After the Telephone Fundraiser "gig" I worked making business to business telemarketing calls for a company that sells safety training materials--ya know OSHA, DOT, EPA regulations and the like. This position was basically the same as the previous. I sat at a desk, tied to my post by my headset, dialing and hanging up and dialing and hanging up and dialing...occassionally I'd talk to someone long enough to be told no. It was certainly not the glamorous talking for pay position for which I sought. Luckily, this position was short lived--a summer job.

After that my interest in the whole idea dwindled. It appeared that all such talky talk jobs would be the same. It wasn't until I interviewed for a local catalog company that I realized I had been missing an entirely separate aspect of the industry known as "inbound call centers." Up until this point I thought all call centers were created equal. I thought if I'd work in one, I could work in them all. I figured my dialing skills were unmatchable.