[Reader-list] call centres as an urban workspace

[taha mehmood]

 The Call Center as an Urban Workspace:
Talking to Hazel
 Hazel in Delhi:  �this is Hazel from (the client company name)

 Customer in the United States of America: �Where are you calling from?�

 H: �ma�am� ******** is our head quarters.�

C: �You, I want to know, where are you calling from?�

 H:  Ma�am I am calling from Delhi.

 C: You were trying to mislead me. My President is selling my country� you are trying to do the job that I should be doing�

 Hazel, 24, MA sociology.

Job Profile: Remote Agent in an international call center, Rep. for a United States corporation� specializing in collecting mortgage payments from American customers.

 I joined the call center because after completing my post grad, I was still confused about things, my sis works for this consultancy firm, she had to complete the quota of people that she sends to call centers for which she would get paid 5000 bucks commission� I also wanted to buy a kinetic from my own money for job hunting!!!� I just joined for a lark � earlier I used to hate it � if my friends would message me good night I would get irritated� but now after four months I am kind of liking it�the environment is good and I like the challenge!!

 There is lot of frustration and pressure in this line� one has to process the call in an average 99 seconds besides the QCA [Quality Control Analyst] can `barge� on your call at any time �I have started talking in my sleep now. Most of it gibberish� once I even sang� kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi�.  My boyfriend says that he won�t be surprised if someday I say� Thank you for calling�in my sleep.

I�d never used bad language� college mein I�d abused in English� just to prove that I�m not one of them� the guys that is�  the goonda elements� but call center mein to `mute� press karke� ma  bhenn ki nikal jaati hai�kyunki Americans ke saath mein hindi mein hi feel aata hai �

 I don�t like Americans. I think most are insecure and stuck up�in the training I was asked to vocalize a neutral accent�.

 The call center environment is good in some ways. I �ve learnt a lot � �dimag khul gaya hai� but there is a lot of peer pressure to be `cool`, to have an `image`� earlier I�d never been to a disc and recently there was this party� I just didn�t like it and came back in an hour or so. See� I don�t drink, I don�t fag, I don�t dance and I hate loud music. There was no reason for me to be there too long. Agle din�. People said that I was a spoilt sport�some people teased me�but its ok. People get used to you. If you are strong, they accept you. 

 More about Hazel and her co- remote agents in the next posting. Feedback is welcome.

Taha Mehmood

Iram Ghufran

 


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