My New Job

[Guest Emerson]

Don't throw apples at me, but I got a new job in telemarketing...its for a credit card company and man I don't know if I'll last. I feel sorta depressed, now I know why it pays a lot...because its so freaking hard. We don't do "cold calls" but call up current customers and try to sell them more things. We're in training for about two months, and we have coaches who come in to help us but damn, I'm already thinking of quitting which I don't really want to do.

 

I'm just worried that I won't be able to sell anything to anyone. People just really hate us not that I can blame them of course, but ugh. I just feel so frustrated.

[jjacksonRIAB]

 

Telemarketing sucks. I've heard plenty of horror stories to know that I'll never do it. I've been through retail, sales, food, programming, assembly, telco. About the best one for me was assembly, but programming has only sucked because of the place i work now - entirely unprofessional. Sales and food really suck.

 

I've been feeling for about 2 months now that I can't make it at my current occupation. I almost dropped it right off, because they're piling work on me and not providing me with the knowledge about their operation that I need to do it. It's also been non-stop learning. I hired on as a game programmer, but I'm doing database and networking stuff. Unfortunately, I can't learn fast enough, and their deadlines are already insane, even for a programmer who knows their operation very well.

The thing that angers me the most about this job is I took it at $14/hr over a 50K/year job (my big break) simply because I just wasn't interested in doing what that employer wanted me to do -the same damn thing that I am now doing at this job. I feel like an idiot

 

I'm going to try temp work next - at least until I get shifted into a position I like that actually pays the bills.

 

You probably already know there's a period where you doubt yourself until you find a method that allows you to feel comfortable with what you're doing. I think that happens to most everyone.

 

Maybe a back massage will help you

[Guest Emerson]

Aww poor JJ, employers are insane! We work for Satan. Does anyone have any horror job stories or job woes? Post them in this thread. I'm kind of glad that I'm not the only one.

 

btw, JJ I won't mind a backmassage, as long as its you my friend. I'm going to "come on to you" on every thread. I'm a terrible flirt.

[jjacksonRIAB]

Aww poor JJ, employers are insane! We work for Satan. Does anyone have any horror job stories or job woes? Post them in this thread. I'm kind of glad that I'm not the only one.

 

btw, JJ I won't mind a backmassage, as long as its you my friend. I'm going to "come on to you" on every thread. I'm a terrible flirt.

 

Oh honey, I'm afraid if I do that I might end up becoming a professional... :wink:

[Guest Emerson]

who really minds jj? Not I....

 

lol, I'm getting tired, off to sleep!

[LosingMyReligion]

Oh god...Telemarketing. I would probably pick up cans along the road before I do that...lol..Kidding of course.

 

I'm sorry to hear this Emerson. I know what a hard job that is, because I regularly hang up in telemarketer's faces...And most of them are probably in the same boat I am: broke college students who just need the gig.

 

Good luck to you! But I would be looking for another job while working this one...

[hatepirate]

Haha. Remings me of when I tried telemarketing. I didn't make it 2 weeks (and the entrie first week was training in a classrom).

 

We did cold calls. Selling...timeshares.

I got everything from "I'm dying from cancer. Leave me alone to die." to "Mutherfucker pronounce my fucking name right! It's *insert 6 syllable east european name*!"

 

It was funny when someone would be like "I told you not to call me anymore!"

Me: "...I've never talked to you before, ma'am."

Them: "Yes! You called me last week you son of a bitch! I told you I'm sticking with AT&T!"

Me: "...but I'm selling timeshares, not phone service."

Them: "Oh..." *hangs up on me*

 

Yeah, I walked out midshift after a few days of it.

[notasheep]

Don't throw apples at me, but I got a new job in telemarketing...its for a credit card company and man I don't know if I'll last.

 

oh, it won't be apples...

(kidding)

 

Maybe you could work a couple weeks, and then try suing for emotional damage. i.e.- "I can't handle the constant rejection."

[Guest Emerson]

Well it certainly is a learning experience and yes I'm broke! I need to move out and this tough-ass job is the only one that pays well. I wonder if I could have myself transferred to customer service??

 

And yes burnedout, just like you said our training manager while a nice guy, he's a family man, he is hard on us about it. Oh guess what we've to do? Balance Transfers. That's where we have to get the customer to admit that they have other balances with credit cards and loans and transfer it to us and pay it off with us.

[jasonwhatever]

Hi Emerson!

 

This is funny that you mentioned that you are starting a tele-marketing job, because I also am starting one this week. I'm going to be working for a company which raises money for non-profits. Considering how many people they hired just while I was there (they hired on-the-spot), it tells me that they probably lose a lot of people. I think it's probably a revolving door. The fact that they hired almost everyone who applied tells me that people don't last, and the stress of the job itself coupled with the intensity of the training probably weeds people out. They also pay really poorly for the first few weeks of training; she said they do this intentionally to get rid of those who are just there for some quick big bucks. I think that's part of the reason; I think the other part is so that they can get a lot of cheap labor for next to nothing, especially considering how often and many they hire. Low-paid trainees over the course of a year can mean a lot of money for them.

 

I'm naturally a quiet person, and I've never been aggressive, like to force something down peoples' throats, but considering that I've been unemployed for the last 7 months, any job right now seems good to me. Also, I'm actually excited about it because I have to take a notebook and pens, etc and go through classroom-like training for 6 weeks! I probably won't last at this job....I think that you have to have a measure of greed, unscrupulosity and craftiness to succeed in these dog-eat-dog companies. I'm probably too nice. The lady interviewing me seemed like a money-hungry jezebel...it was obvious that she's all for big bucks. She was probably a pentecostal. lol

 

I'm not going to use deceit and misleading ploys to get people to make donations. That's not who I am. And I'm not going to have the brooding voice of the hispanic boy on the street saying to the old lady walking by "please buy my chicklets, I'm hungry." lol Years ago I worked at Kmart, and when we would sell an electronic item, they wanted us to try to sell insurance on the item. I was always like "would you like to buy the insurance?" And I'd be like "I wouldn't though, it's not worth it." lol

The pay there is all bonus-driven on top of a small base rate.

 

We'll see. I'm going to keep my eyes out for a new job while I'm working there.

[Guest Emerson]

Hi Jason, at the credit company that I work for we get paid $10.50/hour. But we don't get our paycheck until the end of the month. That's their way, I think, of getting us to stay until the first month of training. Then in the 2nd month of training, I think we start then getting paid every two weeks, like everyone else.

 

And yes we're told to use deceitful tactics. Like we're told not to ask questions and not to let the customer time to think, we're supposed to lead them into making decisions for them. We also have to make like five points in one telephone call and I'm just feeling the pressure. But its also tricky, because we can't sign up people for things if they don't want to, so we have to make them think that they want to do that. I think that that's all I'll say for now.

 

I am definitely feeling the stress and I've decided to start applying at different stores at the mall. I honestly don't think that I'll last long. I really hate being deceitful because that's not me at all but I don't really have a choice.

 

A lot of the people that I saw apply were hired just like you said. Two people have already dropped out. Even signing up for free services like online use, is hard. People are like "no, I don't want it." Its so depressing. It just makes me want to get my college degree faster and open up my own small business. It may be small, but at least it'll be mine and I won't have the fire-breathing dragon called corporate America breathing down my neck and whipping my ass.

[jasonwhatever]

quote:

 

Seriously, you may wish to check with an attorney about if any of those practices are illegal. If they are, try to get them to give them to you in writing. You could sue the shit out of them for big big bucks for asking you to do something illegal as a condition of employment. At the very least, find a good message board that is against them and post what they have told you to do...seriously. You cannot allow them to do that to other people...

 

 

I really doubt that they are going to directly tell their employees to do anything illegal. They hire attorneys themselves just to help them to walk that fine line where they can be really pressing it without doing anything that they can be sued for. In the information that this company gave us, they brag about how that they have made telemarketing into an art form. What is that art? It is essentially the art of deceit; like Emerson said, to make people not be able to think, to lead people on, to maximize the dollar, to put on a friendly face of concern for the individual when, in fact, they are really just doing it to get more dollars. That woman that interviewed me was a cold-hearted bitch, I could tell. I'm sure she draws a pretty sum. There were things that she did that I could tell that she was being deceitful even with us. They also, not surprisingly, made a bit of an issue about how important it was to be honest with them.....because, get this, if we are not honest with them, how can they trust us with confidential and private company information? lol They don't want you to go out and dish on their dirty laundry and their con tactics.

 

At least with you, Emerson, your pay is based hourly at a fixed rate. At this place, it is almost all bonus. That is, bonuses for collecting more money.

 

As far as hiring an attorney to sue them....that would be like committing a crime to punish a crime. We friend just bought a house....the people who sold him the house get less than one half of the total money that he ended having to pay on it. Once the real estate agency and the attorney go their share, the people who actually owned the house got less than half! It is a crime in itself what attorneys charge and for the amounts they sue for. It's all unjust.

[Guest Emerson]

And yes we're told to use deceitful tactics. Like we're told not to ask questions and not to let the customer time to think, we're supposed to lead them into making decisions for them.

 

Emerson,

 

Seriously, you may wish to check with an attorney about if any of those practices are illegal. If they are, try to get them to give them to you in writing. You could sue the shit out of them for big big bucks for asking you to do something illegal as a condition of employment. At the very least, find a good message board that is against them and post what they have told you to do...seriously. You cannot allow them to do that to other people...

 

Burnedout, our manager and trainer never told us to be deceitful but they do say and they do hand out sheets of paper for our training that tell us that "many people have trouble making decisions, lead the customer into making the decision for them. Don't ask questions, always assume." But still its deceit! One of the managers also said to us in our training class that people are "like sheep and they have to be led."

 

You have to understand that this is a major credit card company. So they're not going to say "be deceitful guys," they word it in a different manner, a much nicer manner. I'm sure one of their lawyers worded it for them, plus we have to sign tons of paperwork that we understand the rules. They do protect themselves.

 

We had to sign papers on everything, such as from understanding the dress code, to what we can have on our desks, etc. We also can't sound threatening on the phone and we can't sign up our customers for things that they don't want. We're told to be "aggressive." Oh yeah and did I tell you we can get in trouble if we don't say our whole name, the company's name and why we're calling?

 

We also have to end our phone calls with the company's phone number and ask our customers if they have any questions. And if we forget, too bad! Oh such fun! Right now in training so we don't get in trouble if we forget things, its after training and where we're on the floor that we'll get in trouble and have our incentives taken away like bonuses.

 

But yeah they do tell us what we can get in trouble for and we have to sign all the papers and they do keep it in their files somewhere. If a customer is irritated that we called them then we can't suggest to take them off our solicitations list, they have to tell us to do that. We can't even suggest it!! We just tell them to call our main line and talk to customer service.

 

Burnedout, I really can't sue anyone. I am a very broke person. I have $0.00 at my checking account at the bank. That is the exact statement, I check it daily even though I'm broke. I have $25 dollars from my parents. I am really, really broke. And I don't get my check for this month until like the end of the month. That's their way of getting us to stay longer. I was thinking of getting a second job maybe at Starbucks or something.

 

I don't know how people stay in this business for more than a few months and get moved up to management. Friday, I almost wanted to cry and I still sometimes do on the weekend just because I couldn't get anyone to sign up for anything. Oh yeah we're supposed to make the customers think that its going to benefit them and a lot of the people I called up were smart about credit cards. So not all people are dumb or unable to make decisions.

 

I really doubt that they are going to directly tell their employees to do anything illegal. They hire attorneys themselves just to help them to walk that fine line where they can be really pressing it without doing anything that they can be sued for.

 

That's exactly correct. We're told to be honest, truthful, good. We actually had to watch a video on good morale. We're never told to do anything illegal. We are walking a very fine line, the company knows it, managers know it and we know it too. I even had a coworker tell me that anything they do it pretty much benefits them as the company and that's also correct. Even with employee benefits. The company benefits the company, its all about the almighty dollar.

[jjacksonRIAB]

Yeah, I gotta say that the company I work for also has a huge ethics problem.

 

Their software is pirated, some of their hardware "fell off the back of the truck" (mob connections), and they have told me point blank that they don't generate their random numbers based off of government law, which means if you use their machines you have worse odds of winning than a natural game. They also put subliminal messaging in their graphics (porn).

 

The boss has commented to me on a couple of occassions how one day the company is going to be on 20/20 for such scandalous behavior.

 

I would not play one of their games.

[chefranden]

Ok, I know this probably comes from my crazy pill but..

 

 

Why not a business that teaches people how to be homeless? If you are not afraid of being without money, what can they do to you? It would be like the ultimate in self-esteem. Plus you would be able to employ homeless people...

 

Wait there's smoke coming out of my right ear, later.

[Biggles7268]

I don't have a phone line anymore so i haven't had to deal with telemarketers for a while now. I work at nite so it's really annoying to get a call at 10 in the freakin morning about whatever stupid bullshit they want to sell me. After awhile i just started telling them I was dead, unless I was in a good mood, then I'd let them give me their spiel ask a few questions and basically make him sit on the line with me for as long as possible before i hung up on him.

[Guest Emerson]

I actually had some guy answer the phone and say "this is a recording, leave a message." LOL. But I really can't say anything! GRRR!!!

 

Awww thanks Burnedout, , thanks also for sharing your story, that took a lot of guts to stand up to your manager with everything that you had at stake. I'm going to do my best, but I don't know if that'll be enough. I'll just learn as much as possible and avoid getting canned hopefully, and I think I'll still take a second job somewhere. Life's really tough without a college diploma and this just made me want to get my degree even faster.

 

 

Emerson,

 

I hear what you are saying...believe me, I have been there done that and got the Tshirt. I know desperation. I too took a job one time because I was desperate and the guy I worked for was a real piece of work. The position was a sales position and the owner of the company also ran the company and he would drive you crazy. He also had a credit policy that was kind of illegal. He never put it in writing, but he said "if someone were black, Jewish, had a NY or a foreign accent, they were automatically COD Cash!" Let's just say that I conveniently ignored that policy, that is until one day he called me into his office. He then showed me a credit application I gave a customer to fill out. He asked me why I chose to give him credit terms. I told the boss that he had good credit references and a spotless report. He then pointed at the last name of the person. Let's just say it was a very Jewish sounding last name. I had a suspicion I was about to get the 3rd degree or even fired, soooo.....( ) I proceeded to yell at him so loudly that everyone outside his office could hear me. I told him "I AM NOT GOING TO BRAKE THE LAW RESTRICTING SOMEONE FROM CREDIT FOR RELIGIOUS OR RACIAL REASONS....THAT IS ILLEGAL AND I DON'T HAVE TO DO IT ACCCORDING TO THE LAW!" Let's just say, he kind of knew he was had. He could not fire me because there were lawyers who live for cases like this and I would have owned his company after the house cleaning he would have suffered....LOL....he didn't know how to treat me. He knew I was not to be pushed around. Plus, the guy was a very tight as a bowstring cheap person and he knew that I could cause him soo much legal problems from the way I handled that. When I took the job, I had been unemployed for about a month and I had a family and a mortgage and car payments and unemployment did not cut it, so I have been in your shoes. I can promise, just hang in there and keep looking for other work, it will come along. The situation you are in is only a temporary one and it will get better. You seem like a bright and articulate lady.

[Amethyst]

Been there, done that. I definitely empathize. Telemarketing was my first real job out of high school, even though it was only part time. I will not do it again. I'd rather work for Wal-fart.

[Guest Emerson]

I actually do know these programs, because I went and actually took a class on computer applications and it covered word, powerpoint, access, excel, on Windows XP. Thanks for all your advice Burnedout, I really appreciate it. I'm going to do my best but if it doesn't work out and they can me ( I won't quit), then that'll be my next step. I really appreciate your advice Burnedout. You're so nice!

[pandora]

What if you end up really really good and they want to keep you? LOL That would just be perfect... hopefully, you'd quit before they made a manager, which I am sure is an even more brain-numbing and high-pressure job.

[Guest Emerson]

Oh I'd hate to be a manager, Burnedout talked about it on page 1 of this thread. That must be even worse! I honestly thought that nothing could be worse than being a cashier, turns out that telemarketing is just as bad. What I like about is that its more of a desk job, well actually, we have cubicles. There's a cafe, break room, there's a huge gate surrounding the whole place and security. Plus the benefits, of course this only lasts, for the time that you're the good little worker.

 

I'd like to be great at it, while I'm going to college, or at least stay there six months to a year and find some temp work or something else in my last year of college, since I only have two years left now. Its really hard, I just kept getting rejected two days in a row and some of the people could actually tell that I was new.

 

Its just really, really tough to convince people over the phone, its awkward, these people have lives and weren't expecting my call at all. But at my other jobs, I'd usually start off bad and it'd be all awkward, and then learn how to do the job and do it well. But I'm not so sure about this, I'm definitely going to do my best, but I'm just cynical about it. Like I have no hope of ever getting anything.

 

I've also tossed the script that they tell us to use and am writing my own but still making the points that I need to make. The one that the company gave us, just sounds so fake. I don't know, I sure could use a magic fairy. hahaha. Well even if they decide to let me go, they still have to pay me for the training part because we get paid for training. Thankfully!

[Jedah]

I have a friend who also works for telemarketing that is an upperclassmen of mine...

 

He said the best way to get through it is to see it through the people you are calling's eyes but at the same time make yourself into an emotional ROCK. You cant let what they say to you get to you. If your sincere and tough about it rather then sorrowfull because the last guy called you a wrthless piece of filth, you may be able to make a few sales a day. Job= Just over broke

 

When I was working for babies R us, I had to do on the floor sales for carseats. I treated it as a learning experiance rather then breaking my back over my failures, and in the end I was able to walk away smarter instead of depressed. Just learn how to at least make it look like you know everything about what your selling and ussually you do just fine.

[jasonwhatever]

Hi Emerson,

 

Have you made many sales yet? And what are you selling?

 

I'm starting my new telemarketing job on Tuesday. I have never been a comfortable speaker, much less for selling things. But, hopefully this will give me confidence. I really look forward to it for the experience, as I'm trying to get past my fears that were caused by Christianity and move on with my life. Also, I would love to start collecting a regular paycheck again.

 

To start out, the pay is very poor...minimum wage. Then after a few days, if you haven't dropped out (apparantly most do not even make it past a few days, much less through the five weeks of training) you get a bonus for staying in. Then you get various bonuses at various points. The full wages and bonuses don't start until the fifth week. However, if you are still there, you can make anywhere between 9.50-24 dollars an hour. It's all dependant on whether you meet certain benchmarks, your attendance, how many hours you work per week (you are allowed as many as you want, up to 40, supposedly) and how much money you bring in for the company. They also expect you to be able to get donations out of at least 50% of calls after six weeks on the job. To me, the whole thing so far seems rather dishonest, but we will see.

 

Also, I find it interesting that they pay people so poorly for several weeks. I'm sure that this is one of their ways they've found to optimize their revenue while paying very little in wages....this way they pay almost nothing for training people, as we are not eligible for the performing (the only sizable bonuses) until after 5 weeks! But, at the same time, they get a lot of free work; granted, maybe we don't, as newbies, bring in as much revenue, but I'm sure that even newbies do collect donations. They get a lot of cheap labor of the new people. And considering that they hire so frequently, and so many people are either fired or quit, you can see how this can really work in their favor quite nicely.

 

This such be an interesting job. Supposedly we only call people who have given to these nonprofits in the past; hopefully that will make it easier to succeed.

[Guest Emerson]

Well Jason, I appreciate you not preaching on this thread. Well we have to sell them additional products and services. We don't get paid until the end of the month, this is their way of keeping us in until the end. Two people have already dropped out, and I am not sure if I'll last. We get paid by the hour even in training, and we do get bonuses as well on top of the pay, but the bonuses come after training is finished. In total, we're in training for 2 months, and in the 2nd month of training we get paid normally, like every two weeks, I think.

[jasonwhatever]

Hi Emerson,

 

I had my first day of training today, and I actually really enjoyed it. I was a bit nervous at first, though, when the instructor would make us all do mock phone calls in front of everyone. They tell us what to say, what to do, etc. I also found out that the pay is basically going to suck for the full first five weeks! It is not until after that period that we begin to receive performance bonuses, from where the bulk of the income comes.

 

Still, I'm enjoying it, though I have come down with achy bones and a sore throat due to this weird weather.