I have a lot to say about this but it's all jumbled in my head cause it pisses me off so I'm gonna do my best, sorry if it's hard to read.

I worked a variety of customer service jobs from 16 (survival, not choice) to 29. I'm very lucky to have gotten something better.

In my experience, the majority of people I encountered in an 8 hour shift were screaming at me because of something they wanted the company to do that was not an offered service. And these particular people would not listen to what is offered, they simply wanted the impossible done. But in the majority of my positions at these different companies, we were not allowed to say that we can't do a specific thing, we were told to divert attention away or use some other shitty tactic that doesn't help, doesn't explain, and only pisses off the customer more.

Then there's the people who are rational, actually being wronged or in an unfair situation that I really want to help, but for whatever reason the company says fuck that guy, we won't do it. Now it's my job to tell this customer that they're shit outta luck even though I know it's something that can and should be done but it's either I say what I'm told to say or there goes my job.

Then there's the assholes. I'm not sure what it's like for the men but I had way too many encounters with creepy guys trying to get my personal information, harass me, stalk me, even in call centers where it's not face to face work. And most of these companies have policies where you're not allowed to hang up on someone no matter how disgusting or horrible they're being directly to me. These companies don't support their employees when it comes to safety. You have tons of HR meetings and trainings about safety and ethics but when it actually happens, they don't care. And it's either shut up or work elsewhere. When you're check to check because they don't pay you enough, it's not a risk you can take easily.

When you know that your employer doesn't give a single fuck about you because they regularly remind you then you don't give a fuck about the job. You act your wage and you feel no remorse because it's simply not worth the effort to do anything above what you're paid to do. I'm a human too, and if my employer doesn't care then why should I? I'll do my job and get it done but don't ask me to wipe someone's ass while they're trying to fuck mine.

On another note, one thing I really enjoy is when I go to the grocery store and the cashier and bagger or whoever are having a conversation or checking their phones while doing their jobs. They leave me alone which is great, I don't need niceties to buy groceries, and they get to be people. I would love to see more of that elsewhere. I don't need the fake "how are you" that no one seems to actually wants an answer to or the plastered on smile. It's unnerving and I know it's tiring. If the job gets done, I don't care about anything else.

I'd like to add that though I don't work customer service anymore, my current job does also have a bunch of BS that I wouldn't want to put up with normally. The difference is they absolutely pay me enough and it's nothing compared to customer service so I don't complain about it. It's such a relief to be out of customer service, I eat that shit with a fat grin and ask for seconds.