A Callcenter In London - A Montage

Marion Hamm
"Precarisation" is what the mobilisations for EuroMayday1 and many publications2 about the issue of precarity come up with in their search for a missing link between very different life situations in neoliberalised Empire and maybe even a basis for a shared, radical consciousness !he picture emerging from writings about cognitariat and migration, from the struggles of the "#$based "%ustice for %anitors" campaign and the intermittents in &rance, from the into'icating demonstrations( of the EuroMayday Parades and their connectedness with mobilisations for migrant rights, seems to lend )ustification to the more theoretical reflections *ere is a report about the callcenter where + have worked on and off since 2,,1 -uite happily falling back on it whenever other )obs didn.t materialise, but also increasingly frustrated about the demands of this monotonous and increasingly controlled occupation + would have found it easier to write a leaflet about the issue of precarisation, rather than this report Everyday e'perience in a callcenter is somehow reluctant to being used as an illustration of political convictions !he connections between boring everyday life at work and the colourful practice on planet activism obviously don.t emerge by themselves !herefore, the concern of the following montage is humble/ !o describe work in one of the many callcenters in 0ondon from the perspective of some collegues and my own +t is based on the notes in my diary, conversations and interviews with collegues 1ll names have been changed

"We are all in London trying to make the best of it" !o make it clear right away/ + am not a callcenter worker Actually, + am like most others in this place, something completely different 2e are actors and webdesigners, marketing$people, social workers, sound$engineers, students, filmmakers, artists, )ournalists, writers and many other things "Most people who live in 0ondon who are speaking foreign languages, who are young and therefore who would want to do this )ob, are living downtown !hey are right in the thick of it " Many people here in the callcenter have been attracted by the promises of metropolitan 0ondon with its lively music, entertainment and media scenes +n a small village in #icily, its not that easy to live as an openly gay man &or a punk musician, it is easier to find likeminded people in 0ondon than in provincial 3ermany 1nyway, a )ob in a callcenter in 0ondon is better than no )ob at all in the north of England, in 4uba, Poland or Portugal "5!he )ob is suitable for6 somebody who has not been on a career beforehand or anything like that, a student for instance, who is doing it as a means of getting by, and it is a downside of getting another )ob +t is also nine to five, in fact many think they have a good deal, because they get ( pds over the minimum wage, which allows a social life"

2e are working in the callcenter, because, other than in catering, we get paid more than the minimum wage, which wouldn.t even pay for a daily travelcard in 0ondon7 because actually, we are busy with completely different pro)ects, and we don.t want to commit to a permanent )ob7 because we don.t have any formal -ualifications beyond our multilinguality and our friendly telephone voices7 or because we are new in 0ondon and can.t sell the -ualifications we might have "!he callcenter is used as a stepping stone to whatever the individual who passes through doors is in between and going to " %asmin and Erdem from 3ermany have )ust finished studying law and are looking for a proper %ob Eduard from "kraine is a business student and always turns up in a formal suit 8ean is teaching himself to make websites Meanwhile, his work in the callcenter earns him more than his old )ob as social worker and it is less stressful #imon and 9ussel lost their well$paid )obs, because their companies folded #abrina wanted to get out of the provincial town in 3ermany, where she was trained as a clerk " whereas someone who was doing it as a proper )ob it is not going to work "

*owever, some people are still with the same company after four years #ome have been promoted to supervisors, or are even hoping to get a permanent contract 1fter all, our managers have once started as interviewers as well

Working Procedures 2e are seated in : rows with ; !erminals each <n both ends of this block of terminals, there is a supervisor =o matter where you sit, one of them always has her sights on your screen and on yourself =eighbouring screens are arranged so that they are facing away from each other +f you want to talk to your neighbour, you have to turn around Partitions between the screens opposite one another prevent us from seeing each other >ut they don.t prevent us from chatting through the partitions !he callcenter does market research More than ?, interviewers are calling companies to ask employees responsible for a certain area about their opinions and the practices of their companies <nly rarely do we have to call people at home, and we don.t need to sell anything !he standard procedures are always the same, :,, 1,,, 1@, times a day/ "Aou bring up a new piece of sample on the screen, enter the phone number into the phone, wait for a connection, say your little sentence/ "hello, my name is soandso from 'y, can i please talk to the person responsible for electrotransmittercyclificationB", bear with the dreadful music in the electronic -ueue, ask the same -uestion to the ne't person, being turned down, enter a note into the system/ respondent not in office, call back 9espondent on holiday, call back 9efusal company policy 9efusal, too busy " Put down the phone, close the sample, bring up new sample, make the ne't call "

+f you have the names of potential respondents, it is easier to get through #ometimes you find something useful in google 1fter a while, you get to know your way through the various company structures, you lern the magic formulas that help you to get past the gatekeepers of the individual departments More than 1,, calls per day rarely result in more than five +nterviews !he -uestionnaire must be read verbatim from the screen +f you are caught using your own words, you get told off by the supervisor !he answers ratings on a scale from one to five, answers to multiple choice -uestions etc, are entered directly into the computer !hen the program brings up the ne't -uestion

Cyborgs: "like Charly Chaplin in Modern imes" 2hile you are making phonecalls, eight hours a day with one hour for lunch, your body is locked in technological gadgets/ "Aour eyes are stuck to the screen, an earpiece is plugged into your ears, a microphone in front of your mouth, your fingers are on the keyboard, the numberpad, the mouse #eeing, hearing, talking, touching are made available for work, reduced in an almost chaplines-ue way to the re-uirements of the 4aty system "!aste" is disabled, for you need your mouth for talking " Even after work, this cyborglike condition can remain inscribed in your body/ "1fter the first week of incessantly staring at the screen, my eyes could not focus anymore 2hen + tried to keep eye contact with people during conversations, my eyes hurt 1s a conse-uence, communication became difficult altogether + found it irritating to talk to people without eye contact, for a while, + avoided conversations >y now, my eyes have got used to this 1cknowledging this, the company provided a special offer for glasses two pairs of glasses for @, pounds " "2hen +.m making calls in the evening, after work, or during the weekend, my fingers still automatically type in the prefi' "C" before the number #ometimes + nearly continue my little recital from work, as soon as + am at the phone " #ome are nurturing a downright hatred against the headset/ "!here is the headset, which + always found embarrasing as well, that was callcenter uniform 1nd + always used to worry wearing that damned thing that it DlaughsE would be obvious at the end of the day if + went out into town, that someone would see that + had been wearing a headset all day, from what it had done to your hair "

"!!! almost like being in the military"

Every evening, we have to clear our desks and put the minimal paperwork in a special basket 1part from the phone and the computer, nothing must remain on the desks/ no paperwork, no mug, no pens, photos, folders, hole$puncher, bits of paper <ffences are being avenged by way of little yellow post$it notes, which we find the ne't morning on the keyboard "+t.s almost like being in the military, where they take away your individuality, down to the they might as well shave off your hair as well 1nd uniform you are not allowed to have anything on the desk that is personalised !here is nothing personalised " 2e are not allowed to eat at the desk &or this activity, we are asked to use the kitchen, which is separated from the office by glass panels 2hat happens in the kitchen can be viewed from the office #ome collegues are heating up their lunches in the microwave, which produces a whiff of spaghetti with tuna or veggie$rice between the desks !he management is always at pains to train us to get our supply of coffee or tea only in the assigned breaks or before work !he office manager decides who will sit at which desk +n some companies, the desks are assigned daily on a first come, first served basis *ere, at least we have the same desk for the duration of one pro)ect 0ike in the military, there are small victories/ <ne collegue fought like a lioness for a permanent desk 1nother one has managed to secure the only screen in the office, which cannot be seen by a supervisor #ome supervisors are not e'actly happy about this -uasi$military regime <ne reproved me for a coffee$cup trifle, only to add/ "+ feel like a policeman"

""ou are being monitored#" "+t.s always measured, thats the thing about that )ob, its measured at every turn <ne, you get can your telephone conversations listened to, secondly, somebody else can see your screen #o the level of stress, because you are constantly under scrutiny, is vast + mean, the first few weeks you sweat, you are worried the whole time #o at the end of the day, by the end of the day, you get, your neck hurts, and your back hurts, and your ears hurt, and your eyes hurt, and everything hurts, for something that is actually -uite thankless " 1 collegue looks over my shoulder and says/ "2hy, you are being monitoredF" + ask her/ "*ow do you knowB" #he point to a small icon at the bottom of the screen 2hen + put the cursor on it, the name of my watcher appears =ot everybody in the office know to interpret this icon/ "+ would imagine that those people who come from the agency don.t understand that that.s the fact #o they )ust live in fear and get on with things, because they don.t know if they are watched or not, but e'perienced people can tell wether someone is logged on to their screen and is watching what they are doing "

+t is a matter of routine to have supervisors listen to some of the interviews >ut + was not aware that the screens are being watched as well 1ccording to a new law, you cannot be supervised without you being aware of it 1t least, now + know who can follow every single step + do on this computer + )ust hope that nobody was watching when + updated the +ndymedia 2ebsite, and that nobody realised the open chatroom$window !he Golinko call centre in-uiry describes how agents have to enter even the breaks you take to have a pee into the system, or how the system switches itself to "absent without reason" if a call doesn.t get taken although the agent is logged on ? *owever, in this call center here, a weird combination of highly technological and anti-uated methods of control prevails !echnically speaking, the management is able to generate statistics about all sorts of things/ *ow long we surfed the web, how often we failed to come to work as a percentage of the standard monthly hours, how many minutes on average someone was late, how many interviews every agent completed on average and in comparison to others, and so forth #ometimes, statistics for each pro)ect are being printed out on the colour printer, displayed on the office wall and conse-uently ignored by most interviewers !here is no mechanical or electronic time clock +ts function is assumed by the supervisors, who manually make a note of the arrival of every single interviewer, then transfer the data into a spreadsheet +f you are late, you are being called back while heading to your desk and asked to )ustify yourself/ $ Aou are four minutes late whyB $ + missed the train $ 2hy didn.t you callB $ >ecause + didn.t want to miss the ne't train as well $ Please remember ne't time/ +f you are going to be late, you must call $ 1lright

"It rains from the top" : $istinction und preser%ation of the self Each individual.s position within the comple' internal hierarchy is denoted in the signs provided by everyday life in the office/ 2here you are being seated, which rules you have to keep and which ones you can flout, which pro)ects you get assigned to, which kind of contract you have, with whom you go for a smoke <r rather, these are also the signs we use to define our own position within the hierarchy 1t the bottom of the pile are the people from the temping agency <ne step above are those who receive their contracts directly from the company, and those who are not assigned to

pro)ects that re-uire the use of the 4aty call center software, for e'ample those who conduct so$ called -ualitative +nterviews 1 collegue highlights the difference/ "!hat.s -ualitative stuff Aou are not on a script anymore Aou are e'pected to use your mouth, you are e'pected to be an individual, that.s a completely different ballgame D E 2hen you are talking to 4E<s, you can.t be scared Aou have to talk to them as if you are a 4E< yourself " *e makes a point of holding his ground when it comes to preserving a certain degree of freedom, to which he is in his oppinion entitled/ "1nd actually having two different sets of rules side by side is a struggle in the office, because there is one rule for one and one rule for the other =ow and again, they try to correct that balance, and bring those old caty rules back into the in$depth, or -ualitative research 1nd that )ust doesn.t flow >ecause you can.t have somebody who is e'pected to use their own initiative to then follow guidelines about coffeecups " !he working environment in the call center blatantly contradicts the task of talking to senior managers of large corporations on a peer to peer level/ " 2hen you are dealing with e'ecutive interviews, you have to steer away from it coming out of what seems to be a callcenter D E #o it becomes a bit of a sham 1nd the whole thing feels fake, well, it is fake +t is 1nd you have that sense all the time, if they could actually )ust see you on the other end of the phone, see what is going on in the environment of the other end, they.d put the phone down and never deal with us again D E >ut they don.t see your desk, they don.t see your shabby outfit, they don.t see that you haven.t shaved, they don.t see your headset, DlaughsE that would kill it !hat would definitely kill it " #upervisors are clearly separated from interviewers *ere is the perspective of one interviewer/ "!he supervisors are all blocked off and walled off, and they face you as if they are going to battle !hat is what it looks like +t.s this sea of interviewers, and then this wall of supervisors D E +t.s a walled society, there is "us and them" kind of thing Aou might as well put them on a platform with glass$screens and let them look down on the callcenter " !he office architecture reflects these metaphorical walls/ 0arger desks with blinds for the supervisors, a separate office for a handfull of programmers and managers, and on top of the pyramid is the head of the department in his own office$cubicle !he wall facing the rest of the office is a glass panel, partly frosted, so that it allows him to view the entrance area, the length of the office and the entrance to the kitchen <ne collegue was promoted from interviewer to supervisor &or him, many things have changed/ "1s a supervisor, you loose touch with your collegues Aou canHt laugh with them anymore Aou have all these meetings and you realise that it is all about profit Aou continue thinking about work, even when you are not working Aour personality changes "

$emands and Creati%ity 2e are e'pected to work with the precision and predictability of a robot #tandardisation of working procedures is an important concern for the management +nterviewers should be replaceable at any given time #tandardisation measures begin with the clear desk policy and e'tend as far as the colours to mark various E'cel spreadsheets Every activity should be logged in the computer 2e are instructed to conclude every interview with the same sentence #pecialised knowledge about the respective topics is not necessary/ "Aou are not e'pected to know, that.s not your )ob !here are bigger and better people than you, called analysts and consultants, who are e'pected to know, and the people that you are calling are e'pected to know what you are asking about Aou are )ust the monkey in the middle, who is repeating things parrot$fashion, hoping that whoever has designed the -uestionnaire, or whoever has designed it, generally does know what they are talking about, and isn.t making you look like a fool " #ome collegues are countering being effectively reduced to the role of an answerphone by preserving a sense of responsibility/ "<ne thing about being on the end of the telephone, you still feel responsible as an individual or as a human being, about getting something right " Even though it is monotonous, the )ob re-uires creative communication skills +nterviewers must be able to give the person at the other end of the telephone line the impression that their concern is in any way valid to be transferred 9eceptionists and departmental secretaries are often instructed not to transfer market research or sales calls !hey, as well as the afflicted respondents, need to be convinced to participate by all means possible/ tone of voice, charme, DpretendedE competency, authority 1 collegue presents her strategy/ "Aour mind concentrates on >E+=3 that really interesting representative of a high$profile research company Aou concentrate on finding the study you are working on 9E100A interesting Aou make your voice sound truthworthy, e'cited, professional, nice, serious Aou rephrase, reformulate the arguments provided by your employer on 2*A people should give you (, minutes of their valuable time, or you invent new ones + found that one of the inherent arguments in my strategy was social we understand each other, we are really interested in the same sub)ect " 2hile you are reading out the often repetitive -uestionnaire, you need to keep the respondent happy *ere is one way of doing this/ "Aou have to keep up the fiction that you 19E a real person, you make remarks about the weather or the upcoming weekend, you say encouraging things like very interesting, yes, that connects to my ne't -uestion +f you have finished the interview, you press "complete" and feel rather good your reputation within the office relies on "getting" many interviews"

1s an interviewer, it is possible to achieve a sense of professional self$esteem from your own communication skills *owever, this can be ambiguous, for e'ample, when an interviewer is using a flirtatious approach/ "=ice female voice being incredibly interested in the important work of an important professional +t felt almost like a mild form of prostitution 2hen + realised this, + switched my strategy + had sold my language skills, but not my charme, the soft tones of my voice, my sense of humour =ot for this pay " Men have to deal with gender relations as well, although in a different way/ "2hen + have females on the other end of the phone, flirtation comes into play 2hen it.s a male on the other end of the phone, + have to talk to them peer to peer, which is very difficult to do + find it very difficult to do caty$interviews with men, because + felt, ehm, the underdog + felt a they were probably having a private laugh on the other end of the phone, who is this idiot, who is on you know " 2hile hunting for willing respondents, many rules are being subverted #ome interviewers are "reserving" the contacts they have traced down for themselves, by "hiding" them within the shared database #ome are keeping notes on paper +n a "paperless office", this is not desirable and contradicts the "clear desk policy" as well as the re-uest to log all activities <ne collegue avoided the headset and conducted interviews simply on the receiver 1nother one can spend hours designing standardised emails #he argues that this will help her to convince respondents to participate in market research <n one hand, such breaching of rules is being avenged, however on the other hand, it is also silently being tolerated !his way, the management can have the cake and eat it/ !he strict regime is kept intact, breaching it is being tolerated if it leads to results, and the interviewers are bearing the risk of being caught + presume that this also e'plains why the many small ways of rulebreaching selfmotivation are to a certain degree being tolerated/ secretly surfing the web, writing personal emails, unannounced private phonecalls and so forth Maybe it is this tension, which led one collegue to make the following statement about his work in the call center/ $ "2hat did it make you feel like, when you first started working in the callcenterB" $ "Embarrassed + was very embarrassed about where + was working 4ouldn.t tell anyone what + was doing + was mortified "

""ou pay peanuts& you get monkeys" !hose who are directly paid by the company rather from a temping agency receive a temporary, so$called "Iero hours contract" !his contract determins that we should be on call at all times, but are not entitled to regular work/

"1/ +t.s so noncommital, the contract !he contract is such that the employer has any right and you have none, basically !hey are able to call you into work, they are able to have you work fulltime, they are able to treat you like a fulltime employee, without any of the benefits D E +n the same breath you have to run the risk all the time of actually not having any work D E 1nd that, that is a very an'ious state of affaires, for everybody +t doesn.t matter how many years you.ve been there, there is a constant feeling that ne't week, you might be out of work D E Aou don.t have time to react to that, and get a )ob somewhere else Aou need to have a second )ob, if that.s the kind of environment you work in 1nd in the same breath, you don.t get holidays, you have to call in sick, you have to call in and say you are not coming in, you have to give notice if you want a day off, whereas the other way round, they don.t have to give you notice at all !hat.s it " 1t the beginning, introductory trainings to call center work took place outside working hours/ "Aou have a days induction, on a saturday, unpaid, which is another unnecessary about these sort of things, everything is done to protect the bottomline, everything is done to protect the dollar$interest #o, you give up your time on a saturday, you go and get trained " "nder these circumstances, motivation plummets to a minimum !he gap between the company.s demands to the interviewers and what it offers in e'change is growing/ "+t.s almost cheeky from the company to e'pect any sort of commitment from the employee to treat their timekeeping properly >ecause if you.re not there, you don.t get paid D E Aou don.t get paid for an hour late, but you still get a telling off "

Consolidation of 'ierarchies #ince + worked for the first time for this company in 2,,1, it has changed office twice !he work remained the same, but each time, the internal hierarchies have become more defined, and control was intensified +n the first office, hierarchies were relatively flat #upervisors, management and interviewers had the same type of contract, sometimes with largely minimally different wages <ccasionally, interviewers were used as supervisors, and managers would conduct the odd interview !he then office manager made sure that the tea$kitchen was always stacked with nice herbal teas, and organised occasional e'cursions to the recycling bo' around the corner 2e had acces to documents on the company servers and to our own harddrives as well 2hen the computers were being checked due to the move to another office, it emerged that we had appreciated the access to the internet and found ways to use it/ Jast amounts of software, images and mp(s were found on the harddrives, including standard applications like realplayer and acrobatreader as well as gaming and image manipulation software !his doesn.t come as a surprise, because after all, the office turned into some kind of internet cafe after @pm !hose who are still around at this time are lighting a cigarette, write some mails

or make a phonecall, someone plays Gylie Minogue songs on the computer, someone else finishes the design for a party flyer People show each other how to download and install programs, how to open a hotmail account, how to manipulate images or post to indymedia Most people have their own, personlised wallpaper on the screen 0ater, we go for a drink to finish off the day #ilicon Jalley Many collegues have used this time to get some basic internet and computer skills !he dream ended when an evening shift was introduced !he second stop was a lu'urious "managed office" Aoung women in office suits replaced the stocks of tea and coffee Ergonomical desks made from light wood were pleasingly arranged in accommodating small groups, without partitions, thus encouraging communication 2hen we had moved in and had, still in the spirit of silicon valley, connected our bo'es, the office manager made a point of personally wiping every single receive with a desinfected piece of tissue 2e had lockeable drawers at our desks !he tea kitchen was small, but outside the office proper, so that you didn.t constantly feel under surveillance Aou could help yourself to stationary only for office use, of course 2e had cards that allowed us to open the main entrance we didn.t need to ask for admission through the intercom !hose who felt like it could cherish the illusion to have a "proper" )ob 1fter two years, the management concluded that a lack of control had lead to interviewers taking advantage of their employer 4onse-uently, the ne't office was laid out in a way to resemble the plans for a foucauldian panopticum/ welcome to the call centerF

1 http/KKwww euromayday orgK

#ee the collections on eipcp netKtransversalKrepublicart net/ http/KKeipcp netKtransversalK,L,? 1lso 1rranca (1, spring 2,,@, is titled/ "age of precarius $ prekMr und permanent aktiv" &antomas ;, published winter 2,,?K,@ is titled "PrekMre Neiten"
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Golinko/ hotlines 4all 4entre +n-uiry 4ommunism 8uisburg 2,,2, here chapter/ 2ork steps $ login and kiss your dreams goodbye, # @? and # ;@ <nline/http/KKwww nadir orgKnadirKinitiativKkolinkoKlebukKePbukP@ htm $ @ ?