Yesterday we wrapped up our 11.5 day classroom training. I'll get further detailed about how that went in the roast...which this isn't...but suffice it to say it wasn't that bad. A few bumps here and there but overall the trainer did an adequate job.
But, and I really mean BUT, did she cover everything? Of course not. This is a tech heavy job. Lots of tech issues as well as billing. Oh, shades of memories going back to Convergys working the Cingular takeover of the early 21st century version of AT&T Wireless, remember? Several of my earliest posts from back in 2005 deal with this job.
The big similarities are: tech idiot customers AND your help coaches. Back then, the changes in cell phone tech were huge...analog to digital, TDMA to GSM, and a dizzying array of devices, corporate takeovers, and fluid troubleshooting tools (ie. often obsolete within weeks of publish). Same now with video streaming. That's right, if you didn't get the hint from the previous "I'm A Hooligan!" post, I'm working for a third-party call center (the way it was with Convergys back in the day) on the streaming content client account. Which one? Duh. Not Amazon Prime Video, not Netflix, um, think GREEN. That one.
Tonight was our first night in what they label "Grad School." Eight days of our group sitting in a far-off section of the call center floor with a smattering of coaches milling around to help us. Yup, we're already live. Compared to most tech heavy customer service jobs, this is incredibly short.
For instance, Convergys which I mentioned earlier, had, I think, a full four week classroom with an additional week or so of "grad school" heavily emphasizing 1:1 shadowing. Other jobs through the years had even more classroom, but also a lot of shadowing. But, guess what. We're in the age of Covid and side-by-side sits are not "allowed." Fuck me! I mean, in all my years of CS, side-by-sides is where it all gels together. Not only do you get to see and ask questions directly with the rep, you watch their computer manipulations, you hear both the customer and the reps conversation in full and get a personalized wrap-up review of the call including any "quick and easy" hints not taught in official training. God, even some of the shadiest boiler rooms I've worked in had this feature going for it. Thanks Covid. One more thing you fucked up for us!
So lacking that vital aspect of learning, we're left to fend for ourselves, mostly. The whole coach coming to your aid while you raise your hand is only helpful if you've first "learned" the call flow through your side-by-sides. The set up they have here...you get conflicting information and a lot of obfuscations because the question you're asking them is either beyond their knowledge or if they came across it when they were on the phone, they made the resolution up on the fly. I see how it is, BS your way through it.
So it's a Wednesday night (well, really Thursday morning since it's 2am but you know what I mean) and I'm calming down (since I was quite heated mentally) with some Elysian Space Dust IPA. It's doing its job. It's a 6 and 2 (remember what that is?) so I should be okay for 4 o'clock pm. But frankly, if you'd have asked me around 6pm last night, I was considering going home during 8pm lunch and never coming back. Oh yes, as you well know, I've done that before. But maybe not so early except scamming boiler room places.
This company is legit, the client is super legit, and the interactions with customers I've had so far frankly haven't been all that bad. I already got 2 surveys (out of 5 chats total) with 100% positive feedback regarding my handling of their contact so...yea!
We dealt only with chats this day, tomorrow (really later today) we get to take real voice calls. Frankly, though they can present their own set of issues, of course, my voice skills honed over years of experience should really come into play here. Or, maybe someone will piss me off to the point of me hanging up on their ass.
Then the "E" Word (embark) has been chosen for me, hasn't it?