When the Sky Goes Green, Take Cover

[eggwards]

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.

Comments

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I had a call today with a Chase rep that left me a very angry customer. The guy wanted to rush me through my call. I told him quite sternly that when a customer is already upset, not allowing them to tell a bit of their story only makes it worse. I then asked to be transferred to a supervisor who managed to turn me around in minutes. They key, as you witnessed in the bad customer service call, is in developing excellent listening skills. I'm not surprised that you graduated to solo work very quickly.

HUGS!

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

Yeah, all too often the call time is a factor in the rep's quality scores. It's frustrating to the customer. I do like that I'm with a company that doesn't care how long you are on a call. The average call time around here is about 20 minutes. We have plenty of time to listen.

Thanks for the good thoughts!

[jrjarrett.livejournal.com]

fly solo

So how's your crosswind technique? ;)

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

I've been told that I blow as good as or better than others. :-)

[onethsndwords.livejournal.com]

you just brought back all the memories of growing up in Birmingham, and the BIG storms, and waking up in the middle of the night to run downstairs and throw mattresses over us while the civil defense sirens wailing in the distance... I surely don't miss that, but then again, ask me again if/when we have an earthquake that REALLY rattles me...

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in Houston we only occasionally had tornado warnings, but here in Dallas they are more frequest, along with hailstorms. Still, Dallas gets few major disasters, certainly not ones that effect several square miles like an earthquake or a hurricane.

The first time hearing the sirens after I moved here...well that was a bit of a shock.

Still, we're just a little south of the real Tornado Alley. Oklahoma gets far more activity.

I've been through hurricanes and droughts and such, but I haven't experinced an earthquake yet. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.