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Job fears


Victimorthecrime

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Bad news: got laid off from my job back in March. Good news: got rehired by same company into a different position in April.

Here is the problem: it is an unbelievably stressful customer service job where every word & action is monitored & measured & they threaten your job everyday. If I had known what I was in for I might have just taken the layoff & unemployment. Everyone in the place feels the way I do even some in management acknowledge it.

The economy around here is worse than I have ever seen it. I know guys w impressive resumes that cannot even find an interview so it is not that easy to just up and quit.

I am having all sorts of stress symptoms: sour stomach, sinus congestion, aches & pains, & a feeling of impending doom like I have never imagined. At first I was so focused on learning the basics of the job - the 10,000 policies & computer screens - that I did not feel the stress but now I do.

Any thoughts?? Anyone else ever experience this??

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I've worked in retail customer service for 18+ years and it can be very stressful, yes. Our company has monthly mystery shops and we are required to ask specific questions to every customer so we are always being graded on our service. We are responsible for many things for sure.

I'm sorry you have been feeling anxious.

:( Are you fearful of making a mistake? Getting fired? I have those fears at times too. I have found that a lot of my anxiety actually stems from my fear of my inability to cope with the possible outcomes. Are you able to take time for yourself to free yourself of these worries, at least temporarily? Maybe with more experience and confidence, you will feel less stress?

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I've worked in retail customer service for 18+ years and it can be very stressful, yes. Our company has monthly mystery shops and we are required to ask specific questions to every customer so we are always being graded on our service. We are responsible for many things for sure.

I'm sorry you have been feeling anxious.

:( Are you fearful of making a mistake? Getting fired? I have those fears at times too. I have found that a lot of my anxiety actually stems from my fear of my inability to cope with the possible outcomes. Are you able to take time for yourself to free yourself of these worries, at least temporarily? Maybe with more experience and confidence, you will feel less stress?

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Thanks both for responding.

Irma short answer to everything above - yes.

I think I just have to learn to do my best & let go of the rest. Need to prepare for the possibility that I might not be there long term. The place has me stress eating & I have gained about 10 lbs so I need to get fit.

Going to try and hang in there because I am learning a lot about many aspects of health insurance and hoping it is the field I can make my career.

I have got to learn not to panic and not have anxiety attacks and just stay rational and take one thing at a time. Effective comprehension and action is what will enable success. I really have some thinking to do.

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Hey thanks Ken. See here is the problem: some jobs are what they call 'burn and churn'. They are not designed for you to succeed, they are intentionally structured for X number of people to get fired. That's baked into the cake. The lowest 20% or so will always be on write up. It is a way of terrifying everyone into working more and complaining less. People who have never experienced this may doubt my credibility because phenomenologically it falls into the category of "want you don't know and don't know that you don't know".

That said, at this point all I can do is my best and hope for the best. The absolute worse case scenario is that I get let go and collect unemployment for up to one year. Do I want that? No. Can I deal w that if I had to? Yes.

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Absolutely: look while employed. No matter how hard the local economy may be, it's better than quitting and then looking. Too, it's a form of stress relief: you can say "This sucks but at least I'm doing everything I can."

I don't think anyone doubts your report of how that company runs, but we can doubt that such a company can or will last very long. All anyone needs to do to out-compete them is suck up all their disgruntled but trained workers, and do the same business model better than they do.

Okay, that goes along with my basic belief that a$$holes don't prosper in the long run, and I've been accused of being an intestinally-challenged unicorn before, but I guess I can live with that. :-)

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Bad news: got laid off from my job back in March. Good news: got rehired by same company into a different position in April.

Here is the problem: it is an unbelievably stressful customer service job where every word & action is monitored & measured & they threaten your job everyday. If I had known what I was in for I might have just taken the layoff & unemployment. Everyone in the place feels the way I do even some in management acknowledge it.

The economy around here is worse than I have ever seen it. I know guys w impressive resumes that cannot even find an interview so it is not that easy to just up and quit.

I am having all sorts of stress symptoms: sour stomach, sinus congestion, aches & pains, & a feeling of impending doom like I have never imagined. At first I was so focused on learning the basics of the job - the 10,000 policies & computer screens - that I did not feel the stress but now I do.

Any thoughts?? Anyone else ever experience this??

Victim, we're thinking of you buddy. We're all in this like you. I make decent money, my wife makes about twice my annual income. Even with that, our house has been in foreclosure twice in the past 3 years. We've had three kids in college in the past 5 years. We've stopped eating out, we hang clothes out on a clothes line and cut cable tv back to the cheapest tier. This is just how the economy is today.

There's days I eat antacids like I'm popping tic-tacs. I'll skip lunch because my stomach is so tore up.

It'd be hard to learn a new skills set I know, but if you have a community college close you might look into classes that would expand your background.

Hang in there. It's 5am. Time to put the hard hat on and start the day. Take care Victim.

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  • 1 month later...

Update: I am still hanging in there and am cautiously optimistic that I will stay employed. It is the hardest job I ever had but i am learning a skill (Medicare benefits, enrollment and claims) and it has forced me to focus. There have been moments however that it took all my strength not to walk out.

I literally have four friends that have given up and have not worked full time in many years and I just can't live like that. Hanging out in libraries, obtaining social services, pinching pennies and doing nothing constructive.

I want to encourage everyone to take on positive change, you have nothing to lose & will be glad you did.

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  • 1 month later...

Congrats on sticking it out VictimOf, as well as managing to find beauty and purpose in your situation regardless of it's state. Very few people are able to tap into this ability we all have, yet you have. I would dare to say you exist within the 85th percentile, in other words, only 15% of all the people in the world are able to do as you.

I would also strongly suggest that you look into bringing peace with you to the workplace, such as stone from rock shop with specific spiritually enhancing attributes, maybe Citrine for example? Also a little zen garden might help, the ones with sand, rocks and a little rake to aid you in maintaining a positive outlook.

Pay no heed to the people that would belittle you, as the management will probably witness their abuse and pay retribution on your behalf.

Good luck and keep grinding through those days!

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Still hanging in there but it ain't easy. They always have some kind of complaint and the idiotic efforts to raise moral are romper room like for example taking pictures of us and putting them on the wall amid seasonal decorations and idiotic sayings that none of us ever said. Real Doe & Tea Hale Bopp type stuff.

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I believe you. Some of my closest friends were sociopaths for almost the entire duration of my adult life. It must be hell to work with them or for them.

(edit) It has been said that not all sociopaths want to cause trouble though, so no disrespect to anyone who does not intend to hurt others regardless of any labels..

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UPDATE: out of nowhere this week the supervisor calls me into a meeting and tells me I am falling short of the quality measures. She did not use the words 'verbal warning' but that is what it was.

This woman has done next to nothing to help me and our only other meeting was a pointless gab session.

This is likely the beginning of the end. The next step is written warning and few ever survive that because A) it is not designed for you to succeed but rather CYA the company and B the anxiety they instill in you creates more "errors".

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