Unemployed Again
Yup.
Started on Monday, got the boot at 4pm today. New record for me, at least for what was supposed to be a permanent job.
Was told that they didn't think I was the right material because I hadn't piped up enough in Thursday's training. I thought I had, but I know the real reason is something else.
There's this guy who they just hired who's supposed to turn everything around at the company, considered a real "Golden Boy". Sat in on a good number of our training sessions, because he basically has to learn about the company, too.
Company used to have a person dedicated to training. That person left. So this week there were a whole slew of managers and team leaders scheduled to do various classes.
But right off the bat we got off schedule. One trainer would be late to show up to start training, and/or run over their alloted time, impacting the next person in the slot. By the time the one trainer finished, the next trainer couldn't come because they got caught up in some work matter, or had a previously scheduled meeting for that time slot, etc.
So then they'd grab whoever was available, which resulted in things being taught out of order. And they wondered why we were confused.
They also stopped giving us breaks, which meant that if you needed to use the restroom you had to go while a class was going on, resulting in you missing something that was taught while you were out of the room
And the training went on from 9am to 5:30pm, with only an hour off for lunch. Like I said, no other breaks.
Well Golden Boy starts interviewing us new hires, "How do you think training could be done better", etc. I was quite honest in my opinion, as he supposedly is there to fix problems. Rumor had it that there was a LOT of problems in all departments to be fixed.
Something was "odd" about Golden Boy's attitude toward me yesterday, but I let it slide, cuz he's kind of goofy -- or, as I rather suspect, he put's on the FACADE of goofiness to get people off guard.
This morning's training schedule had us having someone train us from 9-10, but once again the trainer wasn't available. So they sent us out onto the floor to sit with a CSR and listen to their calls.
Now we were all issued headsets and what are called "splitters", so that us new hires could listen in "live" while a CSR took calls.
As luck -- or perhaps it was deliberately orchestrated -- on Monday the first time we were put with a CSR to listen to their call, I was given to a lady who refuses to wear a headset and instead talks to customers by using the handset. She assured the HR gal that all she needed to do was put her phone on speakerphone, that she had trained many people in the past that way and never had a problem.
Except most of the calls she did NOT put on speakerphone, and those she did she had the volume turned down so low that I couldn't hear.
Next day, the one time they had us sit with CSRs, I did get someone who wore a headphone, but for the half-hour or so I was with her she spent most of the time answering customer emails rather than on the phone. She DID explain what she was doing as she went along, but it still didn't give me the experience of actually hearing a live call.
Wednesday they had me with a CSR who actually DID do phone work, that was the only time I had that experience.
This morning they had me with a CSR who the other new hires had raved about when they had sat with him, but again all he did when I was with him was very quickly go through customer emails and occasionally explain some things to me...but it's very hard trying to read emails and purchase orders and such when you're peering over someone's shoulder.
After that session, we were back in the conference room -- oh, there's an actual TRAINING ROOM, with computers for new hires to use...but it's not available because of renovations! :-/
So Golden Boy comes in along with one of the Team Leaders who actually ended up doing half the training and actually was quite good. And somehow, instead of Team Leader taking charge, Golden Boy takes over and starts GRILLING us regarding the sessions with the CSRs we had just had.
And he actually LASHED out at me, very loud and very rude, "What did you learn from Fred? Did you ask questions?"
I came up with some answer, I thought was good enough. But then one of the other new hires enthused over one of the calls she had listened into with her CSR, and how much she had learned from it, and how that call brought a lot of what we'd been trained during the week into focus for her.
Golden Boy (who was sitting next to her) actually leaned over and grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her in a friendly way, enthusing "THAT is what the rest of you should be saying! THAT is the type of experience you ALL should have!"
Now, he didn't say that to disparage the TRAINING, no, he was disparaging the rest of us. Something is wrong with the rest of us (and since I was the only one he'd lashed out at, I figured the comment was aimed more at me).
Oh, yesterday Golden Boy also DEMANDED that over the weekend that we new hires HAD to review everything we'd been taught during the week (which we all were going to do without him telling us), and DEMANDED that when we came in Monday morning that we each have at least 3 to 5 questions to ask.
Now I hadn't been asking a whole bunch of questions during the week. If I HAD a question, I asked it. But when you are having tons of new, complicated material given to you, first off it takes awhile for the brain to digest it. Secondly, I thought I understood most everything, at least as far as could be explained/taught to me in a classroom setting. To really learn the job would require me actually getting on phone and hearing/doing live calls.
BTW, we were constantly assured throughout the week that we wouldn't just be thrown onto the phones after training, that for at least the first couple of days we'd have someone assigned to us who'd be with us constantly to help us through our first calls. And all the CSRs I'd sat with all said that the real job wasn't as bad as they painted it in training.
So when Golden Boy or a trainer kept asking if I had any questions, I knew I'd have a ton of questions once on the phone, but at this point, having been taught just theory, I think I had a fair grasp of the subjects.
Well, after lunch they had us back sitting with CSRs...my luck, I was back with the gal who doesn't wear a headset. So once again I didn't have the opportunity to actually HEAR calls, although I must say that she did take time to explain various orders to me.
That session lasted two hours. Now it was back in the conference room for more training. No trainer. I decide to use the rest room, since it was going onto 4 and they've been keeping us there until 5:30. When I got back, still no trainer and now one of the new hires isn't around. He's having a "private conference" in the HR gal's office. Odd, I think.
He comes back and sends another new hire to the HR office. Guy who just came back says they're asking how things are going, specific questions about the training. Says that it's not only the HR gal, but the Team Leader who's done half of our training.
And Golden Boy.
The alarm went off for me then. Just the fact that they were taking each of us individually into the HR office to ask supposedly innocuous questions about training, but the fact that Golden Boy -- who's only been there two or three weeks -- was present.
Finally, it was my turn. I was last. Somehow I just knew what was going to happen. I knew before I walked into the office, but the look on Team Leader and Golden Boy's faces said it all. But first I got the quiz I guess my fellow newbies got.
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the training?"
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the trainers?"
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate morale out on the floor, do you think the CSRs are happy?"
There were more questions, but you get the idea. And I figured that Golden Boy had already told them that I'd complained about the training AND a couple of trainers AND the fact that we weren't being given breaks, etc.
So I lied! :-)
Said everything was great.
HR gal then says that she regrets to say that they've decided that I won't fit in. Supposedly, Team Leader states, because I hadn't spoken up enough in the class she taught Thursday. Both she and HR gal stated that the reason they make the training "so tough" is because they have a lot of difficult customers, and a CSR has to be able to deal with negative customers. Golden Boy just looked on smugly.
It's a common attitude you find in a lot of companies regarding Customer Service -- the attitude of "We're going to be real assholes to you, because customers will be assholes to you and you have to learn to deal with it!" But that's bullshit -- I am PREPARED to deal with CUSTOMERS who are rude assholes who want to make my life difficult, that comes with the job. I do NOT expect my coworkers to be rude assholes who make my life difficult, and making a person's work environment unbearable does NOT make that person a better customer service rep!
HR gal had my termination packet, including a paycheck for me, at the ready, so nothing I answered to the 20 questions quiz would have mattered, so why did they bother?
I'm trying to stay positive. Last Sunday I actually started dreading going to this new job, I actually almost had a panic attack over it. And all week I fought a progressive depression about the place...
I've always been emotionally sensitive to whatever environment I'm in, and I think my psychic radar was warning me about this company, and maybe in the long run it wouldn't have worked out. But they should have at least given me the chance to actually get on the phones and THEN judge my capabilities.
But no, according to HR gal, the first week is actually an EVALUATION WEEK, whereby the company decides by the end of the week if they want to keep you. I was never told that upfront, and what really has me pissed off is that I'd had an interview scheduled for a CSR position at a private school IN MY HOME TOWN for yesterday. The interview was scheduled before the company that "hired" me called me back for their 2nd interview, and I was told at the 2nd interview that I'd been "hired".
As much as I wanted to interview at the school (a 7 minute commute beats a 45 minute one any day), I wasn't going to throw away what seemed like a sure paycheck for a possible one. I DID try to reschedule the interview for very early in the morning or after 6:30 at night. The school asked me if it was just a problem with Thursday, so I lied and said I was working a temporary job. Reply I got was "Sorry, we'll have to forego interviewing you, then"...
So I'd like to contact the school again and try to get another interview set up, but I don't want to tell them I was fired from even a "temporary" job...so I'm thinking of saying that I just found out today that the company I'm temping at is having a company picnic this coming Wednesday afternoon, therefore I'd be able to interview anytime from 1pm on...
Don't know if it would work, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try. Damn, if I knew I was going to get shit-canned today, or even that we were in fact only in an "evaluatory" stage that was going to be decided Friday afternoon, I wouldn't have given a second thought to having kept my appointment for the interview at the school yesterday morning, I would have just told the company that I had car trouble or something to explain why I was late.
Started on Monday, got the boot at 4pm today. New record for me, at least for what was supposed to be a permanent job.
Was told that they didn't think I was the right material because I hadn't piped up enough in Thursday's training. I thought I had, but I know the real reason is something else.
There's this guy who they just hired who's supposed to turn everything around at the company, considered a real "Golden Boy". Sat in on a good number of our training sessions, because he basically has to learn about the company, too.
Company used to have a person dedicated to training. That person left. So this week there were a whole slew of managers and team leaders scheduled to do various classes.
But right off the bat we got off schedule. One trainer would be late to show up to start training, and/or run over their alloted time, impacting the next person in the slot. By the time the one trainer finished, the next trainer couldn't come because they got caught up in some work matter, or had a previously scheduled meeting for that time slot, etc.
So then they'd grab whoever was available, which resulted in things being taught out of order. And they wondered why we were confused.
They also stopped giving us breaks, which meant that if you needed to use the restroom you had to go while a class was going on, resulting in you missing something that was taught while you were out of the room
And the training went on from 9am to 5:30pm, with only an hour off for lunch. Like I said, no other breaks.
Well Golden Boy starts interviewing us new hires, "How do you think training could be done better", etc. I was quite honest in my opinion, as he supposedly is there to fix problems. Rumor had it that there was a LOT of problems in all departments to be fixed.
Something was "odd" about Golden Boy's attitude toward me yesterday, but I let it slide, cuz he's kind of goofy -- or, as I rather suspect, he put's on the FACADE of goofiness to get people off guard.
This morning's training schedule had us having someone train us from 9-10, but once again the trainer wasn't available. So they sent us out onto the floor to sit with a CSR and listen to their calls.
Now we were all issued headsets and what are called "splitters", so that us new hires could listen in "live" while a CSR took calls.
As luck -- or perhaps it was deliberately orchestrated -- on Monday the first time we were put with a CSR to listen to their call, I was given to a lady who refuses to wear a headset and instead talks to customers by using the handset. She assured the HR gal that all she needed to do was put her phone on speakerphone, that she had trained many people in the past that way and never had a problem.
Except most of the calls she did NOT put on speakerphone, and those she did she had the volume turned down so low that I couldn't hear.
Next day, the one time they had us sit with CSRs, I did get someone who wore a headphone, but for the half-hour or so I was with her she spent most of the time answering customer emails rather than on the phone. She DID explain what she was doing as she went along, but it still didn't give me the experience of actually hearing a live call.
Wednesday they had me with a CSR who actually DID do phone work, that was the only time I had that experience.
This morning they had me with a CSR who the other new hires had raved about when they had sat with him, but again all he did when I was with him was very quickly go through customer emails and occasionally explain some things to me...but it's very hard trying to read emails and purchase orders and such when you're peering over someone's shoulder.
After that session, we were back in the conference room -- oh, there's an actual TRAINING ROOM, with computers for new hires to use...but it's not available because of renovations! :-/
So Golden Boy comes in along with one of the Team Leaders who actually ended up doing half the training and actually was quite good. And somehow, instead of Team Leader taking charge, Golden Boy takes over and starts GRILLING us regarding the sessions with the CSRs we had just had.
And he actually LASHED out at me, very loud and very rude, "What did you learn from Fred? Did you ask questions?"
I came up with some answer, I thought was good enough. But then one of the other new hires enthused over one of the calls she had listened into with her CSR, and how much she had learned from it, and how that call brought a lot of what we'd been trained during the week into focus for her.
Golden Boy (who was sitting next to her) actually leaned over and grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her in a friendly way, enthusing "THAT is what the rest of you should be saying! THAT is the type of experience you ALL should have!"
Now, he didn't say that to disparage the TRAINING, no, he was disparaging the rest of us. Something is wrong with the rest of us (and since I was the only one he'd lashed out at, I figured the comment was aimed more at me).
Oh, yesterday Golden Boy also DEMANDED that over the weekend that we new hires HAD to review everything we'd been taught during the week (which we all were going to do without him telling us), and DEMANDED that when we came in Monday morning that we each have at least 3 to 5 questions to ask.
Now I hadn't been asking a whole bunch of questions during the week. If I HAD a question, I asked it. But when you are having tons of new, complicated material given to you, first off it takes awhile for the brain to digest it. Secondly, I thought I understood most everything, at least as far as could be explained/taught to me in a classroom setting. To really learn the job would require me actually getting on phone and hearing/doing live calls.
BTW, we were constantly assured throughout the week that we wouldn't just be thrown onto the phones after training, that for at least the first couple of days we'd have someone assigned to us who'd be with us constantly to help us through our first calls. And all the CSRs I'd sat with all said that the real job wasn't as bad as they painted it in training.
So when Golden Boy or a trainer kept asking if I had any questions, I knew I'd have a ton of questions once on the phone, but at this point, having been taught just theory, I think I had a fair grasp of the subjects.
Well, after lunch they had us back sitting with CSRs...my luck, I was back with the gal who doesn't wear a headset. So once again I didn't have the opportunity to actually HEAR calls, although I must say that she did take time to explain various orders to me.
That session lasted two hours. Now it was back in the conference room for more training. No trainer. I decide to use the rest room, since it was going onto 4 and they've been keeping us there until 5:30. When I got back, still no trainer and now one of the new hires isn't around. He's having a "private conference" in the HR gal's office. Odd, I think.
He comes back and sends another new hire to the HR office. Guy who just came back says they're asking how things are going, specific questions about the training. Says that it's not only the HR gal, but the Team Leader who's done half of our training.
And Golden Boy.
The alarm went off for me then. Just the fact that they were taking each of us individually into the HR office to ask supposedly innocuous questions about training, but the fact that Golden Boy -- who's only been there two or three weeks -- was present.
Finally, it was my turn. I was last. Somehow I just knew what was going to happen. I knew before I walked into the office, but the look on Team Leader and Golden Boy's faces said it all. But first I got the quiz I guess my fellow newbies got.
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the training?"
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate the trainers?"
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate morale out on the floor, do you think the CSRs are happy?"
There were more questions, but you get the idea. And I figured that Golden Boy had already told them that I'd complained about the training AND a couple of trainers AND the fact that we weren't being given breaks, etc.
So I lied! :-)
Said everything was great.
HR gal then says that she regrets to say that they've decided that I won't fit in. Supposedly, Team Leader states, because I hadn't spoken up enough in the class she taught Thursday. Both she and HR gal stated that the reason they make the training "so tough" is because they have a lot of difficult customers, and a CSR has to be able to deal with negative customers. Golden Boy just looked on smugly.
It's a common attitude you find in a lot of companies regarding Customer Service -- the attitude of "We're going to be real assholes to you, because customers will be assholes to you and you have to learn to deal with it!" But that's bullshit -- I am PREPARED to deal with CUSTOMERS who are rude assholes who want to make my life difficult, that comes with the job. I do NOT expect my coworkers to be rude assholes who make my life difficult, and making a person's work environment unbearable does NOT make that person a better customer service rep!
HR gal had my termination packet, including a paycheck for me, at the ready, so nothing I answered to the 20 questions quiz would have mattered, so why did they bother?
I'm trying to stay positive. Last Sunday I actually started dreading going to this new job, I actually almost had a panic attack over it. And all week I fought a progressive depression about the place...
I've always been emotionally sensitive to whatever environment I'm in, and I think my psychic radar was warning me about this company, and maybe in the long run it wouldn't have worked out. But they should have at least given me the chance to actually get on the phones and THEN judge my capabilities.
But no, according to HR gal, the first week is actually an EVALUATION WEEK, whereby the company decides by the end of the week if they want to keep you. I was never told that upfront, and what really has me pissed off is that I'd had an interview scheduled for a CSR position at a private school IN MY HOME TOWN for yesterday. The interview was scheduled before the company that "hired" me called me back for their 2nd interview, and I was told at the 2nd interview that I'd been "hired".
As much as I wanted to interview at the school (a 7 minute commute beats a 45 minute one any day), I wasn't going to throw away what seemed like a sure paycheck for a possible one. I DID try to reschedule the interview for very early in the morning or after 6:30 at night. The school asked me if it was just a problem with Thursday, so I lied and said I was working a temporary job. Reply I got was "Sorry, we'll have to forego interviewing you, then"...
So I'd like to contact the school again and try to get another interview set up, but I don't want to tell them I was fired from even a "temporary" job...so I'm thinking of saying that I just found out today that the company I'm temping at is having a company picnic this coming Wednesday afternoon, therefore I'd be able to interview anytime from 1pm on...
Don't know if it would work, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to try. Damn, if I knew I was going to get shit-canned today, or even that we were in fact only in an "evaluatory" stage that was going to be decided Friday afternoon, I wouldn't have given a second thought to having kept my appointment for the interview at the school yesterday morning, I would have just told the company that I had car trouble or something to explain why I was late.