My goal had been to make this a 6-month gig. Working from the belly of the beast, Lower Manhattan, I hear the voices scurry through. Voices of the concerned, the melancholy, the stranded. A city filled with agonies of all sizes. and consequence.

Yesterday, with the pouring rain, calls to report flooding and ponding poured in, so to speak. 

I missed a chance to help someone, partly because I wasn’t fast enough but I also feel she didni’t give me enough time. 

I don’t know what would be next after 6 months of this. If I never miss a day and continue to accrue leave and sick time and all that I could walk with a pretty nice chunk of change.

I have a lot of respect for some of the other workers here. They genuinely care. I listened in on one kid who, at a glance, I would have thought had no chance at success here. But he’s very good. His concern and interest really shows. He plays by the rules, but I hear his frustration when he gets called the N word. Some others here laugh that kind of thing off, at least to others. Not him.

I love the sound of the call center floor. There is no real mold any rep is made to fill. There is scripting and boilerplate comments but every is allowed to be themselves. 

I might take a call in less than a minute that others would take for 4 or 5 minutes, just taking their time with it.

It’s the mean one I don’t understand. SOme of these people are not happy to hear from you, and think poorly of you simply for calling. I hear operators here stopping just short of obscenities in chiding the callers and lecturing them on the lessons of life.