At work... been on QA all day, mercifully! Feeling a little sick, I don't think I could handle sales right now. I'll be fine by tomorrow, but today... ugh!

I, Cringely | The Pulpit

Read that.

How totally awesome is that idea?

Lets do it!

TeleTech - the place which at I work. I find it inconcevable how such a large international company which has been around for so long can screw up so many times. I don't mean screw ups like calling the wrong phone number. I mean screw ups like paying their employees too little or not at all for two fortnights running. I count myself lucky that I have received all the money owed to me for my work - there are several I know of and probably many I don't who have received not enough or none. Brad worked at TeleTech a while ago, I asked him if he'd ever had any pay problems... he said they forgot to pay him one time. Even that is quite bad. Tolerable, I suppose, if it happens once in a blue moon to one person. But this is not the case. Fugger!

We've just gotten back from Puffing Billy - Australia's Premier Steam Railway. It was, well, pretty dull. Nice scenery, but it was cold and windy and I was hungry, the kids were noisy and we were held up by bogus bushrangers halfway to Lakeside. However it was better than sitting at home doing nothing or being bored, I suppose.

I'm at work, and quite frankly I'm surprised I can access Blogger from here. I'm left all alone in QA, everyone else finished up about an hour and a half ago, and I'm on for another half hour. It's so quiet! It would make it easy to concentrate on my work, but it also makes it so easy to get away with not concentrating! Although to be fair, I am mostly typing between things, while waiting for programs to load. It's a lot faster than it once was, but it still takes a few minutes... oops, not anymore! The thing about harldy anyone being here - nobody's using the system and slowing it down, so it's nice and quick (or not so nice, depending on whether I want to get any work done).

Work today was pretty neat, I was doing QA! I shall explain:

Each time somebody makes a sale over the phone, we record what's called the EIC, or Explicit Informed Consent, which is just a verbal contract over the phone. After the EIC is recorded, it must be listened to (verified) to ensure that all the questions were asked and answered in the positive, and that all information necessary was given by the CSR (or, as they like to call us, the Energy Consultant).

So my job today was listening to recorded EIC's and either passing or failing them. It's reasonably easy to pass - simply follow the script, it's all in there. I had to fail one because he didn't mention the 10 day cooling off period in the EIC.

What it meant for me today was that I was off the phones! Not talking! Sparing my sore throat (which I have due to a cold caught from somebody at work, eh Jamiu!?)!!!

I've had, so far, a rather boring and ill-feeling weekend. I've been doing a little bit of work on my so-called book - the one which may or may not end up being sent off to a publisher and then maybe published someday in the not-very-near future. It's progressing reasonably well, although not following the plan I originally wrote for it. I've had too many other interesting ideas since writing the plan. Perhaps I should adjust the plan to suit, before writing the story. Meh.

I have a valid excuse for not updating the last couple of days! I got an IPaq!!! Been far too busy playing with it to even contemplate updating this blog! However, for the record:

3 sales Wednesday

3 sales Thursday

4 sales Friday

Good enough for now! I'll do better next week - I'll be more familiar with the script, the product information, and selling techniques, as well as feeling better - darn Jamiu gave me a cold!!!

Things that annoy me

Eczema

My flabby belly

The fact that sometimes I eat compulsively and can't stop

When people say things I don't know how to respond to (eg, "You're too cute to need to wear make up", thank you Lorenz)

When people want something from me that I can't or won't give but they never give up

People who are always judgemental and critical

My own frequent hypocrisy

Six sales today! That's the daily target for all the older people, and I got it on Day Two! Neat!

I'm in such a crap mood. Brooke, who started today same as me, got eight sales this afternoon, and I was the only person in the team to get none. No sales. Zip, zilch, nill, zero. Then I called dad because he'd called while I was at work and unable to answer. He said encouraging things including "Go home and have a nice dinner with Dave", so of course I was looking forward to getting home and having a nice meal with Dave. Instead, Dave gets home just after me with some crappy leftovers from the dinner he's just had at Carl's place. He claims Carl's mum "forced" him to eat dinner there, and that she "forced" him to bring some home for me. Great! So not only does his mental discipline lack so much that he can't even politely decline a dinner, but he also lacks the thought to bring some home for me off his own bat! And then he wonders why I'm pissed off. Go figure!!!

Update:
Well that was pointless. This entire site is about updates, right? Anyway...

I have completed training! Did two tests - one written, one mock call. I got 100% on both of them, I am teh call centre guru! If you want to know anything about TXU and/or the energy industry, just ask me! I also made an actual call to an actual customer today, I didn't do too badly! As of next week I start at 11am and finish at 7pm, I like those hours!

I am making a new committment to lose weight. The old attempt failed miserably, I swear I've gotten fatter in the last two weeks. A new effort must be made! A six-inch roll from Subway, water, no cookies. That's the new lunch plan. Daily excercise will be slighly harder now I'm working, but I'll do my best to fit something in and spend less time reading in the bath!

Once again, apologies for my slackness. I've been so tired, and haven't been spending so much time at home, now that I'm a working girl! Now doesn't that sound dodgy... two dorra, love you long time.

Work's been pretty good - when I say "work", we're still in training for the rest of this week, so it's all been very educational. I know more than I ever hoped to know about the gas and electricity industry, and about TXU in particular!

I'm thinking of creating a CV in HTML format. Pretty much just for the fun of it!

Revision: something has happened today. Carl called Dave and now he's going to Mt Buller for the weekend.

Apologies for not updating, I've been tired and busy and stuff! And anyway, not much has happened :P Just work, and people at work. And the fact that I have no money. w00t.

First day of work was today! If you could call it work - we have 8 days of training before we really start, it's like being in school again only I'm getting paid for it. Neat! So, we learnt a little about TeleTech, a little about what we're in for, and a lot about Occupational Health & Safety (henceforth referred to as OHS). Seems like I'll be working with a bunch of weirdos, and some real nice 'uns too, which is good enough. Also seems like every call centre has it's token gay guy(s), what's with that? It's like walking through the cosmetics department in Myer.

I "worked" from 9-5 today, which meant I was absent from home between 8am and 6pm - when I got home, boy was Zeus glad to see me! Purring and snuggling like a thouroughly neglected cat! Up until I typed that, at which point he bit me.

Gosh Darnit! One mis-click of the mouse and I lose an entire post.

The long and short of it is, I start work tomorrow and I'm nervous.

Also, saw mum yesterday, she bought me clothes and I bought myself the first two books of John Marsden's Tomorrow series which I've already finished.