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Comment by quelltext | Hacker News Reader

> "Managers would never get away with breathing down employee's necks, personally monitoring their screens or logging toilet and water breaks,"

They wouldn't? Isn't that reality for a lot of workers?

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This actually happens a lot in call centres. This is why I am very polite to those on the phones because I know they are likely to be working in a horrid office.

At least in the US I know a number of call centers that have been sued into bankruptcy for attempting to use phone agent login status as a timeclock. The worst of these were telling staff that they had to login to their computers and get everything ready on their own time... then they would be paid once they logged in... On another note, I feel that such abuses really need to start to incur jail time for management since abuses like this still seems to be pretty common in US Call centers.

To be honest (guessing from the 'UK' part of your username) I figured that the UK would have better call center protections than the US.... from your post it sounds like it may be just as bad as the US.

>To be honest (guessing from the 'UK' part of your username) I figured that the UK would have better call center protections than the US.... from your post it sounds like it may be just as bad as the US.

Interesting. How will this revelation impact your future comparative thinking?

The US often offers more protection compared to most countries.

Many countries copy the US so it's important they act as a leader.

You're kidding, right? Worker protections?

I know very little about the environment in British call centres, but many call centres used by British companies are in India.

I am polite to all people because it is the right thing to do, I don't even worry about whether they have a horrid office or no.

You should notice that I qualified it with "very".

And treating people like crap makes one feel like shit!

Article author has clearly never worked in a call center.

Isn't that the point of open offices?

Yes. In my experience you change your state to an unavailable state with a particular reason (lunch, end of day, restroom, etc.). This way, when the people monitoring the efficiency of the call center know why person XYZ hasn't taken a call in 10 minutes, they know why.

Probably depends on which country you live in.

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