I work in a large call center for an international corporation. In my department we have about 30 agents that sit in my area. For the past year and a half, I have sat within one or two desks of the most incopetent, annoying employee in the entire organization. It is so beyond painful to listen to him attempt to do his job. I have asked my supervisor to move me away from him, in order to avoid any confrontation and unneccessary stress that his idiocy causes me. She informed me that they are going to work with him to make him better and that we "can't just be moving everybody, because then nobody will be sitting near him." We aren't asking to move everybody, just me. His "retraining" consisted of one day with a coworker, who pointed out simple ways to make his job easier. He treated this "retraining" as an opportunity to be social and not take phonecalls. It was completely worthless and nothing has changed. My supervisor still insists that I can't have my desk moved. He literally makes every day unbearable and I an at a loss for what I should do next. Anybody out there have some suggestions for the next logical step in this situation??

Working in a call center is the worst job EVER.

Just make him hate his life.. hopefully he'll quit on his own! Sorry bud. That sucks. I used to work with a guy I couldn't stand that shared my office with me. We literally sat 3 feet away from each other and didn't speak a word for months. Finally, my boss moved me. When everyone else starts to feel the tension between the two of you, the boss usually has to step in...

raise your indoor voice a few octaves and start shouting while talking on the phone, be careful to keep the mouthpiece far from your face so the people on the phone aren't impacted... your coworkers will complain they can't concentrate because you are so loud. voila they'll move you

You should mind your own business and do work son.

 

Originally Posted by captvtek33

Yeah, I never speak to him, when he asks me questions, I basically ignore him and direct him elsewhere when he presses me. He's worked here for years and I'm not the only one who complains. As a matter of fact, a worker quit last week when he was compared to this incopetent idiot during one of his evaluations. I kind of want to tactfully tell my boss "He quit because of that moron, do you want to lose another employee too? Just move my f'in desk bitch!!"

if someone is remotely compared to the "worst person ever", theres a good chance theyre pretty terrible as well. even if they said "Person B is twice as competent as the least competent person of all time", theres a good chance theyre pretty terrible as well.

also, i think its pretty immature you find it impossible to work next to a certain employee, this says something negative about you as well. instead of bringing a positive solution to your manager by saying something like "hey im really noticing a lot of specific things Person B is doing wrong and I think I can specifically point out some mistakes hes regularly making", you just whine and bitch. i was asked at an interview a couple weeks ago if i'd have trouble focusing if there was a loud salesman on the phone all the time near me. i told them not at all because if youre really focused and emersed in what youre doing then you wont hear those outside distractions anyways, you should only hear your own thoughts etc and be able to maintain focus. if i were you, i guess i would have instead said "yes, that would be a huge problem and you would have to move my seat to an area where i am more comfortable doing my job. I cannot work through distractions"

 

Originally Posted by Denty

if someone is remotely compared to the "worst person ever", theres a good chance theyre pretty terrible as well. even if they said "Person B is twice as competent as the least competent person of all time", theres a good chance theyre pretty terrible as well.

also, i think its pretty immature you find it impossible to work next to a certain employee, this says something negative about you as well. instead of bringing a positive solution to your manager by saying something like "hey im really noticing a lot of specific things Person B is doing wrong and I think I can specifically point out some mistakes hes regularly making", you just whine and bitch. i was asked at an interview a couple weeks ago if i'd have trouble focusing if there was a loud salesman on the phone all the time near me. i told them not at all because if youre really focused and emersed in what youre doing then you wont hear those outside distractions anyways, you should only hear your own thoughts etc and be able to maintain focus. if i were you, i guess i would have instead said "yes, that would be a huge problem and you would have to move my seat to an area where i am more comfortable doing my job. I cannot work through distractions"

This is helpful, thank you. But when I was told he would be retrained, I sent an email to my supervisor, her supervisor, the trainor and the training manager outlining 5-6 of his weaknesses. It was well worded and very professional (I don't post that way obv), and got no response and the training he was given was a joke, and he wasn't even told it was a training experience for him. If this job were a career, I'd brush it off, but it's a joke of a position that was supposed to be a starting point for a career. I understand your perspective, but you are incorrect. The most important factor for being a productive and happy employee are very basic requests like this being honored rather than being fed some company bs.