My first forays into the madness of call center life were in the field of bill collecting (Please spare me the hate mail, I wasn’t very good at it, which is why I’ve had all the other jobs in call centers.) I did truly hate being a bill collector and certain consumers that I had to call only enhanced my displeasure with the job.
They used to tell you when you went to work at a collection agency that debtors were to be called consumers. One consumer whose account was assigned to me was on a weekly payment plan. I had to call him/her each week for payment arrangements and each time I got an earful. Consumers would sometimes mail a check or money order and often included “love letters” with their payment. One day when the mail came I was handed a Christmas card from the consumer and in it was a note thanking me for helping him/her get out of debt. I was stunned, of course. This was a rare occurrence, but that it happened at all is amazing.
