InterNutter

Indie writer seeks audience with an audience. Paying customers welcome. [pronouns: ze/hir] Daily free stories happen because it is an excellent counter to Writers' Block.

Burpengary East http://www.cmweller.com 12593 posts

Challenge #03035-H112: Hostile Working Conditions

Call Centres, Don't you just love to hate them, the faceless voice on the other end of the line, that automaton of modern industry you can vent all your frustration at and abuse until your hearts content.

You're sure they don't mind, if they did they could just hang up! You would! They couldn't loose their job over it surely?!?

Besides, its not like they aren't paid well enough to take one frustrated customer, if there was more than one complaint, surely they would be doing something about it RIGHT NOW?!?

they aren't really a person on the other end! Not really.

They couldn't be, working at a call centre. they don't have feelings, or loved ones, or physical/mental health concerns!
and their management cares more about them then you! Or you would be getting what you demand!

they are just machines trying to prevent you from getting the service you deserve, damned the rules or T's and C's, or even the current issue affecting the company they have just spent 5 min explaining to you.

It's a major inconvenience to be talking to a lowly plebe like them.

Inspired by every caller that decides a call centre employee is a a verbal punching bag. To whom we would love dearly to give a piece of our mind to and hang up. But unfortunately, most cant afford to, because that's a terminating offence, and we have bills and, kids and partners to support.

And besides, if we did, you would get some sort of bonus or whatever for being a @$$#013. -- Adam in Darwin

[AN: True Facts - I almost got a job in a call centre. They were going to call me back when a slot opened up but the whole thing moved to somewhere in India before the window of opportunity happened for this nerd. The only time they called me was to try and sell me car lawsuits among other scams. Check out that related story this Thursday]

"So here's the brief. Stay on call for as long as possible, as you get paid by the minute. Put them on hold if they start to swear, but otherwise stick to the script. Hold doesn't count into your time. Churn here is high and management docks you if you take more than the scheduled bathroom breaks."

Lori was sure that was unrelated, but in this economy, she had to take whatever job was going. Leave only if you're fired because you're too expensive for the health department and of course they didn't cover dental. She'd had jobs like this before and used her first bathroom break to change her underwear for an adult diaper. Go-gurts and mountain dew were sustenance standbys as management only gave employees twenty minutes to eat. For those twenty minutes, there were nutritious sandwiches that she brought with her in a cold bag because like hell would anyone trust the break room fridge.

There was a clock on the computer screen with the local time in the area she was going to connect to and a script checklist. There was also a checklist of numbers for her to mark as liable or un-liable based entirely on whether they picked up and whether they put up with the script and for how long.

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Monday, Day 2, Labor Day

Seventeen total cases, sixteen in hospital, and only one left chilling for the all-clear. I'm feeling better about the numbers but not completely secure.

The steam machine is doing great, but I still need to dose myself RSN because I'm horking up bronchial casts of my alveoli. Fun. Also gross.

The bad air days may be coming to a close. I can hope. Thanks to the water vapour, breathing is easier, but I really need to shake the clinker to have better

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Challenge #03034-H111: Obscured by Alchemy

There’s two types of people:

1- those that can extrapolate information from incomplete data -- Anon Guest

[AN: I love this but have to resist the urge to fill in the missing information. Thankyou, Nonny, for messing with my brain]

There are times in alchemy that the four elements are insufficient to explain what just happened. For instance, the metal of potash. Purging wood with fire, then soaking the char in water for a week, straining out the charcoal, and then

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Sunday, Day 1, Stream Day

Beloved got me a humidifier and an air scrubber for the bedroom and I woke up to PINK HANDS. After being blue-ish for a firkin MONTH, this is a marvellous breakthrough. Alas, they both make noises so absorbing this into my household white noise is the current problem.

Therefore the instant the stream is over, I shall be going for more nap.

It's also Mother's Day, so I should call MeMum and wish her a happy day. Then bully Beloved into calling

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Challenge #03033-H110: A Different Solution

They saw Human Ji sit down for their tea after the brief fight with the braggart that had decided to be an idiot. As the crowd dispersed, people getting back to their normal routines, they first helped the owners put the tea gardens back together, mainly because they were nervous about approaching Ji, before plucking up their courage and approaching the table. Lightly clearing their throat, they asked, softly. "I'm having to deal with bullies in school that keep trying to beat

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Saturday, Day 0, Scavenger Hunt - kind'a sort'a

Three new cases, all imports. We have twenty-nine active cases, fifteen of those are in hospital. That's fourteen with the potential to wreak havok and I have a run-around to do today. Huzzah.

The run-around? Well, I got roped into helping out with the Positive Behaviour Learning program's fun day and I have the job of tracking down and pricing sources for all the great ideas we had. Whee.

I'm doing a lot of googling so I'm not looking at the news.

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Challenge #03032-H109: Dragon Favoured

The Dragonmage, the young men and women chosen of dragon-kind. Formerly the unwanted, the undesirable, the abused, the mistreated. Incorruptible due to their bond with their dragons, they feared almost nothing save for the idea that their desire to save innocent lives would fail. The greedy, the grasping, the cruel, they sought out children who might have eggs now. Attempts to corrupt, attempts to control their own dragonmages. But the dragons were sent to taught this world a lesson, painfully if need

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Friday, Day 0, Finances and Nonsense

Four new cases, all imports. There's a total of twenty-eight active cases, sixteen of them in hospital. Which leaves twelve in a hotel hoping for the best.

Cheevs so far today:

  • Moved the starters to new homes
  • Made the Bikkie
  • Used some leftover Mystery Condiment1 in the process
  • Forgot to add delouser spray to Chaos [whoops!]
  • Fed the cats (very important)
  • Remembered my meds (also important)
  • Wrangled payday

I've still got to unfuck the house, write my Instant, commit 1000 words

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Challenge #03031-H108: Love Her to Education

What if someone loves a member of the Family, but has to learn to cook. -- Anon Guest

[AN: Has been linked to Engagement Approval Feast by my pal DaniAndShali ]

As far as love is concerned, there are levels of adoration. Loving to distraction is easy. Loving to invention is harder, inspiring the lover to make something initially for their best-beloved. Harder still... is loving to education.

Izzy had been kept out of the kitchen by a series of circumstances for her

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Thursday, Day 0, Scam Awareness

Nine new cases! All of them are imports, putting the total case count up to twenty-four active, fourteen of them are in hospital. So ten are chilling out in a hotel. Yay.

The government website now has heat maps and regional data so you can check out which cases are in which area. Yay. Brisbane, as the general intake port of call, is bright red.

Today, as well as getting on with my usual nonsense, I shall be covering Telephone Scams I

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Challenge #03030-H107: Tea and Socialisation

I can't help it Internutter, I gotta see! Mr. Sunshine introduces Jay to his one, and only, true friend outside the Pax Humanis organization, Ms. Lilicoon. Her hands have healed quite a lot now and she keeps in regular contact with Sunshine and even has permission to visit his home on occasion, of course she always makes sure to ask first in case he's busy. Now that he's got a new student, and to show him that there's hope for even ones

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Wednesday, Day 0, Wordpress

Two new cases, both imports. Fifteen total cases, eleven in hospital. That leaves four chilling out in quarantine. I'm glad the numbers are going down. Whew.

Today, Wordpress will see more of One Tiefling and I get to bafflegab about my writing process based on the skeleton. Speaking of the skeleton - I fixed the link in the first episode to the actual skeleton [link provided for those who don't want to archive trawl] and I'll be providing it again for those

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Challenge #03029-H106: Experiments in Friendship

The ship was doing a long-haul taking a mix of human and havenworlder colonists to one of the few mixed-colony worlds. A human child, with their havenworlder friends, had begun exploring the ship and found their way to the engine room. When the parents found them, they were being given a lesson in how the engine works, and being allowed to be helpful, as much as kids can be. -- Fighting Fit

The world that Planetary Survey had found was perfect. Perfect

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Tuesday, Day 0, Patreon

Two new cases, both imports. The case total is holding steady at seventeen with fourteen in hospital and three streaming Netflix in a quarantine hotel.

I have two stories from the Tale Foundry to give to my Patreon patrons, some chapters and so on, but not a lot more than that. I do have an idea for another Kosh-centric heartbreaker, so there's that.

We'll see what we shall see.

In the news:

  • The property boom was a bubble the entire time. Like,
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Challenge #03028-H105: Swim the Light Fantastic

They flew past me all the time inside those massive metal machines. Though some were bigger than others. My people have been floating among the stars, bright spots in what, for most, would be otherwise pure darkness for as long as I can remember. We had bodies, once, and needed such machines before, but we evolved past that. My family called me, we were heading to a new asteroid belt. Holding out hands, we, as bright flames, flew to see those that

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