I have been working at the call center here in Limon for several weeks, and I must say that I am appalled at the way you treat the innocent folks that make their livings calling you and asking you to answer a few simple questions.
I had heard, of course, that the Americans were rude, but I didn't believe it myself. Sure, I thought, they're tired of people calling them and trying to sell them things and stuff like that, but to do a survey that takes 10 minutes? They'll be glad to help once they realize that it doesn't involve signing any contracts or purchasing anything, right?
WRONG! Since working at the call center, during which I have called to ask about preferences in fast food and awareness of new movies being released, I have heard things that would make most people blush. At times people have been so rude that I have nearly cried. You see, here's the thing- you have no idea who you're talking to. Let me enlighten you.
Limon has one university. In making the decision to go to university, most of my coworkers have already distinguished themselves from hundreds of youth who wind up selling or taking drugs and getting into crime. From university they face an even more daunting challenge- there are no jobs available for the educated. Of these diligent students, many have children and are single parents, or they have ailing parents that they are responsible for. Leaving Limon is not a real option for them, so they are left with very few alternatives: teach or work in the call center.
You're probably all thinking about how noble it is to teach, that these folks should be pursuing that course. Well, they would except that the call center is one of the highest paying jobs available in the city. Want to know how much it pays? $3 an hour, a fortune by Limon standards.
Because the job is open to anyone with excellent English skills, many dream of working in the center and look to it as a cure-all for their financial problems. Because the company is American, some modicum of benefits are extended- discounts of Doctors visits and trips to the dentist for employees and their children. However, spend a day in training and you'll learn that what appears to be a good way to make decent money is actually grueling work. You are only paid for the time that you spend actually performing a survey, and your only opportunity for receiving a raise is based on how many surveys you complete. And it's no small number- 10,000 complete before you get your first 50 cent raise. When you factor in the various refusals- the worst of these being people who pretend to be willing respondents and then cuss us out at the midpoint and slam down the receiver, we're lucky to have 4 or 5 complete surveys a day. Not very promising.
To compensate for the number of refusals received on a daily basis, most of my coworkers work whatever hours they can get- sometimes working from 8 in the morning until 10:30 at night for days in a row, just hoping to get a few extra complete surveys under their belts. They voluntarily work on Sundays, much to your chagrin, because you're usually home then, and they are just a fraction of a percent more likely to complete a survey even at the risk of those who harangue them for calling on the Lord's Day.
Why do they do this? The money is the obvious answer, but beyond that, it is what the promise of this money means for them. It is medications for their children, a singular christmas present to put under the tree (one toy costs as much as two days of pay), keeping the electricity on for one more month, having potable water for drinking, clothes on their backs, and something to eat. Living here you begin to realize that every day is a struggle for everyone. It is different from the states, where almost everyone has something.
The bottom line is this: the decision you make when you decide that you're just too busy to answer a few questions, which you're probably not qualified to answer anyways (thereby wasting a total of 1 minute of your life on a call), has an effect greater than you can imagine. Saying no means that someone's child will go hungry for another night, that an illness will most likely go untreated, or at it's worst, that someone may not have the basic tenets that all humans are entitled too; in short, you strip someone of their human dignity.
So as Christmas comes in tomorrow, take a moment to think of something small that you can do to spread the love of Christ that so many express verbally, yet physically deny. Answer the phone and make the conscious decision to make someone's life a little better.
Your faithful teletester,
(Insert generic American name here)
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