Sunday, February 24, 2008

I Hate My Job So Much...*sigh*

I know this is going to sound like a lot of whining, but I need to get it out. I hate my job. I really do. It's not that I hate working, or even really the work I'm doing, I hate the atmosphere at work, the way the company treats us, and the way we're expected to treat the customers. It's not big things, not like, lawsuit worthy, but I really don't like it. The company is making all sorts of little demands that just make the job that much more stressful, when it's already really stressful to begin with. I work at a call center, for a mortgage company, and my responsibilities include taking calls and answering questions, and also taking payments. I wouldn't mind this too much if it wasn't so consistently hectic. We have less than 30 seconds between calls, and we're expected to thoroughly notate the account before moving on to the other call, so we end up putting people on hold, for which they chew us out if we leave them more than a few seconds. Plus, aside from our usual clocking in and out on our time cards, our time is monitored by the phone, so that we have to cut all our breaks short to make sure we can sign back into those on time. We were encouraged by our trainers to help one another, but we're not supposed to stand up, so that doesn't work too well. When we're not sure of something, our lead and our supervisor are supposed to be walking around helping us, but half the time the lead is supposed to be on the phone too, and our supervisor is always busy at her desk, so we end up keeping people waiting for ever while we wait to get help, since we're not supposed to get up and ask. They monitor all our calls and critique us on everything, and they try to encourage us to collect as much money as possible by getting us to compete for a prize at the end of the month for the highest collections. I hate asking people for money in general, and these people are usually cranky enough since it's money they don't have, especially with the way the market is looking right now. I'm also really not pleased with my supervisor. She's lying to us, pretty much, and making false promises. When we were first transferred to working for this company, she told me that she was considering me for the position of lead for the next training team. Turns out she promised that to three of us. And despite her promise, two of us aren't even eligible for the position anyway since we haven't been there six months, which she neglected to mention. And she keeps imposing all these little stupid mandatory rules, like having to take notes on every call with the notepad on the computer, even though some of us prefer using a pen and notepad instead. And the company keeps demanding us to work overtime because they're understaffed. I can't take much more of this, really I can't. I come home every night more mentally and physically exhausted than I've ever felt at any other job, and I wake up every day dreading work. It's not at all that I don't want to work, I want to be busy and I want to be managing my own finances instead of being dependent on my parents, but I don't want to be working a job that makes me feel this miserable. My dad thinks I'm copping out when I say stuff like this, that work isn't supposed to be easy. I'm not asking for it to be easy, but I'm gonna wind up with an ulcer if this continues. I'm looking as much as I can for another job, but in this small town there's not a lot to find. I just don't know what to do anymore. And I know I'm not the only one who feels this way either, a lot of my coworkers are complaining the same way. If it was just me I could see why my dad would say I was copping out, but almost all of us have our complaints. I know no matter what I do I won't get fired, because they need the people on the program, but I don't know how much longer I'll stay in this job, even if it means being unemployed again. all I want right now is to be back in school and working in something that really makes me happy.

6 comments:

Anne Bean said...

In my opinion,

Learning how to struggle is a good thing...
...but so is having a workplace environment that comes somewhere close to matching my values (integrity, for example). Workplace culture is important!

If I were you, I'd be lookin' for another job.

Anne Bean said...

There's a pretty sweet-ass AmeriCorps program in Las Cruces that's at a performing arts high school thing....

Istari the Angel said...

I definitely need to look for another job...the struggle is something I don't mind, but I don't like having my company walk all over me and make demands that I don't think are reasonable.

As for moving to Las Cruces, I really can't afford it right now, Japan left me with some hefty bills. I'm saving slowly, but right now I have very little to spare. That's why I'm still at home, no rent to worry about. Actually, if I could I'd love to move back to the Springs. I feel very isolated here, which makes things difficult in a whole different way.

Kate said...

Work doesn't necessarily need to be enjoyable all the time, but if it's making you this miserable, then you definately need to get out of it. It's hard to enjoy the other aspects of your life when you're working at a job that drains so much out of you on a continual basis. Good luck on the job hunt. I really hope something comes up that works much better for you very soon.

Jenna said...

Yeah I agree with Anne, a job where people are lying to you is going make you sick. I would put in minimum effort until you gt a new job. They don't pay on commission, maybe they will fire you. :) Then what would your Dad say?

Istari the Angel said...

My dad would be so furious if I got fired, since I am making decent money. I'm doing the work to the extent I feel necessary and looking for another job, but I'm also closer to getting my money from Japan, which may help me move back up to the Springs. In the meantime I'm looking around here for another job that pays as well so that I can keep up with my bills. My dad only sees jobs as the means to earn money, and he and my mom have been insisting that my feelings shouldn't matter as much as they do in this perspective, which is even more frustrating than the actual job. Most of my friends, both my age and older, see that this is making me miserable and that it's not healthy, but it seems like my parents just don't get it. Oh, and things got even better...they cut our breaks the other day, because we all take our 15 minute breaks and then take an extra minute or two to sign back in, and that makes us "late". So now we have 10 minutes. Load of bs, that is.