Wednesday, September 03, 2003
Have you hugged your employer?
The world's approximately 150,000 call centers--referred to by some employees as "high-tech sweatshops"--have never represented the ideal work environment. Employees understand that phone work is "expected to suck," according to James Clark, a former customer-relationship manager at Sitel. "In general, you expect it to be a paycheck job," he says. "But Sitel was the worst of the worst."
Sitel denied WW's request to tour the Hillsboro site, but according to current and former employees, the building is filled with rows of long desks; workers sit on both sides of the desks and face each other. Each work area is roughly four feet long and includes a telephone and a computer.-Willamette Wreck
WW may or may not be talking about my current employer. As such, I may or may not be able to verify the rows upon rows of very long desks. If the company mentioned above was indeed my employer I would still be too new to make a judgment call on employee treatment. But I have worked in various call centers before (Stream, US Crank, etc.). If you've worked one, you've worked them all. Could Sitel be the worst of the worst? Doubtful. You have to realize in the call center game it's like comparing a gunshot wound to the left leg to one on the right. Sure there may be subtle nuances between the two, but that doesn't hide the fact you've got a hole in your leg.
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