One of the first things which is beaten into your skull when you start doing call center work from home is to never admit you are working from home. When asked where you are located or if you work from home, the standard answer is "I'm in a call center located in (the city you are in or near)". This is of course the truth. As an independent contractor, I am operating my own call center and have been contracted as such. It is sort of strange to answer that way especially when the person on the other end of the line is inquiring because they are interested in employment from home.
The reason for the 'call center' answer is obvious; the caller is probably disclosing personal information and might feel uncomfortable doing so if they know the person they are speaking with is sitting in their jammies. I've always thought this was a bit odd because we undergo a background check and if a person is going to steal information they can do it just as easily in a call center as they can in their own home. Either way, I'm OK with the answer and have no problem giving it.
The funny thing is, I struggled with this the other day when I was the caller. I had to call Cox for an issue I was having with my Internet. I've been aware that Cox uses home agents for quite some time so if the person answering my call worked from home, I would have had no problem with it. It became a problem when the tech support guy I was speaking with neglected to mute his television when he was assisting me.
He also neglected to ask his cat not to meow into the phone. Between the cat meowing and the football game in the background I was getting a little frustrated. So I asked him what the score of the game was and without skipping a beat, he told me. Wow, just wow.
The moral of the story...If you are fortunate enough to secure a work at home job, treat it as such. A work at home job is a job and you need to be professional. When you watch a football game while on a call you are risking not just your job but you are putting all of us who work at home at risk.
