Who works in a call center?

[Pandemic]

I'm 95% of the way to getting a job in a call center that deals with apple products. I don't think I'll have to deal with billing at all but there will be a few sales opportunities and most of the time it'll be troubleshooting problems.

I've never worked in this environment before and I was just wondering what it's like.

[texasvtak]

prepare for a lot of stupid and rude people upset that their precious technology needs help.

just sayin. if you can put up with that, youre golden. easiest job in the world.

[ibr_adam09]

http://notalwaysright.com/category/technical-support

[jova1993cb]

prepare for a lot of stupid and rude people upset that their precious technology needs help.

just sayin. if you can put up with that, youre golden. easiest job in the world.

Didn't you used to work at Dell?

[almostJDM]

http://notalwaysright.com/category/technical-support

WOW, your right alot of stupid

[cp[mike]]

and i thought working on-site tech support was full of retards, but certainly by phone must be much worse. if it doesnt bother you itll probably be ok, you might get a satisfying feeling from talking to and helping all different people (ive had call center friends say that) but personally id be wishing there were a way to punch people through a phone line.

[deevergote]

My friend used to work for the cable company, overnight. He'd get calls at 4am from people that would talk for 20 minutes about how their TV won't go on. Eventually, he learned to ask them FIRST if the TV was plugged in, then if the cable box was plugged in, then if the TV was plugged into the cable box.

People are stupid. Some of the people that call will have legitimate problems... but MOST smart people can figure those things out (by reading the manual, or good old fashioned trial and error.) SO, the stupid people are going to be the ones that call you.
Apple products have a bit of a learning curve as well, so chances are those people are going to need a LOT of help! The good thing is that at least there won't be any shortage of work available!

[Gemini]

I worked in call centers for years, At&t, Bellsouth DSL (tech support) and Bank of America (redit card div), its cools if you a peoples person and dont ming taking hundreds of calls back to back. The most important thing is to learn all the policies and tools offererd to you to speed up your call handle time...Call Centers are very picky when it comes to how long you are on the phone with a client. I went back and did it part-time last year but after a month i realized how much ive grown to not like that environment (answering to pushey whiney Supervisors/managers are not my strong suit)

[Pandemic]

Well I'm glad I've got so much support here. It's bit of an overwhelming feeling going into a job like this and not having much of an idea about what to expect.

I hope I find something better soon but it's an OK job. I keep telling myself that it's better than fast food

[deevergote]

Yeah. Either job will be frustrating... but at least working in a call center won't make you smell like grease every day! If you work in foodservice, be a waiter. It sucks... but the money potential is pretty good (at least in the US... I dunno if Canadians tip well or not!) I paid my mortgage for 4 years as a waiter.

[Pandemic]

Canadians are better tippers than Americans, says my Wife. She worked in food service for years. But... yeah. It is an option but I'd rather do something more productive for my resume and future career.

When Brinks starts recruiting again I'm going to see where that goes. They only hire part time but it'd help in my hopes of getting into law enforcement.

[deevergote]

Traveling Canadians tipped like crap when I was a waiter... then again, they're just passing through, never gonna see me again... AND my restaurant sucked balls.


Being a waiter, honestly, can be useful preparation for ANY job. Conflict management, teamwork, chain of command, protocol, self-management, building an extensive knowledge of pertinent information (menus = laws). I'd venture to say that it would be more valuable experience than Brinks, even though being a security guy is "cop like"... really, you'd just sit on your butt all day waiting for trouble, then showing up and doing nothing... so yeah, I guess that is kinda like what most cops seem to do...

[crazymikey]

You should watch the new sitcom called Outsourced.

[Pandemic]

Oh I've seen outsourced :P

[apuforyou]

I worked at Bank of America for a few months doing customer service and HATED it, so bad actually that I would drive the 45 minutes to work, sit in the car for awhile.. call in and tell them I couldn't make it to work, then drive back home

Although, I've been doing 911 emergency dispatch for the last 3 years for a police department and it doesn't bother me. Taking calls period all day takes some getting used to, especially with people screaming or crying. Talking to dumb people is just as bad (usually I like working the police radio to stay away from the stupid calls), but I don't hate coming to work. I enjoy getting to help save lives from time to time!