Recently I started working in a call center, I have worked there for two weeks. As someone who is severely depressed and has been suicidal for a long time, I just can’t handle it. I repeat the exact same thing on the phone for 10 hours a day. I have worked plenty before and it wasn’t my favorite thing to do but I could handle it. This job is just so mindless and depressing and repetitive that I can’t stand to be there anymore. When I’m there all I think of is killing myself and how much I hate it and mind-numblingly awful it is. I guess that sounds really dramatic, but it is obviously not for me. I will be paid at the end of this week and I have applied at other places, but I can’t stand to go there another day. I’m 19 but my parents insist that I put in my two weeks and that I not just quit. I know putting in my two weeks would be the right thing to do, but I hate it so much I can’t stand to go there another day. I know it will look bad on my job history if I just quit, but I can’t imagine going through it for two more weeks. Should I quit now or am I just being immature?
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Yeah, it really does not sound like that call-center job was ever for you. Often times, suicidal people have social anxieties and low self-esteem, too, so it was definitely not the right place for you to be — being on the phone with angry people. I’m sure it wasn’t good for your blood pressure. But at the same time, take it for what it was and is: It was a job that you were trying to do well.
Go through with the two weeks, it’s gonna feel so awesome afterwards, like completing basic training (okay, prob. not on that same level, but it’s gonna feel great). You already have the skills, just “putting up with it” for another two weeks should be fine. Stay strong. Plus, it’ll give you a little extra money, as it sounds you haven’t secured that new job yet. And as you mentioned, you’ll keep that sparkly clean work history — something golden and worth it.
I don’t think it’s immature at all.
Call center sounds like a nightmare.
To me it sounds like the perfect place to get a person from being depressed to being fully and actively suicidal.
If you really really can’t stay in there anymore, ditch it, it wouldn’t matter all that much later.
If you can though it somehow just suffer a tiny bit more (it’ll pass) and then run away and start something else.
Hang in there.
PS. Your comment was perfect too, Duzo. I just saw it.
Mine? I know. … …. Naaa just kidding. 😉
Yours was.
What are you complimenting me for? 😛 trying to impress me ? 😛
I think that October_rain’s comment was perfect. My only “real life” friend worked in a call center and she said her depression got a lot worse during the months she worked there… Maybe depressed people have to avoid call centers.
“I was looking for a job, and then I found a job
And heaven knows I’m miserable now”
chelle428,
if you have a job lined up quit now, if you don’t and need money stick with it, either way you need a change, never do something you hate to do, but never put yourself in a bad position either.
Thanks everyone, I think I can try to stick it out for the next two weeks. The encouragement you guys have given has helped a lot. I think that’s all I needed was reassurance I could stick it for those two weeks and then I’ll be done with it for good. My parents don’t believe in depression so they don’t understand how it is for me and think I’m just being baby about it. I think if they had encouraged me I could have done it, but instead they criticize me for it. Thanks, for letting me know I’m not just being a baby about it.
Much welcomed. Glad I could help. And yeah, I hear you on the parents thing, too. Hope one day, if I have children, I find the right balance of not spoiling, but not going the other extreme, either.
You don’t have to spoil them much, just gotta give them the right messeges.
Rather than giving the feeling things they try hard at is not enough or not a big deal reward them for it and encourage them to try harder, and insted of making them feel like crap or worthless for doing things bad or complaining you can tell them they’ll get it next time or try something else and it doesn’t have to be the end of the world.
I don’t understand parents who think bringing their kid down is going to get any positive result.
I don’t think it’s immature at all. Your putting your mental health first which is the right thing to do. If you already got depression a job like that can make it worse. Just make sure you got a backup plan.
Does anyone have any advice how I can explain this to my parents? They want me to stay at this job because it has good hours and decent pay, but they just don’t understand why it’s so difficult. It’s a constant struggle because when I tell my mom she says I’m immature, that I just need to be more positive, and that I’m being an idiot.
Getting hired can be difficult. You might go months without finding a new job, so don’t just quit unless you’re guaranteed employment somewhere else first, like Rocketman said. Being broke is awful, and worse than working somewhere you hate (IMO).
The trick is to try to zone out as much as possible and operate on auto-pilot, while thinking of what you plan to do when you’re off work at the end of the day, or what you might like to purchase when you receive your paycheck (or what you’d like to save up for). That helps me.
I think call center work takes a certain type of personality. Depending on what you do (just provide information, listen to complaints, sell stuff, etc.), it can be quite stressful from the repetition and frequent negativity. Even for someone twice your age, it is a challenge. It requires being able to interact in a friendly but professional manner with a wide range of people, who are in a wide range of moods when they call.
And you need to have a certain mindset where you don’t take things too personally. These skills take a lot of time and experience to develop, and at 19, even for someone who is normally outgoing, this would still be pretty young to have developed those attributes to a level where you can be comfortable in most the situations you encounter. I am more than twice your age and pretty sure I couldn’t handle it either; I know I don’t have that personality, so I’ve always tried to avoid that type of work.
I can’t even imagine trying to work a heavy customer-contact job with depression. Does your family know about your depression and suicidal thoughts? If so, I would just try to explain to them how hard it is to always be “on stage” and having to put on a positive front in dealing with people when you’re suffering from depression. If they don’t know, perhaps this would be a good time for a serious talk with your parents to let them in on what’s going on.
Well, my mother was physically abusive to me as a child and then she walked out on us in the middle of the night one night and I’m only just beginning to rebuild a relationship with her. My dad has always taken care of us, but we aren’t particularly. The issue is, is that my parents don’t understand/ don’t believe in depression. Once my mom told that all psychological disorders are mad up for pharmacies to make money off of selling them drugs. When I try to explain to them about my depression and why working there is so difficult for me then they tell me that I’m just being negative and it’s my fault that I feel this way. I took the time to try and explain what depression is to my mom and told her respectfully that what she says to me hurts, but then she went on to tell what an immature idiot I am and I’m just making it up. My parents both know that I’ve attempted suicide and I have very severe scarring on my arms. They just ignore and yell at me when I bring it up. I have been trying to get help with my depression and get on antidepressants, but my parents prevent me from doing so and my mother constantly makes fun of people on antidepressants. She calls them happy pills and insists that I will be a zombie if I take them.
Yes, you did mention in a reply above that your mother doesn’t “believe” in depression. Sorry I missed that.
Unfortunately, it appears they’re living in a fantasy world and deluding themselves. Many parents just can’t handle the possibility that their children may have these types of feelings and tendencies, so they refuse to accept it. I see how this makes it much harder for you when you can’t rely on the support of your parents. If you’re still living at home & they’re supporting you, that can make things more complicated, but at 19, you’re no longer a minor and have the right to pursue this. I encourage you to keep trying to seek help for the depression, and maybe call one of the hotline numbers to get another perspective (e.g. Boys/Girls Town 800 448 3000).
In the meantime, as others have noted, I would try if at all possible to stick it out for at least the two weeks notice. I agree it’s hard to find a decent job these days, and it’s also not a good idea to ‘burn bridges’ by just quitting, as you never know who’s friends with each other in the business world, and you might even end up meeting a former supervisor in the future. (Earlier this year, I abruptly quit a job without much notice and probably threw away 11yrs of good will in the process. In other words, do as I suggest, not as I stupidly have done. 😉