Sam Sanford’s one woman show, ‘I Love My Job’, about working in a call centre, found a receptive audience at The Newgate Social as part of Newcastle Fringe Festival recently. Perhaps it’s because we’ve all been there, hanging on the end of a phone while an automated voice runs through a list of options which invariably never include the pressing reason for your call, only to be put through to someone who probably can’t help you through no fault of their own. To say that this is infuriating is an understatement. I am, personally, a veteran complainer, believing that large corporations who take our money have a duty to deliver decent services. I am, however, very mindful when talking to the underpaid overworked call centre operatives that they are not the problem. It’s the people higher up the chain of command who should be answering to us awkward customers but they remain elusive, probably chilling out in some tax haven somewhere. Grrr!
The material for Sam’s highly engaging show was sourced from real life examples, from workers in the UK and elsewhere, customers and even managers. At one point in the show Sam encourages audience members to share their call centre experiences and there was no shortage of stories. We are also invited to help Sam decide whether a call should be escalated to the next level or de-escalated. We don’t always get it right and Sam’s faceless line manager rings up to do a performance review, suggesting a bit of in-service training so that Sam can finesse her skills.
Whilst we are completing an online questionnaire about why we might love our jobs, Sam recites a long list of detailed reasons why she loves her call centre job, encompassing everything from earning a crust to dignity in work, from solving people’s problems to the benefits of social interaction with one’s peers. Against the brutal backdrop of precarious work, minimum wages, zero hours contracts, attacks on trade union rights, and the threat of AI, this monologue is surprisingly uplifting.
The show ends with a role reversal as Sam disappears off set to make a call to a customer service line. We listen to an intensely human conversation whilst a moving image artwork comprised of layer upon layer of communication signals is projected onto the backdrop, slowly zooming out to offer a view of a star-studded universe. As Scott Stillman said, we are merely, “a tiny speck of dust hurling through space”. I will try to remember this the next time I phone up HSBC Customer Service.
Julie Ward saw ‘I love my job’ at the Newgate Social.
A Newcastle Fringe review. There’s still a lot going on!
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