Phone Work Again? and Holidays Ho! (God save the Queen!)Last September, in 2018, about two and a half weeks from today, I got a call from my friend, Nancy. "They're having open interviews today," she told me, and I trundled off to interview. Ninety minutes later, I had a job. On the phones. Sales. "Oh dear God" I thought. But it worked out to be better than okay! A lot better than just okay. I became a top salesperson - oh, no riches, sadly, because the hourly pay hadn't gone up yet, and because the commission is frankly laughable, but it beat the hell out of serial temporary jobs! - and my financial life began to stabilize, and I met cool people and then just five and a half months into this new job, I was promoted! You know what? I had never been promoted before. What an interesting sensation! People congratulate you and look at you like you're a unicorn because you've been promoted which apparently is as big a deal as you thought it was, and not just because you never got it before! For the last four-plus months I've been wandering through my new world of...analytics??? Holy crap. I think I hear my father rolling on the floor, laughing. And he's dead! So he must be laughing really loud! Me, and math???? Puh-leeze. Actually, I was hired for my interpersonal skills, which are up there baby! But now I've been attached to my computer for the time being, listening to calls. Wow, the things I've heard. My new position has brought me into contact with tons and TONS of information about the company and its many interlocking parts. Of course, being the investigative social scientist I am, I've found out what works and what doesn't work and I'm speaking truth to power and all of that because I finally figured out that at the store, I'm not actually going to be fired for being me. THAT...is a miracle. For the first three months in my new job I thought for sure I'd be fired just for breathing. Hey, don't judge me! I'd been through a LOT, and it left me sensitive as hell. Something completely unexpected came out of the whole store experience. Well, yes, this blog being the first, and oh my I love writing stories here. But something else is happening that is so completely badass! the experiences I have been through in business for the last 30-plus years of my life have been focused by my experiences here, resulting in...my having written a a book that looks like it just might get published!!! My voice. Focused. Revelatory. Truthful. Humorous. Impatient to impart. Understanding. And a little angry. Yep. Sounds like me! But meanwhile, do you know what happens in a few short weeks? [Cue the scary music!] The H O L I D A Y S ! ! ! ! If you have ever been in any retail business, you will know that this is when the feeding trough comes out. Big time! Also, the nerves, the do-or-die "pep" talks - more like threat talks : "We have to do well!" - and... All hands on deck! Because I'm an anomaly - I'm someone who actually LOVES talking with people, coaching, teaching, and being ridiculously busy in running around confronting situations with people so that they learn and feel better - I am arguably one of maybe two people who are super happy about the holidays at the store. Super happy about being asked to volunteer for helping the people on the phone. I'm probably naive as hell. This could be hell. But I won't know until I do it. And I've learned a thing or two during my 4+ months in my off-the-phone position:
I have to say that all in all, this is a big boon for me. This place is like a magnet for amazing people. People with so much heart, so much humor, so much intelligence, so much street smarts, so much love! I'm a lucky woman to have found my way here. So, as the holidays creep up on us on little cat's feet (there's some kind of famous poem about that in terms of dawn creeping up, but I just came back from food shopping and I'm too lazy to look it up), I am coming up on another birthday (Christmas Eve) and at this moment, anyway, it's okay. Am I cantankerous about things I don't yet have in my life (my speaking career, the love of my life, 30 fewer pounds...)? Of course! Am I grateful for what I am surrounded with? Oh good God yes! Even the insanity of the holidays in the phone bank at Macy's. I'm just weird that way. I like that about me. ©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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