Thoughts from the Other Side

My introduction to Corporate America

Ok, so I guess my REAL introduction was actually last summer, but this feels much different. Its weird being a full-time employee for the first time in my life. Every job I've ever had has been something I grabbed for the summer or for a semester so I could make some cash. There was always the prospect of going back to school at the end of the job. Not so much with this.

I work from 8-4:30, which means I have to be up at 6:30 each morning. If any of you know me you should realize what this has done to my ability to function at any kind of normal level. My last month of school basically turned me nocturnal. Thankfully the seizures are almost gone and I can now actually THINK during my 8 hour shift. The actual work is pretty simple. I answer somewhere between 100-150 calls a day and help people dispose of their trash. Sometimes these people are nice and fun to talk to. Other times they can be real bastards, but these are generally only contractors who have had their service delayed or old women who freak out because their recycling wasn't picked up at 7:00 in the AM. The latter is easy to handle because making people feel happy is one of the things I do best. The contractors though...you gotta watch out for them. These are guys who will without a second thought tell you exactly what he thinks about you, the company, and your mother if you give him time. Add to that the fact that they usually have a very large group of Budweiser drinking, heavily tattooed, Marb-Red smoking laborers ready to do violence on their behalf and you begin to get the picture. Basically, you handle those guys with kid gloves.

There's a great deal of industry 'lingo' you have to learn for this job too. For example, if someone has on-call service with us and they get missed, I will enter a ticket something along these lines:

John Doe - 603-143-1582 - cld because onc p/u 6/3 missed. pls rec asap.

There's codes for everything and if I get one wrong I have some 50 year old woman who has smoked her entire life barging into my cubicle asking me why I didn't do it right. Sound like fun? Actually, I love it. There's something completely gratifying about the knowledge that you made someone happy, particularly if they were pissed off to begin with. Oh, and the 50 year old women actually love me for some reason. They all call me dude. Sometimes I take smoke breaks with them.

Long story short: the benefits rule, the pay is pretty damn decent for my situation right now, and the job is actually really simple as long as you have the patience for it. I could really see myself sticking around here a long time as long as I get some opportunities to advance....maybe to Account Manager or something. If I get that I could probably overlook the insane amount of corporate brainwashing we have to undergo on a daily basis.

Posted by steele at June 13, 2005 05:52 PM | TrackBack