly loud the beeping in my ear is each time someone picks up the phone, how the bright computer screen is hurting my eyes, or worse, I start watching the seconds tick away at the top-right corner of my screen. I imagine the people who take my surveys have a good laugh at the delightful surprise in my voice when they say they'll take the survey.


-Honesty is the best policy. Time is worth a lot and that's the biggest reason people refuse me. I try to make it a point to tell each person how long the survey takes before we even get started. I get a lot of refusals for doing that, but a lot of people tell me they appreciate it and take the survey just because I told them. I feel better throughout the survey, since they know what they agreed to, and they're more relaxed and more fun to talk to. Everybody wins!


I guess you can learn something from every job. I'm afraid I underestimated this one.


I'm sorry my blog is so lacking in visuals right now. Soon, I'll get some pictures up and make sure my posts are illustrated.