After finishing my degree I decided to work for a while to have a change of scene and get some money. My agency found a job at BOC Special Products for me, and I applied successfully.
When I received the contract I noticed a discrepancy in salary and different job title to that in the profile I had been given by my agent. It worked out that BOC supplied the agency with the job profile of another position, and the manager in question hasn't justified that error to the day.
Not having had many options I decided to take the job on. All colleagues where really nice and welcoming. My training was very good, as it was job based with personal coaching from a colleague.
Soon after some downsides of the job became more dominant. Being in a national customer service call centre there was a lot of pressure on answering the telephones as management's performance was measured by the rate at which calls were answered.
A few months after I started working at BOC a new manager joined the team and became directly responsible for my colleagues and me. While it is expected that certain standards of work were kept, work became such a hassle that counting hours until home time became a hobby.
The building was air conditioned, and at times the aircondition overcooled the building. When mentioning it to management replies like 'I am not cold' were usual. The habit of constantly chasing behind employees and asking 'what are you doing' and standing behind employees watching them do their job by the manager added to elevated stress levels at work.
During a longer absence period I had my manager calling me up regularly to ask whether I can come back to work yet. In a period off food poisoning the manager recommended to take some paracetamol, and diarrhoea tablets and come to work.
Whilst it is perfectly normal to have customer that are upset, all colleagues knew that there is a level of rudeness that is not acceptable. When we complained that a customer was rude, we usually got the blame. He said that we lack of the skill to calm down a difficult situation, yet customers occasionally shouted at people without sense.
The company has big problems with delivering on time. The supply chain is very inefficient, which adds extra stress onto the customer service team.
Yes, it does sound as if this is more down to one individual manager, but all of this was reported to the Human Resources department, and they did not do anything about it.
After a year I decided to return to university, and I must say it was one of the best decisions ever. The wages did not pay for living in Surrey, one of the most expensive places in the UK, and the hassle didn't warrant the pay.
More details
Range of duties
Satisfactory
Collegues
Very helpful
Payment
not enough to live on
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