I work at a call center for a tech/insurance company. I’ve been experiencing some anxiety and stress on calls and I don’t feel supported by supervisors and management. The company decided about 6 months ago that they would update the system. The information technology department has done it but the system is having technical issues that are making things that used to be easy to do or look up, difficult and time consuming.
What’s more is that there’s products that I haven’t been trained well enough on that I get calls about and during some shifts, there isn’t a manager that has the knowledge, so it’s basically guessing or telling the customer that I have to get more information and call them back. I’m frustrated from the difficulty and added time but also because I want to help customers as much as possible and I need knowledge and a bit more one on one training to do that. After I have these frustrating calls where I have stress and anxiety, I feel bad about myself and like I should’ve handled it better. I’ve been watching online call center customer service videos on topics like communication and call control to at least help with those aspects but another part of me is like why isn’t my company helping me with this?
For those of you that will say bring it up to management: I don’t feel they care so why should I bring it up? They know the system has gone through an update, that there’s new products and the relative training agents have had on the new products so I don’t get how I’d be telling them anything new. I sometimes feel like we’re just pawns there to take as many calls as we can. I’m thinking about finding a new job, not at a call center or in the food industry, I’ve had horrible experiences at both so idk what other job would suit me.
If it’s a new system, they may not be any better at working with it that you are. That actually presents an opportunity for you. You are learning by trial and error, and being aware that you could’ve handled certain things better means that you are learning and will handle them better in the future. What you are going through now can make you the “go to” person in the future.
If they were smart, they would have a computer with the current software set up, but not on the network that interacts with the public. People could use that machine to practice and learn how to work with it.
I think that’s probably a pretty accurate assessment. No doubt you have gained plenty of public relations skill, and I think that is transferable to much more pleasant jobs.
The new system literally has tech issues causing things that should work to not is what I meant. So having a practice machine wouldn’t help.
Also, the difficulties and lack of training are not making me the “to go” person. I literally have to figure things out myself WHILE on a call.
I’m just clarifying things it seems you misunderstood.
From: ManekiNeko
gosh, I’m so sorry. That sounds absolutely frustrating. I know I don’t have any sage words of wisdom for you I’m so very sorry, but I hear your frustration and I do hope that what ever you decide that it brings some peace for your mind
From: eloquentpetrichor
Hey, Bella! I can understand your frustration. A lack of training is so annoying in jobs. Especially when the company is large with a lot of employees and they don’t care about making sure everyone knows what to do. I’ve been in jobs like that where you either learn on your own or you just shrug at the customers and say you were never taught and then you have to deal with the annoyance of that repercussion.
I can understand you not caring about the job enough to push for change with your bosses but if you do care or if you just want to push back against the confusion and potentially cause a change in the company even if you end up not being there long enough to see the change happen I suggest finding the email of every boss you can find. Every higher up there is and sending a mass CC or BCC email to all of them with the main recipient being your immediate boss and detail the issues you have laid out for us. And I suggest saying something like (changed to suit you and the problem)
“even if you do not care about us lowly call center employees, or maintaining your employment base, maybe you care about your customers since they are how you earn money as a company. The customers have to jump through hoops and talk to so many people to get help on something that should be a simple answer and if I were your customer I would personally be looking for someone else to take my business to.”
You may not change anything and but at least you will have spoken your mind and there will be a record of you having voiced these concerns in case something comes up where your ignorance that they have created causes an issue. You can protect yourself with that digital paper trail.
I hope you find a way to voice your concerns and that your job becomes better regardless of if it remains at this company or finds you employed elsewhere. Keep fighting the good fight against ignorance! 
From: Lisalovesfeathers
Hi Friend, Thank you so much for your post, I am sorry you are having to deal with all of this, it all sounds incredibly unfair for you to have to answer calls and be unable to give out the information required because someone has not given you the training that you deserve. I would please encourage you to make that contact to management, please do not assume that everyone knows you have not been trained, this could be down to one person not doing their job properly so if you write to management either hand written or email and explain to them exactly what you have explained here that it is affecting customer service and could easily be losing customers I think you are likely to see a response. They owe you that and you deserve to be able to answer calls in your job without anxiety and feeling like you are doing something wrong. Please let us know how you get on. Take care. Much Love Lisa x
Hi @Bella ,
I totally understand your pain. I was in the same scenario not too long ago, and it is very detrimental for your self esteem. I applaud you for coming here and asking for help. That shows a lot of bravery.
If your management isn’t willing to provide you proper training, I would go to their supervisors and explain your situation. I was an IT technician, and I can tell you how frustrating it was going to fix something I had no idea about (because it wasn’t something covered in my college program) and having to be like “actually I don’t know, let me get ahold of my boss” every time. It’s humiliating and awful to your self esteem. You start to feel unqualified, when all you need is the people qualified to train you . Unfortunately, that’s all I can provide is to go above them, but I do know how bad you feel about this.
Please keep us updated, and take care hun.
From: twixremix
hi bella!
work stress is an incredibly hard thing to endure, especially when that frustration could be avoided by proper management, training, or resources. i want you to always remember that you, as a person, are not a pawn. you are worth more than that label, your time is more valuable than that. it’s heartbreaking that workplaces commonly support the pawn=worker mentality and that’s so frustrating. i will say that you are on the frontlines of representing this company. ceo’s or upper management would, without a doubt, look highly upon someone like you for sticking up for yourself aka “in the interest of the company” by demanding a more structured and beneficial training. you are who their customers speak to and see as direct representations of their company. so if you want to see change in this place, definitely send an email to upper management with these concerns.
you’ve taken the steps you needed from your position to truly do your best, especially with watching call center videos for extra training. you’re willing to go the extra mile for your career which will lead you to amazing opportunities on your horizon. with your experiences in these difficult industries, i am wishing you all the best on anywhere you apply to and hope those new opportunities bring better working conditions. you deserve peace, confidence from higher ups, and appreciation for all the hard work you put into what you do. you got this, bella. i’m rooting for you!!
love,
twix
From: ᏒᎧᏕᎥᏋ
Hi Bella, I’m sorry you’re having problems at work. It sounds like someone needs to know what is going on or things will stay the same. I worked for a lumber yard that changed to a new computer system and they trained us, but also asked us to look for bugs so things ran smooth. I would think that your call center would want to be represented well with knowledgeable employees that know how to do their job. I’m sorry that you are not getting the support and training you need. That’s very unprofessional of them to be honest. If you feel that you’ll get no where with this, perhaps looking for a new job is a good idea. You deserve to feel comfortable and confident in your job! ~Mystrose
From: Mamadien
Bella, I’m so sorry that you are dealing with so much frustration with new systems and new products at the same time. Navigating the system can be difficult and a problem. I love that you care about how you do your job and how you care for customers. I dislike that you are feeling unsupported by your employer. It sounds like what you have asked for help on has fallen on deaf ears. I’m sorry this is happening. Only you know when you need to move on to another job. But if you are thinking of making a career change, may I suggest to truly think about what your dream job / career would be and plan on how you could achieve that in time. Make a plan first and then proceed. I wish you well.
From: Manni XP - Snow Edition
Thank you for sharing. That sounds so frustrating! I know it feels like management does not care, but in some cases, they might not be aware of problems. I don’t know which is happening at your company, but presenting those problems in writing may lead to a solution. Alternatively, there’s nothing stopping you from discreetly looking for a different job in the mean time~
Hey Bella,
I am sorry that you are experiencing this at work. It really does sound like a failure of leadership in deploying a product without properly training/equipping their front-line workers. You have every right to be frustrated with this situation. The silver lining of it all could be you are getting really good at multi-tasking talking to someone while learning something new at the same time? In case, I wish you the best of luck in getting the situation hammer out.