I love my work. I'm in customer care. Working there helps me relieve a lot of insecurities about my usefulness, I get to socialize with set limitations and expectations, I learn to set boundaries (as to how far I can go for a customer) and I feel good about myself, I feel like I benefit the community.
Yet I hate everything else. I hate the higher ups. They think of us as disposable bc it isn't a job that one makes a career out of, so it has a high turnover. They are sarcastic and discipline you for the littlest thing, just to set an example. We have a bunch of team leaders, but the majority of them (6/7) don't know the ins and outs of the project we (the newest interns) are in. We frequently get told off (even if a customer is on hold) about not knowing or how they know less than us, as if it's our fault our shifts don't coincide with the one team leader who knows. They tell us off for speaking too loud, but the team leaders are by far the loudest ones.
I was told off, because I raised my voice a bit while talking to coworkers bc my tone was “unprofessional”, but in the same breath, the team leader told me “I would be literally kicked out on the spot if it was another company” as if that's okay to say and not manipulative at all.
We are asked to stay for a couple more things some nights. I've worked at least a whole shift (I'm part time, 4 hours a day) more just by spending 10 and 20 minutes every day doing “a few last things”, which ofc won't get paid.
We were told “three weeks of paid training and you can start working from home”, but I started on May 10th, and only one of us gets to go home this Monday and she was a worker at the company before us. Their excuse is that we don't perform as well as they want us to.
People have been having issues with their pays too. One person was paid one less day and she was given excuses like “for a month that has 31 days, you'll get paid for 30”, as if she hadn't worked 12 days (and was paid for 11) and not the full 20 that's expected, cause that was the month she begun. Another was paid 10€ less with no explanation.
And since we're getting to pay, my job deserves more than minimum wage. All jobs do, but this isn't even a “low skill level job” either! I'm supposed to know so many things, how the billing works for the electric bill, how online banking works, how the app (which I have no access to) looks like and works, I'm supposed to be knowledgeable on the newest updates like government funds, I am supposed to know all the processes like how to change electricity provider, stop a house from having electricity, how to add someone as a contact person, person verification, how to explain the 20 different fees on an electricity bill.
I have 10 minutes break time, it barely is enough to go to the bathroom and drink some water, I can't even eat. I get paid 4.28€/h mixed (3.50-3.80 with all the government cutbacks, depending on your luck with the department that pays you) to get yelled at by customers and team leaders.
Since I work only 4 hours a day, I have a maximum of 6 days paid leave a year.
I am supposed to do and know so many shit for such little reward, I'd rather go be a cashier if that's the case. At least if I'm a cashier, the worst that can happen is for someone to accidentally overpay or underpay, not misinformation that causes their house to not have electricity.
My time is worth more than 4€ an hour. An hour I'll forever lose deserves more than 4€.
Part of me is pisses bc I feel like I have almost no choice, I either struggle to make ends meet for each month without a job, or I keep this shitty hellhole of a workplace, bc I'm disabled and can't stand for long hours.
Talking about standing, it's one fucking hour away from my university or my house. I spent 2 hours a day using buses and subways to get to and from there. That's 50% of my time there. I spend 6 hours of my day, each day, for less than 16€.
TL;DR: I work in customer service. I'm getting underpaid to be abused by my higher ups, I was promised work from home within 3 weeks, but it's been 40 days and still nothing, I spend 2 hours a day to and from my workplace, all while I have 6 paid days off per year. I feel trapped here, because I struggled a lot to find a sedentary job, which is my only choice because of invisible disabilities. I love working in customer care, I just hate being exploited for customer care.