I started my “career” in 1990 as a customer service correspondent, taking written inquiries from our customers and working to fix the problems. If I had any direct contact with the customers, it was by my choice. When I needed clarification about something or needed them to make a decision, I would call them. Most of the time I did not. I fixed their problems and made them happy without ever speaking to most of them. I loved that job.
A couple of years in I got a promotion that I shouldn't have accepted. It gave them the right to move me to any area under our (customer service) manager, including the call center area. I had experience working customer service phones and knew I hated it. I wanted nothing to do with it. They decided to move a few team leads (my job) between the two departments (mail and phone) just to mix things up. There were 20 of us. Surely I wouldn't be one of the ones they chose? I bet you can guess what happened. They chose me. And my job became sitting at my desk trying to get my regular work done while constantly being interrupted by the phone ringing with escalated calls. Calls where the customer was angry and wanted a supervisor. Oh joy. It was annoying and I hated it.
Overnight my attitude went from “I love my job” to “I have to get out of here.” I tried to get moved to any other department, but my manager kept blocking the transfers. My attitude was bad and she didn't want to send someone with a bad attitude to another manager. My attitude would have been back to normal if I could just get away from the phones. But it wasn't to be.
I ended up quitting and going to work for a hotel as secretary to the GM. I thought answering the phone would be a small part of my job, but it wasn't. I hated it, and I hated working for the unethical douche that the GM was. I went to another hotel, this time working in sales, and resigned myself to having a mostly-phone job.
Then I started studying computers and made my way into I/T. I got a fantastic job as a technician and did more computer work than phone work. I was also responsible for the phones with the rest of the team, but our “customers” were employees of the company. We were treated like rock stars, not screamed at by angry Karens. But then I got laid off, and couldn't find a similar job to the one I'd lost.
Computer work had changed. If you weren't some kind of specialist, and I wasn't, you were no longer part of the rock star team. Instead you were relegated to the call center where the first complaints were recorded and then sent on to people who would do the fixing. And that's where I am. My I/T and networking skills are outdated, and my certifications are expired. The only work I can find is in call centers working with the public.
After that overlong explanation of my situation, I'm wondering if anyone here has found their way out of call centers and into positions where they did anything but take front line phone calls. I really don't mind solving customers' problems; in fact I enjoy it. I just don't enjoy working in a call center. What skills did you acquire? What path did you take? Did any of your old skills transfer to your new job? I look at job listings and only seem to qualify for phone work. There has to be something else, and I guess I don't know how to find it. Can anyone give me some advice here? Thank you.