Maybe they'd been taking the piss

That's pretty commonplace in call centres, isn't it? I know a couple of people who had to that.

(Well, not exactly that, cause they didn't have cocks.)

Aye. Depressing as this practice is, I'm kind of surprised it made a news story, because I'm sure it's pretty commonplace. Still, good that someone's kicking up a fuss.

My mate Posi Dave had a boss who used to strictly monitor the time his underlings spent hacking off a lump; at one point it went so far as the boss knocking on his cubicle door asking if he was alright, and why he'd been there for twenty minutes.

Sick of having his movements monitored such, Dave flung open the cubicle door and gave his boss severe visual and olfactory confirmation of what he was up to, and drove the point home with a verbal affirmation along the lines of "I'M HAVING A FUCKING SHIT, WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?"

He's a bit precious about his shits is Dave.

Yeah, absolutely.

Another thing they told me was that they had no control over incoming calls - they can't pick up or put down, they just get them zapped directly into their headsets.

If they really wanted to improve productivity, they could run a conveyor belt with food in front of the operator, and another won behind and below them so that they don't need to get up to go to the toilet.

If it's good enough for chickens..

Sweet Jesus. When you say they didn't have cocks, do you mean that they're female, or is genital mutilation just another of the indignities that call centre workers are routinely put through?

If the employees are wearing radio headphone/mic sets, what need is there to take them off at all, whatever they're doing?

"Hello? Is that customer service? I think I've been incorrectly billed for this month."

"OK, madam, let me just take your - NNYYYYUUUUGHHHH - customer number and address, and I'll check the... I'll check the figures - GGGGGYYYYYYYOAAARRRRR - on our system..."

"... ohmygod, WHAT HAPPENED TO MY COCK?!?!"

"Your cock is very important to us. Please hold until an operator is available"