Current Events > The worst part of my job is many people's inability to effectively communicate.

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Call center work, I work with insurance agents and policy holders. Mostly it's the policyholders, but sometimes the agents. It's usually small things, they just happen so frequently it can be exhausting, like trying to draw water from a stone. For instance:

"Thank you for calling, my name is Pogo, how can I help you today?"

"Hi, my name's Dave."

Awkward silence while I parse if they're just thinking of what to say so I don't talk over them, or if they're just not going to explain what they need help with.

"...."

"..."

"... How can I help you today?"

People will also call in, greet me, ask how I'm doing, then immediately start talking before I can answer. Like, I get phone conversations are impersonal, but these people don't even stop to consider what they're saying half the time.

People will ask a question, but not stop talking for me to answer it. I'll ask for a policy number and they'll rattle off 6 characters so quickly I literally get a jumbled mess of sounds through the already crappy telephone connection. They'll read off their checking account number, stumble over a number, repeat it without any pause, and expect me to guess whether they are correcting their mistake or just continuing the number (Which they'll do about 50/50). They'll interrupt me when I'm giving a comprehensive answer to a question that needs a comprehensive answer, because I haven't answered their question fast enough.

This and three dozens other common patterns where many people just don't know how to effectively communicate. It's the same everywhere, but because it's call center work and I don't have body language to use, it's exacerbated so much. It's the small stresses that just wear on you and accumulate over the day.

Bleh.
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