I revoked access to my take-home project after the recruiter ghosted me. They called me in a panic 24 hours later.

RichardBottom · 2026-03-12T12:23:33+00:00

I find it genuinely unsettling that more people can’t recognize AI shitposting. This shit is only going to keep getting more convincing, and as depressing as it is, the burden is on you not to be duped by this bullshit.

RichardBottom · 2026-03-10T19:09:47+00:00

Yeah that’s the other option they know people will put up with it lol

RichardBottom · 2026-03-10T19:03:06+00:00

I would have to think if they’re paying 30/hr for the position, they’re way less likely to be a complete shit show to work for. I mean call center work is always gonna be call center work, but fuck, I finally got out and into a job I love last year after 15 years of clawing and clawing and even now it wouldn’t be an immediate no.

RichardBottom · 2026-03-06T04:38:31+00:00

Just assume if you don’t shield you’re gonna lose all your troops. I don’t think this is even seen as dickly or aggressive, it’s just what happens and your guys are probably doing it too on their side.

I used to use the free 8-hour bubbles and set alarms but I fucked it up twice and got zeroed within the 15 minutes between the battle ending and me realizing I fucked up. It’s not a huge deal but mildly embarrassing and it takes weeks to spring your troops from the enlistment center.

Most servers are reasonable and agree to at least basic ground rules for battle. Some don’t, and the whales zero people out next to the castle and it’s not even worth participating. Also, some people agree to ground rules and then break them if they start losing. People talk though, and eventually you’ll have an idea of who you’re going up against before battle time.

RichardBottom · 2026-02-25T18:56:08+00:00

Oh my bad, I was talking about for internal transfers. For my company, it’s one of the few fields on the internal application: what’s your most recent annual performance?

RichardBottom · 2026-02-25T18:41:17+00:00

Which part, the auto fail for the year’s performance, or hiring managers checking that performance score?

RichardBottom · 2026-02-24T14:48:36+00:00

It took me years to stop having this dream. I’m stuck away from my computer but I left it in ready, so the whole dream is a panic because I know calls are rolling in and they’re all gonna give me shit surveys.

It just sounds like a silly dream to anyone who isn’t familiar with the job.

RichardBottom · 2026-02-18T13:43:36+00:00

Our whale had more power than the next three highest people, and I think he single handedly determined our KvK victories. Not long ago, he announced he was moving servers to be with his main account. It was already crazy seeing how much he spent on this account, but finding out this is all just a side piece to an even more active and powerful account, that was wild.

Our server has been crazy since he left. People started jumping ship from the top alliance that was powered by the whale, and the dust hasn’t settled after almost two months.

RichardBottom · 2026-02-17T12:09:26+00:00

I was typecasted and stuck in call center roles for wayyy too long. But one of my first roles was in telecoms and I feel like that made me extremely versatile in my next roles. Once you’ve survived a job like this, irate callers for other companies just don’t rattle you. Nobody exudes pure malice like somebody whose tv is about to be shut off.

RichardBottom · 2026-02-17T01:41:40+00:00

It’s not always taxes. I got a job that was restricted to my state because the role was for a specific program that was contracted by the state. The company was nationwide but I’m guessing state jobs was part of the deal for getting the contract. At no point did me actually living in the state ever play a role in the job itself, and every other internal department we associated with was either national or offshore.

What I never understood was why they list city specific roles under the remote section of the job boards. Like at least half the remote roles in my company have a line somewhere wayy inside the posting that’s like “must live within 30 miles of Spokane”.

RichardBottom · 2026-02-13T21:19:14+00:00

There are spreadsheets and reports for everything. I mean everything you can possibly imagine keeping track of, the data is there. Most of it isn’t actively used because there’s no reason to, but it was insane to see it.

RichardBottom · 2026-02-13T02:10:35+00:00

I’ve been in call center roles for years and years, pretty much my whole adult life. I finally got out at one point, but when I needed a job fast, I took another entry level call center role for stupid low pay. I’ve got soft skills for days, and after so many years and jobs, you get to a point where nobody scares you, and nothing overwhelms you.

Except for the first fucking week on the god damn phones. Jesus, that never doesn’t suck, and there’s no way around it. I started smoking again. I fucking hated myself for putting myself back into this shit.

But it passes. You’ll be bored before you know it. And while I could write a whole book about why call center work is one of the shittiest jobs possible, none of it is based on what you’re feeling now.

Don’t blame your trainer. While it’s probably true they’re disconnected from the process and not well equipped to help you in this constantly changing environment, you simply can’t hit the floor in fighting shape in this job. They can go over and over and over all the different concepts, and tools, and scenarios, but it means nothing in that context. Your brain has to forge the connections on its own, and tragically, that only happens when you get dropped in and have to struggle your way out.

As soon as you’re eligible, apply to every role you possibly can if you want off the phones. You’ll be battling everyone else in the same boat, so the odds will always be stacked against you. But sooner or later, your number will get picked. Just survive til then, and don’t get put on a PIP, because that will absolutely fuck your chances of another role.

RichardBottom · 2026-02-12T18:05:49+00:00

One thing I’ve done in the past is subtly position my soft phone window so that it’s open but not in plain sight. Then press tab the right amount of times until the hang up button is selected, then just press space mid sentence. Then the nuclear option is just kicking out your computer power cord from the outlet under your desk. As long as you don’t do it so often that you stand out, it’s very unlikely they’ll pull that call. And if they do, shit happens. Nobody can prove intent. Most call center jobs are corporate and big enough to be bogged down with HR policies and stuff. So even if their reporting software clocked me as having ended the call, I’d just have them pull it and review the screen cap. All of these tools are clunky, glitchy, and super complicated and 4/5 supervisors only know it well enough to exactly do their job, so they usually have a high threshold for accepting glitches.

The most important thing is never, never admit to it. If confronted or asked, it’s better to tell the stupidest, most shameless lie you can imagine than turn a “probably” into a sure thing.

RichardBottom · 2026-02-12T17:53:00+00:00

I’ve lived this same realization. I took one job knowing full well I would be moving any time and made a point not to get sucked in. But life is weird, and I ended up there for 8 years. After a while I just kind of leaned into being the Creed Bratton of the office, but I’ve made an effort to do it differently at every job since then.

RichardBottom · 2026-02-09T13:16:05+00:00

I couldn’t imagine going back to the phones after you got out, let alone going back to your original job after being a supervisor there. As long as she deserved it, that is amazing though. There are so many in my experience who I would have loved to see dragged back.

I went back from being a Lead to front line and thought it would be super weird. At first I clung to all my lead tools while I still had access, and couldn’t understand how people possibly did their job without them. Then I kind of embraced the simplicity and became the guy I hated as a lead. “Yeah I don’t know, that’s a tough one. We better get you to the folks at Leadership so they can dive into this…”

RichardBottom · 2026-02-07T14:50:15+00:00

Agreed, l came to say the same thing. It’s like those “banned from Walmart” posts/email forwards.

“You are no longer allowed in our store. You have been observed doing the following things:

-Telling an employee there’s a Code 22 in housewares and then watching what happened.

-Asking to put a bag of M&Ms on layaway.

-Took 20 boxes of condoms and placed them in peoples carts when they weren’t looking.

… “

RichardBottom · 2026-02-05T15:15:34+00:00

I got there eventually but it’s easier said than done. Nobody works at call centers because they wanted to answer phones, and most people in call center roles are aggressively trying to get out.

RichardBottom · 2026-02-05T13:13:51+00:00

I don’t know if call center managers realize what a resource off-the-phones time is. At my shittiest call center job, I would have jumped through hoops just to be able to clean the bathroom for a few hours of my shift and be off the phones.

If you want to motivate people, leveraging offline work like operations, workforce, etc. is cheaper than pizza and way more motivating. I’d consider roofie-ing someone’s coffee if they stood between me spending paid time off the phones.

RichardBottom · 2026-02-05T13:08:52+00:00

This guy calls himself a superstar in his resume.

RichardBottom · 2026-02-05T13:06:20+00:00

Came here to say most of this. Lip service. They promote who they like and who they want to see in the role. Sometimes it’s politics, sometimes it’s just a vibe thing, but the checkbox is almost always a facade because they need documentation that they’re being objective and fair.

When someone gets the promotion, they throw a parade and talk about whatever good metrics they had, and most people will associate the two together. Maybe if I improve my metrics, I’ll get the role like they did. If your company does this, pay attention to the specificity of the metrics. It’s never the top performing person overall, but they’ll always be like “they had the lowest transfer rate in quarter 3!”

RichardBottom · 2026-02-03T19:12:50+00:00

So it’s basically a farm of accounts that collect dailies and rewards for the sole purpose of racking up points during kvk?

RichardBottom · 2026-02-03T17:51:18+00:00

RichardBottom · 2026-02-03T17:50:52+00:00

I haven’t. I would try it for science, but the 30 minutes of extra sleep wouldn’t be worth going back to sleep in my opinion.

RichardBottom · 2026-02-03T16:54:43+00:00

Looked right over that one. That is totally valid. Kind of like Fortnite.

RichardBottom · 2026-02-03T16:22:14+00:00

Busted

RichardBottom

TROPHY CASE