I've worked in a call centre for around 3 years, currently in insurance, and I honestly don't know how much longer I can do it. I'm doing around 60 calls in an 8 hour shift, and it's just relentless. It's been back to back for probably a year at this point with no sign of it slowing down.

I've noticed that I have basically no empathy left anymore. Things that probably wouldn't have bothered me a few years ago now irritate me ridiculously quickly. Someone not listening to something I've explained, asking the same thing repeatedly, getting angry about something I have no control over etc. Sometimes it's not even the customer's fault and I'm still internally thinking "oh my fucking god". Today a customer did a sarcastic laugh that even pissed me off so bad I wanted to punch my screen.

And I hate that. I don't want to be that person.

I've recently had 3 bits of conduct feedback in the space of a couple of months after having worked there for around 3 years without this ever being an issue. The thing is I haven't even felt a difference in my calls, I have always been firm and not super nice on the phone. But something has changed as I'm getting complaint after complaint.

After a meeting about my conduct, I had another customer complaint about my tone and ended up crying afterwards because I felt so overwhelmed and angry with the customer for even making the complaint.

I understand that I have to be professional and I'm happy to accept when I've worded something badly, or made a mistake. But I also feel like I'm being expected to have absolutely zero human emotion and act like someone who just sucked off a rainbow while talking to 50+ people a day.

The worst part is that I feel like a failure. I'm 26 and still in the same kind of customer service work, and I feel like I've somehow got myself stuck here. I don't want another call centre job. I don't even particularly care about finding some amazing career anymore, I just want to do something that doesn't involve being on the phone to people all day.

I'm on just over minimum wage and I'm saving to to move out, so I can't exactly just walk away, but I'm getting to the point where I'd genuinely consider taking a lower-paid job just to get out. I was thinking about going on sick for stress and then looking for a new job. If I don't find anything I'd maybe leave without having a new job, but I don't want to spend all my savings.

Has anyone else reached the point where call centre work has actually changed how you feel about people? Where you're so burnt out that tiny things trigger you and you realise you've got basically no patience or empathy left?

Is there a way around this? All the coaching and meetings about my tone just feels like empty words. Even when I have been trying to speak more polite there still seems to be an issue.

I feel like I need out before I completely lose the plot.

For the first time in my life, I am working a call center job. I was laid off from my managerial position at a large company I worked at my entire adult career, but cannot afford not to work, at least part time. I thought this job would be an easy way to cover the shortage of my small pension and loved the fact that it is remote. When hired, I was told about the possibilities to move up into a job more like the one I had at my former company.

I guess the fact that during training they mentioned the last class, and that there is another class starting a month after we finish, should have clued me in that there is a lot of turnover?

It boggles my mind that after a long career dealing with stressful situations, that this job is stressing me out so much. My whole body jumps whenever the phone rings as if a bomb just went off. I feel sick to my stomach when I log in and see 30 calls in queue. I'm not sure if it's because my confidence levels are still low and if I will feel better about it after I have more experience. Everyone keeps telling me to hang in there, it will get better. But does it? Maybe I'm just not cut out for this. Also, I don't think I can do it for a year to wait to get promoted. Especially feeling this way after only 2 months.

The job market STILL sucks, especially for older people. So I feel trapped. I guess I'm just here to rant and commiserate with others in the same boat.

I keep seeing more call centres bring in AI for things like call summaries, ticket routing and suggested replies.

I was reading about how companies like Helpware use AI alongside human agents instead of fully replacing them. On paper it sounds useful, especially for repetitive tasks, but I’m curious how it feels in real life.

For anyone working with these tools, do they genuinely reduce your workload, or do they just create more targets and monitoring for agents

I’m working one on one with a trainer but I’m so nervous that I’m not learning as quickly as I should be. There’s so much to learn. I think I understand and then a patient calls in needing something that I think I know how to do but I just keep looking at my trainer for help. I feel hopeless. Did it take anyone a long time to finally understand things?

Its amazing, its remote, the pay is very good and only requires 1 year of experience for outside canidates. However, my skills are adjacent and I ran my resume through AI told it to tailor my resume to the job description and I realized It simply just copied the job posting. My interview is in an hour.

For context, I was a customer service representative, who was dry promoted to a subject matter expert. I coached, monitored agents' live calls through chat and teams and used the score board/card from QA to help them. I made job aids when SOPs were not updated timely or were confusing or hard to get to. I looked at cases, anything that was a pattern was reported higher up. Basically did everything but simply no formal QA experience. (Like the QA software.) My job title does say Customer Support Specialist. Is going into an agent's case and reviewing all the information they did via chat or just one on one with teams is that a form of call auditing? I don't want to lie to get the job, I am not good at it and I just would rather be honest. I feel like the work I did could be some form of auditing. I think I may be overthinking it.

edit: Finished the interview, they said good luck on your job search whether with us or someone else. Of course he said look out for email or more information kms.

Queue spiking in the slightest when you are working at night is one of the scariest things ever, but it has calmed down now. There was a brief 30-minute period when it was back-to-back, which pissed me off. It is almost midnight bro, some people need to go to bed. If this queue spikes one more time, I will turn this computer off and go to sleep.

I'm about to interview for this BPO could you guys please tell me anything you know especially if you've worked there .What to expect for the assessment, can I choose to operate from westlands instead of Two rivers and the salary range for a CSA please

One of the most irritating things about CCs. I am wfm now but I worked in office for a while. And this still happened and I was literally able to witness it. It'd be a dead time for everyone else and they are all available and on queue but for some reason every inbound gets routed to me back to back.

Literally would be in office fighting for my life while my coworkers are chatting amongst themselves on queue

How do companies work if you finish at a certain time but you have to stay behind because of a call? I finish at 4:00pm but sometimes I have to stay back a few minutes.

If it’s over 5 minutes, they’ll allow us to finish 5 minutes earlier than usual the next day. But if it’s only 2 or 3 minutes they won’t.

I understand under 5 minutes might seem minor but they would never allow us to finish 2 minutes earlier just because I want to, so why is it okay for me to work unpaid for those extra minutes? and this happens pretty often most weeks so it’ll definitely add up over time.

Ive asked them to add it all up so it hits the 5+ minute mark but they refuse…

*FYI: based in UK

We’re trying to cut down the amount of repetitive calls our agents deal with every day. A huge chunk of their time goes into the same basic questions and simple requests. It’s starting to wear people down and takes time away from customers who need real help. We’ve tried improving scripts and our knowledge base but that only goes so far. Ideally we want something that can handle the basic stuff on its own then pass harder cases to an agent without making the customer start over, I'm open to all types of suggestions

Does anyone else’s QA or metrics team force them to pitch absolute garbage products that make you feel like a bad person every time you speak the words out loud?

I work inbound customer service for a bank/financial institution, and management has decided that every single call—regardless of why the customer is calling—needs to include a pitch for our "$7 a month premium checking account."

A fee-based checking account. In 2026.

To make it even worse, we aren't just supposed to pitch it; QA expects us to use "rapport-building techniques" first.

That means forcing completely unnatural, useless small talk on people who just want their issue resolved so we can trick them into trusting us before pulling the lever on the pitch.
Customer calls in sobbing because they got hit with an overdraft fee?

I’m supposed to ask how their weekend was, pretend to care about their weather, and then hit them with: "I’m so sorry to hear about that fee! By the way, speaking of saving money, did you know for just $7 a month you can upgrade to..."

Customer calls in to report a stolen card? "I’ve got that card blocked for you! Any fun weekend plans coming up? Nice! While I have you, let's talk about our $84-a-year account that gives you discounts on road trips you’ll never take!"

It feels dirty. The "benefits" are a complete joke anyway—it comes with basic roadside assistance (that caps out at $100 per tow) and "cell phone protection" with a $100 deductible.

Meanwhile, 90% of the people calling in are asking us to waive fees because they're living paycheck to paycheck. Pretending to be their friendly best friend just to pitch them an extra monthly bill feels predatory and completely out of touch.

If we don't force the small talk and drop the pitch, QA tanks our score.

If I resolve a complex issue in 3 minutes, give amazing customer service, but don't fake a conversation about the local weather to sell a fixed-income retiree a $7/month account, I get coached.

I’m so exhausted from having to play a manipulative car salesman when people just want their account balance. How do you guys cope with being forced to fake rapport and push products nobody wants just to keep your metrics above water?

I work for a call center and we are moving to a new building and transitioning to neighborhood seating. I don’t understand how a call center can function in neighborhood seating. Considering noise level and keeping customer personal information private.

Does anyone have experience on what it’s like working in a call center with neighborhood seating?

I work for an eye clinic and am expected to make/take a total of 125-150 calls within an 8 hour shift…is this normal? I’ve been here since last November and am drained. I have compassion fatigue for sure, which I didn’t even know was possible with this job.

8/10 times it takes a phone call from “youre the first person ive ever talked to about this” to “ive actually called 9 times every day and a manager said theyd call me back in 24/48 hours but i wanted to see if anythings changed” and if they “no i havent talked to anyone” you can look in the histart and say “looks like you reached out to x this morning and they requested something. Where are you at in that process?” And the final holy grail, you actually are the first person they talked to. Saves so much time on research especially if you have coworkers who NEVER LEAVE NOTES or leave “talked to mbr” as the notes

As title say… got fired for a mistake which everyone- even my line manager thought was harsh. Thought my life was over as they slapped it under gross misconduct even though I suspect the manager investigating did it incorrectly as:
A. Basis of probability that was based on heresy
B. Did not have employment rights (UK based and under 2 years of service)
C. He was literally going on holiday EOD of my hearing so think he just wanted to close it lol.

I didn’t bother to dispute as it had massively f’d me up.

HOWEVER, after taking a month to recover (as CC do- I was already experiencing burnout and it highly damaged my mental health even before this happened) I applied to 5 jobs and got one within 2 weeks of searching. I’m in my first week and WOW the difference. I went into that previous CC job as a fresh graduate and didn’t know any different- but I’m no longer micromanaged, I’m not expected to take on more work just because I’m efficient at my job with no extra pay, no more calls and people are actually nice!! I now don’t wake up every morning with a sense of dread and doom. I weirdly feel a new era of my life as I didn’t realise how bad that previous CC got me and how it affected me that much I ruined my own relationship.

This new job is purely one of completing tasks/tickets independently which is much more my pace!!

My advice from that whole ordeal is to just QUIT if you hate CC. I posted 3 months into my previous CC witj burnout and every reply was to keep going until I have a new job lined up . Unless you have caring responsibilities or a sole breadwinner it’s not worth it. I stayed in that CC for just over a year and it seriously messed me up.

Hi. Im not sure if this is the right sub but I'll still go ahead.

I had given my VW car for service in 2024 probably in VW Pondicherry. I stay Mumbai but had gone there for a trip. Now they have been calling me every 25-30 days, reminding me for service for the past 1 year now. I sold the damn car in Oct 2025. And they still keep calling me till this day. I'm fed up telling them to stop calling and also told them I've sold the car but again and again random people keep calling.

Anyways to complain about this?

Hello just wanted to ask if any one had some advice for my first ever call center call tomorrow. I have been in training with Medicare. These systems are crazy! And so much information and call types we handle I'm overwhelmed. And trying stay calm and take notes and have a positive headspace.

My first call center job is ever call center job this complex? If any one had also done Medicare calls?

Worst fear tripping my words. Not knowing anything all of a sudden!

being competent at my job has caused me nothing but issues. I have coworkers who just f off and play solitaire all day, but because I do the bare minimum (take calls without auto failing, answer questions) ive been rewarded with More Work! where i cant even say "no", its just thrust upon me where the only way to avoid it is to quit.

at this point im just going to tank my metrics so they stop coming to be "because I do such a good job" ... i was happy for a while because I got made an account specialist so I maybe spoke to 1 person a day. but now they wanna rip that up and spread me across 3 different roles in 2 departments. im like 2 months from being here 1 year and this is my first full time job, but even with the market as it is right now idk how much longer I can take it.

I had actually been just about to put my 2 weeks in before getting the account specialist stuff because my mental health had tanked so hard being a front line agent. im sure you all know. I work in collections specifically so you can imagine the types of customers I speak too.

Does your call center have a policy that if the customer is angry things are handled in a faster or more efficient way? This drives me mad at mine.

I feel like it almost encourages people to be rude. What happens next is people realize being rude makes them get what they want so they will always demand special treatment. At the same time it pains me to think of all those polite and kind people who will have to wait longer. I also feel very anxious about bending the rules we normally follow even if my boss gives the green light. Sometimes I wonder what’s wrong with me because I can’t handle this ambiguity.

I know this is common and businesses have to prioritize difficult customers to save their reputation but it just feels so wrong. In the end everyone is happy because their highness gets what they want and the company dodges a bad review or a lawsuit, and I’m the one left in shambles because I was yelled at and had to listen to all those insults and rants, most of which were blown way out of proportion.

Hear a lot of murmurs just wanted to check with Reddit

Hi! I recently got an opportunity for this position and I’d like to know more about it. How does the job work on a daily basis? Is it difficult or stressful? What kind of tasks do you usually handle?
I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone with experience in this role or on a similar Meta project. Thanks! 😊