Halfway through writing this thread, it became about my relationship with work, hence the title.
I anticipate this to be a very bad week, at least at work.
I work in a contact centre. I thought I was going to be taking my first phone calls today, but I still haven’t gotten access from IT. Something bad has happened within the company and I expect to get phone calls from a lot of angry clients from Wednesday onwards.
Talk about a baptism of fire… I’ve only been on the job for eleven days. There’s a lot of content and I doubt my ability to remember it all. It comes with time, which sucks for me, being new.
Maybe customer service/client services is not the role for me. I say that jokingly, I’m not going to quit.
I thought that this role was going to be different in that clients may have done their research before going with us. I thought the clients were going to be more professional in the way they interact with the business, via me. That expectation has gone out the window. There are a LOT of demanding clients in this role. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s unavoidable.
I still don’t get it, though. Like today, the Commonwealth Bank went down, and customers say they’re going to change banks because of the outage. Umm, EVERY bank has some sort of problem. You’d be changing every week. People are angry at the company because they can’t use their money. Obviously, I kind of get that, but would you rather they leave the systems open before they fix the problem and leave the whole thing vulnerable? Like what do you expect?
In my role these past few days, I’ve been reading cases and categorising them. I read a case today where it said the client was outraged that they had to find a JP to get their ID checked. The client said she worked full-time and didn’t have time to get her ID checked. There are still like 50 ways to find a JP. Every cop is a JP, Police stations are open 24/7 last time I checked. It’s a complete non-issue, and the client’s losing her mind.
The team’s good, though. I feel like I can have a joke with them pretty easily, which is very important. Also, I talked about how I was struggling to adapt physically to the change after a couple of months without working and you assured me that it’s normal and you eventually get used to it. I have gotten used to it by now, to an extent, so thanks for your contributions. They really put me at ease.
It has come time for me to address the clash between my work and my psychologist’s appointments.
I think the best option is to make an appointment with the EAP just to see what it’s about, but also make an appointment with my psychologist once I have my own money. That’s still THREE WEEKS AWAY, Goddd… she has an appointment just before work, so I would only be missing about 60-90 minutes of work. I can stay back 30 minutes. That’s got to be close enough.
Work is very important to my wellbeing, but I wish I was more outside of work.
I want to work from home when I am capable, so I get to see my nieces and nephew more often. At lunchtime, it still hurts to see people out with their partners, knowing that I may never know what it’s like to attract someone. It sends me down a spiral, wondering how certain people I haven’t seen in years are doing right now. She’s probably got a second kid by now. He’s probably married again… and then there’s me. Boy meets girl, huh? Well, they must be living in a fantasy land. Why shouldn’t this boy drink his whole life away?
Obviously those are thoughts, I haven’t acted on them yet.
And I look great. I’m wearing full business gear, I’m shaving clean. Not much has changed in eleven days at least. I feel like I could look like a supermodel and I would still be single. I don’t even know where to start.
Like today I was about to cry by the time I got back to my desk after lunch, and I wondered what the point was, but within a couple of minutes of starting work again, I’m fine.
I haven’t read in AGGESSS. I’ve got to find a book I connect with. Kind of horrible, but true. In fact, it’s kind of funny. I haven’t been to the city library since I was reported missing, and my family went to the library to look for me. I’ve got to make sure that if I go there, I let them know that I’m OK, otherwise they’re going to think I’m still missing LOL!
Hopefully (crossing fingers and hoping to live), I am able to get onto the phones tomorrow and start actually getting my hands dirty. And hopefully I find peace when I clock off.
Emergency, police & ambulance (24 Hrs)
Connect with a lifeline crisis supporter (24 Hrs)
Suicide callback service (24 Hrs)
Kids helpline (24 Hrs)
13 YARN
