It was mum's birthday last night, she got drunk and promptly told me that I couldn't look after myself at all because I was very pathetic, and my sister that her job wasn't stretching her enough. I don't really see how she thinks she either looks after herself so well, or how her job is so great. She's a local government tax bureaucrat, more or less. At the age of 46. What a shining example of the life to lead! I hope I have such a great job, and live as well as she does!

I have been experimenting with time management at the call centre. I just couldn't go on checking the time nearly every 30 seconds. It dragged a space 10 minutes to the point where each moment became eternity itself. I hardly make any calls anymore, largely just dialling the number of my old mobile, which then gives a "number not recognised" answer, which I leave on and pretend the phone is ringing out. To change the speed of the flow of time, I treat much of this wasted time as an extension of free time, so I don't check the clock. I just relax and doodle on the paper. I didn't think it would work, but time did seem to go faster, and I felt happier and more relaxed.

Last Friday I surpassed my work target without even having to fill in false numbers, which was crap. That meant I actually had to do some work, rather than just pretending to work. The weekly target for this week looks impossible with my current work efforts. There are gaping holes in the schedule on Thursday and Friday. I shall tell the boss that people just don't want come in those days, afterall it is the run-up to the Bank Holiday weekend, and what would they want me to do? Force them to have their photos taken at knife-point?

There's also a dodgy appointment I made for today, I don't think they'll allow the woman to have her photo taken, and they'll heap the blame on me (quite accurately but that's not the point). I guess I'll shrug and say that she must told me a load of lies to get me to make the appointment.

There's another 13 working days left before I return to the university, and mum goes away on holiday on Friday, so I get a week of that to myself, though the call centre job cannot end fast enough.

They had some poor saps in yesterday for training. Watching them helped pass about half the shift, so it wasn't at all bad. I still slacked even thoguh all the bosses were in the room such is the seeming indetectability of the slacking method. Even if they did find out, the worst punishment they could inflict would be to make me stay.

I somehow got talked out of quitting.

What a quitter's attitude to quitting.

I was taking aside and asked very much not to quit, as I had been asked if I had changed my mind all week. On this occasion the pressure to stay was more persistent than before, and I knew I was skint too, so I caved.

Damn it.

19 more working days, what a drag.

I got a part-time job working in a call centre for a photography company. I absolutely hate it. It's the most tedious and soul destroying job I've ever had. Being a cleaner was much better, not because it was more interesting, but because working as a cleaner did not require you full focus. Once you knew what you were doing you could let your mind wander away whilst the body took care of the job. This new job requires the concentration of the mind as well in arranging appointments for sometimes very ungrateful customers, which means that your doing a tedious job but you can't think about other things while you are working, which makes the time drag a lot longer.

I guess my dislike also stems from a slight fear that I won't fulfill the targets that need to be hit, plus I occasionally put the appointments into the computer wrong, but I can never be bothered to phone the person back to say a mistake has been made. Although companies like to inspire customer loyalty, the attitude of the customer does little to make the part-time worker on minimum wage feel any loyalty to them. I'm pretty sure at some point all these mistakes will come back in a hailstorm of complaints when people turn up at the time they thought the appointment had been made for, only to find out that their appointment either doesn't exist, or has been double-booked. To try and forestall this eventuality I avoid giving my name out over the phone, unless asked. The other workeers say stuff like "Hi, it's Vicky from Olan Mills Photographers......", as if this will somehow mean something to the customer and they think "Oh right, it's Vicky, good I was hoping she'd call me...". The only reason the company wants you to give out your name is to help people trace any blame back to you. I only need to hang on here for 7 weeks, so hopefully I won't get sacked before then.

When going through the log of 'callbacks' you get to look at the customer's history of their dealings with the company. A good technique to shirk work is that if you come accross one that looks like it might be awkward, is to dial a wrong number so that on the phone line you get a Number Not Recognised message, and then you sit and pretend that the phone is ringing. Thus the casual observer will conclude you are working rather than avoiding awkward customers.

One thing I am still trying to determine is the level of surveillance that goes on at the place, to see if they monitor the work you do beyond the targets. I reckon there is little or none since the two bosses usually seem busy. Just thinknig about the damn job depresses me. I commented yesterday to one of the people that time slows down to a snail's pace when at work, and a couple of people around expressed geniune surprise that I thought this was the case. One of them also seemed a little put out that I should express a dislike for the work I do. It baffles me how anybody could enjoy that job or not be reduced to a husk of their former sleves in that place, especially those who seem to work there all day. Having said that, one person at least agreed with me.

On the plus side, I guess the job isn't actually too difficult and the hours are more regular than in my previous job. My co-workers also seem fairly nice on the face of it, though I can't shake a feeling of wariness I have towards them like they're in on something that I don't know about. The bosses are also ok, but it sometimes seems like I'm in some kind of vague trouble, but I don't know what about.

Elsewhere, I spend my spare-time thinking about how much I dislike this job. I also do some reading for the final year dissertation, but the amount of material I get through has slowed down a lot.

Got a job interview tomorrow, I had completely forgotten I had applied for the post, and still aren't sure exactly which one it is. Needless to say I won't get it. The people who interview for many of these jobs are generally looking for someone at little more enthused by such crappy work, and morein touch with management-speak, well, at least some.

I am awaiting a list of holiday cover placements for the council at which might belatedly earn some money before September. Hopefully the best ones won't be filled up yet.

Some other time.

Down with myspace blogs

You can't be honest on myspace blogs without people you know reading them and scrutinising them. I've noticed it cause friction and arguments before now, so I prefer this private one. I like my friends but not enough to let them seriously know what I think of most things, and if they did know I'm not convinced they'd understand or even listen.

Bah, I'll continue this some other time.