Working in a call centre

I have not been updating my blog of late. Been busy with a free-lance project that is eating into my time. I am enjoying this project, not because the kind of work I am doing is new or different. But because the place I am working out of is. I am conducting some interviews over the telephone with people living in Canada and so have been working out of a call centre (to make the phone calls). Obviously this involves working at odd hours during the night but there are so many other people also working (in the call centre) that it doesn’t feel so bad.

I have never been inside a call centre before. Though I lived next to one in Bangalore (the Accenture building which also housed their call centre / BPO business). I used to watch the activity though the night and wonder about what kind of people would work through such weird times of the day and night…. and on a regular basis. Here I was, losing sleep over the fact that I had to wake up really early or work really late (life can get so ironical at times)…. And to think there were people doing it every day and night….

What I saw inside was a bunch of really young people….. wearing casual clothes (who can see you on the phone?!)….. bright and chirpy through the night…. And I again wondered why they were doing this…. Sure, the pay is good (considering their age and level of education / experience)….. But this is a no-growth road….. So, why ?

And I chatted with the supervisor there wanting to understand these people better….. What motivates them?? Once a researcher, always a researcher, I suppose…. Among the many things he said, one statement stuck to my mind….. Am still trying to figure it out…. he said oh, these people work here for the glamour….. I was dumb-struck…. What glamour?!!! I cannot imagine anything less glamorous than working through the night listening to complaints from people you don’t even know or ever want to know…. But, if this guy is to be believed, young people find such a job ‘glamorous’…. And his colleagues agreee with him…. Though they are not able to explain this ‘glamour’ better….

I am still thinking – what could it be? The fact they are working different hours from other people? Or that they speak with foreigners over the telephone everyday? Or is it the sheer excitement of earning good money straight out of college ? I have heard often enough people talk about advertising as a glamorous profession….. Though having seen it at very close quarters, I know better….. But advertising I can still understand…. From the outside, it might seem all parties and models…. But a call centre job ?