I talk about work because I have no life

[the_siobhan]

I'm always so freakin' tired whenever I have to work a Saturday. Coming home from an afternoon shift and then having to get up at 6AM just puts sugar in my gas tank.

In spite of that I always really enjoy the dawn stroll to the bus stop. Bird 'n' bees 'n' squirrels 'n' flowers doing their ribald spring thing is a very pleasant way to start the day. Today as I was walking I heard all this frantic yapping and barking coming from behind me. I turned around and a couple of small dogs - a Jack Russel and a West Highland Terrier - were charging up the sidewalk.

They literally bounced off my legs and then ran past me into the playground. Hello, awake now. If I were afraid of dogs I would still be back there peeling strips off their owner.

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I got called a cunt by a client this week. It was actually kind of hilarious. Mostly because he's a branch manager at a bank and I called him at work. The dude was swearing and screaming at the top of his lungs. I'd love a picture of the face of anybody who walked into the branch at that moment.

The people who were sitting next to me at the time all commented on how calm I am when I'm dealing with screamers. As I explained it later when I was regaling my friends with the story; a guy standing in a room with me holding an axe and calling me a cunt is going to get my absolute and undivided attention. A middle-aged banker on the other end of the phone line? Nah, not so much.

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Whenever I work a call centre job I always fantasize about shaving my head and showing up at their house or work all leather & spikes.

Not to do anything, mind you. Just to show up and say, "Hi. I'm the woman you swore at last week. Nice to meetcha."

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You know a lot of call centre work in the US is now contracted out to prisons?

I always think about that whenever somebody talks about blowing a whistle into the phone of a telemarketer.

Comments

[beaq.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I can't remember where you work. But "puts sugar in my gas tank" is a great turn of phrase.

Also, the observation "I'd love a picture of the face of anybody who walked into the branch at that moment" will amuse me for days.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I work collections for a bank. I call people when they miss mortgage and loan payments.

The guy came completely unhinged while I was talking to him. It was fascinating to me that somebody could be so completely out of control while at work. I always assume that people have at least enough self-awareness and self-control to keep a lid of that kind of behaviour where it might come back to haunt them, but I guess not.

[grimjim.livejournal.com]

Hope this link works. It's a NYT piece titled "The Rich Are More Oblivious Than You and Me".
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/04/opinion/04conniff.html?ex=1333339200&en=dac6dfbc08583348&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Researchers led by the psychologist Dacher Keltner took groups of three ordinary volunteers and randomly put one of them in charge. Each trio had a half-hour to work through a boring social survey. Then a researcher came in and left a plateful of precisely five cookies. Care to guess which volunteer typically grabbed an extra cookie? The volunteer who had randomly been assigned the power role was also more likely to eat it with his mouth open, spew crumbs on partners and get cookie detritus on his face and on the table...

The researchers went on to theorize that getting power causes people to focus so keenly on the potential rewards, like money, sex, public acclaim or an extra chocolate-chip cookie — not necessarily in that order, or frankly, any order at all, but preferably all at once — that they become oblivious to the people around them.

[inulro.livejournal.com]

I tend to assume the same, unless serious mental illness is involved, so don't think it's an unreasonable assumption at all.

[spikella.livejournal.com]

Whenever I work a call centre job I always fantasize about shaving my head and showing up at their house or work all leather & spikes.

oh have you ever nailed it...
after years of customer service on the phone and phone sex jobs, I would LOVE to show up at their doors and just say "Hey... what's up?"

This is hilarious

[(Anonymous)]

Siobhan, I totally hear you on this one! Sometimes I to wonder what would happen if I showed up at their door and said.. " You want to call me a "stupid dumb fuck now??"" I mean I don't think I’d be wearing spikes and leather, but id love to see their face at that moment! I mean what the hell just pay your fucking bills, and I won't have to call you!
Sell your car and your fucking cottage with a seedoo, because your fucking overextending yourself, yes you are over extended, you have to many bills to pay compared to your monthly income, unless you are prepared to live in your car with your family sell something!
Wow can you tell that work is starting to frustrate me right now!
Enjoy your trip
Thalia