Although I left university with a good degree, I suddenly found that it was actually quite hard to find a job. After being unemployed for a few months, I realised I had to take the frist thing that came along or I’d be in serious financial difficulties. And so, for six very long months, I became a market research telephone interviewer.<br>I knew it wasn’t the best company in the world when they told me that I’d have to undergo three days of training before starting work, and that I wouldn’t get paod for any of it. Still, I knew that the hourly rate when I actually did start full time woukd be a lot better than unemploument benefit, and Icould woek up to twelve hours a day, seven days a week if I wanted. So, I thought of the money I’d earn and put up eith three days of unpaid training. Whatever those three days taught me – and I can’t realty remember anything about them today – I wasn’t prepared for the way I would be treated by the supervisors.<br>It was worse than being at school. There were about twenty interviewers like myself, each sitting in a small, dark booth with an ancient computer and a dirty telephone. The booths were around the walls of the fifth floor ao a concrete office block, and the supervisors sat in the middle of the room, lostening in to all of our telephone interviews. We weren’t allowed to talk to each other, and if we took more than about two seconds from ending one phone call and starting another, they woukd shout at rs to hurry up and get on with our jobs. We even had to ask permission to go to the toilet. I was amazed how slowly the day went. Our first break of the day came at eleven o’clock, two hours after we started. I’ll always remember that feeling of despair when I woukd look at my watch thinking, “It must be nealy time for the break”, only to find that it was quarter to ten and that there was another hour and a quarter to go. My next thought was always, “I can’t believe I’m going to be here untilnine o’clock tonight”.<br>It wouldn’t have been so bad if what we were doing had been useful. But it wasn’t. Most of our interviews were for a major telecommunications company. We’d have to ring up businesses and ask them things like, “Is your telecoms budget more then three million pounds a year?”<br>The chances are we’d get the reply, “Oh, I don’t think so. I’ll ask my husband. This is a corner shop. We’ve only got one phone.” And so the day went on.<br>Khía cạnh đáng sợ nhất của công việc là tôi đã thực sự khá tốt ở đó. “Ồ không!” Tôi nghĩ. “Có lẽ tôi là mệnh được một nhà nghiên cứu thị trường cho phần còn lại của cuộc đời tôi. “Ông chủ của tôi chắc chắn có vẻ suy nghĩ như vậy. Một ngày - trong thời gian nghỉ, tất nhiên, cô ra lệnh cho tôi vào văn phòng của bà. “Simon”, cô nói, “Tôi khuyến khích bạn. Từ ngày mai, bạn tắt viễn thông và lên khiếu nại thẻ tín dụng. Tôi chắc chắn rằng bạn có thể xử lý nó. Không có trả thêm, nhưng nó là một vị trí rất có trách nhiệm.” <br>Ba tuần sau, tôi bỏ thuốc lá. Đó là một trong những quyết định tốt nhất mà tôi từng thực hiện.
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