Cracked takes a stab at explaining why your calls to customer support inevitably lead to frustration. You’ll probably recognize your own experiences as you read their article, and learn a little about why being a customer service agent sucks so much, too.

In addition to being bombarded with complaints all day, your call center employee is also bombarded on all sides by the kind of corporate shitheadery many of us are sadly familiar with.

Employees at some centers face rampant and ceaseless harassment when they go off and do foolish things like use the bathroom during their shift or read quietly between calls. Like the set-in-stone script agents must follow when answering calls, so too must management follow its own set of completely arbitrary rules. This often includes no books in your cubicle because they’re “distracting” (agents are encouraged to use any free time to read over notes on how to better serve customers or brush up on company policies). And your bathroom breaks will be timed; often companies monitor their computers for idle time and if your computer shows you haven’t answered a call within two minutes of ending one, someone comes looking to see why you’re slacking off.

“Why Tech Support Sucks: A Look Behind the Scenes” [Cracked] (Thanks to Tuuurd_Ferguson!)

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