Deeper Into the World of the Call Centre

Following suit from the previous couple of posts, here is an update of what's been happening with moi - complete with overly-dramatic title, and sub-headings.

Flat
The flat's great, as always. The boiler hasn't burnt out and the washing machine hasn't broken, so it could be worse! Still expensive, but still nice.

My flatmate Mark now has a job lined up, starting on Monday. He got it through the same agency as me (Stafffinders) and ironically will be working for Scottish Power - the very company which sacked him - this time, doing outbound sales. He'll be back in Citypoint (Cowcaddens) and is kind of hoping nobody notices he's back again, just in case someone complains that he's already been shown the door. I'm sure it'll be ok. He's been unemployed for a month now and was becoming seriously fed up (especially given his recent financial hardship). Aside from being laid-back about the job search, the main reason he couldn't get a job up until now is because he's still under 18, and most employers only take on staff who are over 18. He comes of age on April 24th, but now he's secured another job it doesn't matter and so I think he's pleased about it.

Given that it's been a bad time for both of us recently, it's a real bonus that we both now have a job. Now we can focus on more important things like arranging the flatwarming party (watch this space).

Job
The job doesn't appear to be as bad as I initially thought. I'll be working for Sky Reinstates, which is like sales, except that you phone previous Sky customers who have been cut off, whether through choice or non-payment of bill, and give them offers in an attempt to keep them on as a customer.

At the moment we're still in training. We were initially told that the training would last 16 days (just over 3 weeks), but then told that it'll be 8 days (a week-and-a-half), so I've another 3 days next week before going live on the phones. The training group is ok; it's very male dominated (12 guys and 1 girl), but everyone seems to get along fine. The training itself is undemanding, and involves training on the Sky TV packages, and on use of the computer system (an old DOS-based system, which ironically I find is a lot better than the GTX one we used at Scottish Power). Overall it's pretty boring, but we get paid for it so fair enough. Once we go live, the group will be distributed over different teams, so perhaps there might actually be some females in my team? My fingers are crossed.

My shift pattern is a bit unusual, as I'll be working a 3-days-on, 3-days-off rota indefinitely, which is different from anything I'm used to. The shifts are 11 hours on weekdays and 9 hours on weekends. It might suit me more, I just won't know until I start. This entails that the number of hours worked each week will vary, but I reckon it will average out at about 36-37 hours a week. The pay is £6 hourly, which is the same as what I got at Scottish Power. What I'm not looking forward to is that given that I do 3 days of training next week and then go straight onto the shift pattern, I'll be working about 56 hours next week, which doesn't sound nice.

It's based in Ibrox, so I'm actually working for RHL, not directly through Sky. On the first day, I was dreading it, as I thought it would be purely sales-based, and when I arrived for the induction, I saw it was mainly guys and was seriously thinking of walking away. So far though I reckon the job doesn't look too bad, and will give it my best shot, and try to stay for around 2-3 months before looking elsewhere. The shift pattern might well suit me better, and I'm glad just to get some kind of employment for the moment. I really hate job-hunting - it's so much more difficult when you're unemployed! Anyway, only time will tell.

Gym
I started going to the gym this week, and have been 3 times already. I eventually want to improve my physique and general fitness, but these things don't happen overnight. It's good because me and Mark have joined the same gym, Fitness First, and we can go at the same time, which I find is a lot better than going yourself. It's just round the corner from the flat, for extra convenience. It's a very good gym, and the membership wasn't very expensive, so I can't complain really.

Girl
No such luck just yet, but since my last post all I've really done is training at Sky and going to the gym. Given that my training group is 92% male, I'm not holding out any hopes of meeting the girl of my dreams during training! The gym has been generally quiet but there has been some totty on show.

So generally I'll be trying to get into the routine of working and going to the gym regularly. The past week has been exhausting, given that I'm readjusting to getting up early (something which I always find difficult at first) and also trying to get into the habit of going to the gym. Should be going out tonight to the Arches to see the Happy Mondays with Suzi and possibly my flatmate, as I've got free passes, so hopefully should be fun.