How it all started...

When I moved into my first apartment with my best friend at eighteen years old, I had the pleasure of calling the telephone company to set up telephone service, the internet company to set up internet service, and the cable company to set up television service. During these phone calls I thought to myself that it must be fun to sit in an office and talk to people on the phone all day. I wondered how one would go about getting set up with such a cushy position. I imagined that I would be the queen at telephone service, and then I thought about it again not at all until...

That winter I was looking for a job. Living the high life in college with my bestie meant I needed some money to fund these grand adventures we were having such as eating dinner and driving to class, ya know...college stuff. I hit up the college job ad postings and lo and behold! a job! on the phone! Telephone Fundraiser. Here was my chance. I sent over my resume, set up the interview and was on my way to fulfilling that fleeting dream of monetizing my blabber mouth.

We'll skip ahead to working there because we all know I got the job or I wouldn't be writing about it. Let me be clear, despite the upcoming complaints, this was by far my favorite phone job ever. What it wasn't though, is anything at all that I expected it would be. This seems like a good place to clear up a few  (of my) misconceptions about this type of work.

• It's not as much talking as it is dialing and answering machines.
• If you're picturing a teenage girl laying on her stomach on the bed with her ankles crossed twirling the phone cord around her finger while she giggles into the receiver then you may stop. It's much more like having your butt go numb from an absolutely non-ergonomic chair, ears covered by a headset with a cord that makes you feel chained to your post.
• Not everyone wants to talk to me--or whatever company it is that I'm representing. Furthermore, not everyone will be polite about not wanting to talk to me. Hang ups would be a welcome relief compared to some of the things to which I've subjected my ears in the name of telephone service.
• Reading a script or receiting a pitch is not the same at all as having a conversation. It's much more awkward and much less fun. No one is fooled. Everyone knows that this is a staged interaction. (Future jobs however did allow for a little more genuine conversation...)

These might all may seem obvious, but to me it was a disenchanting discovery. At first it was fun to come home and talk about the interesting things I encountered at work. I would laugh at silly people. I would pity them. Later the laugther and pity would turn toward resentment. It's funny to me now to think back to that first paid to talk experience. I would have never left that job if I knew what would come after.