Working in a Call Center

I never meant to work in a call center.  I doubt anyone of my coworkers dreamed of answering phones as a child either.  We all ended up there for one reason: we needed work and a call center was willing to hire us.  Most of my coworkers are fresh out of college and looking for a check.  I've been out of school for nearly a decade and have been trying to make it as a writer, hence my excruciating need for an actual income.

What do I do all day?  Repeat the same phrases a million times over, place orders for products, write between calls and spend far more time on the web than necessary.  I now know more random and useless facts than any person need know.  For instance, I know a hyperboloid, though it looks curved, is actually made of straight lines.  It's never come up in conversation but when I'm around my super-smart friends I can least try keep up with their geek talk.

Now that my job is to interact with large segments of the public on a daily basis, I feel like I've encountered some basic human truths I'd like to share.

First, there are more lunatics in the world than I ever imagined.  I don't mean the ones that call from asylums because they're bored and have phone privileges, I mean the people on the streets that need to be heavily medicated but haven't found the right doctor yet.  People call to ramble on about how they think their water's poisoned by the government, or that they've seen wormholes open right in front of them, or that they wish their neighbor would try to pick a fight with them because they've taken to carrying a knife and aren't afraid to use it .  It would be one thing if these calls were occasional, but they're daily, so watch out.  

Second, some people are just mean because they're horrible people.  When I was a kid, I used to believe that everyone was basically good.  That ended with my first food service job.  Now, I have a daily reminder that some people are bent on sharing their misery with the world which leads me to ask the question: why aren't the mean people ever properly suicidal?  Wouldn't that make both of our lives better?

Third, I never knew so many people were absolutely lonely.  I get calls all the time from people that just want to chat.  Elderly widows or widowers who's children won't talk to them, or shy people that never found their soul mates or, even sadder, shut-ins that have little to no contact with the outside world (which, besides the phone, is generally how I feel in the call center).

Fourth, and most important, there are some extremely sweet, intelligent, and interesting people in this world.  These people make a bland job tolerable.  It's very uplifting to talk to someone who is pleasant, grateful for the help, and really does have something interesting to say.  

Working in a call center really does provide an opportunity to experience a vast assortment of personalities.  Journaling about it helps keep me from quitting.