About that job thing...

I'm not lying when I say I need a new job.  I know a lot of you call in to customer service call centers, and perhaps you're having a shitty day when you all of a sudden remember you have to pay a credit card bill.  Well, let me give you a little insight on what my day is like -

Sometime between 6:30 or 7:30, I'm waking up.  Now this may seem normal to the majority of you, but for me, since I often don't get off of work until 12:15 AM or later this means I'm not getting the 7 to 8 hours of sleep that my body craves every night.

I'm okay when I get out of bed.  My mother usually has something awesome in the kitchen, I throw on some clothes, typical morning stuff.  Sometimes I tell my mother about the previous night at work, or we discuss anything that happened in the news recently.  Whatever, it's good, and with that I'm out the door...

So driving to school is always an adventure, because people in Milwaukee drive like their wheels are stuck in molasses.  Freaking ridiculous if you ask me, but then again, I'm still a California driver.  I'm trying to reform myself, but why do 30 when you can do 35?  Why do 35 when you can do 40?  Just a thought...

I get to school, chat with friends, try and make it through the day without sleeping (I'm usually pretty unsuccessful at that.)  All in all though, I'm usually pretty cool with the day up to this point because besides shitty driving, life's been good.  After this, I head home to eat something, pack up dinner, and head out the door...

So I get to work.  I start praying about people in the car.  I know some of you don't believe in the power of prayer, but I have to do something to keep my sanity.  I continue to pray as I walk through the doors, and usually I can sit at my desk.  But there are times when I have to find a seat and I'm not happy about that.  Seriously?  You're a multi - billion dollar company and you can't afford to set us all up with our own desks?  Stupid.

I get on the phone and most of the time my first call is normal.  But then there are times where one of my first calls of the day will go a little something like this...

Caller: "I'm calling about the late fee on my account."

Me: "Ok, let's take a look at your account and see what we can do about that late fee... May I have your name please?"

Caller: "Mary Smith"

Me: "Thank you for that information Mrs. Smith.  For verification purposes, may I have the last 4 digits of your social security number?"

Caller: "1234"

Me: "Thank you for that information.  For further verification purposes, may I have your telephone number please?" (at this point I have already removed the late fee, but I can't say anything because I'm not done verifying her information)

Caller: "Why do I have to give you that information?  I already gave you the last four digits of my social security number!  Why can't you just remove the late fee?"

Me: "Mrs. Smith, I just need to verify that we have the most current number on file in case we need to contact you about your account.  If you could just give me that number, I'll be glad to see what we can do about the late fee."

Caller: "Well, I'm not giving you that number so you can just close my account!"

Me: "Ma'am, if I close your account, you will still owe the late fee on the account" (yes, I have it put back on because I'm not removing a late fee for someone who's closing their account.  That's counterproductive.)

Caller: "I'm aware of that.  Close my account."

In my head, all I can think is "you crazy bitch."  I'm looking at her phone number!  All she has to do is say it.  At one point, I actually told her that if she could give me any phone number that would be acceptable.  I just wanted to remove her fee and go on to the next call.  She wants to argue and act as if closing her account is going to make this company go out of business.  She must have drunk a pitcher of crazy if she thought that was going to happen!

Throughout the rest of the night, I get more crazy calls from more stupid people.  However, I'm supposed to sit there and take it because that's what we do, we "take care of people."  How about taking care of the people that work for your company?  In doing this, you make it impossible for people to feel as if they are a valued part of your corporation.  I know that they are convinced that customers are the reason why we're in business, but I can guarantee that if you do not take care of your employees, you will lose quality people.   If you lose quality people, you will lose business.

I count the minutes before I can leave.  I get home and I'm exhausted, but I can't go to sleep so I watch whatever is on my DVR.  I replay calls over in my head, not to see where I went wrong or what I could do to make the next calls better, but because I want to remember to tell people about the stupid shit folks say to me.

I know you all have bad days.  For whatever reason, when someone calls customer service, they think that being mean and disrespectful to the person on the other line will accomplish whatever goal they had.  Just asking for what you want and answering my questions is just as likely to get you what you want.  You don't have to be upset with my company because you don't have your life together.  I'm here to help, not hurt. 

Regarding the company where I work, I have lost some great co-workers because of your policies.  You have got to do better.  I'm not sure why companies stopped treasuring their employees.  Maybe it's because unemployment is so high.  Maybe they stopped because turnover means you can pay the next person less than you were paying the last person that worked there.  I don't know.  All I know is when people realize they can do better, they will leave.  Your goal should be to keep people who are good at what they do, but I see that you couldn't give a shit. 

I really need to find another job.  I'm too old to get an ideal job as a movie/restaurant/hotel/airline critic.  I would love to get a job as a trainer somewhere.  I just can't continue down this current path.  I'm far too old to put up with people's bullshit.  Of course, I'm thankful that I have a job, so I guess I should just shut up.  I can't see that happening though...