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[Betty]

Robin, you used to answer 999 calls?  That must have been really stressful.  How long did you work there? 

I used to do volunteer work at a crisis center and I used to talk to people on the phone who were depressed, upset or anxious.  Most of my phone calls weren't too serious, but occasionally there were calls that were suicidal and we'd have to trace the call and get the police involved.  That was very stressful!

[Robin Tetley]

I worked as a directory enquires operator for six months which was stressful but only because of the ridiculous targets we were set. I think an average of 17 seconds per call or something like that.

Then that department closed so they moved us to being regular operators, of which a big part was answering 999 calls. I did that for three or four months till I left the company.

It was a different kind of stress altogether.

Believe it or not I really like the sound of the job you did. I'm not saying it wasn't or wouldn't be stressful but you're literally helping people. That's all I've really ever wanted to do.

I considered applying to the Samaritans on a voluntary level a few years ago but never got around to it for some reason.

[Bob]

Tell me about call centre targets. They can be very tough to meet sometimes.

[Betty]

Robin, that's very nice of you to enjoy helping people.  We need more people like you in this world! 

Although working at the crisis center was interesting, you get a lot of "regular" clients who call because something happened today that made them upset or they need to talk to someone until their anxiety medication takes affect.  In fact, you begin to know the names of the regular clients and begin to learn a lot about their personal life. 

Since you like helping people, have you ever heard of Ameri Corps? My niece belongs to it and she loves it.  They help people who lost their home from natural disasters such as hurricane or earthquake.  They do other stuff too. 

Do they having anything similar to that where you live?

[Robin Tetley]

I'm not sure to be honest about a similar thing to Ameri Corps that you mentioned.

My local Church (well it's more regional than local, it's huge) does lots of things for the homeless and general "reaching out" to the community and I volunteer there so I guess that would be the closest thing.

Reaching out in a sense of trying to help people without an agenda I should add rather than reaching out in an effort to convert people.