Lately I've been telling you how things have improved at the Call Center since Larry (my ex-supervisor) has left. We heard from him last week. He's very happy at his new position with the company. I guess it was a win-win situation.

Even though things have changed for the better, I still want out of here. Just the nature of the business is what drives me out of my mind. Every time I sit down to eat my lunch the phone rings and my food gets colder and colder. Every conversation I start with my friends is interrupted by that phone. Every thing I do, everything I say is judged by that phone. It's always there, looking at me, smirking with it's liquid crystal display, telling me to get off this call because three more people are waiting.

You remember that scene in Office Space where they take the laser printer out in the field and bash it to pieces with the baseball bat? That's how I feel. I just hate the phone. It's like a parasite that has put some plastic tentacle into my ear and sucks out my life and energy every day. It's never satisfied, never satiated, it's always wanting more and more time.

I guess that's the difference in working in a call center. You can't say, "Hey, I answered all the calls today-no more until tommarow!" It doesn't work that way. They never stop, as long as there are people buying my services the phone will ring.

I know there is someone out there about to make the comment, "Hey now, that phone is your bread and butter, mister!" , or "If you don't like it you need to suck it up and leave." I've heard it all before. I am leaving, sooner than my company knows. I don't know what I hate more, the pain of my job, or selfish ass-holes who want to tell you how they understand your life and it would all change for the better if you just followed their moldy, trite advice.

People like that make me sick. Go trim your crew cut, do some push-ups, maybe you'll get lucky and find someone else you can spout your drill sargeant bullshit to. Don't forget to swallow any real emotion or compassion, so you can feel like a real hard-ass. While you're at it maybe you could try to understand the human condition instead of mocking any mention of pain or weakness real people make from time to time.

Damn...Don't know where that vitriol came from. I feel better though. Sounds like someone has some issues.

Thanks for reading, hope I didn't offend anyone who didn't deserve it.

AC