Call Center Funnies - April 2008

We all need a laugh or two each day to relieve stress or to put things in lighter perspective. Here's a cartoon courtesy of http://www.callcentercomics.com/.

You can also check out Will & Guy's Call Center Classics

If you have any cartoons or other funny call center stuff, please share with us.

Enjoy!

Call Center Reps - Are You Being Paid Your Full Wages?

Several large U.S. corporations are being sued for not paying worktime wages to call center reps. Here's an article by Destinationcrm.com giving any overview of this issue and here is one from Earthtimes.org with the specifics of the lawsuit against AT&T Midwest.

The unpaid worktime in dispute is the time that a call center rep needs to log into or out of the acd phone system and other required software programs necessary to do their job. The lawsuit allegest that these companies only paid the reps for the time that they were available to take incoming calls. The time it takes for a rep to properly log into and out of their work programs varies from company to company but could be as much as 30 minutes/day.

If you don't know how your paid worktime is actually tracked by your company - ask!

Free Ice Cream Cone & More Freebies - April 2008

As a followup to my previous entry, "Your Call Center Salary - Stretch It With Extra Cash & Freebies - March/April 2008", attached is link from realsimple.com with a list of "23 Surprising Things You Can Get For Free".

I found there is one correction to the Real Simple list: the annual Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's this year is not April 17 (that was last year's date). This year the date is April 29, 2008. Here's a shop locator. Hope you have a Ben & Jerry's shop near you to enjoy on this day!

Call Center Workstations – Don’t Be A ‘Turtle Head’

The attached photo is typical of many call centers particularly the posture of the reps at the workstations. They are what I call “turtle heads” – backs hunched over, neck and head all scrunched down looking down at their computer screen. Sitting like this constantly 8 hours a day can do serious damage to your back, spine, neck and posture – which can lead to all other types of health issues. On a daily basis, it can contribute to headaches, fatique and lower call center rep productivity and quality. While most call centers provide ergonomically correct chairs for the reps, I find many fail to correct some of the other primary points of rep’s workstation that force the rep to sit incorrectly their entire shift. One primary point is the level of your computer screen. You should not have to look down to see it – instead it should be positioned at eye level or slightly below it. This can easily be corrected by the purchase of a plastic riser that any office supply vendor sells. Here is how http://www.wiki.com/ explains How To Set Up An Ergonomically Correct Workstation and here is what the Department Of Labor’s OSHA has to say about Computer Workstations.

If you feel that your call center needs to improve the ergonomics of its workstations, then bring these articles to your management’s attention. However, it’s important to keep in mind that your call center management does have an annual budget for office supplies and equipment that must be adhered to. If they can’t make these ergonomic improvements immediately, be patient and give them a chance to try to get the needed funds into next year’s budget. In the meantime, you may want to brainstorm with your supervisor or call center director some low cost immediate solutions. Bringing an important issue like to management’s attention - along with an attitude that shows respect for the budget and an eagerness to work with them as a team player to find reasonable solutions - demonstrates your leadership abilities and will truly impress them.

Shocking Call Center

Periodically, I have reps report to me that they are getting "shocks" from their headsets or phones. After I've convinced them that management isn't purposely electroshocking them to keep them awake on the job, I've had each incidence thoroughly investigated - brought in electrician to make sure all the phones, computers and rep workstations are safely wired and grounded, replaced headsets, replaced phones, etc. but never really found anything wrong. Yet, these occurances kept periodically happening - and randomly throughout the call center.

Yesterday, I stumbled upon the first plausible explanation I have ever found which can be found here in the article "Static In The Call Center" by Steve Fowler of Fowler associates and found on www.edsjournal.com. Finally! - some answers and some solutions.

If your call center is experiencing this type of problem, be sure to forward on this article to your Supervisor.

"The Call Center" Commercial

I'm sure one day there will be a reality television show named "The Call Center". Here's a proposed commercial for such a show that someone posted on Youtube.com. Enjoy......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmULmCTWfwY

Also take a moment to vote for who you would like to see in the "Celebrity Call Center" reality show - see poll to the right of this page.

Your Call Center Salary - Stretch It With Extra Cash & Freebies - March/April 2008

I know how hard it is to make ends meet on a call center rep salary. With rising oil, gas and food prices, it's getting harder and harder to stretch that paycheck to cover all your expenses - nevermind having anything left over to treat yourself. You may want to check out my previous posting about Call Center Salaries. In the meantime, a little extra unexpected cash, discounts or some freebies can help stretch that paycheck a bit more. I'll be including a category of postings here periodically with opportunities I found for free cash, rebates and discount coupons that might help you out - even if it's just a little more pocket change. So here's the list for the March/April:

Rebates and Refunds:

• US. Economic Stimulus Tax Rebate - if you are a tax paying U.S. citizen, I'm sure you're already aware of this rebate. Most Americans will receive $300 to $600 with this tax rebate plan. However, you may not be aware of the specific eligibility requirements or when to expect to receive this rebate. You can go directly to the Internal Revenue Services website here for full information or you can review this article by ABC News. The most important thing to know is that to receive this rebate you must file your 2007 tax return. If you haven't filed your tax return yet here are three coupons you can use to save money on your tax preparation: H&R Block $30 Off Tax Preparation – new clients valid through 4/30/08, Jackson Hewitt $15 Off Tax Preparation - valid through 12/31/08, $5 gift card at Best Buy with purchase of any Turbo Tax product.

• Airborne Refund - Airborne, the maker of this popular herbal supplement maker has agreed to pay $23.3 million to settle a class action suit charging it falsely advertised its best selling products can cure the common cold. If you bought an Airborne product between May 1, 2001 and November 29, 2007, you qualify to file a claim against the settlement. If you have proofs of purchase then you can get a refund for everything you bought. Otherwise, you can claim as many as six products up to $73.50. So if you used an Airborne product during the specified time period, here are links to the online claim form and more information about this settlement: Online Claim Form, Paper Claim Form, Settlement Website.

Freebies:

• Dunkin Donuts Coffee
• Seattle Best Coffee
• "Be Green" Bumper Stickers & Magnets From Annies
• Dove Body Lotion, Shampoo and Conditioner

Printable Coupons - Groceries, Food & Beverages:

• Perdue Chicken $2.00 off
• Target Grocery Coupons - scroll to bottom of page
• BJs One-Day Free Pass
• Gerber various baby products- 50 cents to $1.00 savings
• Luvs diapers at Target Stores – $1.50 to $2.50 off – expires 4/4/08
• Arby’s printable coupons – check bottom of page for two coupons – 12/31/08

Printable Coupons - Miscellaneous:

• Reebok Outlet 20% - valid through 12/31/08
• Naturalizer Shoes 20%- valid through 4/7/08
• Best Buy 10% off coupon (minimum purchase amount varies by product) 4/30
• Dick’s Sporting Good $10 off coupon (on purchase of $50 or more)4/30
• Petco various coupons – scroll to bottom pages

If you're aware of any other good opportunities for free cash, rebates or valuable coupons, please comment here and share with us.

Wacko Customers - Don't Let Them Get To You

Wacko customers - aarghhh!! You know what I mean - the kind that are rude, obnoxious and take abusive advantage of the fact that your job is to treat them well. It's not easy to stay calm and professional with these types and even if you keep your cool on the phone with them, it can be hard to shake them after the call. I've seen reps throw down their headsets in frustration and some even cry after being abused by these wacko customers. Rather than throw something or cry, check out this video for a creative and humorous way that a photocopy shop customer service person took out her frustration with "The Worst Customer Ever".

If you don't have time to create a video like this to vent your frustration & stress with wacko customers, read my previous entry on Controlling Call Center Stress for some tips on how to constructively shake these wackos out of your system. I'm sure (or I hope) that your training department has provided you with tips for managing difficult customers while on the phone with them. If not, or, you'd like more tips for handling difficult customers, here's a good summary of techniques to use.

Feel free to submit a comment with your story about a "Your Most Wacko Customer" or "Your Worst Customer Ever" - I'm sure you all have great stories to tell!

Kind Comments About Call Center Reps

There are quite a few blogs and vlogs out there that either criticize or make fun of call center reps - particularly those reps who have a foreign accent. I won't even post links to these blogs and vlogs as examples because I don't want to encourage or add to their viewing numbers - they irritate me so much.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to find one blogger who shows some empathy and respect for these reps. It's really refreshing to read his comments which you can find here.

Call Center Salaries - How To Get A Raise

With home heating oil, gasoline prices and basic groceries at record highs, many call center reps are finding it harder than ever to make ends meet. Some who live in areas with no public transportation are even finding it difficult to get to work each day because they can't afford the gasoline for their car - and the price of gas is expected to go even higher this summer!

Now, more than ever, it's time to take a look at your current salary and make sure you are being paid a competitive salary for your call center job. There are many different resources you can use to learn what the competitive salary rate is for your call center job - just google "salary survey" and you'll find many listings. One of the more popular sites for salary information is Salary.com. Following are the U.S. national base salary averages listed for inbound call center reps (the different levels are primarily based on years of experience and the scope of responsibilities within the job):

Rep Inbound - Level I: Range = $21,956 - $35,552, Average = $28,246
Rep Inbound - Level II: Range = $24,589 - $40,114, Average = $32,145
Rep Inbound - Level III: Range = $28,294 - $48,942, Average = $38,197

It's important to keep in mind when reviewing these salary ranges that there are significant factors that determine whether the competitive salary for your specific call center job falls at the low or high end of the range. For example, the salary ranges listed above are base salaries (i.e. not including any other compensation such as incentive pay, bonus plans and/or health & retirement planning benefits). Other factors that determine the actual competitive salary for your specific call center job are the geographic location of your call center, the type of business your call center conducts, the skill level required to do your job, your specific job responsibilities, your years of experience and how well you are performing in your call center job. You can do a more customized salary search for your job at Salary.com.

Once you have a better understanding of your competitive salary range and what your boss would consider a "reasonable" raise, you can put a plan of action in place. I like the plan of action outlined on the website Soyouwanna.com. Here are the five basic steps listed there:

1. Make sure that you deserve it.

2. Prepare your strategy

3. Know when to strike

4. Read your boss

5. Avoid stupid mistakes

6. Go in and ask for the raise

Full details on each of these steps are found at So You Wanna Ask For A Raise? .

By far the most important step of all is the first step - "Make Sure That You Deserve It". For a call center rep that means consistently displaying high call quality, high productivity, excellent attendance, adherence to company policies and good interpersonal skills with your co-workers and management. If you have this first part in place with a reasonable expectation of what your competitive salary range is, the next five steps should be easy.

What Not To Wear - Call Center Dress Code

There is no one right dress code policy for call centers. What’s right for a particular call center depends upon the nature of the business, the background of its employees and even the geographic location. While more and more companies are relaxing dress code policy, many do still have definite guidelines. The guidelines often are stricter if there are occasional client or customer visits to the call center – and – there are quite a few companies who believe that dress code guidelines increase the overall professionalism and quality of its employees. I have to agree.

When I managed a small group of call center reps for a start-up web company, at first we didn’t have a dress code policy. During that period, most employees including the CEO and president of the company wore jeans and the chairman even occasionally wore shorts, t-shirt and sandals. However, as the company grew and the number of employees became larger and more diversified, the attire that employees wore to work was becoming an issue. Some of the call center reps would show up in what looked like pajamas, some in dirty t-shirts, some in raggy sweatsuits and some were dressed like they had a career “in the oldest profession in the world” like the singer in this music video.

A number of the other employees (both male and female) didn’t like it because it made them feel they weren’t working with other professionals - or - in a professional environment. Much to my surprise, the majority of the reps in my center actually wanted me to institute a dress code policy. So I did – with input from the employees. I knew what I wanted in a dress code policy, but I knew that I would get better buy-in from the employees if I solicitated their ideas and comments. I was very impressed at how much thought and consideration they put into helping me establish the dress code policy. It was still casual, yet sensible, more professional-looking and it took into account the diversity of our employees cultural, family and economic backgrounds. Was everybody happy with it? Of course not, but the majority of reps embraced it.

Most dress code policies include this list of 15 Don’ts.

Why should you give a hoot about your call center’s dress code policy? Because if you don’t it could be a career killer. Putting aside the disciplinary action that would most likely be imposed on you, not dressing appropriately for your job gives management a bad impression of you. You may just be a call center rep now – but if you want to get promoted to another position in your call center or another department in your company, then dress the part now. As much as we might not like it - Image Does Count.

Call Center Yoga

As a followup to my prior post, "Call Center Job Stress - Control It", here's a link to some more stress reducing exercises you can do at your desk. Don't get turned off if you're not into yoga. The exercises in these videos are more just simple, good stretches than yoga contortions. Even if you're not stressed, - - they're great exercises for getting rid of that aching back and neck you have after being hunched over your desk for 8 hours. Try them - and let me know if you like them.

Celebrity Call Center

A Maritz poll recently put out this question to bank customers:

Which celebrity has the ideal personality to be a call center representative?

Adfreak.com put together a recap of the results.

There's already been a celebrity Fear Factor, Survivor and The Apprentice. I say it's time now for a new reality series - Celebrity Call Center. Just think about it - celebrities having to show up on time for shifts, dealing with structured times for lunch and breaks, being monitored by QA, being mico-managed by their Supervisor on number of phone calls they handle, being berated on call after call by wacko customers - it would be brutal and great fun to watch. So, if there was a reality TV series, "Celebrity Call Center", which celebrities would you like to see be a part of it? I've put together a list of possibilities - see poll on right side of this page. What's your vote?

Call Center Job Stress - Control It

With all there is in the world to be concerned about - the war, the economy, terrorism, global warming, your kids, your rent, your family, your health - it’s no wonder that people are more stressed than every. Then there’s your call center rep job, or, shall we call it your “stress center” rep job to bring your stress level to the extreme – if you let it.

Don’t let it. This article from Call Center Magazine talks about how important it is for call center reps to get control of stress levels.

I could compile a long list of tips to control stress - there are hundreds of websites now where you can get that information. After reviewing many lists, here are the top 7 tips that I believe are applicable and helpful in a call center job:

1. Keep a positive attitude – see my previous entry, “Change The Way You Think”.

2. Make the most of your break-times:

• Get up and away from your workstation.


• Don’t eat at your workstation.


• Don’t spend your breaktime with negative, gossipy co-workers – find the positive, fun co-workers to chat with.


• Don’t go sit someplace else – get up and MOVE. Try to do even just 5-10 minutes of light exercise such as walking outside or inside or going up & down a staircase.


• Don’t smoke! (more about that in a future article)

3. Stretch - when you have a lull in between phone calls, stretch your body. You can get some great stretching exercises done in either a sitting or standing pose.

4. Keep Yourself Hydrated – drink water – not coffee or caffeinated drinks. Caffeine will only increase stress levels.

5. Eat Healthy Foods - snack on fruits, vegetables and nuts. Candy, chips, cookies and other types of carbohydrates will only give you a rush up of your blood sugar level and then a quick rush down. You’ll just be more stressed out with the high blood sugar level and then crave more food when your blood sugar level plummets.

6. Breath From Your Belly – when you are stressed your breath becomes shallow and you breathe from your chest. This type of breathing raises adrenalin levels which creates more stress - plus anxiety and maybe even panic. When you feel stress coming on breathe from your belly. First inhale through your nose counting to ten and then exhale through your mouth counting to ten. As you do this, place your right hand on your belly. As you inhale, your belly should distend like a balloon. As you exhale, your belly should deflate like a balloon. Repeat this at least 6 times up to 20 times. This type of belly breathing actually massages the adrenalin gland which in turn lowers the amount of adrenalin (aka Stress) that is flowing through your body. This won’t feel natural to you at first and you will most likely have to do this in between phone calls. But if you keep practicing it to the point where it feels natural, you can even do this type of breathing while talking to a customer on the phone

7. Don’t Dwell On It Or Take It Personally - let go of that nasty, rude customer - get them out of your head. Don’t take their rude, negative manner personally. If you have trouble letting it go, try this technique that one of my reps used: draw a funny picture of what you think that nasty customer looks like then crumble it up and toss them in the waste basket.

I’d love to hear if you have other good tips for managing stress in the call center - I'm sure you do. Please take the time to share - - but only if it’s not going to stress you out. ;)

Measure Up - Your Call Center Job Performance

I know you don’t want to be call center rep forever. However don’t waste away your time as a call center rep doing a mediocre job. If you want to improve your life and move on to a better job (within or outside of the call center), then you need to focus on two primary things while you are a call center rep:

• Make as much money as you can while you’re in the call center


• Distinguish yourself from all the other call center reps

Simple, right? Actually it is because there is probably no other job in the world that has such clear-cut performance measures than a call center rep job. The highest paid reps and the reps given better job opportunities consistently exceed their job performance measures. The bottom line is that it costs a company a lot of money to run a call center and call center management is under a tremendous amount of pressure to manage the call center as efficiently as possible with a very tight budget. Within that budget they will allocate the largest pay increases to those reps that are the most productive with quality customer interactions.

When there are special teams formed in the call center to handle special products, special clients, etc., call center management will turn to the reps with the best job performance to fill the positions on these teams. You want to be on these special teams! Often these teams are higher paid than the general call center rep population and the type of customer interactions most likely are more interesting and challenging than the routine interactions of the overall call center. The reps on these special teams also become very familiar names with management.

So what exactly are a call center rep’s performance measures and what do they mean? Your call center management team has many measurements they monitor for the overall efficiency of the call center and I’ll go over those in a future entry. For now, there are just four that you need to be concerned with for your own good:

Talk-Time (TT) = the amount of time you spend actually speaking to a customer. The clock starts counting on this measure from the second you answer the call to the second you disconnect the customer.

After Call Worktime (ACWT) = the amount of time you spend completing work related to the phone call you just finished. The clock starts counting on this one from the second you disconnect the call with the customer to the second you put yourself available to take another call.

Average Handle Time (AHT) = Talk Time + ACWT. For example if a call center has a standard of 120 second Talk Time and a 30 second standard of After Call Work Time, then the Average Handle Time standard would be 150 seconds:

120 TT + 30 ACWT = 150 AHT

Call Quality = measure of how well you handled the customer interaction. Each call center will have their own favorite measures but most common ones are measuring your degree of politeness and professionalism with the customer, your problem solving skills and your adherence to company procedures and scripts.

Schedule Adherence = measurement of the degree to which you actually worked the hours you were scheduled. For example, if you constantly put yourself in an unavailable state (without supervisory approval) so you don’t receive phone calls, then you will have poor schedule adherence.

Each call center will have a standard for each of these measures. If your Supervisor hasn’t told you what they are – find out now! Your Supervisor should be giving you regular feedback on how you are doing with your performance measures. Work collaboratively with your Supervisor to improve your job performance measures. No, it’s not a matter of kissing up to the boss – it’s looking out for yourself and making your life the best it can be – even in a call center!

Watch What You Say At Work

As a call center rep, you don't need me to tell you how important it is to watch what you say to customers - you have your Supervisor and Quality Assurance team to do that. What I'd like to tell you about though is how important it is to your job advancement opportunities to watch what you say to your co-workers and management.



Today CNN.com is taking a poll asking “Have you ever made a comment at work that damaged your career?" So far out of the 56,320 people who responded, 57% said NO and 43% said YES. I would tend to argue that the percentage of people responding NO includes people who just don’t realize that they have already said things that damaged their career.

When I was a call center director, I was amazed at some of the remarks that reps seriously made to me – and then a few weeks or a month later, really believe that I would still consider them for a call center leadership position. Here are some of the more memorable ones:

• “I was partying all weekend – do you have any No Doze pills I can take so I’m not so sleepy when handling customer calls?”


• “Where in the employee handbook does it say I can’t tell a customer that he sucks?”


• “Sorry for not being here yesterday but I had another severe attack of depression. I’m on medication now, still disoriented but ready to take customer phone calls”.


• “I’d leave this job if I could but I can’t pass the drug test at other companies I interview with”.


• “Sorry I missed work yesterday, but I beat the sh... out of my ex-wife’s new boyfriend and I was in jail.”


• “I don’t care if the company policy says we can’t use offensive words – this is the way I talk and I don’t give a f...!”


• “But I only had the pornographic photos displayed on one side of my cubicle!”

This article has more things NOT to say at work.

If you are in a situation where you are meeting one-on-one with your supervisor, manager or anyone in call center management – THINK before you speak. I know this can be particularly challenging in a situation where you are being counseled on job performance. You’re first reaction is to go on the defensive and talk out of the heat of the moment. This will dig your career deeper into the hole. Most call center supervisors and managers expect the rep to get defensive when being counseled. Don’t let that happen to you – don’t make them have to manage you. Instead manage yourself and take control of the situation. Respond back with a respectful and positive statement. For example:

“I’m sorry that I’m not meeting job performance standards as I take my job and career seriously. I’m going to think about what you’ve counseled me on and do my best to improve my performance in that area. Along the way, I’d really appreciate your help in giving me periodic feedback so that I know for sure I am meeting your expectations”.

If you really have a hard time agreeing with what your Supervisor is counseling you on, then just insert these words before the second sentence: “Even though I don’t completely agree with your assessment of my performance…..”.

This type of statement will truly impress your supervisor (and maybe even make them feel a little bit guilty for putting you on disciplinary action). This type of statement demonstrates maturity, professionalism and teamwork (i.e. you are committed to meeting your company’s standards). However, for this statement to bring you long-lasting career benefits, you must follow-up a statement like this with your actions – otherwise you’ll be back in a counseling meeting with your Supervisor and that type of statement won’t sound credible again.

What you say will leave a lasting impression – make it a good one!

Change The Way You Think

Yes, I know you consider yourself a positive person. So did I until one week I took the time to write down my actual thoughts and responses during workplace interactions. I was shocked at how many negative and self-defeating thoughts I actually had. I wasn’t able to change those negative thoughts until I started to think about and write down what positive/constructive thoughts could replace the negative ones. Once I got into the practice of doing this I swear my stress and anxiety levels went down.

With all the negative customers that you have to deal with each day as a call center rep, it’s only natural for you to slip into negative, self defeating thoughts. Negative thinking is one of the primary sources of stress and anxiety and you already know that stress and anxiety can lead to all types of health issues.

There is all the hype about the book, ‘The Secret’. While it’s message is about the power of positive thinking, some of it is a little too far-fetched for me. Here's a more down-to-earth article about positive thinking published by the Mayo Clinic:

So do it…..I challenge you! Write down your actual thoughts and reactions for a week. Whenever you encounter a negative thought, then think about and write down what a more positive thought would be. At the very least it will give you something interesting to focus on in between the call after call after call after call….that you take each day. In the long run, it will make you more aware of your thought pattern - and awareness is knowledge- and knowledge leads to self-improvement.

Don't Be An Attendance Issue

Today CNN.com has a link to a Careerbuilder.com article about the “excuses” employees give for missing work.

Some of the excuses listed are quite hilarious. As a prior call center manager I’ve heard some even funnier ones. While the article tends to position these excuses as made-up, I bet many of them were actually true. On many occasions I was heard to remark “You just can’t make this stuff up!” when hearing the excuse a rep gave for being absence.

This leads me to one major piece of advice I want to share with call center reps: Don’t Be An Attendance Issue.

It’s a career killer no matter where you work. In a call center, no matter how high your call quality is, no matter how high the volume of calls you take – if you’re an attendance issue, most of that will become irrelevant.

It’s important to understand that call centers tend to manage the company’s attendance policy much more tightly than other departments because they are working with particularly challenging staffing models. Call center management has to ensure on a daily basis that there is enough staff to continually cover the customer phone calls and emails. They also have to figure into their staffing models allowances for reps' breaks, lunchs, shift changes, vacation days and sick days. This allowance is called “shrinkage” in most call center staffing models. If the attendance policy is not managed very tightly, this shrinkage percentage would grow higher requiring more staff be hired or leaving customer calls and email waiting for long periods. Call center management’s job would be much easier if there were no shrinkage allowance at all in the staffing model – but don’t worry, Human Resources is usually there to keep them honest as depicted in the following cartoon:

Try to avoid becoming an attendance issue by managing your allotted days off very carefully. Sure it’s not easy and it takes some effort – but it can be done. You should be using your allocated time-off for the following reasons only:

• You are truly physically sick – this doesn’t mean just a headache, the sniffles, your period or you’re just plain too tired from partying too late the night before.



• Your child is sick – if you are a parent you are doubly challenged to manage your allocated time off. You will need to step-up to the plate as a responsible adult and save many of your allocated days in anticipation that your child will be sick at some point during the year.



• You have a true family emergency – if there are some ongoing health or personal issues going on in your family, then you need to save some of your allocated time off in anticipation of this.



• You take a pre-planned personal day or a vacation – which all call center reps really need! Try to plan these days in advance – it will then help you more proactively plan & manage the rest of your days off throughout the year.

Again, I know it isn’t always easy to proactively manage your time off when you never know what life is going to throw at you. However, if you demonstrate to your boss that are trying to make an earnest effort to manage your attendance (and the rest of your job performance is good), then follow the advice CareerBuilder.com includes in the article:

“If you're a strong employee and you're truthful about the time you need off, your employer is likely to give it to you." But if you get caught in a lie, you risk your reputation and possibly even your job.”

On an end note – but an important note, TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF – STAY HEALTHY! Eat healthy foods, exercise regularly, get a good night’s sleep, and stop smoking. That alone will help to improve your daily energy and health – which is perhaps one of the biggest steps towards a good attendance record.

Feel free to comment and share any particular or unique challenges you have in managing your attendance record - or any tips you'd like to share about how you successfully manage your attendance.

Until Something Better Comes Along............

Most call center reps just passively ride out their time as a call center rep - just waiting for that dream job or something better to come along. Here's a music video that captures that sentiment.

I like this song – pretty catchy tune, I find myself singing along to it and reminds me of how I felt in my first years working in a call center. Only thing is, once the gal in the video shows up for her job in the call center, she'll probably be sent home in violation of dress code policies.

Yes, being a call center rep can be a pretty crummy job and you'd rather be a rock star, a fashion model, an overnight entrepreneurial success or CEO - but let's get real! No one is going to come knocking on your door and hand you that dream job on a silver platter. You can’t just sit there “until something better comes along”. Comes along from where? From who? You need to go out and get it. If you keep the big picture in mind and take the right approach to your call center rep job, you’ll be surprised at how many opportunities it can actually bring you - maybe even that dream job.

I’ll be posting further entries with tips on how to strategically use your call center rep job to move on to a better position - in just about any career field you want. In the meantime, enjoy the song.