The Trials and Tribulations of the not-so-New Bear Icon

Here's a couple more questions that have come my way...I'm trying to answer them between naps.


1. polomex asks: You are given quite a morbid superpower: you can kill people simply by thought. Your victims would die a natural death, and you would never be suspected. Would you ever use this new power?

While I'd like to say that I'd be all high and mighty and respect the culture of life, I know that I can be quite petty. I guess my question about the power is: How easy is it to use? Is it something that you have to put effort into it, or is it something that would go off at the second you have one of those "I want to kill..." thoughts in your head? If it's the latter I'm afraid I would have a trail of dead.

It also depends on if it works only in proximity or over great distances, because there would have been a widow filing for benefits last night after the call I had with the guy yelling at me in his rage. I know I'd be weak and want some way out of that painful call.

Also, there's be no Karl Rove or Dick Cheney left to testify on anything.

Let's just say, that's not a power I'd want (sort of a King Midas thing, right?) because I'd know the guilt would weigh to heavily on me.

2. mikiedoggie asks: What aspects of your home city do you like and dislike?

Well, Dallas has definitely done better in this economic downturn than many other areas of the country. Housing prices were never as high as other areas, but they haven't fallen as much here. If your business is housing construction, well, you may still have a job here. Except for a large batch of allergen-producing crap, the climate is good, not as humid as Houston. It's hot but you can stay out of it, and you don't get months of snow and cold. For someone who is afraid of driving in the annual ice storms, Dallas is good, even if you have to watch hours of screaming reporters on local news saying how we're all going to die if sleet hits the Dallas roadways.

Food wise Dallas is good for me. For anyone who wants to eat right, well, you are screwed. Dallas is a series of suburbs ringed by other layers of suburbs and then an extra layer of exurbs. It all grew so fast that there really wasn't the time for local neighborhoods to develop restaurants. There are chain restaurants everywhere. Dallas is where Pizza Inn, Chilis, and the late Bennigans began. It shows you the haute cuisine we have here. Still, I love fast food and this is the town for it.

On the negative side, we have to drive everywhere and it takes time out of your day. Walking is rarely an option. Want to know why were all fat? You get used to driving even short distances that would shock anyone in the north. Of course in the summer who wants to walk in the 100 degree heat when you have an air-conditioned SUV?

Dallas also has too many religious nuts.

Dallas is also a place where people would still buy a Hummer. You can take that comment however you want.

Finally, there's always a lot of talk about Texas and the low cost of living. The thing they don't mention is that wages are very low here as well. We are the place businesses send jobs to before they send them overseas. It also keeps people here because their pay here wouldn't give you a sustainable life in other parts of the country. You would need to find a job with a significant pay raise elsewhere to make a move. Sometimes you feel trapped here.

It's not a bad city, but it's a boring city. It's a place where you live, not visit. The city implores you to travel elsewhere. We have a big airport for a reason!

Still, Texas has always been my home. It is what I know.

I have a couple of questions left, and I will keep answering them in other posts. If you have a question, comments are screened if you go to THIS post. Keep asking away.

Wow, is it June already?

The other day I stripped off all my clothes after coming home from work. The hose was hot as the air conditioner hadn't kicked in. I threw the clothes I wore and some more into the washer and pushed the "on" button.

Several minutes later I noticed that my iPhone wasn't with the watch, wallet and keys on my desk. After a minute or so, I realized where it was. I had to pull it out of the washer, just before the last spin cycle. The phone was completely unresponsive.

For a few days I used my old motorola phone using the iPhone's SIM card. It was good that it worked, but I was really jonesing for my internet browser. I hadn't realized how reliant I had gotten on the ability to instantly look things up or read news and blogs during down time. I live the iPhone for that reason.

After googling some tips for what to do with a waterlogged cell phone, I left the iPhone in a jar with some rice in order to dry it out. I wasn't looking forward to having to buy another iPhone, specially since they are out of stock while everyone waits for the next model.

Luckily for me, two days later the phone powers up and works, just as it had. For a few more days there were some watermarks on the screen, under the glass, but those too seem to be gone. I'm hoping the phone will last at least another year to officially finish out the contract period, then I'll think about replacement. I don't need G3 speed that much.
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Next week will be my last week in new hire training. It's been months now, but with the licensing, all the new products and services and just the way the new company does business, I'm not even sure that four months is enough training. This company is really very different from anything else I've done, and they expect a lot out of their call center reps.

I remember on our first training-wheels queue rotation we learned much more than we did in class, with several new scenarios and small details that weren't brought up. I fully expect the same as we move up to full fledged licensed calls. There's two big issues I have with moving forward:

First: I've never been a salesperson. Well, I've sold shoes and clothing, but not in the financial realm. I've always done service after the sale. Here we have goals to try to retain assets, bring in new business, and expand business with current customers.

Now mind you this is a soft sales pitch, no heavy pressure or anything, but if you want to earn more and get good scores on your reviews, you have to do some selling. I'm not sure how well I'll adapt to this. If it's just bringing up a customer need, and they go for it, then fine, but I'm not much for full on sales.

Second: I've never been on a full out call center queue. I've already had trouble with being able to close a call and to take the next one right away without having to have processing time. I've never been rushed like this, having always had time to process after the call. Here that can hurt your stats. I really don't like that, nor do I like leaving people on hold just to finish up notes, process paperwork, and finish what needs to be done. I wish they would give us more flexibility.

Luckily one of the normal call center stats, talk time, is not used here. Where in most call centers a phone call that goes over seven minutes will hurt your stats, that's not the case here. If a call takes 90 minutes, then it takes 90 minutes, no problem. I had one that took that lone the other day and there was no selling or withdrawal to it. It was all talking about the market and what funds she should be invested in. It's nice being a consultant, not a salesperson.

Still, I know getting into the grove of the call center is going to be difficult. I've never had to take the volume of calls that I will here, and I hate the phones! Still, when I get into it, and I get all this information sorted in my head, I think I could find it rather rewarding. It's just change and I need to get on board.

I've already found some other gays at work. My boss, not gay at all, but cute, asked me what the bear flag meant. I think I mentioned something about a fat, hairy fraternity. He looked like he had heard enough and turned away...not disapprovingly, but in his "I have to be gruff" way. It's kind of funny.

Today I heard about more layoffs at my old employer, Fidelity. It made me glad not to be in their employ anymore, and finally encouraged me to roll my retirement funds out to my new employer. Sometimes moves are made for the best, no matter what the difficulties might be.

Yesterday President Bush said that he’s still digging in his heels as he tries to go against the tide of advice to begin a withdrawl of troops in Iraq. The story, from CNN, is HERE. Quote:

Bush said that during his consultations he had heard some "interesting" ideas, but would not specifically address them, and some "ideas that would lead to defeat."

"And I reject those ideas," he said. "Ideas such as leaving before the job is done. Ideas such as not helping this (Iraqi) government take the necessary and hard steps to be able to do its job."

Just how far in denial is this guy? Somebody please tell me what the “job” is and how we are supposed to finish it, let alone how we are supposed to “win” someone else’s civil war? Wouldn’t winning a civil war mean we need to take a side? Hell, most politicians don’t even know the difference between a Shiite Muslim and a Sunni Muslim.

I guess that I was in favor of the Colin Powell strategy of fixing what you broke, and it certainly looks bad to leave Iraq in such a mess, but really, someone please tell me what the positives of staying are. Iraq itself doesn’t seem ready to reconcile and build for the future, so why should we try to do the impossible for them?

I understand that the President is bull-headed, and he’s not taking advice – at least not from the Iraq Study Group, but does he think that for the next two years he can just go about continuing the war in the same manner he has for the last four? Does he really just want the effort to just coast its way to 2009 when his successor takes over? What is the good in that? If this is being done just to allow John McCain to be the heir apparent, as he seems to be the only “stay the course” candidate, then that effort is failing as McCain’s numbers are falling right along with the President’s.

I remember in the last couple of years of Bill Clinton’s administration that he was criticized that he was making a lot of moves to shore up his legacy, such as the Good Friday Agreement between Britain and Ireland. If this is also the case with Bush, then he’s only doing damage to his and his family’s reputation as he continues to go down this path.

The Iraq Study Group’s recommendations seemed sound. I wouldn’t expect them all to be implemented, but the main message is that there’s nothing to win in Iraq, and we should cut bait in a controlled manner as the costs, both human and economically are not worth the effort. Apparently Bush can’t or won’t see the same conclusion, so hopefully the House of Representatives will bring this to a halt by refusing to fund the continued war. It seems our only option to stop this continued farce.

Of course, the conspiracy theorist in me is thinking, is this what the President wants, a showdown for the funding of the war so that he can go on TV and demonize the Congress as being against the troops and unwilling to support the “war on terror”? Hopefully the American people can see through that and will continue to support a pull out from Iraq, and we should applaud efforts to continue to work in Afghanistan and fight the real war there, where we still have allies.

On the other hand, perhaps this “taking a stand” crap just shows Bush is just worried about his Soy Intake making him less manly.