"Preaching To the Greek Chorus"It's just a Skype call. "Just" a call with bigwigs. Just a chance to give my opinion about the work I do and the tools we use. Just a chance to ask for what I want. Kind of like Christmas. Without wrapping paper. Offered to me like mannah from heaven with double, triple, quadruple benefits:
It's just a 30-minute conference call. With other people on the phone from the different departments. Bedding, Michael Kors, Chat. Others I haven't heard of. Other opinions - many of which coincide with my own. My own opinions that ring surprisingly confident in my own ears... I'm nervous in a way that is exciting. And unexpected. Why, I wonder, am I nervous? It's just opinion. The head honcho who is directing this call is asking opinions on different questions. That's all. Could have something to do with being told to be careful on the call. To SpeakWhenSpokenTo. To Be Positive. Not Negative. Not to sound smarter than the bigwigs. Suddenly becoming aware of etiquette, but more than etiquette. Something dangerous. Something politically important, in the corporate sense of political importance. Some people who are more important than other people. People who are more important than I am. (More important to whom? Apparently, important to me, it seems.) My nervousness is excitement. It's high-pitched. It's ... like sticking my finger into a light socket. What tools do you use most to do your job? Which do you like best? What are the problems? What could we do better? What about training? What about the phone calls - what's a drag about them? Big silences between people answering. At first. Three or four women and one man. Even the man sounds cowed and hesitant to speak. "Something's happening here...what it is...ain't exactly clear." It's literally a 30 minute call. The mouthpiece bigwig says: "We have four minutes left. Does anyone have anything else to add?" Everyone talking even faster now, to get a few pieces of information in. Thirty minutes isn't long enough, but it's all we're given. When the call is over, I feel as though my hair should be standing on end. It's a crazy feeling that I imagine is akin to what you might feel when nominated for an Academy Award, or being cast in a movie opposite George Clooney. A feeling like you've swallowed the sun and it's lighting you up from within, and you know that your life is changed now. Everything...is different. But this was just a call. It was just a Skype call. To gather opinions and information. To change things for the better. At the store. It was just an opportunity. Granted, offered, provided without my asking, by my boss. Who knows I'm struggling, and who knows I'm a good trainer, and who seems to know exactly what kind of harmless lunatic I am. It takes me another 30 minutes to calm down. What made this feel like a top shelf kind of experience? It was just a bigwig guy, three or four women and one man giving their opinions. Later, I ask who was the guy on the phone? And I say, "I thought it was gonna be a lot of bigwigs on the phone, but it was just one guy and about four or five of us little wigs." And the answer makes me feel both awed and a little creeped out. "There were. They were just listening." So we were preaching to a mute Greek chorus. Like the Guardians from Green Lantern. *shudder* It would help if I weren't so preternaturally attuned to the energies, emotional and otherwise, even in silence. But that is what makes me good on the phones. "Something's happening here. What it is...ain't exactly clear." I should have known that something important was happening. I should know by now to trust my responses. To be fair, I usually do, but today blind-sided me. Not a lot of prep time. I snapped to when that call opportunity came. And I nearly tripped over my tongue when I started talking. Then I pulled it together. But I felt like a Private in the Army. Yes sir! Somehow, I knew that the Guardians were there. I just didn't know I knew, y'know? Somewhere inside, I knew I was preaching to the Choir, or the Chorus. But did they like me? Did they really really like me? No idea whatsoever. Now, if only - like the Green Lantern - I could fly. That'd impress the hell outta them. ©2019 Lori Kirstein
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AuthorWorking in Sales at a Call Center for one of the biggest stores in the country should come with hazard pay. Archives
December 2019
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