Saturday, October 14, 2006

Wireless Wackiness

I like having fun with my coworkers.

They are a hardy bunch, fit to deal with my wiles. It took them time to get used to them. Now were are tight. I got them good though. The other day, I made this picture of some creepy looking dolls the default display on the computer. "That is very disturbing," commented my manager before she went home.

Carolyn came back to visit (even though she doesn't work here anymore) and thought she'd just check her emails. She screamed when she opened up the screen. See? My coworkers are so genuine and expressive. There happened to be a customer in the store who was grieving over the death of his phone. It didn't work anymore. So, even though Carolyn doesn't work here anymore, she consoled him (as Sales Associates and Customer Service Reps are meant to do. Or are they?) by saying "sometimes phones just quit." I felt like we were having a funeral. My manager called after she went home because the dolls were still bothering her. She asked it if I'd please change it otherwise she wouldn't be able to sleep.

So I put a new picture of some anonymously beautiful young woman that I found on the internet. The new guy liked it but no one else did. They had the gall to call her a "hoochie" and warned me that I was lucky the RVP didn't see it. Perhaps it was the low-styled cut of her shirt. I don't know. I didn't make the rules of these things. Anyway, my manager simply avoided the computer but then I was forced to take all of my desktop displays down. Now the desktop is of some boring, lifeless building. But I'm not sad.

Wireless is fun. It's stupendous. It's an adrenaline rush. We gave out loaner phones two days ago for a breast cancer fundraiser where people were "arrested" and then bailed out when people call in to pledge money. Then the lady figured that all of the pay-as-you-go cards that we gave her to use should be free because she works for a not-for-profit, so now we're going to have to pay for them ourselves to make up the till. I guess it kind of takes the "pay" out of "pay-as you-go" if you don't pay for it. Another customer came in with a phone not made by us but wanted a case nevertheless. She was an old hag who was fussy as heck, wearing about fifty dead minks and reeking of cheap perfume. One case was too big, another too tight. I danced around trying them all while helpless other customers waited. So there's improvisation and problem solving involved in this business too! Meanwhile our phone rang every three seconds. Finally, after completing the transaction and giving her extensive directions how to get across the street she said "thanx darling" and left. That's the kind of fun I get to have.

Friday the 13th was a nightmare. Everything went wrong. Missing IMEI numbers, invalid addresses, ineligible credit histories, fudged passwords. The hold music was driving me berserk. I spent an hour on the phone trying to activate a customer since the heightened security of our computer system effectively locked me out of my own dealer account. When I was all finished, I was getting her to sign the contract and she changed her mind about which plan she wanted. Finally, when she left, she left without her debit card. So I'm certain we'll meet again.

On the way to work the other day something else happened. There were high winds. My face blew right off. I'm not even kidding. One minute my overly chapped lips are bleeding then the next they are gone completely. You don't even understand the shock I felt. And you know how you'd react as a customer to someone who was completely expressionless. It's frightening. Yet still, there is no way to deter them from wanting immediate service. By afternoon, it started snowing. That still didn't stop them. It's only October and now I'm disappointed that the Farmer's Almanac was wrong. It wasn't supposed to snow until Halloween!! Hopefully I'll find my face somewhere along the way.

Flowers look odd with snow on them.

Anyway, so I'm enjoying the craziness and laid-back atmosphere of my new job quite well. Everything can always go wrong, which is exciting. But it can also go right sometimes too, and that is a bonus. I'm starting to actually be of use to people and that is rewarding (except when the system acts up and starts being useless to me). There are good days, there are others when you feel that a colony of ants must live a more significant existence. But that's the game. It's inspiring to see progress through learning. To know something about something. Today I activated two new accounts and completed some hardware upgrades, getting people some seriously sexy phones, like this one. I gotta keep it up. I gotta hang it together. My manager is leaving me for holidays next week. Let's hope that complete mayhem doesn't ensue.

Business

1 Comments:

Blogger iamnasra said...

You are really having fun over there

2:59 a.m.  

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