When the Sky Goes Green, Take Cover
The weekend was quiet. I turned down a trip to Six Flags because I didn't feel like doing anything. After two weekends in a row of travel and bears, i was ready to sit down and catch up with weeks of television.
At work, I've spent two weeks twiddling my thumbs as they have been slowly signing people off for the "phones with training wheels." Since we're in between the first and second of three training modules, we're to get on the basic phones for tax season, as it's generally the busiest time of the year.
There's 36 of us in training right now. Each one of us has to site with a mentor and take calls, and after a coaching period the mentor grades us and checks us off to fly solo. It's taken 2 weeks to sign off the first 12 people. Due to call volume there haven't been enough mentors to go around as they are all needed to take calls.
Today was my first day on the phones. I was initially nervous, not only to be listened to, but also that it's my first time on inbound phone calls in six years. I'm sort of phone-phobic anyway, and then add to that the randomness of customer service calls. My third call was for a customer wanting to take out a 401(k) loan (bad idea). Because of the legalese you have to spout out with it, all the rules and consequences, it's the most difficult call we are able to take. I managed to get through it rather well thanks to pages of job aids, and that was good enough for the mentor.
My mentor was told to get back on the phones just after lunch. The mentor, Chase, told my boss that I was ready to fly solo, the quickest release of anyone in the class. I was quite happy about it, even though it means much less internet surfing at work. Now after two weeks I actually have to work for a while. When do we go back to training?
Of course it wasn't all work today. This afternoon the tornado sirens went on and we were off to hide in the stairwell until the all clear was sounded. Everyone was on their cell phones trying to get information. Someone said that a tornado touched down at Garden Ridge. I wasn't sure if they meant the nearby road, or an actual Garden Ridge pottery store. If it was the store, I'm sure there was a giant mess of baskets and rattan furniture along it's path.
The office is a satellite of the main office, and hasn't been open long. It was interesting to hear management getting together after the warning was lifted going over the emergency plans which apparently haven't been used much so far. One of the things overheard was "Oh, everyone fit in the stairwells this time, but we'll need somewhere else to put people when we hire the next class."
I had to go back to the phones and listen to a guy who's father had died and needed help with completing his estate. I was trying to be respectful and empathetic about his loss, but I had to transfer the call to another area. I listened into the other rep speak to him, with no respect for his loss. He said "So, when did the guy die?" rather rudely, then proceeded to quickly give the son the information needed to process the transfer, doing it so quickly that the son wasn't able to understand and was very rattled. I left the call, knowing my work was all for naught. Oh well, off to another day.
At work, I've spent two weeks twiddling my thumbs as they have been slowly signing people off for the "phones with training wheels." Since we're in between the first and second of three training modules, we're to get on the basic phones for tax season, as it's generally the busiest time of the year.
There's 36 of us in training right now. Each one of us has to site with a mentor and take calls, and after a coaching period the mentor grades us and checks us off to fly solo. It's taken 2 weeks to sign off the first 12 people. Due to call volume there haven't been enough mentors to go around as they are all needed to take calls.
Today was my first day on the phones. I was initially nervous, not only to be listened to, but also that it's my first time on inbound phone calls in six years. I'm sort of phone-phobic anyway, and then add to that the randomness of customer service calls. My third call was for a customer wanting to take out a 401(k) loan (bad idea). Because of the legalese you have to spout out with it, all the rules and consequences, it's the most difficult call we are able to take. I managed to get through it rather well thanks to pages of job aids, and that was good enough for the mentor.
My mentor was told to get back on the phones just after lunch. The mentor, Chase, told my boss that I was ready to fly solo, the quickest release of anyone in the class. I was quite happy about it, even though it means much less internet surfing at work. Now after two weeks I actually have to work for a while. When do we go back to training?
Of course it wasn't all work today. This afternoon the tornado sirens went on and we were off to hide in the stairwell until the all clear was sounded. Everyone was on their cell phones trying to get information. Someone said that a tornado touched down at Garden Ridge. I wasn't sure if they meant the nearby road, or an actual Garden Ridge pottery store. If it was the store, I'm sure there was a giant mess of baskets and rattan furniture along it's path.
The office is a satellite of the main office, and hasn't been open long. It was interesting to hear management getting together after the warning was lifted going over the emergency plans which apparently haven't been used much so far. One of the things overheard was "Oh, everyone fit in the stairwells this time, but we'll need somewhere else to put people when we hire the next class."
I had to go back to the phones and listen to a guy who's father had died and needed help with completing his estate. I was trying to be respectful and empathetic about his loss, but I had to transfer the call to another area. I listened into the other rep speak to him, with no respect for his loss. He said "So, when did the guy die?" rather rudely, then proceeded to quickly give the son the information needed to process the transfer, doing it so quickly that the son wasn't able to understand and was very rattled. I left the call, knowing my work was all for naught. Oh well, off to another day.