While we are open on weekends for limited hours, most of the important holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas we are not open. I know there are a lot of call centers that are open twenty-four hours a day, three hundred sixty-five days a year. I've talked to some of the agents that work at these places, they have even worse stories than some of mine, especially emergency centers, or anything where people are going to depend on you for important things.

I've had a couple jobs where I worked holidays. It's really a strange feeling. All of my life growing up, holidays were this special time that my folks never let anything interrupt. We were always together, we were always well fed and we were always happy, well most of the time.

Then I entered the real world, and ended up in a couple of jobs where I had to work on Christmas and Thanksgiving several times. It was like losing part of my childhood. I felt broken inside. I felt sad and alone. The rest of the world is celebrating and surrounded in the warmth of their families, playing games, and eating too much, and I'm here working. This might sound incredibly childish to you, but I'm ok with that. There is still part of me that is a child.

To all those people that are working through the holidays, I feel for you. I hope in some little way, you still feel the warmth of the season. More than that, I hope you know that the rest of us appreciate you taking care of us so we can enjoy these holidays.

To those people that will deal with call centers on the holidays, take the time to be pleasant and polite. Take the time to remember that the person on the other side of the phone wants to help you. Finally, if they can't help you, and your holiday is "ruined", you miss your flight, or can't get your present delivered on time, don't take it out on them.

This time of year is when we try to make up for all of the times we let our family down, all the mean things we have said to those that love us the most, and all of the times we stayed at work when we could have been at home. An expensive gift, or making it home for one day and then ignoring the people who love you for the rest of the year won't make up for that. Go beyond gifts and trips and parties and truly give your heart to those people around you, including the people on the other end of the phone that are trying to help you.

Thanks for reading,

Happy Holidays,

AC