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Should I quit?
Elin
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Ok. I am a 29 year old woman. I've been working since I was 16, the last 8 or so years of that have been in call centers. I am currently in a call center, working part time. I've recently gone back to school for a degree in Biology. I know that compared to the semesters coming up my course load is relatively normal, but it's rough for me right now. I'm taking Chem, Bio, Calc, and a 200 level Lit course.
I want to quit my current job. The reasons:
I hate it
It's high stress
I hate it
When I wake up in the morning the thought of going to work depresses me
I have enough in financial aid that I can quit right now and my husband and I can make it all the way through this school year. I don't necessarily want that to happen, my original thought was to pay the money back to the loan if I didn't need it all.
My husband is working part time as well. He loves his job. He works in a library, he makes good money, and he's also going to school to be a librarian so he's content. He wants me to quit my job because it's putting a huge strain on everything, but he's also worried about the money.
Another big reason behind wanting to quit is I'm behind in Chemistry. Our first test is coming up and as it stands I have almost no way of passing it. My Prof is the department chair and is exacting. I need to catch up. As a science major who is going to need a Masters, I can not afford to do badly in a science class. I want time to catch up on my studies.
All of our bills are paid for this month. My thought is to quit, take the rest of the month off for school, and then make a concentrated effort to find a new part time job that IS NOT in a call center. I've done retail previously and it is actually less stress than my current job ... but it pays less. I will need to use some loan money to make up the difference in my income.
Once I am actually enrolled in a 4 year school (I'm in CC atm) I will have the ability to work for the library district that my husband works for. A good chance as they prefer relatives for some reason. And they hire pretty regularly. If that were to happen I could stop using loans as a buffer.
So ... if you slogged through all that ... should I just quit? I've been working so long the thought of quitting is scary. Sorry if my post is all over but my brain is scattered on this issue.
Thanks for reading.
I want to quit my current job. The reasons:
I hate it
It's high stress
I hate it
When I wake up in the morning the thought of going to work depresses me
I have enough in financial aid that I can quit right now and my husband and I can make it all the way through this school year. I don't necessarily want that to happen, my original thought was to pay the money back to the loan if I didn't need it all.
My husband is working part time as well. He loves his job. He works in a library, he makes good money, and he's also going to school to be a librarian so he's content. He wants me to quit my job because it's putting a huge strain on everything, but he's also worried about the money.
Another big reason behind wanting to quit is I'm behind in Chemistry. Our first test is coming up and as it stands I have almost no way of passing it. My Prof is the department chair and is exacting. I need to catch up. As a science major who is going to need a Masters, I can not afford to do badly in a science class. I want time to catch up on my studies.
All of our bills are paid for this month. My thought is to quit, take the rest of the month off for school, and then make a concentrated effort to find a new part time job that IS NOT in a call center. I've done retail previously and it is actually less stress than my current job ... but it pays less. I will need to use some loan money to make up the difference in my income.
Once I am actually enrolled in a 4 year school (I'm in CC atm) I will have the ability to work for the library district that my husband works for. A good chance as they prefer relatives for some reason. And they hire pretty regularly. If that were to happen I could stop using loans as a buffer.
So ... if you slogged through all that ... should I just quit? I've been working so long the thought of quitting is scary. Sorry if my post is all over but my brain is scattered on this issue.
Thanks for reading.
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but they're listening to every word I say
Yes quit, and do it asap.
8 years in call centers is no way to live. Did quite a few myself for various companies, jumped ship every year or two as the job became boring, but mine was IT related so each position got me more knowledge so it wasnt too bad.
I'm probably jaded because I've seen too many friends crash and burn at school because they were working too hard elsewhere. It's really sad, and in all cases they ended up regretting it for a really, really long time. I would say quit for sure, and if you have to later, pick up a day or two here and there. You'll probably find that things get easier in school after a year or two, and you can do something else, hopefully related to your field.
Just be forewarned that if money gets tighter that will also be a stressor, but as you've learned, a terrible job makes your life suck like nothing else.
Government loans. I worked for a private lender for a while ... I will never, ever take out private loans.
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Having to take out more government loan money in order to not have a job you loathe is a great fucking trade.
But, that's just my experience. I don't know the first thing about other lenders.
"WHY ARE YOU SUCH A COMPLETE FUCKWAD
THAT DIDNT HELP AT ALL
I WANT TO SPEAK TO YOUR SUPERVISOR YOU FUCKING IDIOT"
rinse and repeat for 8 hours a day.
Have you ever worked in a call center? While being on the phones for 8 hours a day might sound like nothing at all to you I can attest to the fact that it is not fun, challenging or really anything I would suggest anyone attempt to make a career out of unless they have some sort of an in to get a Team Lead or higher position with little time on the phones.
I've done call center work for 5 years combined and it can be a taxing experience to say the least. It becomes tedious and boring and that is just from the calls that you don't have someone screaming at you. While no, they aren't yelling at you per say (though sometimes they are) it can wear a person down to the point of dreading going to work when they know that more then likely they are going to have to listen to multiple people, on the phone, venting at you for something that can range from something as miniscule as .02 cents off for data charges on a cell phone bill (It's happened to me) to bitching you out because you are not in fact the person that made Microsoft Outlook express and therefore do not have the knowledge nor resources at your disposal to create an entire macro for them to search their rather small address book instead of clicking on the god damn arrow keys(also happened to me).There is an insane churn rate in call centers because people just get worn out from it. On top of that most call centers have lax standards on hygiene in the best of them which makes for an ample place to catch any number of illnesses.
To echo someone else's sentiments, get out yesterday. If it's to the point where you get up dreading going to work and can afford to leave, even if you might run a bit tight for a while, do it. I've been where you are, waking up dreading the thought of driving to work to go through another arduous day of listening to people on the phones and feel like slowly you are getting to the point where you just don't see the point in it. When I quit my last call center job I felt like a huge weight was lifted off of me.
OP, I would whole-heartedly suggest that you leave that job and actively pursue your studies. While it might be a bit hard at first and mean making some sacrifices, in the short term, I think you will be much happier and successful if you do.
What I read here was "I have no idea what working in a call center is"
No reason to stay in the job from the sounds of it though, just quit and get another job anywhere.
Lime this. I'd agree that if you can afford it, quit. You'll be happier, your grades will improve and you might be able to pick up more classes and graduate sooner (not sure how many hours you are currently taking).
Absolutely. I've also worked in several call centers over the years; my call center gig right now is really sweet and I still want out. Most call centers are non-stop calls with stupid people yelling at you. That is NOT "pretty easy" and can be very stressful at times. Not saying there aren't worse jobs, but call centers are terrible.
Cut back on your school hours if you have to.
Given the recent economic strain on city and county budgets, I would not consider your husband's job at the library nor his future prospects to be secure enough for you two to be operating on one income.
And then when you don't have the required GPA to transfer into a 4-year school, you can look forward to spending the rest of your life in call centers. That doesn't sound secure to me.
Just focus on your coursework and get through the next few months. Getting retail work should be a cinch come the holiday season. Focus on what's important now so you don't have to make these kinds of decisions in the future.
Also, what Thanatos said.
Money can't buy happiness, but it does make things easier. The dirty little secret is that the people who believe they can buy their way to happiness are precisely the ones who will never be happy. Money is just a means to an end. Never lose sight of that.
Yeah, but my cable company doesn't let me pay my bill in happiness.
I'm also a full time student, 18 credit hours a semester, and ever since I quited my job my academic performance has been phenomenal. My EFC is so low now that I am given enough grants to pay for my college. Thanks to my GPA, I have scholarships line up and ready to go. I currently have an awesome job thanks to my work study, and if it turns out my school work is keeping me too busy then my job encourages me to not show up to work and get your school work in check.
I know that everybody situation is different. I am lucky enough to not have any major financial responsibilities when I quit, this may not be the case for you.
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