Thursday, November 30, 2006

Soul Sucking Jerks.

It seems that winter has started. The cold hit finally. I don't mind it so much but defrosting and scraping the car in the morning can be a pain especially if I'm running late.

This new job of mine is sucking the life out of me I think. I never realized how much I dislike highly structured work environments until working here. Add to that the fact that no one ever calls when they're happy. The past four days were spent in a room they call the Icebox. And that's a literal description. I think I've begun to get sick from sitting in there all week.

And what's even better is everything we were taught this week in training is going to be obsolete within a month or so. WooHoo!

You know I should probably think of something nice to say about the place but I just can't. Okay, some of the people that work there are nice.

I really think I had something else to say when I sat down here but I can't remember.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Customer Disservice

I've decided I would really hate to be a customer of the company I work for or at least certain customers. It seems that the standards are set in such a way in the call center that some customers will get stuck in an infernal loop of transfers that a resolution to their problem is impossible. Most of this is due to the fact that we as agents can only be on the phone for so long, and to keep call times down people get transfered. I'm new enough that my call length by far exceeds what is expected of agents on the floor. It seems that if we weren't trying to keep our times down so much we may be able to take care of many issues without transferring people.

Although after being on the side of the phone I am now, I can see why at times it's taken several calls to some companies to get a resolution. It completely depends on which agent you get calling a given call center. There is a lot for agents to know and not all of them even know the basics. It seems I have a fair handle on what I'm supposed to know and can come to a resolution for a customer much of the time. But I still get those questions that stump me. Most of the time it turns out to be Windows issue or something unrelated to my job. Like the fellow who wanted me to setup his printer over the phone.

The really funny thing about having this job is that I really hate answering the phone. Ask Phrank, she'd tell you. Or any of my past roommates that I've shared a phone with. I really can't answer why I took this job other than the benefits are good and I might pick some things up for the next step.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Boring email

Ever since I've started on the phones I've been asking myself a question. Why the hell would anyone use an email address provided by an ISP (Internet Service Provider)? I can't count the amount of calls I've taken where people are having issues with their email. Due to the ever changing nature of the telecommunications industry it doesn't make sense to me to use an email address where the potential for the address to change several months from now is high. Not only that but most ISP have stingy limits on the storage space on their servers. The company I work for had a max limit of 100 megs, that's tiny! Not to mention the amount of spam they seem to receive. There really is only one advantage that I can see and that's the ease of configuring email client programs (and even that is a lame excuse).

Perhaps it's a generational thing, it does seem that it's the over 55 set that uses the company's provided email more than the younger ones. There is that age group that still believes one can trust the companies one does business with.

Who's to say? And if you made it this far, sorry about your eyes glazing over. But I'm having to work myself back into this blog thing. I'll get better I promise.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

I'm not even sure which circle it is...

I imagine by this point writing anything here is probably like talking to myself. I've pretty much forgotten about this little section of the Internet. The truth is I've been far more interested in being a passive participate out here on the Interwebs lately.

What's new? Well since you asked, I've left the print industry. And yet I've still managed to descend into a new level of customer service hell (hey it's a start). If you're reading this from the LA region then I represent what most likely is your local cable company (for job security I think I'll leave it nameless) and I am answering your angry phone calls about why you can't get online. Yep, it's a call center. In the high speed Internet division.

The thing about this job is that nobody ever calls us when things are going good. And some people are really freaking pissed when they call. I guess the advantage is they aren't able to physically do any harm.

It's only been a month. I do like the fact that I have coworkers again. That's nice.

Something tells me this new job could provide ample ground for new gripes here at Surly Pump Monkey. Like the lady that couldn't spell HBO (Larry took that call).