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Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

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Back in the DHSS
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mare-C
156 posts

Re: Back in the DHSS
Sep 11, 2002, 01:15
Apologies if I made it sound like I could afford to timeout (only made it through the goodwill of friends & the occcasional white lie to the DSS).

Interested in yr story. Fuckin' fascinating, isn't it, how firms use the Data Protection Act to skim their customers AND shaft their staff. In my case, I got an arsekicking for telling customers about the Phone/Fax/Mail Preference services - what else are you gonna do when you have someone complaining, often quite reasonably, about intrusive sales techniques? You have a legally-protected right not to be canvassed if you wish; my view was that it's counter-productive to everyone involved if you withhold the relevant info. Wasn't even being generous much of the time, simply pragmatic. Ach well...

A second, probably more germane point is that the majority of callcentre work is subject to performance only (ie: no danger of a contract of employment beyond payment of wages & hrs of work) & often organised through third party employment agencies. There are (vaguely) persuasive arguments about utility & efficiency (at least persuasive if you have an interest in the future of the contact centre environment), but surely it's more to do with distancing companies from any true responsibility for how they deal with the DPA.

As a workspacing nonentity, I've been expected to assume responsibility for every single word I utter over a phone to a customer (plus any consequence of that conversation). Yet I've often struggled to find a manager willing to do something as downright mundane as signing off of due holidays or provision of references. As an employee, I've often found myself disappearing in some kafkaesque fashion when problems arise; fuck knows what chance customers with genuine grievances have.

Ideally, you could protest through the legal system. Realistically, even if you were on a permanent contract, the callcentre world is so designed as to make proving constructive dismissal virtually impossible. Best to fuck off ot of it, I reckon, though if you decide to fight, you have all my support.

all the best...

m-C
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