I have really been enjoying these fiction challenges with Ron, and he’s chucked us another doozy this week! Check it out here.
Prompt for Challenge #9
FIRST OF ALL: Please remember, this is NOT a race. Take your time. Friday is only a part of the title, not a deadline.
Ticks and tocks of essential time, sink the spirits lower than wine.
- Include the above sentence somewhere in your work of fiction. (Required.)
- Keep your word count at no more than 500 words this week. (Suggested.) Do NOT let your story suffer because of the word count limit. Remember, it is a suggested part of the prompt.
So here is my attempt… Any feedback is welcomed 🙂
Waiting…
I looked up at the clock. It was 3.23pm.
Two hours and seven minutes left until freedom.
But I still had to suffer those one hundred and twenty-seven minutes.
I glanced around and saw my colleagues, all looking very industrious, eyes trained to the screens, fingers tapping away at the keyboard, whispering into their headset microphones, responding to the voices being transmitted into their ears by the earphones.
But I had definitely had enough. This really wasn’t for me.
I knew what I really wanted to do, and this most definitely wasn’t it.
I shouldn’t really be sat here, apologising for the mistakes of others. It was nothing to do with me, what that stupid company had done to so many of their customers, yet I was sat here, alongside a team of around 20 others, fielding calls from irate customers, cooing false apologies and making unrealistic promises.
3.46pm. Only a few moments had passed, I had spoken to yet another disappointed customer, and I had parroted the standard response as we had been instructed to do.
But this job was a means to an end. I needed to work to pay my rent. My other ‘job’ hadn’t quite taken off as I had hoped, yet, but it would. Of that I was sure.
Not long until I could sign out of here, and wave goodbye, forever, to this place.
Maybe tonight would be the night I’d be discovered. I had another gig at the local club, a half hour set as a warm up act for the main event. I couldn’t wait to grip that microphone in my hand and belt out a few classic songs. That half an hour is never long enough…
It’s true you know, that saying, time flies when you’re having fun. But it sure as heck drags when you aren’t.
I remember reading somewhere ‘Ticks and tocks of essential time, sink the spirits lower than wine.’
I think now, I finally understood what it meant.
My phone buzzed again, and I sighed as I connected the call. “Good afternoon. You’re through to Coldpoint, how may I assist you?”
The clock said 3.52pm…
Ritu 2016
It was hard to get that sentence into anything, but I have to say my recent experiences with a certain multinational company were a little added inspiration for this piece too!
(You can read about that here, here, here and today’s update here!)
But I Smile Anyway... 
Jan 21, 2016 @ 19:53:08
A bit more agony would have made this a true story rather than fiction. I worked for a telemarketing company that handled calls like this. I ended up in management so got out of having to talk to irate people after a few years.
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Jan 21, 2016 @ 20:42:45
Thanks Ton! I was sparse with the words because of time issues, but I too know the feeling as I spent 9 years in a call centre too!!
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Jan 17, 2016 @ 02:42:04
Very good. 😀 Makes me very happy I decided not to do an at home customer call center. Especially for W… M…
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Jan 17, 2016 @ 09:09:07
Lol! Thanks!!!
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 18:45:51
Wonderful, Ritu!! 🙂
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 18:53:14
Thank you!
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 13:01:25
Love this Sis. Love the fact you used the inspiration of your not so hotpot problems. Great piece☺
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 13:08:05
Thanks bro! It’s what is playing on my mind… I just had to!
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 13:09:11
It’s brilliant Sis. Love your writing☺
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 13:15:32
😊😊😊😊
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 08:29:08
I hope that problem is soon of the past. I thought the coldpoint jab was hilarious 😀
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 09:27:48
Thank you Geetha! It just had to be done, you know! You’ve seen the rubbish we are going through, and what you are living through tends to influence your writing, somehow!!!
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 09:39:48
Very true. I wish it is resolved soon. If you were in the US you could gather all the angry customers together and file a class action suit against them, you would earn millions and redistribute to all involved in the class action suit 😀
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 11:32:20
The British… Too polite lol!
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 11:39:28
No, too bent on not having huge claims for damages against the corporate world I guess. I can’t see any other reason for not allowing class action suits against corporations and any other type of entity that does not respect the basic rights of consumers or any other human beings in their interactions with corporate or other entities. In the US you can even have class action suits against government related entities I believe
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 13:07:09
It’s silly, isn’t it!
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 05:47:05
My writing coach often says, everything is material for my writing. Well done! I could feel her frustration and anticipation.
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 09:26:45
Thank you! I didn’t have a clue how I was going to get that line into the kind of writing I do, so I’m pretty impressed with myself, that I managed! It’s not my best piece, but it’s definitely heartfelt!
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 00:27:22
Haha… Coldpoint!!!! You are amazing, sis!!! 😀
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 00:30:33
Thanks Sis! Inspiration hits from all experiences eh!
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 00:45:43
For sure! Such a heartfelt story, sis!!!
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 09:20:50
😘😘😘
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 13:11:58
Happy Saturday, sis 😘😘😘
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 13:16:01
You too sis!
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Jan 15, 2016 @ 23:52:30
“Coldpoint”. Now that’s funny. 😃
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 00:11:09
Well ‘they’ deserve it! Grrrr!!!!!
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 00:25:14
Oh, I believe you. Most company’s completely suck when it comes to customer service. It’s a lost art, but they’d make for more satisfied and repeat customers if they’d take care of issues. But once you’ve paid for the product initially, they just don’t seem to give a shit. Capitalism at its finest
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 00:29:59
It’s sickening. I worked in Customer Service, for Nestle, Kellogg’s and United Biscuits, in an outsourced firm, for 9 years, and there were many times that my colleagues and I bent what we were supposed to say, as we were horrified that we had to say certain things to customers! And we’d send em free coffee lol!
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 00:42:26
That’s refreshing. Most make me want to reach through the phone and throttle someone! 😃
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Jan 16, 2016 @ 00:44:30
I guess we were all older, and had been on the other side of the line often enough to know hates customer really wants!
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