WRITTEN TRANSCRIPTION OF THE PODCAST:

Hello and welcome to my podcast My Life and Other Funny Stories. My name is Dagmar Tomášková, I am an English tutor and coach and I created this podcast for English students who want to get better in their oral comprehension. As always you can find the transcription of this episode, comprehension quiz, and vocabulary list in the notes of the podcast.

Today I decided to share a story about my worst part-time job. A part-time job is a form of employment that carries fewer hours per week than a full-time job. Usually, young people have it beside their studies. Just to be sure, sometimes Czech people say „brigade“ but „brigade“ is a word for a large group of soldiers in an army, so just don’t mistake it. In English, it is a „part-time job“.

During my life, I have had a lot of part-time jobs. Some better, some worse. But only one of them could be the worst.

Alright so I don’t know what year it was (great start of the story, I know) but it was while I was still studying for my bachelor’s, so it is a few years back. I, like every student at university, wanted to have a little more cash in my pocket so I was always looking for some nice part-time jobs. This time I saw one ad for passive calls in a call center- what is it? It is a job in a call center but you don’t call people but they call you. And they offered quite good money for it.

To be honest, I don’t really know what I was thinking when I applied, I hate phone calls and I hate talking to strangers. I mean, just the best prerequisites for this job, I’ll tell you. A prerequisite is something that is required as a prior condition for something else to happen or exist. For example, a prerequisite to becoming a doctor is to have a medical education.

Anyway, I went to the interview and they looked very keen on accepting me to the company. During the interview, it already got a little more fishy (that means suspicious) when they told me that right now they don’t need passive responders but more like active callers.

The thing is that when I am already somewhere and putting in the time, it is really hard for me to say – yeaah, no, thank you. They really knew how to work me up. To work someone up is to make someone feel some way- excited, sad, angry, and so on. They knew how to make me feel excited about the work. They were mentioning all the benefits and whatnot and my young me was just too fragile to say no.

The first two days were just introductory. You know it, they had to show me everything, explain and show me how to do this work so that I could do it alone as quickly as possible.

Now it’s time to explain what the job was about. Basically, you were calling different clients of one specific bank and offering them card, phone, and wallet insurance. This insurance means that you pay a small amount of money every month and when you lose one of the things, the bank will pay you back for it. I mean, this is really helpful and it is useful to have it. So I wasn’t selling anything horrible but still. Selling anything to anyone who hasn’t asked for it is just icky to me. Icky means unpleasant.

Also, you know what it is like when some stranger calls you and tries to offer you something. I personally hate it.

Again, no idea why I even said yes to this job.

Alright, moving on.

So I was just learning the first two days. I learned that you have to follow a very very specific script and you have an answer for any possible response of the client in order to make them buy the insurance.

The worst part was that you couldn’t hang up after the person on the other side said „no, thank you“. They had to say „NO“ to the offer at least three times (if they didn’t hang up first) until you were allowed to end the conversation. It was so uncomfortable for me to hear „no, I don’t want this“ and just to try to push further. Some people don’t have a problem with it. But I do. Also, the company was evaluating the calls and listening if you did your job well so if you didn’t follow these rules or the script well, they would just give you less money.

You can imagine that for such a fragile girl like I used to be, it was hell. I was there for 4 hours a day and it felt like forever. Not to mention the fact that some people can be really rude and they will just say nasty things, hang up, and then you can’t even catch a break because it is already ringing up a new client.

With all that I said to you, can you guess how long was I able to work like this?

a) 10 days

b) 7 days

c) 4 days

… If you said a) or b), you give me too much credit. When you give someone too much credit, it means that you compliment or say good things to some person too much or you think that they are better than they actually are.

Yep, I lasted there for 4 days. To be honest, it felt like two years. Those three mornings I was walking there with stones in my stomach and I just wanted to be anywhere else but there.

I still remember how I felt when I was walking there on the fourth day with full intent to say that I was done (I was so nervous because I hated going into confrontations) and I also very well remember the face of the hiring lady when I told her four days into my bright career in a call center that I wanted to quit. She was so mad.

Her whole face hardened and she barked at me: „Yeah and like why?“

And I told to her: „I guess it is not for me“.

I saw the storm in her eyes. It is a little funny to me now. She turned on her heels, marched into her office and wrote up a short dismissal letter, which I quickly signed. She barked at me once again: „Good luck then, bye“.

I just whispered: „Thank you, bye“. And I was gone. I felt so happy walking out of that place.

Now, just to be clear, it is not such a terrible job. The guy I was starting there with, still worked there for months and months and was quite content. So I guess it depends on your personality. Mine was not made for this.

And that brings us to the end of the episode. If you want help with your English, write me a message or follow me on Instagram, where I post a lot of useful information that will help you push your English level higher – you can find me under the name dagmar_tomaskova – but I will also link it to the notes.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode and don’t forget that you can find the transcription, vocabulary list, and comprehension quiz in the notes. Please give it a five-star rating if you liked it and…I will see you next time, bye-bye.