Disclaimer: This piece discusses my experience working on one particular psychic phone line. It is possible that many others operate in a far more ethical way than I witnessed.

Note: The vast majority of callers were women, and a large percentage of the calls were about love and relationships with men. Most readers were also women. For ease of writing, this is reflected in my examples below.

Have you ever used a psychic phone line? If so, did you ever wonder what it’s like on the other side of the conversation? Have you been curious about who is telling you what you should do with your life, doling out advice and predictions without having any idea who you are or how that information might affect you? Or what factors might be affecting their suggestions?

For a behind-the-scenes look at what it was like to work on a psychic phone line, read on.

I’d been living in a tiny village in rural England, which had made it impossible to drum up any regular business as a homeopath. I’d left a thriving practice in Calgary (western Canada) and sadly, my beloved career came to a grinding halt in the quiet English countryside.

When my marriage blew up in an ugly and unexpected way, suddenly I had to figure out how to support myself. As a lifelong psychic and medium, I’d done private readings for years. Someone suggested I work for a psychic phone line. I could work from home and not have to find clients in my area, which was definitely not a hotbed of activity in such things.

All I’d have to do is log in on my landline and calls would be routed to me. I would be paid per minute of talk time while doing something I did well. It was perfect for my situation and felt like a huge blessing.

I aced the terrifying “audition reading” with one of the UK’s top international psychic phone lines. Being a night owl, I was delighted when my weekly schedule included a few 11 PM to 4 AM shifts, and also a couple of evening shifts (7–11 PM). Not only did these hours fit with my lifestyle, I was told they were the best time slots for steady calls, as daytime shifts were typically quiet and wouldn’t pay much.

I was delighted! It sounded too good to be true!

And you know what they say about that…

Customers had two options: 1) calls that were billed to their phones would be cut off after 20 minutes; 2) credit card calls were charged for a minimum 20 minutes and could last up to 1 hour, at which point the call would automatically be terminated.

Only the best readers were given the credit card calls because they paid the most. Once we proved our abilities as readers in terms of quality (supervisors listened in) and quantity (monthly average call length had to be 35 minutes or more), we would be upgraded to “DC” status (Dedicated Card reader, which meant we’d get first dibs on the coveted credit card calls). I was thrilled to have made “DC” by the end of my first month.

With DC status came a higher rate of pay. But if your monthly call average slipped below 35 minutes, you’d lose that status and be paid at the lower rate until you could crank up your minutes again.

And if you didn’t get that rate back up fast enough, you’d be terminated.

Not only did this create implied pressure to keep people on the phone, we were told to do it (and given examples of “how”). They used nicer words, but the company ordered us to milk the customers for all we could get.

I refused — not that I ever said that to the “higher-ups”. I needed that job desperately. But it meant I agonised over the length of each call from “Hello.” Factoring in the phone-charged calls that maxed out at 20 minutes (and sometimes were shorter), in order to maintain an average of 35 minutes per call, I had to pray I could get as close as possible to that full hour out of every credit card call — and do it in an ethical way, providing value and useful information. It helped that I could enhance my readings with skills and experience from my own life and healing journey, and from my training and background in the social work industry.

Every time my phone rang during a shift, my stomach was instantly in knots. I prayed I’d make a good connection, that we were a good fit, that they didn’t want just a quick question answered before hanging up abruptly. I prayed there would be enough for me to legitimately talk about for the required minimum length of time so I wouldn’t get in trouble.

The gnawing in my guts was relentless.

So with that as a backdrop of the business aspect…let’s take a look at the actual work.

I have to say that although there were some beautifully meaningful aspects to this work, for the most part it was nothing short of soul-destroying.

Many of the callers asked, “Is my “ex” coming back?” And on tuning in, I would often discover the ex had been an abusive moron, yet the caller was desperate to have him back. The answer to this question was usually, “No,” and it was shocking how many of them were devastated. But I refused to lie and simply say what they wanted to hear.

Sometimes, they spat, “All the other psychics say he’s coming back!” Dear Lord…it wasn’t enough they had called me about it. These lost souls were ringing, ringing, ringing one psychic after another, wasting tons of money to hear someone say, “Yes, darling, he is coming back soon, keep the faith!”

What the other psychics should have said is what I said (only I didn’t say it this bluntly): “Why the hell do you want him back? He’s an abusive pig and you don’t deserve to be treated that way!” I spoke to them about self-esteem and self-love. I recommended relevant books and tried to help them take steps toward healing and someday having better relationships.

And because the supervisors were sometimes listening to the calls, I was not allowed to say, “For Pete’s sake, STOP CALLING PSYCHICS! You’re wasting your money!” Yep. Soul-destroying.

One of the many deeply disturbing aspects of my experience was that customers were allowed either a 1-hour credit card call, or 3 x 20-minute calls — per day. Imagine at a conservative rate of $1.50 per minute — at $90 per day, how quickly was this going to put people in serious debt?

I had numerous “regulars”, many who mentioned “other readers”. Because I wasn’t allowed to say, “Stop calling” I did my best to find that middle ground where I could guide them to coming to that conclusion themselves. If they were going to call, I would at least give them tools to build self-confidence, self-esteem, and a sense of having more control in their lives. Hopefully, they would stop feeling dependent on psychics.

Silly me. I had got into this business thinking it would be like doing the beautiful private readings I’d enjoyed for years, where I got to spend time with people who wanted to connect with loved ones in spirit, or who genuinely wanted guidance to improve their lives. In those sessions, I always felt like I’d done good work and was honouring my Life Path / Destiny as a 22, the Master Teacher in numerology.

But working on a psychic phone line gave me only little glimpses of this. I snatched every opportunity I could find that would allow me to offer something deeply meaningful. I did my best to turn sow’s-ear questions into silk-purse answers.

Part of the challenge was the nature of the questions. Another huge part was the mindset of most of the callers. They were lonely, heartbroken, or missing the abusive “ex”. They were desperate to find Mr. Right. Will it be soon? Please? They were lost. Their lives had imploded; they didn’t know where to turn. They were like vulnerable, frightened sheep, waiting for someone to tell them what to do.

It was an unbearable weight to place on the shoulders of a virtual stranger, someone on the other end of a phone who knew how to make them feel comforted, heard, and safe. Someone they expected to fix their relationships, their finances, their miserables jobs, their desperately unhappy lives. Someone who could make them be happy. And soon.

Every minute of every call was a highly stressful juggling act, trying to keep the bosses happy in case they were listening, and also minding my own boundaries, my own code of ethics, doing my best to treat the client the way I would hope to be treated.

What Kinds of Questions Did I Get?

Most calls were regarding love and relationships. Then there were all sorts of other questions, some of which were quite bizarre.

Like my very first call on that phone line. The boss was listening. I had to prove myself, both as an accurate psychic, and in how I handled the call and was able to help the customer. And I was representing the company.

The man asked: “Should I fold my business and go bankrupt?” I wanted to say, “Good grief, hang up the damn phone and ring a financial advisor!”

But of course, I wasn’t allowed to do that. I tried my best to help him sift through his thoughts and feelings, hoping I could at least assist him in finding some clarity so he could get off the phone and do the right thing. I had to get him to my desired advice without it coming from me.

Other most common questions:

• What’s his wife going to do when she finds out?

• When is he going to leave his wife?

• Is my husband / boyfriend cheating?

• Should I get a divorce?

• Will my finances improve soon? (Oh, how I wanted to say, “Yes, when you quit spending so much money on psychic phone lines!”)

• Should I quit my job?

• Should I sell my house / buy that house?

Less common questions:

• Should I go on this holiday?

• What kind of work should I do?

• Will I win my court case?

• How much jail time will he get?

• Will the school help my kid who’s being bullied?

• Where did I put my keys?

• My cat/dog is lost! Where is he? (Yes. Really.)

• (Frantically) I’m going to miss my flight, where is my passport?? (I actually got this one a few times)

For many of these questions, the potential ramifications for taking a psychic’s advice are immeasurable — especially if the psychic gets it wrong. Too many people take a psychic’s word as gospel and make massively important, life-altering decisions based on it. Getting divorced, accusing an innocent person of cheating, quitting a job — and then not finding another one — there is no end to the ways in which this advice can have a profoundly negative and lasting impact on a caller’s life.

By no means am I claiming that most or many psychics or psychic phone lines are unethical. I knew of other psychics on a few phone lines who practiced in a far more ethical fashion than was expected by this company.

But even at your best, it can be difficult to know if a psychic or a medium is practicing in an ethical, honourable, responsible way. And when you’re desperately seeking hope, when you’re vulnerable, broken, lost and alone, when you’re at the end of your rope and in a state of utter despair, you’re likely to have an even harder time with discernment.

During the 1–1/2 years I worked for that company, I was consistently one of their top readers. Along with getting excellent feedback from customers, my average call lengths were well above the minimum 35 minutes to maintain my DC status every single month I was there.

There came a month when I slipped below the 35-minute mark. First time in that year and a half. My average call length dropped to 33.7 minutes. I was a mere 1.3 minutes below the DC rate after always having been well above. In return for my loyal service in earning loads of money for the company, and for all the incredible stress, angst, and responsibility that went into my calls, they cut my pay to the reduced rate.

I quit that day.

I went back to private readings. At that time, I’d been doing frequent “psychic phone-ins” on BBC Radio for a few years. One of my connections invited me to appear on stage as a medium, connecting audience members with loved ones in spirit — which led to my doing many more such events.

A Few Words of Advice

Have some perspective about your expectations and a psychic’s limitations and capabilities. For example, a few times I had suicidal callers. They should have been calling the Samaritans or a crisis line but no, they rang a psychic phone line. This speaks to the tremendous faith and trust many people have in psychics. We are often seen as having all the answers, a direct connection with God or other Powers That Be and somehow, we magically know exactly what is required to take away their pain.

It’s true that a good, reputable psychic can cut through to the core of what’s going on for you and assist you in figuring out your next best steps to get where you want to be. If you really want to see one, do your research. Ask friends for referrals. Read Yelp reviews.

But you don’t need frequent appointments. A check-in now and then is enough. Make sure you get information that is useful. Get action steps, specific guidance. Not just a hefty dose of sympathy or useless predictions, neither of which actually helps you move forward. Have realistic expectations.

The truth is, if you’re desperate for change, if you’re unhappy or feeling lost, do yourself a favour: Forget about asking, “When is this ‘better thing’ going to happen?” You have to be the one to make it happen.

You already know what’s missing. You know what isn’t working. At the end of the day, you’re the only one who can fix it.

If you hate your job, start looking for a new one, or sign up for courses to retrain or switch to a new career. If your relationship is in trouble, find a therapist. Financial troubles? Talk to your bank or a financial advisor.

Stop dating married people. Do you really need the extra stress it causes? If you want to find Mr. or Ms. Right, get out and meet people. Go to Meetups. Join a dance club or a dating site. Ask your friends if they know someone.

Take control of your present and your future. Figure out what you want, and then take action to make it happen.

And for heaven’s sake, keep your passport somewhere safe.