Category Archives: Work

Update

Work,

In which I’m happy.

The new job rocks now.

I have a desk, a chair, a phone, and and extension. I’m taking calls. Co-workers are all adorable and geeky. Got my last direct deposit from the call center yesterday, getting my first direct deposit from the ISP tomorrow.

I have access to accounts and billing software and qhost and the ticketing system and am learning stuff left and right.

I had sushi for lunch today because one of my co-workers IMed me to see if I had an order (I totally did) and then ran and picked it up!

Sushi

Life is good!

Technical Difficulties. And Torchwood. OMFG, Torchwood.

Work, , , ,

In which I complain a little.

First of all, at the new job I still don’t have a desk or computer of my own, or logins for everything I need to be logged into. But there’s a computer now with my name on it, and a space that I’ll be moved into by the end of the week! Whee!

Then the construction guys will come and knock out a wall and eventually there will be space for a proper desk, and if I’m lucky they’ll order a proper desk sooner rather than later and give it to someone so that I can have their desk and then I’ll be able to bring the R/C Dalek to work. Finally!

Second of all, I can’t send images from my cell phone to Flickr. I could go into excruciating detail about this issue – you know I could! – but I won’t because it’s boring and I love you too much. I’ll just tell you that yes, I’ve done all the basic troubleshooting and I even went to the Sprint store (it’s next door to my new office) for help, but they didn’t know what to do beyond calling tech support and having them delete and recreate my Sprint Picture Mail account… which has three years’ worth of images in it. Boo. Hiss.

I’m carrying a USB cable in my purse now because not being able to send pics is seriously cramping my style.

In other news, I watched the long-awaited five-episode Torchwood extravaganza Children of Earth this weekend (if you haven’t seen it yet, it airs on BBC America next week) and it was all of the following:

* really, really good TV!
* riveting
* very dark
* response-generating

But. [SPOILER ALERT!!!] I mean, we all knew that working for Torchwood is the most dangerous job in the world and that everybody was in danger every moment, but hello?! You’re just not supposed to kill off OVER HALF YOUR MAIN CHARACTERS in a mere seven episodes! Seriously! People can’t fucking handle it!

The only person who hasn’t died at least once is Gwen. Tosh died once, Ianto died twice, Owen died twice, and I quit counting how many times Jack had died by the end of the first season. I mean, the M*A*S*H characters were in the middle of a goddamned war for eleven years and only one or two of them ever died… which is hardly authentic but people don’t like it when you kill off their beloved main characters.

The Torchwood fan base is going absolutely batshit and it really sucked knowing that there wasn’t going to be a bad dream reset in episode 5. And then! The last four minutes! Please! “Six months later” and Jack leaves the planet. WTF?! I realize that Torchwood is a vehicle for Jack, but he has to be on earth or it isn’t Torchwood – it’s The Jack Harkness Show. Additionally, I read that RTD is moving to the States, so I don’t have high hopes for the franchise now.

Which is why my torrent client is currently running at home, downloading the episodes I need to complete my collection.

Ah, Torchwood, Torchwood, Torchwood, how I love to hate you.

Jobsville

Work

In which I’m all settled in.

Started the new job Tuesday. I like it here. Not much training to speak of but since this is my fourth ISP I don’t really need much. What I do need is a desk of my own, an extension, a headset, and some logins and I’ll be just fine.

Took a tour of the data center. Went up on the roof of the Baker Boyer building to look at the wireless installation. (Pics as soon as I get my cell phone-to-Flickr issue sorted.)

I took some calls today: same stuff I’ve always done. Easy peasy! I just have to remember to answer the phone with the correct company name.

I love the staff; everybody in here is great.

Now I just need to accomplish a nice comfortable late shift and permission to bring the blue dog in with me and I’ll be all set!

Sunday Adventure

Redneck, Rural, Rustic, , , ,

In which you get what you ask for, and I had to ask for an adventure.

For the 4th I stood in a wheat field on the east side of town with Landi, my 23-year-old friend who just graduated from culinary school, and burned sparklers while watching the professional shows off on the horizon. We completed celebrating the holiday with 7-Eleven nachos and a few cartoons at her apartment. I was home around midnight.

The next day she texted “Mountain drive?” and I replied, “Sure, why not!” She came to pick me up. When I asked if she was sure her car would make it, she replied that she had no reason to think it wouldn’t.

We tried to take Bindu with us, but I don’t think Landi’s Nova has a firewall in it. The passenger compartment, even with the windows rolled down, was far too hot for a 13-year-old dog. We dropped her off, limp and panting, at my place after running an errand to Landi’s apartment and back.

We bought ice, a gallon of green tea, grapes, and Cheetos at Loney’s and then enjoyed a leisurely drive out past Dixie and up a few thousand feet to Lewis Peak. The girl just kept going and going and going, over gravel and then dirt and then gullies, past dwellings and beyond services, until we were up where nobody lives and we ran out of road. She parked and we took a walk.

It was gorgeous.

Picture 351

When we returned to the Nova, it started right up – unusual because it normally requires three to five attempts – and we began our decent. About 500 yards along, the car died.

And never started again.

Oh, we tried. Landi checked her fluids, banged her air filter a few times, and beat various engine components with an old windshield wiper blade, but while the thing got spark it just wouldn’t turn over.

Continue reading Sunday Adventure →

I feel happy! …aaaand I feel like shit.

Work,

In which the good and the bad are blended into something so astonishingly neutral that I probably could have slept all day and felt just about the same.

Today is my last day at the call center. I am so excited! Change! I’m changing jobs! I’m out of here! This seriously freakin’ rules!

I’ll get to learn and grow and change! This is so excellent!

I packed all my personal crap into a box before I left work last night, so today my desk is spartan and unfamiliar. I was deliberately late because I wanted to panic my supervisor into thinking I wasn’t coming in at all, but my joke backfired: he had to leave early for personal reasons – there’s been a death among his friends.

Then I went through the exit interview, which was little more than a brief chat with a review of the non-compete (I don’t know any trade secrets so I couldn’t spill them even if I wanted to), good luck, and a give-us-your-key-back. They said I can leave an hour early tonight since it’s my last shift. Very exciting! Best day ever!

But when I got back to my desk, Teh [now ex] BF IMed me to say that he’s taking the rest of the day off because he can’t cope.

I guess I sort of wanted today to be more about me, but perhaps that was both selfish and childish. I’m a grown woman; the world isn’t always going to be charmed with and for me when I want it to, I guess.

I feel horrible that Teh [now ex] BF is so uncomfortable with our break-up that he can’t even sit in the same building with me… I feel awful. I also feel a little pissed because I never meant to cause him pain and this is supposed to be a fun day for me, not one where I feel like an asshole all day long because I chased the man out of his own job. He’s been here for eight or nine years; I’ve been here for twenty months.

A brief synopsis of the breakup: A couple of months ago I was overwhelmed and unhappy and pulled back from the relationship. A lot. {{Paragraph redacted at Teh [now ex] BF’s request.}} We broke up two nights ago.

Now I’m sitting here waiting for my last Friday lunch meeting to start, and I’m both so excited and so sorry that the two emotions cancel each other out and I feel… well, just kinda sick.

Maybe I can just have my entire nervous system removed for health reasons. Then I wouldn’t have to feel this weird.

I left my phone at home. I need to go get it on my lunch break so I can call the new job and find out when to show up.

Update: I get a three day weekend! The new job is running a partial-holiday on Monday to honor the 4th, so I don’t start until Tuesday at eight.

Pretty Awesome Day, Really, For All Its Slowness

Work, ,

In which there’s really great news! Three times over!

Today has been the longest, slowest day ever. I’ve been here since ten and haven’t even been on the phone for two hours. It’s that dead in here.

Which means that the day has been dragging by with incredible slowness.

But when the day is over, I will officially be on vacation! Which is so awesome I can’t even express it.

But to make it all even better, this afternoon I got a job offer. And I accepted it! I GOT A NEW JOB! I GOT A NEW JOB! I GOT A NEW JOB! I GOT A NEW JOB! I GOT A NEW JOB! *snoopy dance* Whoo hoo!

Oh, and on Tuesday, my bento article will be in the paper – perhaps as the main feature in the Food & Lifestyle section of the Union-Bulletin!

Cross your fingers for me. Do it.

Work,

In which it went really well!

I had an interview today at 1:30 at an ISP/CLEC1. It’s about four blocks closer to my house than the company I work for now.

I did well in terms of enthusiasm and communication. I probably took a little too much control of the meeting overall, but I always do that when I’m nervous in interviews. They liked my résumé. They liked my experience. They’re growing, and there’s growth opportunity.

They said they’d let me know by Friday.

I think I may have flubbed up once: the leader was trying to end our overly-long meeting by explaining that they did have other people to interview. I replied, ‘Oh, of course you do, of course you do. It’s just that you’re not going to like them as much as you do me,’ and he kind of gave me a weird look.

But other than that, I think the interview went really, really well. I liked both of the guys who interviewed me, they more or less told me that I’m perfect for the job, and I’m certain the guy who would end up being my direct supervisor wants me in his department in the worst way.

Here’s hoping I get a call on Friday from someone offering me a new job!!!

—
1 ISP Internet Service Provider. CLEC Competative Local Exchange Carrier (small telephone company).

A day in the life of a call center drone.

Work

In which I give you a peek at an interoffice email I just sent.

This really happened, and I really sent this email to my boss.

Hello M—,

Friday evening I hung up on a customer. Twice. Here are my notes:

6/19/09 Cust put new CC on file. He wished to argue with me about how expiry dates work, I disconnected the call when he began to yell. He called back and told me I’m “full of shit” and that he intends to get me fired. I gave him my name and my supervisor’s name and hung up on him again. -mm

In the first call, I thanked him for putting his new card number on file and tried gently to terminate the call. He wanted to explain that his card had “never expired” (although in the same breath he told me he’d received a new one in the mail) and that B– is “the only company” who is unable to run charges against an expired credit card. When his pointless lecture escalated to the edge of abuse, I said I was not interested in arguing and that I was ending the call. Then I hung up.

When he called back, he told me I’m “full of shit,” said I didn’t know what I was talking about, called me “young lady” with contempt, and said he would “get me fired.” He proceeded to argue with me again about our stupidity in not being able to charge an expired card, and didn’t slow down at all when I asked, “Do you really not have anything better to do on a Friday night than yell at someone who makes minimum wage?”

I told him to call in Monday and report me to my supervisor. I gave him my name, and I gave him your name. I refused to give him my last name when he demanded it (or yours, for that matter). Then I told him I was ending the call, and hung up on him again.

He has called back in at least eight more times – and hit all the queues: billing, reception, tech, and sales. I have not answered any of them.

I forwarded the one voice mail message he left to your box.

Cheers,
—
Michelle M—–
Support Technician
B— M—— Internet
http://www.—-.net
(800) 485-XXXX xXXX

P.S. …before I managed to send this, he called back YET AGAIN, this time from a different number. I answered with my name, and he said “Hello Michelle, I need to speak with someone in billing that’s NOT YOU.” I said, “There is no one else. I’m the only one here.” He said he’d call on Monday and hung up on me.

I’m sure he felt very powerful when he did so.

Of course I don’t actually make minimum wage. but he didn’t need to know that.

Seriously, how many people with MBAs yell at call center drones and don’t understand that you can’t run a credit card without the correct expiration date?

Hump day: just an excuse to say "hump."

Spiritual, Travel, Work

In which I do go on about vacation and Amma and work.

I will go on vacation in nine days. NINE DAYS. I can’t remember the last time I needed a vacation so very badly.

I can’t wait to zip up my rolly case and go to the airport. I can’t wait to get on the plane and turn off my electronic devices. I can’t wait for my Salt Lake City layover.

I can’t wait to check in to the Hyatt Regency at DFW and check out the hotel room and the hotel bed and the hotel shower. I can’t wait to wake up in another town with four days of vacation ahead of me, and get dressed in my whites and brush my teeth in the shiny hotel sink and take the elevator down to the program hall.

I can’t wait see Mother. I can’t wait to meditate near Her. I can’t wait to get darshan. I can’t wait to eat Indian snacks like pakoras and idli & sambar. I can’t wait for Devi Bhava.

I can’t wait to eat genuine Tex-Mex like a total freakin’ tourist.

In short, I can’t wait to get the fuck out of town for a few days.

…
This afternoon my employer began the installation of a web cam in the office. It will hang from the ceiling, and is a model that can be swiveled remotely to view all areas. It has audio pickups.

There was a cam here when I started. It’s been moved into another room, and as far as I know has never been online during my employment.

I have no idea why a camera should need to be installed at all, since the office can already be remotely observed a variety of ways. Nonetheless, there it is, a camera which really can’t have any purpose other than to allow members of management to observe employees.

When I worked at LISCO there were web cams there, but they existed so that people could look at equipment, not the other way around. Why on earth would you want to look at people sitting at desks staring at monitors?

The whole thing’s just creepy.

…
The day before yesterday I clocked a very satisfying 6.25 hours on the phone, but my average phone time lately is hovering around four hours per day.

To fill up the unused time I’ve been given busy-work: something loosely identified as “market research” (involving visiting phone book web pages and counting the number of hotels in particular towns), and a list of roughly 250 dial-up customers I have to call and switch to different access numbers.

Why, yes, thank you for asking: I actually did have a real job once, with root on many servers, where I had to understand subnetting and do network troubleshooting and hang out in data centers and go to customer prems and often had plug ends and jumpers and screws and cool stuff in my pockets.

But now? Now I’m calling dial-up customers to wheedle them into letting me walk them through changing to a new access number.

…
Have I mentioned that I’m really looking forward to the renewal of my upcoming vacation?

Update: The webcam is mounted on a wall pointing at nothing, and it’s made by the same company that makes the rest of the inventory so it’s probably just a test model. Surveillance fail!