I guess I'm over the honeymoon phase

[Food Lady]

at the new job, and I'm only a month in. I'm still in training, and we start actually taking calls Monday. I may not go in.

See, I was simply looking for a 2nd job to supplement the retail one for a while because of hours cuts. I submitted my resume online because it was required for some of the positions. I left it public because whatever.
Two companies got ahold of it and contacted me, one for sales and one for customer service. I spent two days agonizing about which to take and the decision was made for me when I ticked off the sales manager by being honest about the situation (wanted to let him know why I wasn't going through the hiring process--that I wasn't aware they actually wanted to hire me [long story] and was at the same point with the other company *awkward!*). So I went with the other company, which had advertised for customer service.

Well, it's not. It's billing. It's 2 browsers and a bunch of tabs on each. It's research and numbers and contracts and such. If I had known how many hoops I'd have to jump through in order to solve one client's problem I would not have accepted! It's a great company with amazing benefits and more pay than the other, by 16%. But I'm exhausted and confused and I want the sales job because it's 2pm-11, absolutely perfect for me.

It's too late. I'm sure I painted myself in a bad light for the sales hiring guy. I wish I'd never heard from either company and not known what I was missing. It's going to hurt to quit now. And I'll have to find another job immediately because I'm not rich. arrrrrrrrrrgh!

ETA: and sitting all day hasn't helped my back. I'm in just as much pain. My carpal is going to act up as soon as I really have to take calls. The retail job makes me hurt, too. I don't know what job to do!! ugh

[greek_jester]

ETA: and sitting all day hasn't helped my back. I'm in just as much pain. My carpal is going to act up as soon as I really have to take calls. The retail job makes me hurt, too. I don't know what job to do!! ugh

While I can't help with your decision about your job, I can say that if you have carpal tunnel there are ways to deal with it which might actually be the responsibility of your employer (IANAL and a Brit, so I don't know your local H&S laws).

If you have carpal tunnel you should have a properly supportive wrist rest for both your keyboard and your mouse. You can buy mouse pads with the wrist support built in. You should also watch your posture, the position of your office chair, and the position of your keyboard/mouse (these may also help your back problems). They all need to be in easy reach, and your chair should be adjusted so that you don't have to reach up or down dramatically. Don't forget a foot rest if the proper position of your chair leaves your legs dangling!

I have spent 20 years in office jobs, primarily on the computer, and for all but the last 5 years I had carpal tunnel in at least one wrist. I actually preferred working on the computer to doing things by hand as I could get proper support for my wrists and vary the way I did things to ease pressure (harder to do with a pen!)

[KuariKaydrith]

Usually it is up to the employer to accommodate any disabilities or injuries you might have, but what level of accommodation may vary from state to state or province to province, depending on where you are. Sometimes you may be able to provide your own items, especially if you don't have a shared desk, such as wrist supports for your keyboard or mouse, or even a trackball mouse (I find this really helps with my own carpal tunnel issues). Your work station may need to be adjusted for your ergonomic requirements - a foot rest, your chair set up to ease your back, etc.

When I was at my last job they used to bring in a specially trained person to do desk set-ups, making all the necessary adjustments to desk equipment and seating. I've got a buggered back from a car accident several years ago and that's what they had to do for me, especially after I brought in a doctor's note explaining what needed to be done.

As for the job itself, you will pick up most of it while on the floor anyways. That's pretty standard for any call center job regardless of what you're doing - I've done everything from tech support to billing to HR services and then some, and I honestly feel I learned the most once I hit the call floor. And I hate phones with a passion as it is...and that is without the complication of being hearing impaired (yes, all my call center jobs accommodated me on that as well with full-coverage headsets with the ability to turn the volume up really loud so I could actually hear what the caller was saying).

It never hurts to ask your supervisor or your HR for accommodations to make doing your job easier on your body. If they want to keep you then they will usually do what they can for you.

[Food Lady]

Oh, I'll have an assessment once I get an assigned desk. My supervisor cornered me today (in a good way, to help.) I'm at lunch so I'll update later.

Update: So my supervisor has been sitting in on training and knew I was upset yesterday, so she cornered me (in a good way--she's very nice) today. I just didn't want to talk about it, but at some point in class I got lost, as I do every time we learn something new, because if I'm trying to go along with our instructor's actions on my own computer, I can't see his actions and then I'm behind. I end up missing the larger concept because of trying to figure out navigation. I emailed my sup and she didn't want to call anyone out, so she interjected that she wanted to try something with us. She took us through the exercise in question step-by-step, making sure we all knew what we were doing. I think most did, but there are 3 of us who get confused. Anyway, one of the girls said something like "Now that's what I need!" It's true, but it made the instructor feel bad. He's a sweet guy who wears his heart on his sleeve, so he said so. And then several of us felt bad. I especially do, since I sent the email, though he doesn't know that. He even sent us to lunch early because he was dejected. ugh But at least he didn't lose me for the rest of the day until 4:00 because, well--4:00.