Author's note: (I just wanted to share something that I wrote a little over a year ago. I recently have been a little down and out, but then I realized how far that I have come. My thoughts are a lot more coherent now than ever before. This is because of all of those who have taken time to read what I have written. If no one read what I have posted, then I would have never gone anywhere. Thanks goes out to all that have stood by me all of this time.)
A person’s career is one of the most important aspects in
his or her life. Choosing the right path
in regards to employment can be rather hard task due to pressures from the
outside world. A closer look at the
personal traits of an individual will reveal the career that is best suited for
him or her.
I am a heavily introverted person and tend to be receptive
of the world instead of active. I am
slow to process information while evaluating the world around me before I come
to any conclusions whatsoever. I have a constant
barrage of thoughts going through my head every second of the day. I am a very imaginative human being despite
coming off as mechanical in everything that I do. Unordinary thoughts pop into my head at times
when they shouldn’t. I used to get angry
at myself for being this way. I wanted
to be like everyone else and focus on the task at hand as it is presented to
me. However, I was not meant to be this way. My inner world will always be a lot stronger
than my outer world. My inner world will
dominate me even if I am in a room with hundreds of others. When I lose my voice within my head due to
sounds from the outer world, then I get frustrated and want to leave the area. This is because I tend to pop in and out of
existence when my inner world is threatened.
Without my thoughts, I am just a corpse, and I cease to be a human
being.
Working in call center poses huge problems in regards to my
personality type. I take calls back to
back with no breathing room in between.
The loud beeping gets annoying quickly each time a call comes
through. The cell phone reception these
customers have is complete garbage. The
volume of the static is unbearable in a lot of cases. This means that my inner world is taken away
from me. This means that I pop in and
out of existence while on the phone with other people. This can create confusion in my speech, and
so I will have to end up restating information multiple to customers due to my
inner world and outer world competing for my attention. My mind does not know which one to pick,
which results into speech that can sometimes seem nonsensical.
Break times are also a huge deal for me within the confines
of the call center. We have two fifteen
minute breaks within an eight and half hour period. There is a half hour time slot for lunch that
can be taken away if calls keep coming through at an alarming right. In situations such as this, everybody works
through lunch. The company provides, but
what is the point when no one has time to eat it? A person can only pack so much food into his
or her cheek. Everyone is also required
to work mandatory on call on weeks assigned to them. If a person has an early schedule, then he or
she could be working up to four hours extra without any extra break. People need adhere to the schedule that is
given. There is a bit of leeway
regarding the time someone’s paid break begins and ends due to how long the
last call runs before that individual can use his or her break time. Going
to the bathroom twice in ten to twelve hours is not enough for anyone with a
sensitive pelvic floor. I am sure others
with a standard functioning pelvic floor are suffering as well, but to a lesser
degree.
The way the call center operates with sick days is flat out
ridiculous. If a person calls out sick,
then he or she has to call three different numbers. The employee needs to call his or her
supervisor, the attendance line, and the human resources department. The human resources department should not
have any say on sickness whatsoever. I
had a few issues regarding potential gingivitis and pharyngitis. I also had a few doctor appoints and a
meeting with a lawyer that I needed to be present for during the winter months
of 2016. Because the company was in the
middle of high bill season, I was not allowed take off for any reason. I used sick time in order to go to all of my
appointments. It turns out that the
company no longer offers the option to use the floating holidays everyone
receives on a yearly basis as sick time.
I was formally written up for being sick too often. One of days I was sick was due to the company
encouraging me to go home due to coughing up a storm for a week straight. The reason that this issue transpired is
because the departments within the company that I work for do not communicate
with one another. Every time I have
called down to another department to ask a question about a process for a
customer’s account, the person on the other line has no clue what needs to be
done. No one talks to one another about
anything or anyone. Once an individual
moves from the call center to another department, then he or she forgets all
the knowledge that was learned during his or her time taking calls. An employee should carry knowledge from one
department to another even if the knowledge learned does not relate directly to
the workload that the employee will be responsible for. What is the point of doing a job if you are
not going to learn anything from doing it?
All of these events have led me to contemplate about
embarking on a new career path. It is
clear that a highly sensitive individual such as myself has no business in a
call center. This call center is for
extraverted who react to situations quickly without any kind reflection. I do not know how to smooth things over in a
nice way. I am not overly blunt with the
customers that I talk to everyday, but I do not know how to say things in order
to alleviate the angry emotions that the customers are experiencing. This is because I have to stick to the
“script” that I was given in training.
If I cannot interact with the public in an honest and fulfilling way,
then what is the point of my job other than to appease people? If I cannot apply the skills I have learned
throughout the entire company, then how can I take my career seriously when all
I am doing work to keep myself busy.
Because of all of the hustling that I have been doing, my
health has declined. I do not eat or
drink the way that I should. My lower
back arms hurt from being leaned over a desk all day. The door to the bathroom is also ridiculously
heavy, and has definitely hurt my arm.
Eight hours of sleep is not enough for a person with a dominant inner world. I will sleep for eight hours and wake up
feeling drained. My throat is dry and
scratchy all the time. I actually was
diagnosed with adult allergies. I am not
one to question doctors too often, but the diagnosis I was given was not
correct. I think my issue is that my
voice and throat gets tired of yelling at people because no one understands me
when I speak at a regular. This constant
yelling has caused me to have throat issues.
The lack of sleep probably contributes to my sinus problems. Eight hours of sleep is not enough recharge
my body. The customers steal every ounce
of energy that I have. This means that I
have no energy to engage in any extracurricular activities on the
weekends. The weekends are spent
sleeping or listening to music in order to build up the strength for the
following work week. When I finally took
a vacation, my health improved in just three days. I no longer had pain in my back or arm. My mental energy could be used in a
productive manner. I did not feel like I
had to rest up for two days in a row just to be able to survive. One might say that almost every person does
not like his or her job. While that may
be true, not everyone has a job that impacts their well-being so much that
there they cannot do anything else.
These issues go beyond not liking my job. It is destroying my essence as a living
creature. A highly sensitive introvert
like me needs a career path that meets my need to create while also allowing me
time alone to recharge my energy.
Everyone has to face obstacles that go against who he or she is as a
person at some point, but no one should be forced to act the opposite way to
how he or she actually is every day of his or her life. I need a career that allows me to put my best
foot forward. Anyone can do anything for
a short amount of time and be fine. For
example, suppose that someone is great at working with appliances and
electronics obtains a job as an editor for a publishing company. He or she might be good at the job for a
while, but his or her extraverted needs will not be met sitting inside a room
at a computer not talking to people on a regular basis. This person will eventually feel as though he
or she is wasting his or her talent editing papers. This individual would most likely feel more
actualized working as a plumber instead of remaining locked in one room all day
long. Who you are will eventually catch
up with you. A person has to choose what
is important to him or her. Should a
person sacrifice his or her health for financial security, or should he or she
feel good about him or herself from a mental perspective and sacrifice material
perks to feel healthy on the inside?
The answer is pretty clear in my situation. I need to leave the extraverted life of the
call center in order for my health to improve.
I will have to worry about money for a while, but in the end, I will
feel better about my mental state. I
will be able to be creative and feel as though I have enough energy to finish
things to completion. There will be some
tough times ahead, but I have weathered through the employment storm before, and
I can do it again. I need to find my
purpose in life. The universe is not
going to put me through sixteen surgeries and a gender transformation just so I
can sit inside of a call center and not be able to interact with others as an
authentic human being.
