Wednesday, October 8, 2008

The Whole Story

My main (and practically only) duty at my last job was answering the phone. 90% of the calls are for one particular person, Richard, the Sales Manager. The morning of October 1st, my boss came blowing in the door like a pissed-off hornet, as she does on most mornings, just looking for something or someone to bitch and complain about. She managed to bite Richard's head off twice, and Josh's once, before I fell victim to her wrath.

The phone rang and I answered it in my fake, cheesy voice (as I had to actually practice during my interview) (that should have been a sign). The call, surprise-surprise, was for Richard. I explained to the gentleman on the phone (Mr. Medford, an eighty-something-year-old Chief from a tiny town up north) that Richard was on another line, and asked him if he would like to hold for a moment. He said he would hold, that he had nothing better to do. After we have a customer on hold for one minute, our phones begin beeping to remind us of the call. When my phone started beeping, I picked up the phone to tell him that Richard was still on the line, and ask him if he would like to continue holding. Before I could even ask him, he interupted me and told me he had a call and would call right back. I said OK and hung up the phone.

The very second that I hung up that phone, my boss started in on me. "How many times do I have to tell you that we always give them the option to continue holding? How many times have I told you that? We don't ever, ever, ever want out customers to think we are rushing them off of the phone. How many times do I have to tell you that? You didn't even ask him if he wanted to continue holding or if you could take a message?"

I interupted her to tell her what had actually happened, considering she wasn't on the damn phone! She was not impressed. "Well, you never do it anymore! You never give them the option to hold longer than one minute. You always say, 'He's still on another line' and then you just sit there. How many times do I have to tell you?"

Oh, no she didn't stop there. That's just where I quit listening and went back to doing my only other job. She went on and on for a good 3 minutes, I shit you not. Finally, when she either ran out of things to say, or got tired of listening to herself moo, she picked up a stack of tickets from her desk, THREW THEM against the wall behind her and YELLED, "I AM SO TIRED OF STUPID PEOPLE!!!"

Ummm. Yeah. That's not gonna work. I (calmly, somehow) simply got up, went out to my car and got my purse (I had a spare in there as I had changed out on my way to work that morning), went back inside and began cleaning out my drawers into my purse. The husband called to see if I had lunch plans. I told him I did not, nor did I have afternoon plans, nor tomorrow plans. He asked me what was wrong and I told him I was leaving at lunch and not returning. He said okay and told me I could give details at lunch. He then called right back and told me not to wait until lunch, to just leave right then. I explained to him, whispering all the while, that I wanted to wait it out as long as I could just for a few more dollars. I heard my boss tell her daughter, loud enough so that I could hear her, "She' s over there whipsering!" I hung up the phone, stood up, and walked out.

Oh, I should totally give you another example of how STUPID these people are. The day before this happened, I was sitting at my computer doing invoices. When I have this software open, I can see my boss, who sits behind me, in the reflection in my monitor. The two idiots were talking about a local business that is run by men, whom Trish and Glenda (the real names) do not like. I don't remember the exact content of the conversation, but I know Trish made the statement, "Well, it's not her fault. I too have had lapses in judgement when it comes to other people's characters." She said it in such a way that I just had to look at Glenda, only to see her pointing at me and laughing. HOW FREAKIN STUPID AND IMMATURE CAN YOU BE?

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not asking for pity or "Ahh, cheer up. We like you." Believe me, after working with these two idiots for nearly three months, I can assure you I am completely thrilled that they do not like me. I have never, ever heard them say a positive or even remotely nice thing about anyone, even each other. I can't imagine the spineless, ass-kissing, unopinionated person I would have to be to get their votes.

So, here I go again. On the job hunt. I have filled out roughly fifteen application in the last week. I have gone on one interview. I had two scheduled yesterday, but ended up not going to either. I called and canceled one of them, realizing I didn't really want the job and would only be wasting my time interviewing. Something about the cloud of cigarette smoke I had to walk through to get to the manager's desk turned me off. About five minutes after I canceled the first one, the second one called me and rescheduled for Monday. MONDAY! I totally wanted to start Monday. But, turns out the lady doing the hiring was out with sick kids. I can totally relate to that one. I'm expecting to hear back from at least three people this week, hopefully at least one today. I'm going to the city tomorrow to take a test for another one. Have I ever mentioned I hate job hunting? Let it be known.

1 comment:

Christy said...

Sorry you had to deal with such bitches. I can't imagine how pissed I would have been had any of that happened to me. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and prayers said for you that you'll find the perfect job for you. Too bad those morons didn't realize how great you really are. I said it before, I'll say it again, you know you are free to use my for a personal reference if you need to. Love ya!