‘how can i help you?’
who are these people calling us everyday? thousands of call center workers are working under very hard conditions. we asked them what is like being a call center worker.
long hours shifts, low salaries, mobbing are the most frequent complaints of the call center workers, addition to these hard conditions the customers who insult them seem like the biggest frustrating issue.
sedat durel a unionist from the confederation of progressive trade union of turkey (dev iletişim iş sendikası) says conditions are very heavy:
“i never met a call center worker saying “i’m alright.” you may never experience a call center work, but you live in turkey and you know the working conditions, try talking to someone you love, a friend, your husband or wife, girlfriend/boyfriend… for 8 hours non-stop. try speaking for 5 hours and keep quiet for only thirty minutes. imagine how this effects you. this is what call center workers live in turkey today.”
the call center workers get their salary at the minimum wage.
“our salary is like nothing. we get minimum wage and extra bonus. imagine you could not get the bonus. that’s why you kill it to get bonus.”
one worker says.
customers neeed to know this first. the person you talk maybe helping someone about his/her bank account, two minutes later about someone else’s pizza order’s status…
durel adds.
the call center workers we spoke told us the private information of customers like year of birth, telephone number or home address are sold from one company to another according to the company’s target audience.
“we are calling you from idk where” the man asks you “where the hell did you get my number?” they call it ‘the data’ data means getting new customers. datas are being sold. let’s not fool anyone here. they look at the data and see a man travels a lot. they tell let’s sell this man to hot spring agencies.
one worker told us.
the most disappointing thing about being a call center working is the rude customers they agree on. one of the customers who proudly says he swears them explains it:
“how did i star swearing? this started with turkcell. i was swearing after hanging up. then i realized that i was swearing after every call. to whom? to the wall. i was doing it in vain. i told myself to stop, began swearing right after they answer the call. before they say “hello” that’s how i started. since i was a “dogged customer.” they direct these calls to another group. they sometimes cry or faint. if i don’t swear it happens. then it continues till the customer service man faints. the team leader left him alone there. because he is afraid of me, puts the other one as a buffer.”
