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…..

I was sharing a thought with some people that I work with a few weeks ago. I was remembering when I started working in the travel industry. It was in 1990. I was right out of high school. My uncle assisted me in getting at job at the Last Minute Club. I took a one month training course with a group of people, and then after that…we were thrown to the wolves. Just kidding, on the phones, in the call centre.

Call centre – one big room with cubicles. Nothing like today of course. Smoking was allowed “back then”, so the smoking section was on one side and the non smoking section on the other side – WITH NO WALL…so what was the difference? Crazy now that I think about it actually. I can’t believe that old building at 1300 Don Mills road didn’t burn down from all the chain smokers. One lady lit her cigarette with the last cigarette she was smoking!

No computers, no internet, no VOICEMAIL! All we had were big white dry erase boards. All the destinations, hotels, dates, etc were on a grid on these boards. And the only way to check the space was to use the phone! If it was sold out, we told our product department and and they came and crossed it out.

That was how we worked. No one checked trip advisory to see if the hotel was good, no one posted a facebook status update to see if anyone had been there or where is a good place to go. People didn’t even SHOP around. They TRUSTED you, the agent, that you were making the best choice for them and their money they were spending. Funny, that doesn’t feel any different than today…yet it is.

Slowly we had computers at this old office, one for every two people to share…they were raised and on a swivel stand so that we could take turns. So archiac and funny now that I am reminded of it.

Wow have times have changed!

I am not saying anything against the internet age. Personally I LOVE IT! I remember the first day when I heard about this crazy thing called Facebook, that was only a ‘school’ age phenomenon and it was just opening to the general public. The ability to ‘find’ and ‘friend’ people, people who you lost touch with, email, message, see their lives through pictures. Whoever created it (Zuckerberg or the other guys) was a genuis really. Now, mind you, some ‘old friends’ should have stayed lost….but others, wow, how amazing my life has enriched by reconnecting with others. I am sure you agree with that statement. We could be REfriends today because of facebook, and that is a good thing.

And now this…blogging…sharing a thought, story, personal insight to an event or personal life changing situation. I always had stories, and thoughts and could capture a room with them, but now, here, in the blogsphere, they live, breathe and exist on their own. That is something I find amazing and scary at the same time.

The funniest thing about this post today, this wasn’t even what I sat down to write about! This was just a random thought that was in my head and jumped into my fingers as I typed away.
 
I guess that thought will have to wait until next time…..so stay tuned….and leave a comment if you want. It is a stamp to the writer that you were here…and we all want to be counted, and heard.
 
Whatever you do today – make it count!