It came and went. My anniversary on this website has passed.

Moving right along...

I started feeling better today. I don't know why.

But I did.

The whole tech support thing is going well.

It is beyond imagination how many really mean and stupid people exist in this world.

And plain and simply crazy.

One lady was certain our company was purposely "breaking my internet" so that she would upgrade.


I have a certain knack in being diplomatic and quickly building report.
And I never thought too much about it. But now I am grateful.

I don't just deal with unhappy, stupid, crazy, mean people.
I often have to give them bad news.
And the reason they are calling is more or less a matter of their good time and instant gratification has been ruined.


I have learned when to ask. And when to tell. And when to shut up.

NOTHING shuts up an irate person like ME shutting up.

"rant,, rant, rant!"

silence on my part

"ranty rant?"

silence

"Are you there?"

"I'm here! I am going to let you talk for as long as you need to. Then it has to be my turn because I am going to have to ask questions as well as speak in general to troubleshoot your problem. "

"Well, what did you want to ask?! Just send someone to fix it!"

(And never lie! )

"I am so sorry Sir but the possibility of a technician being dispatched to fix the issue you are having with your dvr recorded material not showing up is zero."
But I can most likely fix the issue from here or talk you through some simple manual troubleshooting steps. "

And wow do I ever say "righty tighty, lefty loosey" a LOT.

I will never forget some people.

- The man who was threatening me with...something...not sure..if a technician was not at his place in 34 minutes.
-The woman who when asked to merely look behind her TV, proclaimed she couldn't do that, "I'm not a mechanic!"
- The fellow who screamed at me for 8 minutes in I think maybe Turkish.
- The man who cried because the Playboy channel wasn't working.
-The Grandmother who was stuck on the Playboy channel guide, didn't realize it, started reading titles out loud. You haven't lived until you hear a grandmotherly voice reading "Bang U, ..."
- The woman who could not go to a website, even after 40 minutes of me trying to explain to her how to use the address bar on her browser." (And refused to allow me to assist her remotely. ) I finally just had to tell her we were done. ( we are suppose to have an average call time of 13 whole minutes)
- A woman who thought Google WAS the internet.
- ALL of the people who have a little bit of info.
And
-The man who was certain I would be the savior of the company.

My favs:
The 11 year old young man who was interpreting for his Mother, as well as handling the manual troubleshooting.
He had more brains and courtesy than most of my customers put together.

The 80 plus year old people who WILL power cycle their set top box or router.
The lady who (against my advice), climbed her car, then jumped to a table where she had put a ladder  and then climbed up to where her battery back up unit was plugged in. And unplugged it. And she thanked ME several times for helping her.

It is amazing what the words "Thank you for helping me." sound like.
Although in her case, wow, she pretty much went above and beyond.

I also liked the Doctor who said I was magic because I got his dial tone back for him.

So yeah, there's lot's of good too.

Basically I have to often be the parent who will go to bat for them when it is the right thing to do. But who also has a firm set of rules and conduct. I WILL convince you to run all over your house swapping boxes, rebooting what needs rebooting, and power cycling your router. ( even if you aren't a mechanic!)


But my call time average is around 18-21 minutes.
But my percentage of people who call back because of the problem not being fixed is always very low.

So I leave you with the parting words of the batshit insane lady who suddenly changed her entire demeanor from cheerful and friendly to demonic,  and called me a "way too slow asshole" and demanded to speak to my supervisor:
"Have a blessed day Sweetheart!"

I am still trying to understand that one.

It is both discouraging yet comforting that every difficulty you face in life is preparing you for a worse difficulty, that is yet to come.

I suppose the ultimate difficulty is death. Or facing it.

You have to suffer enough to be ready for it.

And suicide is NOT facing it. It is trying to beat it to the finish line.

I'm not sad, but I cry.
I learned I can not have the one thing I have wanted from life, and that is for it to be OVER!

I don't know anymore if I have a heart or soul. But I'm not that selfish.

I continue to go through the motions of fulfilling my contract of life.
I mostly just get annoyed now at the whole turning right when I should have gone left situations.

I know it most likely will not kill me.

There is never anything to look forward to. Nor anything to dread.

I'll either turn around or I'll go in the different direction.
It doesn't matter which.

Have a nice day. ( or something)

My closest friend in real life is Pam. I met her on Facebook through a friend of a friend I met here on DeviantArt. She lived in Pennsylvania at the time but has a daughter here in Columbus and ended up moving here. As luck would have it she moved about a mile from my house.
She is a wonderful person. And I never would have met her had it not been for the internet and DA.

At work I get a kick out of elderly people who will troubleshoot problems with me.
I love their spirit and willingness to power cycle cable boxes, manually reboot their ONT, and re-seat cables.
They have little to zero technical knowledge, are usually physically challenged...including often being hearing and sight impaired, but a lot of them are troopers and willing to keep working with me.
One fellow was especially wonderful. He had hip surgery recently and was still willing to do manual troubleshooting with me.
He got down on the floor at one point and said "Hey! This is the first time I have been comfortable in two weeks!"

I also enjoyed the lady who said "Kelli, my box exploded. " She was very calm. I laughed and then she started cracking up.
As it turns out I  had a quality assessment done on that call. My supervisor said I had excellent skills at building report. Odd, since I am not a very social person.

Hey, when something is funny, it's funny.


The job is going well. I am getting more and more independent. I am sure the floor walkers and my supervisor are relieved, when I first started on the floor, my hand was constantly up for help.
Class room training is NOT the real thing by a long shot.

I am hoping to become a work at home agent, soon. The downfalls are the hours..I work nights. And that I am away from my Mom and kids for so long.

It will be good when I am home as far as needing help too. I am fairly small and not always visible to floor walkers. At home I can reach a supervisor by chat!

I might still wait some for an answer, but I will at least know that they are aware I need the help.

ok, well, bye.

again

I am going to wrap her feet in bubble wrap.

I have been on the phones for a week now. As far as I know these are real people and not actors I am speaking with.

I kind of wonder about a guy who said very pointedly, "Is there anything else you should tell me?"

I thought "Yeah probably" and quickly surveyed the script that I usually do not follow.

There was one small point I am suppose to cover with all customers.

It was all very awkward.

And now I sort of think the guy just wanted to stay on the phone.
He had previously asked question after unrelated to the issue, question.

Lonely people in this world.


Anyway, to the point of this entry-

I love this job.


And wow, so far, no one has asked me "are you new or something?"

I did have a man who pretty much went into temper tantrum mode right after I asked his name.
He had already given it.
He said he wanted to fire me, and asked how he could do so.

It was funny.

Somehow I don't think making me giggle for nearly a week was the result he was going for.

I didn't do cross word puzzles or sleep or text while the trainer was speaking.

That greatly increased my performance levels when tested on what the trainer was saying.

And those that didn't pass had endless reasons as to why.

I passed every test the first time around.

When a person starts at this company they get this sorry little bag of goodies.
I think it had some coupons and chap stick.
It should have contained a small mirror.

and you?

Granted that's two inches taller than I.
Bill was tall, but I always have had a thing for shorter guys.

Until the last year or two.

Now suddenly I find very tall men extremely attractive.

I don't know I'll ever find younger men all that interesting.
But my tastes have changed in the area of height and this unusual ( for me) attraction to blond and red haired men.
I saw the other night a young man who was extraordinarily tall as well as a red head.

But his youth was a turn off.

Not that it was an issue anyway. I was mostly worried he might not see me and step on me.

I worry about that and being elbowed in the face by taller people.
Just last Thursday I blocked a tall girl who nearly danced her elbow into my face.
She looked more shocked at the blocking than anything.
I think she saw what she thought she couldn't stop, at about the last split second.
She knew her elbow was going towards me when it was too late.
I have a reasonable ability to react. ( plus, as mentioned, I am accustomed to frequent elbows in the face.) I was able to get my forearm up a bit before it hit her that she was going to hit me.
She just stared at me in disbelief.
Her mouth open and all.

And then instead of dancing walked away.

Me being one of many words said "oh!".

Anyway, red head kid, he oozed youthful awkwardness. His elbow would have probably went well over my head.
And with the extremely tall being stepped on is more common.

I suppose 5'4" is looking more appealing, when i think of that fact.

I lost it more or less for several days.
I have nearly finished the scarf that my daughter started and then decided that she didn't want to finish.

Our tension is different. But it's working out ok.

Donna is good with her hands. She knits, crochets, sews, weaves, sculpts, makes ceramics and does general building of things.
All left handed!
She makes outfits for her fake cats. Um, plushies, whatever. Old people call them "stuffed animals". Or perhaps that's a regional thing.
I call them that.

Donna being age ten I give her a little room for the occasional unfinished project...or two.


ok, well, that's all I can type for now. Ouch. Knitting doesn't cause me nearly the same amount of pain as typing.

I use a larger handled brush for work and thank goodness for those. My sister favors a smaller handle. I can't stand using her trim brushes.

Yes, time to stop typing...

I don't have time to be sick. But I guess I'm making time.

..just merry.

I kind of just feel like sitting.

Painting ceilings should be illegal or something.

My shoulder is killing me.
The lady of the house asked if what I was doing wasn't hurting my neck.
It doesn't hurt my neck to paint ceilings but makes my Trapezius muscle scream for mercy.

I remember doing this work last year and

I have to say I am way better shape than I was.

I can even almost hold a purse on my shoulder without it falling off.

Before my little bird shoulders were just too narrow.

I have biceps too. And my forearms could be used as an anatomy reference.
All muscle and bone.

For the first time in my life I have a lower body.

Quads AND Gluts!

In fact I nearly went up a pant size from the gluts.

I'm like 'what the hell is going on here, what is making it so hard to pull up my pants?!"

Then I realized it was my ass.
And that I have one.
kinda...