SpartanIV posted:They installed some new Internet monitor today and it blocks pretty much every site I visited before My company recently blocked SA forums, but I was able to get the IP for forums.somethgingawful.com and use that instead. So yeah. YMMV though.
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Oct 11, 2012 03:15
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Loving Life Partner posted:My company recently blocked SA forums, but I was able to get the IP for forums.somethgingawful.com and use that instead. So yeah. YMMV though. What's the IP?
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Oct 11, 2012 11:47
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C:\Users\A>ping forums.somethingawful.com Pinging forums.somethingawful.com [216.86.148.111] with 32 bytes of data:
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Oct 11, 2012 15:26
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Daeus posted:C:\Users\A>ping forums.somethingawful.com Wouldn't accessing sites that are blocked get you into lots of trouble? I guess they'd have to know it was blocked, which they probably wouldn't. It's just that, any place I've ever worked has been pretty draconian about that kind of poo poo, to the point where I've seen more than a few suspensions and dismissals.
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Oct 11, 2012 17:36
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It's amazing what the proper number of people will do for a call center. not two months ago we went from 5 leads to two, and a huge drop in agents. We've since hired 3 new leads, 23 new agents and have another group of 20+ on the way. We're also hiring 2 new supervisors and 2 new leads (So we'll have 9 supervisors and 7 leads), and with 50+ new agents on the phone, we might actually have availibility again! The problem with this is I get a sense of foreboding. We just went through a huge east coast site merge which means I have access to all accounts on the east coast, and we just took training to take the New York City calls (Which used a different billing system). I have a feeling they're going to merge so we all take calls for the entire region, then slowly start dropping other groups out. This is both a good and bad thing IMO. We'll see how this plays out though.
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Oct 12, 2012 00:14
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newtestleper posted:I work in a call centre, and if we need to go to the loo we just put ourselves into a specific aux code and go. the amount of time is monitored to some extent, but so long as you're not obviously screwing around it's fine. Well, yeah. It's cruel and dehumanizing but that's how they work at call centers, usually
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Oct 13, 2012 16:02
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Fil5000 posted:Yeah, any management with half a brain is just going to let you go when you need to and manage the outliers. I mean, that's basically all performance management has to be in a call centre, managing the outliers. Most call center managers have never heard of nuance.
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Oct 13, 2012 16:03
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Maybe this is just something that is impossible to get over, but how do you make yourself stop dreading going to work? Before I had been QA, when I was an agent, I didn't dread it too much. A good friend sat right beside me, and I was surrounded by friends. Things have changed, now. I have tonnes of friends on the floor, but I actually cried today, because I was dreading having to go into work. I feel so trapped. I hate this job, so much. But I'm getting paid above minimum wage ($11 an hour), I get benefits that I don't pay a premium on, I have a kick rear end shift that will never change as per shift preference...theoretically, I could probably stay there for some time and be financially stable, not have to worry every time I spend some money...but on the other hand, I promised myself I would never be a lifer. I feel so...like I said, trapped.
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Oct 15, 2012 02:34
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cuntvalet posted:Maybe this is just something that is impossible to get over, but how do you make yourself stop dreading going to work? Shoot myself in the face.
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Oct 15, 2012 04:46
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cuntvalet posted:Maybe this is just something that is impossible to get over, but how do you make yourself stop dreading going to work? You're in a tough situation and I've been there before. Yeah, the pay's ok, and the benefits are good but your first thought of the day is 'drat, I didn't die in my sleep again.' It's not healthy. It's really not. You need to get out of that job, it is killing you, first emotionally and then eventually physically. Therapy helps. Use some of your good benefits and get some help coping with the situation. Hang in there, you're not alone.
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Oct 15, 2012 15:15
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cuntvalet posted:Maybe this is just something that is impossible to get over, but how do you make yourself stop dreading going to work? Start looking for jobs. Don't sit and take it in silence, start looking for jobs today. Life is too drat short to work jobs you hate, even if they pay well. Trust me, there are jobs you can enjoy and make a living on. About 15 months ago I was fed up with my job. It wasn't bad, I was fed up with changes being made to the way we worked and such. I made sure this was known, and was offered a position with another team. I still work phones, but I'm not just a phone monkey doing ticket after ticket, I'm handling production related issues for one of Sweden's largest companies. There are very real consequences when I don't do my job properly, and actual credit when I do them well. In the last year I've had 80% pay increase and I've stopped drinking due to lovely office politics. If I hadn't made it known, I would have still worked that old job, and hated it. Start looking for jobs.
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Oct 15, 2012 15:24
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I worked in a call center for 3 years before finally getting promoted outside of the call center business unit. The company I work for is fantastic, as long as you're not a call center agent. Much of the stress is who we do contract work for, but you can't do much about that. One of our old executives said something along the lines of "Call Centers are the 21st Century Coal Mine" and it's scary how accurate that is. Call centers can be a useful stepping stone but please formulate some kind of end game to get the hell out. I've worked in a couple industries that act as complete vortexes and are very hard to get out of. Food Service and Call Centers are both like that. They're not long term careers, they should be stepping stones on to bigger and better things. I never worked Retail but I imagine it's the same thing there. Odd hours make it difficult to have a life outside of co-workers, job skills don't translate easily to other jobs, etc etc. I started in a call center while I was still in college, the pay was steady and pretty decent, health insurance and tuition reimbursement rocked as well, but I eventually got out. Use the flexible schedule and any kind of tuition reimbursement to your advantage, finish school, and get out. Nothing makes me happier to see call center agents quit for better jobs. Fun anecdote: I quit smoking cold turkey when I finally got off the phones, my stress was practically gone and didn't need them anymore. Cuntvalet, formulate your end game. I'm going to finish my degree and I'm leaving. I'm going to save XXXX dollars then move to a place with more work opportunities. It's a lot easier knowing you're going to a crappy job with a goal in mind.
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Oct 15, 2012 17:46
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I've recently started working on a casual basis in a call centre placing bets for people on horse and greyhound races, just as a way to get money while I'm at uni. It's not too bad really, it pays well and the work is simple, yet mindless. On quiet days I'd appreciate being able to access the internet or read something other than magazines, but compared to some of the stuff I've read here, it's a state of goddamn luxury. Fridays and Saturdays being the busiest days, people have strictly mandated break times, a 20 minute meal break and two 5 minute personal breaks, other days are more lenient. Although it seems fairly cushy compared to other call centre jobs from what I've read, sometimes the customers poo poo me up the wall. To place a bet, a customer needs to give me an account number and the details of the bet they want. Disregarding all the people who deny you basic human manners, threaten you over mistakes they made, etc, recently I had a guy who literally didn't listen to a word I said. His phone cut out briefly while he was telling me his number, I spent the rest of the call asking him to repeat it, while he rattled off his bets, pausing at the times when I would usually read it back to him for confirmation, before placing another, and so on. Eventually he hung up, oblivious to the fact he achieved nothing.
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Oct 15, 2012 18:44
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skipdogg posted:I never worked Retail but I imagine it's the same thing there. Well, certain retail jobs are significantly better. Anything sales based will actually serve to gain you a good thing to throw on your CV, and people skills are a great thing to develop. Food service? That's a loving hellhole. No-one goes anywhere form food service.
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Oct 16, 2012 00:59
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skipdogg posted:I worked in a call center for 3 years before finally getting promoted outside of the call center business unit. The company I work for is fantastic, as long as you're not a call center agent. Much of the stress is who we do contract work for, but you can't do much about that. No one will ever recognize it on your resume, but call centers give you great skills. I mean first of all, if you were ever shy or had trouble dealing with difficult people, you'll be over that. And also if you can stick it out in a call center for like 6 months I think you can take working just about anywhere (short of hard manual labor, maybe). I mean, not that I would recommend it for those reasons, but the amount I increased those skills was palpable to me as I went on job interviews, moved onto another job, etc. Of course the big problem is the only people interested in hiring someone working at a call center tend to be other call centers or at least highly service-oriented jobs. But "service" is kind of broad and could potentially be a stepping stone for "real" job, so keep that in mind. RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS fucked around with this message at 01:32 on Oct 16, 2012 |
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Oct 16, 2012 01:29
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I've gone all these years without quote-editing and now I do it... whoops.
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Oct 16, 2012 01:31
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cuntvalet posted:Maybe this is just something that is impossible to get over, but how do you make yourself stop dreading going to work? It's time to take your ball and go home. Nobody benefits from you being miserable, don't make yourself sick by waiting it out - it only gets harder once the hurt sets in. My HR person actually told someone who quit "you'll wonder why you didn't leave sooner" and she was 200% right.
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Oct 16, 2012 05:57
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Man, I just had a pretty impressive snafu escalate up at least 3 layers of the organization. The customer was really chill, was like "I got you on speaker, so just come back when you have a solution", I had an assist on my line, who contacted their assist, and then told me that her assist went up to another level of coaching or supervisory. Was about 15 minutes in total before we got a resolution, good times.
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Oct 16, 2012 15:12
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Loving Life Partner posted:Man, I just had a pretty impressive snafu escalate up at least 3 layers of the organization. If you ever decide to come to the dark, dark side if claims, stuff can escalate quickly. Like from a sup to the head of claims before you realized that someone, somewhere gave them a direct contact number that jumped about 10 layers in the chain of command.
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Oct 16, 2012 18:00
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:No one will ever recognize it on your resume, but call centers give you great skills. I mean first of all, if you were ever shy or had trouble dealing with difficult people, you'll be over that. And also if you can stick it out in a call center for like 6 months I think you can take working just about anywhere (short of hard manual labor, maybe). I mean, not that I would recommend it for those reasons, but the amount I increased those skills was palpable to me as I went on job interviews, moved onto another job, etc. I spent a year and a half at a call center that's notorious in my city for having very low retention, and I was a manager when I left. When I applied for my current job, the HR person took one look at that on my resume, found out that I left on my own volition and sure enough, I had a job offer 30 minutes after leaving the interview. Working at a call center for more than a year is a pretty big sign say you're the type of person that's going to stay at the company for a while and that you have a good work ethic.
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Oct 16, 2012 19:20
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Does anyone here have anonymous surveys about their management? I was talking to someone who worked at the Gallup--outbound calls--and he says that every year he fills out a survey about the management. I have never gotten a single anonymous survey at my company, and every single focus group at our company has at least one manager present.
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Oct 21, 2012 03:44
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Twice a year.
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Oct 21, 2012 04:24
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legsarerequired posted:Does anyone here have anonymous surveys about their management? I was talking to someone who worked at the Gallup--outbound calls--and he says that every year he fills out a survey about the management. Do you really need an anonymous survey on top of your frequent tip-offs, whistle-blowing and clandestine e-mails?
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Oct 21, 2012 23:15
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legsarerequired posted:Does anyone here have anonymous surveys about their management? I was talking to someone who worked at the Gallup--outbound calls--and he says that every year he fills out a survey about the management. Yup. Twice a year like clockwork. "OK everyone, time to take the mandatory survey about your direct supervisor and the company! Remember, these surveys are completely, totally, 100% anonymous! Really! No one will ever know who you are, and nothing in the surveys can be traced back to you in any way, shape or form! We promise! ...please start the survey by entering you Employee Identification Number and login password."
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Oct 22, 2012 17:43
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I think they tell us that our supes supe can see who says what, and we can elect to have our identity shared or not when the supe supe does reviews. I don't really buy it, but whatevers.
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Oct 22, 2012 18:01
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Oh good, we now only get paid 7.75 hours a day though we're here a full 8.5 hours. Wonder how they'll screw me over next? Wish they'd use lube when they gently caress me repeatedly in the rear end.
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Oct 22, 2012 19:57
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cuntvalet posted:Oh good, we now only get paid 7.75 hours a day though we're here a full 8.5 hours. Wonder how they'll screw me over next? Wish they'd use lube when they gently caress me repeatedly in the rear end. You're getting paid only .50/hour more for call center work? Try something like this: http://www.convergys.com/company/careers/work-at-home/index.php?cmp=default&tab=100DioD I can't think of anyone I know doing call center work that is making less than 9/hr.
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Oct 22, 2012 20:04
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Tennis Ball posted:You're getting paid only .50/hour more for call center work? Try something like this: No, no. I get paid $11 an hour. I'm only getting paid for 7.75 hours as opposed to the 8 and a half I actually spend here.
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Oct 22, 2012 20:09
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Unpaid lunch breaks are pretty common, though. It sucks, of course, but it's nothing unusual.
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Oct 22, 2012 20:16
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Loving Life Partner posted:I think they tell us that our supes supe can see who says what, and we can elect to have our identity shared or not when the supe supe does reviews. The survey is anonymous from the management side. I'm sure if you put something in there that you were going to burn down the building they could hunt it down, but you can never see who put down what. The comments aren't sorted in alphabetical order of the rep last name or anything else, so you can't try that approach.
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Oct 22, 2012 20:57
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modeski posted:Unpaid lunch breaks are pretty common, though. It sucks, of course, but it's nothing unusual. Sure but most sane places allow you to work for 8 full hours a day. Our company gives us 3 minutes paid break time, basically for two 15s and then we can take or not take 30 minutes unpaid. It is understood that if a schedule is 8-4:30 that you can opt to not take your upaid and leave at 4.
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Oct 22, 2012 21:00
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BigDave posted:Yup. Twice a year like clockwork. Obligatory Dilbert: 
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Oct 22, 2012 21:11
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Bovril Delight posted:The survey is anonymous from the management side. I'm sure if you put something in there that you were going to burn down the building they could hunt it down, but you can never see who put down what. The comments aren't sorted in alphabetical order of the rep last name or anything else, so you can't try that approach. Our survey is great. You have to say which business unit you work for and your geographical location. Since leaving phones I am on a team that spans the entirety of the country with a few people in each site. I am the only one in mine. While I am technically anonymous on the survey as I don't have to give my name or anything else, my responses are really obviously mine by the location alone.
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Oct 22, 2012 21:17
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Our servers went down today. That means instead of the usual high of 10-15 calls in the queue, we hit 70. With nothing to tell them other than "Yes, we know, we're fixing it, I can't tell you when it will be fixed." That was a fun Monday.
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Oct 23, 2012 04:28
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Your average handle time is down at least? When we did a massive migration (~22000 users) we had a couple of days when poo poo didnt work. A normal busy monday would have 500-600 calls, this was a tuesday with 3500. Average handle time for me was 47 seconds. The target was 3-5 minutes.
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Oct 23, 2012 09:41
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taremva posted:Your average handle time is down at least? That is the best part of a massive outage. They only reconcile our stats once a month, so if we have a huge outage, I can relax things a bit.
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Oct 23, 2012 12:48
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I'm at agent ranking 77 out of 79 agents. If I don't get my stats better by November I'm going to be picked to work on Christmas day.  It's making me very anxious.
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Oct 23, 2012 15:05
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cuntvalet posted:I'm at agent ranking 77 out of 79 agents. If I don't get my stats better by November I'm going to be picked to work on Christmas day. I'm going to go with a qualified guess and say you don't get any extra pay for that? At my place christmas is over twice the normal pay, and if someone is going to get paid ~$50/hour to do nothing it might as well be me. Then again I dont have kids, I imagine that family comes first if that applies to you.
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Oct 23, 2012 18:01
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cuntvalet posted:I'm at agent ranking 77 out of 79 agents. If I don't get my stats better by November I'm going to be picked to work on Christmas day. You're third worst or third best? I wouldn't have even asked if not for the post above mine, but usually being ranked a higher number is better. Edit: ah wait, misread it, he meant extra pay for christmas day, not your ranking.
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Oct 23, 2012 18:13
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taremva posted:I'm going to go with a qualified guess and say you don't get any extra pay for that? ZeroDays posted:You're third worst or third best? I wouldn't have even asked if not for the post above mine, but usually being ranked a higher number is better. Third worst. Yay.  We get paid double time and a half, but I'd rather spend the time with my mom and dad than get paid a lot for one day when everybody and their mums will be calling in demanding to know why their brand new shiny cell phone isn't doing this, that or the other thing.
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Oct 23, 2012 23:34
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