What Are Call Center Employees Really Like?

Like most groups of humans, call center employees come in range of sizes, shapes, colors, and ages. That should go without saying. But there are some distinct personality types that exist in call centers. It's kind of fun to be aware of just whom you might be talking to the next time you want to complain about your blender or you're getting harassed about your credit card debt.

CallCenter Personality Type #1: The Theater Major

For some reason, call centers attract artist types at a higher percentage than other crappy jobs. Being one of these "artistic types," I rationalize my call center work as so mindless and routine that it keeps my brain free to work on things I really care about. It's not exactly the kind of job you take home with you or think about too much outside the cubicle. Theater majors in particular end up in call centers because they generally have great speaking voices and can act chipper through all sorts of brutal rejection scenarios.

CallCenter Personality Type #2: The Slacker

The Slacker ends up working in call centers because he can read the read the paper, play on his cell phone, and doodle to his heart's content. Call center employees are trained to do most of their work without a lot of direct supervision, and the ratio of managers to drones is pretty minimal. Unlike most customer service or sales jobs, working in a call center means that the person you're schmoozing can't see that you're also doing a crossword puzzle and texting your sister.

CallCenter Personality Type #3: The Overly Ambitious

Some people thrive in the highly dehumanized cubicle environment of a call center. They quickly start to dream about the day they'll be promoted to a floor coach or a monitoring position. They treat every call like a huge freakin' deal. They would try to upsell a corpse or a ten-year old, and their consciences never bother them in the slightest. Numbers are important to them, too. They'll regularly make a big deal out of their call statistics and how they compare to their co-workers, while the slackers look on in apathetic disbelief.

CallCenter Personality Type #4: The By-The-Book

The by-the-book call center employee most likely hates her job, but she does exactly what she needs to do to stay under the radar. That means reading every script to the letter, whether it follows logically in the conversation or not. She's probably not great on the phone, but you can't pin anything on her because she always follows the rules.

CallCenter Personality Type #5: The Lovable Mess

Some folks are attracted to call center work because their lives are a mess, and the kind of environment where discipline is communicated by mass memo suits their need to be chaotic without being blamed. These are the call center employees who'll tell you really personal stories about their custody battles, ex-spouses, car trouble, and wrongful termination from their last jobs. And in a call center where it's expected that you'll call off or roll in late because the work sucks so badly, they keep on coming up with reasons why their lives are so hard they just couldn't show up that day.

CallCenter Personality Type #6: The Body Art Aficionado

Call center employees are heard but not seen, so people with multiple tattoos and piercings end up there. It's a way to have a steady job and pay the rent without compromising one's appearance. At least until the band makes it big.