Tis the season

OK, Black Friday.

Let me back up and say that it was way too fucking early when I saw Christmas decorations in September. I knew that was the beginning of the end.

But let's embrace capitalism and greed, certainly the hallmark of any holiday season.

The mall here opened at 1 a.m. That's one in the fucking morning. People were lined up since 7 a.m. on Thursday. By the time the sunset, drunk rowdies showed up and tried to cut to the front of the line. They were rebuked, violently, and the police were on hand to maintain order. When it was time for people to enter, they surged forward so violently one of the doors was ripped from the frame. Most folks were there with hopes of getting something free -- there were unfounded rumors that Nintendo Wiis would be given away.

In any event, for a time of year that's supposed to be about caring and loving, these bargain hunters seemed to show their true colors.

I haven't cared for the Black Friday rush at all. It was bad enough the Christmas I worked in the mall. I hated the people, I hated the music. The only thing that came close was last year, when Corp X was blaring fucking carols over the speakers on the call center floor.

I like the idea of giving and sharing, but I think that giving should be an all-year sorta thing. Bowling over other shoppers and fighting over the best deal isn't about giving, it's about greed.

I could go on about this, I think I have just about every year. But I'll save that for another day. It's been a long fucking week and I'm anxious to kick back and kill some shit.

Days 6, 7, 8

So I've slacked a bit. Go fig.

Training is getting to the point where the talking is taking its toll. Many of us really want to get to the hands-on part of things. We get different trainers presenting different topics, and several of us have really noticed a difference in styles. We really like our main guy, Lance. That's not to say the other presenters aren't saying anything of value, it's just that several of us know what we like.

We're still learning about call flow, some of the systems and how to type like a demon. Yesterday was our first day of something called Keynomics -- seriously, this is typing boot camp. I only did 61 wpm, well below where I thought I'd be. And 10-key... let's just say, fuck that shit. 10-key is not my friend. I can type by touch, even with some of the stuff on the top row. But that 10-key crap... gah. part of Keynomics will include putting little stickers on certain keys on the keyboard so that eventually, they'll all be covered. This will make things interesting.

One thing I've really noticed about our class is that we all like the idea of being a team when we hit the floor in March. We don't always agree, but we respect one another and there are enough different backgrounds where there's usually someone there to fill in the gaps.

Here's the place of employment:



Oh, and here's the view from the fifth floor, where we'll be spending a lot of time:

Day 5

The weekend couldn't get here quick enough.

It's not that class is terribly difficult, but there's something about being crammed into the same room for 40 hours that's a little ... trying.

The worst thing, is that in an effort to stay awake, many of us have started snacking A LOT. So I've pretty much decided I'm going to start walking during lunch -- we get an hour, so why not? And to give myself some extra incentive, I got this:



Yeah, I know. It's technically No. 4, though it makes three in my possession. But it was $40, so I can't really complain. The sound quality is surprisingly good and I love that I can pick and choose what I want on the Shuffle. The first gen Shuffles could only be autofilled with random stuff; I love having more control. So, that means the 80 GB stays home and the Shuffle will be with me just about all the time.

Yay!

And yay weekend!

Day 4

So we watched this in class today, and I love it!



Best news: Tomorrow is Friday! And we gets some $$$.

Day 3

They like giving us stuff.

Today, we got our badges and a lanyard. Yesterday, it was four smaller workbooks and a HUGE binder full of stuff. And a badge holder. Also today, a notepad and pen and cotton candy. And sometime next week, we'll get $25 just for showing up everyday for training. If we have perfect attendance for the first 8 weeks of training, we get $25 for each week -- for a total of $200, tax free money.

If I switch my internet over, I'll get money. Same thing with wireless, residential phone, long distance and DirecTV. If I sign up friends and family, I'll get credit as well.

If you sell certain items on certain days, you get money or gifts. And it's not one of those "hey, we'll have that for you next week." It's right now -- something that could have made a huge difference for Corporation X, back in the day. If you promise an employee a bonus and expect them to perform, it's best to have the bonus in a timely manner. Everyone did get taken care of, but some of the achievers had to wait 2-3 months for their payout.

There's a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of hype and rah-rah, go team sorta stuff. I don't have a problem with it; I'm just preferring to be skeptical and take a wait-and-see approach.

And yeah, still waiting for the humor to come of this. Maybe once we get into our software.

Day 2

The second day of training.

We're still not into the meat of things. We watched several PowerPoint presentations (omg, gag), did more paperwork, did a few exercises and ate big bags of *real* popcorn that could be had for 50 cents a bag (with real butter!).

I tried to find street parking and gave up after 10 minutes. I don't mind paying $2.50 for the day -- after living in the Bay Area, it's a bargain. I'll be getting a monthly pass, at least for the rest of November.

I guess we're supposed to get some folks in tomorrow to talk about the employee discounts we get and all that good stuff. I don't have reason to believe these folks won't make good on what they promise. They apparently hand out gift cards like water for performance and sales. Several bonuses are on the spot type deals, others are weekly and monthly, and still others are quarterly. If they deliver what they promise, and from talking to other employees they do, it should be easy to snag some of those incentives.

Works for me. :D

Day 1

So today was the first day of training at the new job. I'm working for the phone company now, and don't have an employee number just yet, so the update to the career part of the page will wait for a bit.

But yeah. These guys believe in training, training, training. 12 weeks. Four months. I don't graduate until March. Seriously. That's a long ass time.

I think it will be an interesting process. I have no expectations for this job. I took it because the pay was decent with the chance to make commission, and the benefits kick huge amounts of ass.

There are 18 of us, and we're in the basement, aka Floor -1. It's kinda neat working downtown; we've got tons of restaurants to choose from, and it will force me to get acquainted with an area I don't spend much time in. We get an hour for lunch -- which is amazing in a world where you have to cram food and whatever else into 30 minutes.

Anyway, we'll see how it goes. As class progresses, I'm sure I'll have more fodder for this space.

Rambling

Been a long time since I've posted anything in any blog. And really, there hasn't been a whole lot of interest to write about.

But here it is, 7:50 a.m. on a Sunday, and I find myself awake, so why not?

I start a new job Monday -- another new job. This will make a total of 4 this year. It makes me question what the hell I'm doing with my life and the choices I've made.

I could've stayed at Corporation X, but I really don't think that would have worked out. I enjoyed working for the Hardest Working Man in the World (we can safely call him He-man now), and I guess the other bosses would've been OK, but it really was time for a change. I had been there over a year, so I felt pretty good about the move I was making.

XYZ, Inc. seemed like a good idea, at least until it became clear the bottom line was more important than really fixing the issue and making sure the customer didn't have to call back in 15 minutes because you rushed through everything and didn't accomplish a damn thing aside from getting them off the phone. My body is basically what told me I needed to get out of there -- frequent migraines were the biggest clue, running out of microgivashits was the other.

Hub 40 was a temp job, and I knew I'd be finding something else, so I don't feel too bad about that one. It was a decent job, it helped pay bills and no real complaints aside from not enough hours.

The new company, well, I don't know a whole lot about them aside from a consumer standpoint. I'll probably end up blogging about them since I'm in training for 12 weeks and there should be plenty of fodder there.

There was more stuff I was going to write about but I seem to have lost interest. That's why I shouldn't get up so early on a Sunday...