For the last three years (July will be three years) I have had the opprotunity to work from home. Essentially my desk at my condo is like I am working in the call centre. The calls come to me the same way as if I would be working at the call centre.

For those of you who have never worked in a call centre, it is an environment that is hard to understand.

It is kind of like taking a shower in a glass booth in the middle of times square…..well, not quite….but it is that exposed and open.

You have a cubicle, where you keep all your belongings, what you need for work, photos of your kids, nieces, dogs, whatever…awards you may have won. You may have a snack drawer, which can have anything from cup o soups, granola bars, chocolate (women know what the chocolate is for and when to find it).

If you are a loud talker, which you forget that you are in an open space when someone on the other end of the line tells a joke and you laugh, or you are having a heated conversation with a loved one and you raise your voice, if English isn’t your first language and you end up screaming something that everyone can hear, but not understand. You get the picture.

And then of course…where do you eat? When do you eat? Not everyone eats PBJ on white bread with the crusts cut off. (just a joke for us Canadian folk). Cultural differences are very interesting in a call centre. They can be great at potluck time when you can sample food from all over the world.

I remember my desk at 1300 Don Mills Road when I started there in February 2001. It was the very last desk in a back corner of a ‘pod’ of four desks. Everyone said the desk was ‘cursed’. The last three people that sat there had been fired! GREAT! Well, I showed them….I loved that desk, it had a window (didn’t look out to anywhere it was on the ground floor) but it had privacy and I could work hard at my job. I remember being there on September 11th, 2001. When people will ask this year, on the 10th anniversary, “where were you”…I know where I was.

I had pictures on the walls, toys from product launches that I collected, and postcards that had been sent to me from friends and clients. Of course all the ‘stuff’ is gone now, but the postcards, I found one the other day actually. From Aviva…when she was travelling in Australia and New Zealand. I will never throw that away.

Now, in my own ‘cubicle’, I have photos on the wall (in frames now), pictures up (in frames) and still the remnants of my call centre cubicle are around….plastic trays for files and papers, brochures…yes, we still have brochures, even with the internet….and backup notes, files, notebooks etc.

I have the pleasure working from home to not have to share my printer/fax/copier and it is right at my desk. In a call centre, it is in the back room somewhere, away from your desk, and when you want to print something, you have to pray that it will be there when you go to pick it up. What about if you have to print something PRIVATE? Someone may read it when they go to pick up their stuff….

Ah…the life of a call centre employee……I do miss it at times…..really? hm…..