Workplace Turmoil…
Originally published at ~+>Blue's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
Things has gotten a little crazy at work….
I came back from a little vacation on Dec. 3rd and I was written up for performance. This is my sales objective part of my job. My job has become so driven towards sales in the last 11 months, by doing the absolute best i can i am @ 93% of my Year to Date performance requirements. I’ve discussed in detail previously how things are done at my job (Wanting to quit my job…..(Aug. 17th, 2007))
Saturday I came into work @ 7:30a and we were 80 calls in queue. That translates to about 8 minutes on hold. For a Saturday that is very bad we usually are never more than a 2~3 minutes in queue. I later found out in a center of 45 people only 13 were here, and all on a voluntary biases. This progressively got worse, by 9:00a we were 180 call in queue. My job is really random when it comes to people, but sometimes there is a pattern to the types of calls. On this day most of the people i got where quite rude and upset about their bills, they were denied (soft disconnected) for non-payment, or had questions about products but no-one was biting. Our goals per day are about $500 to meet numbers. That usually includes one or two good New/Transfer orders. I had not one all day and my numbers were biased solely on Change orders(which are fare less rewarding when it comes to generating te revenure i need to meet for daily numbers).
During the day, one of the supervisors was remotely monitoring my calls. This is a common practice lately each manager in the center now has the ability to listen in on another managers SA (Sales Associate). The manager that happen to be listening to me is the manager of a team who perform quite well in the sales game, not all follow the rules to the T like i was taught, but thats how they do things. She listened in on 3 calls, each independent of each other. The first was a man in his late 70s who called about his bill he was eligible for Wireless and I did not offer to this customer. Another was a call from a lady in NC who had an area calling plan (something i never like to touch in that state for risk of confusing the customer into a headache.) The last was a very rude customer who called in highly upset and was very rude with questions about a change in service that resulted in his bill increasing when he was told it would result in a decrease.
After taking me off the phone twice to discuss these calls, i was put on the spot about what i do for my job. While i very much understand that my job entails sales what i was told by her stuck a nerve that really made me second guess why i even stay in the position i am in. Her words :
If you ran a business and paid someone by the hour to sell your product, and they didn’t do as they were told and just sat around pushing buttons, what would you do? You’d probably fire them wouldn’t you?It really hit me close to home. I work hard and smart in what i do, i play by the rules i was taught, yet this isn’t good enough. It really made me feel pretty bad and as if i didn’t work for the money i was being paid. I now feel this job is sales only and customer service should go out the window, really. I am told i have to make $8500 in revenue in a month that is historically a poor month in which to generate revenue; The value for which i am compensated for the products we offered have decreased which required more sales of items worth less; i have less co workers to help balance out the volume of calls so intern people sit on hold for longer and long times, they become more frustrated and when it comes time for me to transition into the sales part of my job the customer immediately becomes hostile, hangs up, or will forcefully interrupt saying they don’t feel i should, as one customer put it, “badger” them after such poor service. I try to keep my sights realistically when it comes to work.
I have been working really hard trying to apply for a new position within the company in a position where sales isn’t a part of the title, however, i have very little seniority in a company in which seniority can be a deal breaker. I have 2 years with AT&T-SE (BellSouth) and while i passed the test, i can be easily be made unqualified for a job opening because someone from a different city request a transfer do to him/her having a a longer service record than me. The write up i have for performance gets me to the last few weeks of January. I have filed a grievance with the union but i don’t know if that will get me enough time. I applied for 3 different position, one of them the requisition was just closed today. That leaves two other positions, one in La Place, another in Baton Rouge.I also have been looking into other opportunities. I have been wanting to get into field work, something a little more hands on. The past 3 and a half years i have been in Baton Rouge i have worked in Call Centres: West Corp, Convergys Corp, and BellSouth/AT&T-SE. In searching around i have found some positions in where i would like to go one was with Cox (a cable company) the other with CenturyTel (a phone company that services some of the less populated parishes in LA). I put in an application with CenturyTel and as the new year rolls around i may apply with Cox. The only problem is my work experience, while i have been in Telecommunications and have training on field work and the basics of electricity required for the field my background has been customer service.
If that doesn’t go well, or if i don’t find a positon with someone else I also still can go to school, I will have to spend some time @ BRCC to bring up my GPA. I left LSU with a 1.909, i kinda fucked up in ‘06 by not completing the one of the classes i was enrolled in. If i do go back to school i am going to finish this time. I will probably change degrees in Electrical Engineering it is more fitting with what i would like to do now that i have had some work experience. I like the Telecommunications sector, its growing, and its something people need and use. there are plenty of opportunities as new technologies emerge and services are expanded.
I expect the next time i write about work it will be with some positive news, but i take each day as i wake up. i go to work in fear of not having a job any longer, but with the attitude to do my best even if thats not good enough for those above me.
~+>Blue