Sleepless night

What kind of Low-life am I?

I am a retention/cancellation/saves specialist/supervisor/coach/team leader...

I've taken my customer service/theater/communication skills and developed them to a call center environment.

As an ex-pat living abroad I could teach English (tried it pays like shit/treated like Shit/and too much bad karma for the way I treated my Spanish classes) instead I found myself in a call center.

The part that feels shitty; after reading 150plus comments on a blog about canceling AOL - I'm actually good at this job.

I'm overtired, broke (payroll fucked up last months check and still haven't corrected it, and that plus an international flight...) unmotivated to work on magic - the closest thing to a goal that might be inspirational -

I don't currently want to be an ex-smoker and the mosquitoes are keeping me awake

Harrumph

From the land of the Phone Whores...

So I get an email the other day that says:

So are you one of these dickheads?



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13447232/


With a signature down here.

(Damn, I really am doing a Shitty job keeping up with people if that's the most personal e-mail I get in a month.)

Well the answer I sent back was "without listening to it yeah, more or less"
after listening to the clip that has been the talk of the office for past week including a couple of policy changes I retract my answer -

No I don't badger people, I'm not that kind of phone whore. I'm more of the - make eye contact, flirt a little, flash my tits kind of phone whore. If that doesn't get me into the car - I'll just move on there's another car coming.
The agent on that call did not show any respect for the guy who was calling in. Even if the bitter fat kid said "I don't use it" and the money grubbing agent saw a great quantity of time online, the phone business is no place to answer offence with offence. To do the job right it's like using a sniper rifle, and you need distance for that, the pushy salesman on the phone was trying to use a sniper rifle like a baseball bat, sure it'll take some people down but it ain't they way it's supposed to be used.
Personally as a coach - I don't think the guy should have been fired - I think he should be taught to respect people more and properly use the tools he's given.

Well I guess I'll go drop a few e-mails...

Woah

Shit I wonder if anyone else will find this, at this point I feel like I'm dropping a message in a bottle it's been so long since I was in touch.

The list of people who I have been thinking about (and obviously not) contacting is extensive.

To everyone in Chicago - I still owe all shades of Thank You's. It was such a great visit I almost forgot my original reason for returning was bad news based.

Moving forward, I've been working towards getting my Physical shape in tune. Given the conditions of my father's death; in and out of the hospital until his death at 63 - and my grandfather's death; fully mobile until a heart attack at 96 - I've got to choose the lifestyle that will let me have the most enjoyment out of my time on this earth.
So since I returned I've gone to the gym at least twice (three times the goal) a week. I'm doing about half an hour on elliptical machine then moving over to the weight machine and doing 60 plus reps of pull downs or butterfly's straight through with a low amount of weight; then after another quick stretch sitting back down and doing twelve with "real weight". I find that the real bodily pain is coming in two days later when I lose part of my full range of motion. Sarah says I need to stretch more, is she really always right?
I've also been slipping around with cigarettes - I had quit, then when I changed positions and was training back on the phones, they slipped back in - so I was smoking again in Chicago - quit again when I returned, started again last week and now for the third time I'll pick up Allen Carrs easy way to quit. They say three times a charm...
I've also, at the recommendation of the trainer at the gym as well as good sense stepped away from all the sugar crap I was consuming everyday. So my minimum of 1/2 a liter coke a day had no part of last week - as well I stayed away from the 1 sheqel chocolate covered peanut machine.
I think this was a big part of what pulled me back towards cigarettes last week (the first at work of "Sugar Free* June") to smoking. You get a break, and want some kind of self destructive treat that changes your body chemistry, right?

Well it looks like next week will have me off the phones and working on the next step of my training. Three more weeks and I'll have my new team =) So that means that I lose the phone cord leash which will make Phil a very happy camper.

The other things I've been doing since getting back, besides work and health. Sarah put Bearshare on the computer - so she's been collecting Doctor Who's and I've been getting episodes of Prison Break and comic books. (damn this thing slows down the machine while it's running) Though Bear share is taking some focus - it's nothing compared to hours upon hours I've spent listening to new musicand categorizing it all, sorting it all through itunes. I still haven't got any of my low memory mp3 players working right with the computer - though each one already has some music in it so I ain't suffrin'.

Well having decided to binge before purging - I came home last night "stinking of cigarettes" so I better go do some good around the house to keep some "Shalom in the home" - so a good weekend to all, and to all a Good Shabbos...