You've likely heard of them. You may have even worked in one. But to many, they remain a mystery. A cliched reference point for employee dissatisfaction in the UK service industry. Now it's time to uncork the genie's bottle. Imagine a melting pot of misfits, lost souls, borderline psychotics, power-crazed sociopaths, and a smattering of everyday folk, all desperate to get a foothold on the treacherous corporate ladder. Put them all in a building together and what happens? They produce world-class customer service for stratospherically successful and vibrant blue-chip brands. Yes, and after pissing up the back of your trousers, maybe next they'll tell you it's raining. Max Frances surgically dissects, mechanically dissembles, or simply outright states the tactics and strategies employed by those at every level and in every role to lay bare the true aims of these unique organisations and how they successfully control, coerce, and exploit. But forget the basic and one-dimensional notion of modern-day sweatshops. There is so much more to it than that. From his multiple perspectives as a grass-roots advisor, to middle manager, right through to the boardroom, and through his extensive networks built during a lengthy contact centre career, Frances has seen it all. Unpicking the bravado, blagging and bluster of the arch-Charlatans, he blows the gaff on the cloak-and-dagger methods employed by the reprobates who rock up on a seemingly endless conveyor belt of disreputable shysters. Effortlessly swatting away the swarm of fabrication and chicanery, he mercilessly obliterates the ludicrous and fantastical propositions and unfeasible pledges of outsourcers and exposes not only what they actually succeed in creating both for employees and the businesses they purport to serve but also the beguiling duplicity of those client organisations who engage them. The psychological ploys, role playing, manipulation, deceit and when all that fails, the bullying and the blackmail. In the contact centres, it's all systems go 24/7 and those unfortunate enough to be sucked into the machine have to weather the storm head on. Flypaper for Freaks hum dings through the corridors of power of the UK's outsourced contact centres with often hilarious, sometimes tragic, but always mind-boggling outcomes. Leaving no stone unturned, Frances throws the spotlight on every part of these unique organisations, calling to account every rogue, scoundrel and miscreant, whatever they are looking to peddle or conceal. Whether you are looking for closure, need to survive, or just want to sharpen your subcultural antennae, Flypaper for Freaks will not just blow your mind. It will shape and change it forever.