1-19-11 Wednesday (Paying Attention Is Worth 4)

OK, a little catch-up.  The other day I took an assessment for a position with a company that specializes in outsourced customer service inbound call centers.  Here’s a screen shot of one of the many screwed up questions I was asked:

There were several of these numerical questions and a few alphabetical ones.  I worked hard on several of them.  THEN I enlisted Jim’s help.  THEN I Googled the string of numbers and found the answers quickly.  Was it cheating?  Did they care how the answer was obtained?  Were they looking at my resourcefulness?  I’ll probably never know but that’s OK.  Many of these customer service jobs are using computers to research product information or customer accounts so I have to believe that Googling the answers are acceptable.  There… now I can sleep.

I mentioned we ate dinner at TGI Friday’s the other night.   Usually Jim submits the Friday’s online survey but this time I did.  I wanted them to know that our server is the best and we continually ask for him.  As a matter of fact, I now enter in the restaurant, phone number and server’s name into my phone so we remember who to ask for.  The benefits in requesting the same server is typically awesome.  I won’t mention our server’s name because I don’t want him to lose his job or anything but he gave us a free order of salsa and chips, didn’t charge for the iced tea or soda, and applied 2 coupons to our ticket.  I really wasn’t expecting all that.  From a strong management background, I don’t think he should have done that.  I think the exceptional service he’s always provided us would have been adequate and welcomed.  I digress, as I typically do.  The point is about the survey.  I mentioned that the chandeliers overhead had many bugs laying in them.  I mentioned the great food and awesome service.  Check out the 5th row of the survey screen shot below:

“For this row, please select a “four” to mark your place in the survey”.  I thought this was strange and yet cool.  It’s probably there for those who don’t read the questions and just score badly or even exceptionally.  They pencil whip the survey.  I wonder if answering something other than 4, if the survey is then disqualified?  Genius really.   In my dealership service days, customer received surveys and sometimes you can tell people didn’t read the questions.  They were angry and scored low on stuff that was a lie just to get their point across which just actually hurt many involved.  Suddenly because something wasn’t warranty the advisor is scored as rude, work not completed on time, customer never greeted promptly, etc, etc.

Back in July I applied for a customer service rep for our local power company.  In October I went for a long 3 hour test.  I knew I had passed but for whatever reason they didn’t have positions open anymore.  Throughout the whole process they’d send emails saying they’d probably resume hiring soon.  Today I went to an interview for the that position.  6 months in the making.  The interview seemed to have went well.  When I got home, I had an email with a job offer from the financial institution I recently had my background and fingerprinting done for.  I like everything about it except for the hours.  After 6 weeks of 8-5 (most likely) training hours then my regular schedule will be 12-9 with 1 day off during the week as well as Sundays.  Jim and I plan to discuss it this evening.

Yesterday I called Bob.  He’s the service advisor at the Rock Hill shop where Angela fell.  Angela is working part time there (for worker’s comp reasons) and still has an arm in a sling.  I’m told she’s heavily drugged and more of a hindrance than a help.  I didn’t get anymore details since Bob was at lunch and almost back to the shop.  I did hear they have their 3rd manager there since I left.  What a mess.

I’ll let ya know more about the job later in the week.  Time to get my delicious turkey meatloaf out of the oven.