dumbiculosity

this is totally a song

2004-11-16T20:04:00.000-08:00

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

this one is too long to have a title

2004-10-06T16:21:00.000-07:00

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 =)

as far as updates are concerned....

2004-10-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

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........)

hello again

2004-10-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

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!

and all at once......

2004-08-26T22:17:00.000-07:00

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!

TWO MONTHS!!

2004-07-22T20:01:00.000-07:00

death of free-time

2004-07-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

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.

for the first time ever....

2004-06-23T16:48:00.000-07:00

I'M MAKING MEATLOAF!!

eternal something of the something something

2004-06-15T20:02:00.000-07:00

the best i can say is that the movie was interesting. also it wasn't very great. i don't have any overwhelming recollection of the movie being bad per se, but considering i don't feel strongly in the other direction either i believe that makes it just another flick that barely hit par.

OLE!

2004-06-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

monday nights

2004-06-14T22:31:00.000-07:00

monday nights are now official 'feel-good movie' nights. so whenever monday night rolls around, be sure you've got at least one flick packed full of the warm fuzzies. if you're like me and not a huge fan of the genre, well, just do what you can to suck it up and take one for the team. i mean, it is official, can't really go against official.

productive, quite

2004-06-13T22:16:00.000-07:00

went to church, did some necessary shopping, sorted through our collective archive of photographs and put them in albums (or on the wall), cleaned the bathroom, ate some delicious leftovers, and i think that just about brings us to the here and now. i just realized that the here and now has just become midnight so i'd better get to bed so i'm well rested for my upcoming 9am phone interview!! if it's half exciting as it sounds, i'm sure the thought of falling asleep halfway through it won't even cross my mind. not one bit...

i love movies

2004-06-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

well, maybe i should say that i love GOOD movies. i've seen plenty of good ones and more bad ones than i care to recall. tonight i saw one that was a pleasant surprise, the stepford wives. i was skeptical when i saw the previews but there is some funny stuff to see, which is something i never thought i would be able to say about anything that includes bette midler. it must have been the presence of christopher walken, one of the greatest actors around, that was able to de-midler the movie to an acceptable level. even if this is the movie i had to see instead of the chronicles of riddick (two of my favorite things in one movie, space and knives!) it turned out to be a nice night at the movies.
i can't help it, when good movies come out i just want to go see them. if you get a chance, go see super-size me. although it is sometimes gross and disturbing, it's also rather funny and eye opening. serves to reinforce my opinion that mcdonald's food is the most disgusting stuff i've ever seen.

sitting around

2004-06-11T15:43:00.000-07:00

yep, that's what i do for the moment. the job thing is moving along, i've finished the preliminary screening for both jobs i'm after so next comes the actual interviews. interview for SBC is monday morning at 9am and will occur over the phone. i was told to expect to take ONE TO ONE AND A HALF HOURS!!! not really looking forward to that, but hey, who cares so long as it's a way to make some cash. the dell interview won't happen until the 23rd which sucks. that's where i'd rather sit around for 40 hours a week but at this point it looks like i will just do whichever is willing to donate more to the fisk fund.
supersize me was a pretty funny flick, go see it if you can. apparently the closest movie theater to where we live plays a lot of indie flicks so it will be interesting to see what else shows up there. it seems that launch.com is finally beginning to figure me out, i'm not seeing nearly as much gangsta rap and booty music as i used to, which i count as a nice bonus to the already free music vids streaming to my computer. that's it for now, i think it's time for me to get dinner ready for my wife! later

you never told me you were rockin!

2004-06-09T21:19:00.000-07:00

who knew?

Much love for the internet

2004-06-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

this is me, in austin, on a different blog. i'm a married man now. more specifically i'm an unemployed married man. i'm working on that though. right now it's a toss-up between SBC and DELL. i know that at first those might sound like some nice opportunities, but both jobs are just working in call centers. ahh, the prestigious life of a letourneau graduate. anyways, it's nice to be in austin and it's great to be married to such a wonderful (and hot) woman. updates to follow when the mood strikes me.

hey yellow project people, why did miriam get taken off the blog list? she's such a great blogger!