A co-worker brought this to my attention...

So, they have started letting us access our non-work email from work. They just put a warning stating that it can be monitored and they ask us to limit the use to non work hours, such as break and lunch or before and after work. I am happy about this because I often check my school e-mail from work to find out if I need to know something before I leave for class. They do filter sites that have streaming media and such. I totally get that. We are there to work, not watch you tube. But a coworker of mine e-mailed me this the other day:

The reason this site was filtered? Well, see for yourself. We both got a good laugh out of it.

Feedback

I totally get why they do this but why must they do it then. I mean- I had an interview for a new position at my job. A position I REALLY WANTED. A position I have wanted for a LONG TIME. This wasn't even the first time I interviewed for this position. They said I would find out about it tomorrow. Okay. Fine. I was ready to wait until tomorrow. I get called into a meeting and all of the interviewers were waiting. Okay. Today is the day. They went with someone else. They wouldn't tell me who. This is the second time they went with someone else. I REALLY wanted this. Everyone told me I would get it. I have the most experience, I have the degree, I have the desire, I know the stuff. I don't screw things up, I come in ON time every day, I work my ass off. I am DAMN good at my job. So, I didn't get it. Then I have to sit there while they go through and give me "constructive criticism" as far as why I didn't get the job. Mostly it was because I didn't do well in my interview. I suck at interviews. I get nervous and laugh. I laugh when I am nervous. The person interviewing knew this about me. She also knew my performance and knew I can do the job and do it damn well with little training. I don't get it. That person said I shouldn't get discouraged and try again next time an opportunity opens for that position, but that can be over a year away if not longer. So yeah, I am discouraged. Beaten down. I give up. If other people can get away with not working as hard as I do then I am not going to care as much. It obviously doesn't matter. I am so tired of being the one who is always willing to help, always willing to try so hard, always willing to do so much more and then it bites me in my ass.

One of my coworkers who knows my skills and knows how bad I wanted it, and knows how good I would have been said to me- "They don't deserve you." Its little consolation when I was told that my writing skills needed to be improved and I needed to take these things more seriously and not be so sarcastic during an interview. I was not sarcastic then, I am now, sure cause I am angry and thats how I express myself when I am frustrated. I can't see myself going back there again and again- like I am supposed to continue with a smile on my face like everything is okay? I can't go back like that. I need another road to take. I am tired of watching everyone pass me by.

Life working in a call center

It has been a while since I have ranted about work. I seriously want to start answering the phone: 'Thank you for calling --- My name is M*. Please don't yell at me, I didn't do it.'

The next time you call a customer service number, remember you are talking to a person. I am someones daughter, someones friend. For all you know, you could be screaming expletives at me. Would you do that if you had to look in my eyes while calling me an effing *&1^%? Would you be able to treat me like that if you had to look me in the face? Next time you are all worked up and angry and ready to rip the customer service representatives head off, remember, he could be your neighbor. She could be me. That person who helped you get the last bottle of shampoo of the top shelf at the Target on Sunday? Might have been a CSR. The guy who let you turn during rush hour Monday night? Very possibly was a CSR. We are really trying to help. We are just people.

Phone calls

I got a call this evening, it totally made my day, which kinda sucked. I just love being talked to like an idiot - especially by customers who used to be coworkers. You would think people who worked with us would treat us like human beings, since they know we are human... but no. Treated me like I didn't have two brain cells to rub together.
Anyway, to the good part. I got a call from a J8 who asked me to come over and play. Told me I need to bring my DS and Mario. His little brother,C3, told me he loved me and kissed the telephone. Made the yucky stuff just disappear.

I love those boys. They can always make me giggle.

Today was one for the books

The joys of being a phone rep. Today I got told to drop dead. No. I am not making this up. At the end of the call, when I asked if there was anything else I could do for him, he told me to drop dead. I am going to get right on that. I have had customers call me vile names, accuse me of lying to them, but this was a first. Definitely one for the books.

Another Day another...

Screaming customer. Is that how it goes? If there is one thing I have learned during my short tenure thus far as a Customer Service Representative (CSR), it is Do NOT yell at the CSR. No matter what it seems like to you, we are there to help you. Yelling at us only pisses us off and makes it less likely that we will do anything to help you out beyond our normal required function. We are, all in all, a fairly Passive aggressive bunch. The more you irritate us, the slower we are going to comply. Following is a little tip sheet for those of you who find yourself with a need to call a CSR:

1. Just answer the verification questions. We don't do this for our amusement. We aren't trying to make your life difficult. We wouldn't have to do it if there weren't people out there calling in trying to pretend to be other people to commit fraud but there are, so now we do have to give you a pop quiz every time you call. Sorry, but just please answer those questions before even telling us why you are calling.

2. We already know the automated system is irritating. You do not need to spend 2 minutes reminding me how irritating it is. We also know it sends you to a representative after 3 errors, so don't even think about telling me you entered your account number 7 times. You are lying. What else are you going to lie to me about?

3. We don't want your opinion about pressing 1 for English and 2 for Spanish. If you don't think you should have to press 1 for English, what number do you feel is more appropriate? How about 38 for F-U?

4. Do NOT call in and DEMAND that I do something for you. If you are nice to me, I would be more than happy to see what I can do about expediting that fax, waiving that late fee, getting something shipped to you overnight. If you tell me I HAVE to do something? Um, no, I don't. No where does it say I HAVE to waive that late charge. You were late. Our turn around time is 24-48 hours. Then you can call back and complain about me being slow.

5. Your payments are due ON the DUE DATE!!! Not the day before we add a late fee. Not the day before we report them as delinquent to the credit bureaus. They are due ON THE DATE DUE ON YOUR STATEMENT. Back to the waiving late charges. Don't tell me you were only 1 day late. If you have a late charge, you were at least, AT LEAST 11, yes ELEVEN days late. And don't lie to me about not knowing. I can tell when you called in, we note the accounts every time you call in. The system also notes every time you log into your account on the website. We KNOW. We're like Big Brother

6. We don't care about your sick daughter, bladder infection, bunion, college tuition, ugly divorce, no we cannot remove you from the contract, I don't care if you aren't dating anymore, that's why you shouldn't co-sign for your brand new girlfriend. I am not going to get in the middle of it. We just need your payment.

7. I'm not your new best friend. Don't chat. You don't really care about the weather here, so don't ask.

8. I am not your: Honey, Sweetie, Darling, Sugar, Baby, Peaches, sweetheart, Babe, Hon, or any mutation, combination, or synonym of the above. No it is also not Raja. I am sure there are awesome and equally frusterated CSRs in India thinking the exact same thing, but my name IS Madeline. I told you that when I answered the call. You do not know me, you are not allowed to use a nickname. You may call me by my name, which I gave you and I will give you again, or ma'am. Or hell, I answer to Maddie, Madeline, Melanie, Natalie, Maggie, Margaret, or any variation of whatever you call me as long as its a real name.

9. When I ask you if you there is anything else I can do for you, do not ask me to payoff your loan. Cause it might have been cute the first time I heard it, but its been over a year. At least 3-5 times a week and it has gotten REALLY OLD. You're not the first and won't be the last. Its not funny. I also don't know the meaning of life, the winning lotto numbers, where you left your keys, how many licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop, I am not Ms. Cleo.

10. Unless I gave you my extension or last name...you don't need it. I PROMISE I will have left adequate and sufficient notes on the account that anybody who answers the phone can help. Even the stupid ones. You problem is not so special/difficult/unique that we haven't done it 1000 times before. Trust me. You don't need to ask for me the next time you call. I don't need a new best friend. I like the one I have. We will make fun of you.

and FINALLY.

When I say "Thanks for calling and have a great day!" Just say thanks, you too, and hang up. After that, you had your chance to ask more questions. I'm done with you and moved on. I already asked you if there was anything else and you were too busy coming up with a lame one liner to actually ask me the one question you did have and so, because I am not psychic, I didn't know you also wanted to know about Home Equity Lines of Credit I didn't bring it up because we were changing your billing address. Please don't say as I have closed your account by this point. "Oh yeah, I did need to know..." or "Thanks for nothing" or "Uh huh." Its just rude.

Please. Just answer our questions, be polite, Say things like "Please." "I'm so sorry its late" "Thank you SO much" and "I really appreciate your help today." We really like that. Then we really like you. We will then say, "Its not a big deal, and I will go ahead and waive that late charge for you." "Let me see what I can do to help you out." "Why do you need it so soon?" "Oh wow, well, our standards say we won't be able to have it shipped for 30 days, but its a special circumstance. I might possibly be able to make an exception." Be GOOD TO US. We will be good to you.

Thank you for your time and future consideration of mine.

Have a great day.

Schedule Bids

Its been awhile. I guess I've not had much to say...or perhaps too much. Maybe its that I worry I might say the wrong thing. Whatever the case may be. We had schedule bids a few days ago. I thought this time I might give the 4x10 a try. Basically that means I work from 7:00 am until 5:30 pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. I get every Wednesday off. It will give me time to do stuff and things or nothing at all. Plus, with gas getting so expensive it will save about 45 miles on my car every week. That's about $3.50 in gas right there! Okay, so my car doesn't take that much gas. Its a Scion xA but still. Every little bit counts!

I was told by a girl at work the other day that I make people feel stupid. Now I know I make snarky and sarcastic comments all the time...cause that's just who I am... but she said that she was sarcastic and I was just mean. I don't think I am a mean person. Sure, I tend to be kinda blunt, and if you have to ask me what color the white horse is because you honestly don't know you begging for a dumb joke. I never intend to be mean. I could have said, "I'm sorry if you feel stupid, but did it ever occur to you it was because you are stupid?" No. I wanted to, oh did I want to. But I didn't. Because that would have been mean. I just apologized and told her I didn't intend to make her feel that way and since then I haven't really said anything to her at all. My HLM (hetero-life-mate) told me that, as English grads, we tend to use larger words and give our opinions more. It never really occurred to me until she said that. She is right. I do use bigger words without even thinking about it. However, it comes naturally to me. My grandma (Hi! Grandma!!!) went to college and took some grad school classes, my mom, dad, and big brother went to U of I. Both of my grandmothers and my dad do crossword puzzles. Everyone in my family reads constantly. At any given time, we all have a book in progress. Sometimes I have two...or three. All of those things leads to larger a vocabulary. Of course I am not denying I am a dork about it. I do differentiate between dictionaries. I have an American Heritage dictionary that I use for everyday things, but when I want a real definition - I pull out my OED. I *love* my OED. I look at it for fun. My HLM and I have had conversations about dictionaries and even about specific words, i.e. Plethora. So yeah. If I make you feel stupid I am sorry, but maybe you just are stupid. That isn't my fault, so don't blame me.

So, you know you have been MIA...

So, you know you have been missing in action when the owner of your local comic book shop calls to do a dead check. What I mean by dead check is: Hey, just wondering if you were dead. Apparently I haven't been in there in so long she wanted to know what was going on. The truth is, nothing has been going on. Been going to work, coming home, repeat. I've just gotten lazy. I keep saying to myself, I will go tomorrow... which by the way, is tomorrow... And by that logic tomorrow never actually comes because tomorrow tomorrow is actually the day after tomorrow and so tomorrow will never actually happen... I am not making any sense. I know that. I am okay with that. Well, hopefully by the end of the week my tomorrow will become today and I will stop my procrastinating ways. Especially since I have #13 of Astonishing X-Men waiting for me!

And I just realized its March. March already! My goodness. Where does the time go? Any ideas??

Happy Friday

It is lovely weather for a picnic today... 66 degrees and soggy wet. Very gloomy. Its the type of weather where you just want to curl up in bed with a good book and read for the day.

In anycase, I shouldn't linger on that thought. I haven't got the time to sit and cuddle up in bed. I have much to do these days. I work quite a bit. In fact, I am surprised I have the moment or two to write here as I am usually busy as a bee! They seem to give me more and more work here, and I am just barely keeping up with it. I suppose I should look at that as a good thing since I am trying to get them to hire me full time, as I don't want to be a temp forever.

Well, I am off to fax things. Sure. Its not glamorous, and yes, a trained monkey could do it...but I'm cuter. And without the monkey smell.

Friday

Fridays are nice. I like Friday. And although today has been a rather long friday, and the weather looks kinda yucky out, and Target is no loger accepting checks written for any amount over I am really happy right now. Sure it could be because I only have 1 hour and 15 minutes left here at work today. It might be because my boss has been out of town all week. It could be because I realized I forgot to write in a deposit and so I had $200 more dollars in my account than I thought i did.
But probably it is because I have been eating pixie sticks all day and am all hopped up on SUGAR!!!

I do love my sugar.

Well, anyway, I am going to roll my sleves up and do some cleaning around here. This place is kinda filthy. Then I am going to go home, watch Joan of Arcadia and have a nice relaxing evening.

Happy Weekend!!

Work bites ya in the ass and spits ya out.

So, about once a month the Terminix guy comes in. I hate that. The smell gets to me. Plus I end up feeling icky for about 3 days afterwards. Now, their website INSISTS there is nothing dangerous about the chemicals in their spray. I doubt it. I mean, look at the bugs. They don't seem to happy about it.

So we are having a little lunch thing today at work. Or should I rephrase it; everyone here at work is having a lunch thing at work, me? I am at my desk watching the phones as usual. I can hear them chatting, laughing, eating. Me, I wait for 1 to come along and see if there are any scraps left. Sure, I had to bring in my part. I brought chips and dip. Of course, I don't know if there will be any left. Last time there was a lunch, I got sick and so I didn't eat, which was fine anyway, as there was nothing left to eat at 1. I feel like I should tell them all to fuck themselves and not bring anything, but I also feel like if I don't bring anything I won't be 'part of the team' and you must be a "TEAM" player. Got to be part of the fucking team, no matter how much the team tries to fuck you over and kick you out or ignore you.

No wonder the secretary on tv or in the movie always has an attitude and a cigarette. This job is giving me an attitude (okay, I've always had the attitude, but it is bringing it out in me) and maybe not a cigarette but give me a beer or something, I could shoot some of these people.*

*If you are reading this, you being the one person here who has the link to this blog, I don't mean you. You, I like. I like the person in the cube next to you too. She's nifty. I just hate being expected to be "in the group" except when the group is there actually participating. Then I must be down the hall covering for the group, so when I can finally participate, you have to be excluded...except there is nothing to be excluded from because The new group consists of oh lookie...its just ME. Sorry I think its hormones. Stress? Not buying it? Neither am I.

I admit it. I am an office monkey. Sure. Not a the most glamorous position in the world but its my job. And I am good at it. Damn good at it. But the people I work with make it nearly impossible!!!!! I get a call, I say my little schpeel... I find out who they want to talk to, and who they are from where. I either get the person they want to talk to or tell them they will have to have their voice mail. LATELY the people HERE have been saying: give it to bill or joe or george.* I am too busy. John can take it I don't want it. Tell them I'm in a meeting. I have people calling REFUSING to be put into voicemail. Willing to stay on hold for 45 minutes to talk to John or Joe or George or whoever, just because nobody EVER calls them back!! Meanwhile, I am apologizing to these clients who call, trying desperately to find someone WILLING to help them out. I would do it but, unfortunatly, they haven't really trained me on anything other than how to answer the phones. Which honestly, I already knew how to do.

More later...l
*bill, john, george, joe... I know you don't work with me, I just borrowed your names so the guys who do work with me don't get pissy cause I called them out.

lunch time

This is when I get lonely at work. Everyone is going to lunch, meeting their friends, whatever. I can't go to lunch with people here because the person I would LIKE to go to lunch with has to cover the phones for me while I go to lunch. Why? cause she has boobies which makes her qualified to answer the phones. Grr. Argh.

Other folks go to 1 1/2- 2 hr lunches. They talk, hang out...whatever. I have up to 1 hr. If I am not back by 2...even if I didn't get the hell out of here until 1:20, but I can't leave until everyone is back... I get it pointed out to me that I took a long lunch. That I inconvienienced the other people for not being here. I do, however, get the hour taken out of my daily hours even if I only got 40 minutes. I have stayed late on several occasions, and only had 8 hours on my check. It just gets hard always going to lunch on my own.

but finally... its my turn.

Today...is much like yesterday...

I sit here at my desk, bagel and schmear in hand, trying to figure out what the hell I am going to do with my life. Lord knows I don't want to be doing this for the rest of it. Anyone have any ideas? Anyone? Yeah...didn't think so.

Well, how about this...anyone know Microsoft Access? I hate Microsoft!