How Long Can You Stay in a Call Center
Hey there, everybody, PT Pop here, and happy New Year, everybody. It’s 2026. Yay. Going here to have some fun with you guys, and I ask you the question: how long can you last in a call center? 2 weeks? 2 years? How long is too much? And what kind of mental makeup? What kind of mental crazy person do you have to be to last longer than 2 years?
He Started Off in the Call Center
And I asked this question because I found a phenomenal video here by a woman, channel on YouTube, Bri the Original. But I also started thinking about this because the other day I ran into a friend of mine, keeps track and is keeps in touch with, not keeps track, but he keeps in touch with a, a mutual friend of ours that I haven’t talked to in years, and I have a friend who happened to get a job many years ago, about 25 years ago, with a major, major, major company here in Cleveland, and he worked, he started off in the call center, and my friend told me that this guy has worked, worked his way up and he got out of the call center, and he did all the things that, that, that they tell you in training, like the CEO comes in and goes, “Hey, everybody, you’re in the right place.
Now I’m CEO of the Whole Shooting Match
You put on that headset, you’re going to get to where I got, ’cause I was sitting in the very place you were, and now I’m CEO of the whole shooting match.” And you’re like, “Yeah, right, buddy.” And so I guess this guy worked his way up, and he became, I think he became a director or, or head of sales or something. He’s a big mucky muck there. He’s also now like the size of a house. He’s huge. This guy looks like he swallowed his wife. I know what happened to him, but I put on a few pounds, but nothing like this guy.
What Is Different About This Guy?
Looks like he’s been sitting around eating and, uh, throwing back the beers quite a bit. But I, I thought to myself, what, what is different about this guy? How did he make it? And, like, I know he, myself, and another guy were in call at the same time. Neither one, myself and the other guy, made it. But I found this, this lady’s video here, Bri the Original, and she talks about this very thing, and I want to go, that’s, hold on there.
They Do Burn You Out Very Quickly
Hold on, young lady. You’re getting to be a bit rambunctious. Okay, let’s, let’s bring on Bri, the Bri, the Original here now. Now, okay, Bri, go. I feel call center jobs, they do burn you out very quickly. The, the max, I feel, is probably 2 to 3 years. She’s saying she feels that the max amount of time you can stay in a call center is 2 to 3 years, and I agree with her 100%.
It’s Very Hard to Stay Longer
Just from what I’ve seen around me, like, the longest I have lasted in a call center is about 3 years, and that was with Wells Fargo Bank. I lasted about a year with Verizon, and I lasted a couple years with a, with a regional bank in Arizona when I worked part-time, and it’s very hard to stay longer. Now, she talks about what is the mental makeup of somebody that lasts longer than 2 to 3 years, facts that you can stay at a call center.
You Have Mentally Checked Out
Anybody else who could stay longer than that, you, you have mentally checked out. I don’t care what you say. You have either mentally checked out, your mental health is absolutely declining. Yeah, I think she’s completely right. I think in order to survive a call center, you either have to have mentally checked out or you have a predisposition for sociopathy or psychopathy.
Go in Every Day and Check Out
You’re either sociopathic, psychopathic, and you have absolutely no emotions. You can go in there and do the job, not get sucked into the emotion, not care about how you’re treated, not care about what they say to you, not care if you get promoted, and you just put your nose to the grindstone and go in every day and check out. Go in every day and check out, or, um, you are just using substances. That’s how I feel.
His Company Had a Big, Big Gym
I, I completely agree. The friend I told you about that made it up through the ranks with a major company here in Cleveland, I used to go and visit him at work, and I would go and work out with him in the gym in his building. His company had a big, big gym. And before we go in, we’d go into his car, and he had a one-hit. Now, a one-hit is a pipe. I don’t know what I can say on here, but we’ll leave it at that.
He’d Get Up in the Morning and Get High Too
It was, it was for the G. It was for the, uh, Mary Jawani, Mary Jane. And it looked like a filtered cigarette, and he would sit in his car and he would smoke the pipe like you’re smoking a cigarette, but he was killing, you know, pot smoke, and he would get high every day before he went into work, on break, and at night he’d be stoned all night long. He’d get up in the morning and get high too.
He Was Dealing with It by Numbing Himself
So he was, I, I don’t see him as being a soc, so sociopathic person, but I think he had issues. I think he had emotional issues, but he was dealing with it by numbing himself. I don’t care. I don’t care. I don’t care. It’s just no way, because the way that people treat you over the phone is a different level of customer service than what you get in person.
The Amount of Disrespect I Deal with on a Daily Basis
And I’ve done serving. I’ve done retail. I’ve done, I’ve worked at a [ __ ] courthouse with the worst of the worst, and they still don’t line up to the, the amount of disrespect I deal with on a daily basis on a phone call. Absolutely correct. I’ve worked in restaurants. I worked in a factory. I worked in a factory with Hell’s Angels. Guys used to be in Hell’s, or still, where I don’t think you ever leave the Hell’s Angels.
The Factory I Worked in Were the Nicest People
The factory I worked in were the nicest people. I was, it’s the only job I ever had where I was actually treated with a great deal. Well, it wasn’t the only job, but it was one of them, but the factory job where everybody told me it was a hell hole. Don’t go to work there. Don’t work. They warned me. They said, “Don’t work in this factory.” I still have a friend from that factory, my friend James.
None of That Even Comes Close to Being as Bad
He and I still talk to each other after well over 30 years. It’s probably going on, uh, oh, probably 35 years now, something like that. And, uh, I worked restaurants, factories, I worked in telecommunications where I designed phone circuits. I worked in retail both in high school and after college. None of that even comes close to being as bad as what I experienced in the call center. So she’s completely right.
It Gets Lower and Lower
We had a training class of probably, uh, 10 people. It’s probably only three of us left now. And it just gets, like, every training class, it gets lower and lower. They, it’s so true. As I’ve said in many other videos, you start off in the big corporate call centers, the call centers with a 1,000 to 2,000 men, men and women or people.
You Start Off with a Training Class of 30 or 35 People
Um, you start off with a training class of 30 or 35 people. After two weeks, you’d be down to like 20. Then after the two weeks of training, you’d be down to like 15. And then once the 15, the remaining 15, hit the floor, after about 90 days you’d have 10, and after 6 months to a year you’d have maybe two or three of those people left from training.
The Attrition and the Turnover Rate Is Tremendous
People just get fired, quit, walk out the door, get promoted, you know, get promoted by leaving the company. I don’t know what you call that. They get promoted to customer, but they would leave and go to other companies, so that the attrition and the turnover rate is tremendous. It’s huge. The numbers I found say 50 to 60%. I ount as high as 80% attrition. Maybe retain one person, two people.
The Harder You Work, the More Work They’ll Dump on You
I was just like watching it, and I didn’t really fully understand it until they gave me a promotion to a higher position, but less pay, more work, and they started requiring me to do extra outside work on top of that. And what I realized is the harder you work, the more work they’ll dump on you, and they don’t care. They’ll continue to do it. Even that’s, that’s anywhere in the corporate world.
They Gave Her a 1% Pay Increase Her First Year
I’ve got a friend that recently got a new job with a major bank, and they, he took a huge pay cut to take this job because she had been laid off, and they’ve given her all this work. They gave her a 1% pay increase her first year. Now, at the end of her second year, they’re saying they’re going to give her more, maybe a better bonus, but she hasn’t seen it yet. And it’s now the end of 2025.
If They Can Take Advantage of You, They’ll Do It
Let’s see what they give her. They’ve given her all kinds of work, including supervising people, and she’s not seeing the money for. I don’t know what she’s going to do, but this, that’s pretty much, it works in the corporate world. If they can take advantage of you, they’ll do it. So, let’s, let’s look over here at some of the comments on this video, because the comments are pretty good.
They Were Pulling People Out Every Day on Stretchers
I’ve got my comment. Amen. My entire YouTube channel discusses this. But this person, uh, Greypace 001, says, “I only lasted a year and a half. They were pulling people out every day on stretchers.” I told you about this. The paramedics came all the time to Verizon Wireless’s call center. They were pulling people out every day on stretchers ’cause the stress was so bad.
EMS and Fire Were on a First-Name Basis with Our Supervisor
EMS and fire were on a first-name basis with our supervisor. That is completely true. No lie there. They gave almost no time off either. People were coming to work with flu, get this, dragging trash cans over to their desks to throw up in case they couldn’t leave, you know, go to the bathroom to puke. Meanwhile, the company and its supervisors kept putting the blame on us, insisting that the quality of the job depended on how we approached it, even though they made no real effort to improve the workplace environment or working conditions.
The Final Straw Came When I Thought I Was Having a Stroke
That is so true. They all say this. They’ll say they’ll come in, they’ll have the director, the call center, come in and go, “Hey, everybody, this job is what you’ll make of it. You’re in a great spot ’cause I started off just where you started off, and now I’m the director of the call center.” You know, and oh, it’s just like, um, last straw was when I had what I thought was a stroke at first, but turned out to be a stress-induced ocular migraine.
Hell Is a Call Center
I had migraine headaches all the time at Verizon Wireless, and they went away when I quit. Imagine that. Huh, that was the last straw. Got my ass out as fast as I could. Hell is a call center. I’m telling you, don’t work at one unless you’re about to end up on the streets. And I’ve said that very thing. Very thing. Especially the ones with open interviews.
They’ll Hire Anything That’s Got a Pulse
They are the worst because they’re turnover is so high. Yeah, the open interviews where they just let anybody come in and you get hired on the spot. Not take the job. You’re asking for trouble, they, because they’ll hire anything that’s got a pulse and can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. Let’s see here. This person says that they were, last call center was it for 3 years.
The Work Is a Constant Demand with No Chance for Respite
They gave her a whole bunch of case work but never gave pay increase. It was a, re, revolving door, or this person, Burks Q4B, just left the last call center job of my life. The work is a constant demand with no chance for respite, and call centers are understaffed to deal with a high call volume, constant surveillance. We’ve even had, had to ask permission before we could go on break or lunch.
How Did You Manage to Have Any Type of Longevity?
Um, I’m telling you guys, this is an awful situation to be in, work in a call center. So, what is the longest you stayed at a call center, and how long have you stayed there, and how did you manage to have any type of longevity? Boingo, Boingo wants to know, “Hey, how long have you been in a call center? What did it take for you to last there? Give me, leave me a comment. Leave me a remark in the comments.
Tell Your Friends About My Channel
Give me a thumbs up. Like this video. Tell your friends about it. Tell your friends about my channel and about my new documentary, Disconnected, and how I’m going to tell the world about these atrocious places to work, how they’re constantly fighting unions. They don’t want unionized. They didn’t want to pay you any money. They didn’t want to give you any time off. They don’t let you go to the bathroom.
Nobody Seems to Care About It
It goes on and on and on, and somehow in the real world, nobody seems to care about it. Politicians don’t, because they’re all bought and paid for by the corporations to have the call centers. So, let me know what you think in the comments, and hang in there if you’re working in a call center. It’s going to be a good 2026.Wishing everyone a Happy New Year! I’ll definitely catch you all in the next video.
Do You Want Fries with Your Order
Hasta la vista, baby. I’ve been here day and night for all these years, but now, even my own demons seem to know me. Would you like to add fries to your order?
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