even if things end up a bit too heavy we'll all float on alright
soon i discovered that this rock thing was true
jerry lee lewis was the devil
jesus was an architect previous to his career as a prophet
all of a sudden, i found myself in love with the world
so there was only one thing that i could do
was ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long
anyhow, to avoid dragging out a long and painfully boring story, it all ended last friday with me deciding that i'd rather walk out of that horrible job than to end up getting fired. when it came down to it, i did the things that they told me to do on the phone. even they're idiotic way to see assumptively, "I'm going to go ahead and sign you up for this..." i really hated that part, but i did it. even with that, i wasn't able to get near the numbers they wanted me to. the only way i can see people selling what they are required to sell is by doing it dishonestly and that's something i wasn't willing to do. it makes perfect sense now why people have to call in month after month after month to figure out what's on their phone bill. more than likely when you're calling in, you're being tricked or flat out lied to about what's being done to your phone service. so, to everyone that has sbc as their phone carrier, here's a few hints that might be able to help you.
1) talk about other phone companies! when you say something about other long distance companies, because of federal regulation the person you're talking to isn't allowed to make any kind of a sale involving long distance. not everything, but it's a start. 2) i recommend setting up a password for your account. more specifically, a password that involves a phrase like "don't offer me any stupid services" or "if i want something, i'll ask you for it". 3) just flat out say that you don't want them to offer you anything. it's going to happen if you don't do anything about it. and there's a good chance that there is a list of 7 things on the rep's screen that he HAS to offer to you! so save everyone some time and tell them to not offer to you. 4) this one is a sure winner. after the rep answers whatever questions you may have, just hang up. they have to help you out before they can offer you anything, so just say a quick "thanks" and gracefully slam down the phone. this is by far the most effective technique. if i think of any other good tips, i'll be sure to post them, but for now i'd say you're more prepared to deal with your phone company than you were before.
and just so you know, i don't plan to reamain jobless for long! i should start my training at fry's next week which is definately a whole other story =)
this one's a doozy!
as one or two of you knew, i've been doing the 8 to 5 grind at sbc for the past 4 months. not really my first choice as far as employment was concerned....but to me it was much better than sitting around at home all day. anyways, the specific job that i got hired on to do was 'service representative' aka 'the guy who answers the phone when you want to ask questions or change stuff about your phone service'. or so i thought....
i then spent the next 3 months learning how to use their archaic computer systems and the correct way to deal with situations that arise. all of this was bundled with their never-ending mantra of "sell sell sell!" i didn't really think too much of it because i know that for sbc to keep growing as a company, it's necessary for them to sell their new products. however, as i started to do more on the phones, i came to realize that selling isn't just one of the things i was supposed to do...it was the only thing.
constant monitoring was to be expected, i knew that they needed to ensure i wasn't swearing or just making funny noises on the phone all day. but from every discussion i had with my instructor from monitored calls, despite having the highest scores of my class in customer service, i wasn't selling as much as i 'should' have been, and therefore was on the fast track to a pink slip.
(to be continued........)
so, it seems that it has been a while....a lot has happened since the last time i was here, but unfortunately i need to get in bed right now so i can get up in the morning, so i'll fill you in tomorrow!
I return!
Just wanted to say that I finally got the results of my FE exam and I passed!!! I was getting skeptical after having heard nothing for months. Lucky for me, my wife is the master of all things internet and found the results online for me. AND NOW IT'S TIME FOR BED!
it was pretty nice just hanging around the apt for a few weeks with nothing really to do. actually, if i could choose what i could get paid for doing, it might very well be for that. however, seeing as no paychecks were arriving for me, i started my job at sbc this past week. it's not very fun. well, i can see how some people might think it's fun, but things like 'learning games' and 'group activities' have always ranked extremely low on my list. at least the first week is done, now i only have 13 more weeks to finish the training course. that's right, 14 glorious weeks of training. 14 weeks during which i'm allowed to be late twice or i get fired. but it's something i can endure, pretty much just because it pays me a lot of money and i like money (as does my wife!). i've got to get used to being gone from 7:30 to 5:30 (darn traffic!), but mostly just the getting up at 7. not having early classes my last semester was great, but now i need to readjust. anyways, i'm going to see spiderman 2 tonight, so that should make everything better.
