Yesterday went pretty fair. Paul (my partner on calls) and I did rock, paper, scissors to decide who was taking calls first. Even though I won, I could tell he REALLY didn't wanna go first. I also wanted to get mine out of the way so I took calls in the am portion of class. It was pretty cool...definitely a learning experience as I realized some things I messed up on. Nothing drastic thankfully.
I also got a call from a merchant that is requiring continued follow-up. My very first follow up call. :-)
So today, we were all taking calls on our own. No more partners. Yesterday I took a total of 11 calls and today I think I was at 14 calls. Oh, and I got my very first angry caller. It's cool because even though it rattled the hell outta me, I can't remember what she called about. Normally I'd stew over it for days at a time.
The lady ended up, after repeated attempts to offer solutions and try to help her, she asked for a supervisor so I just transferred the call. It was the third time she'd called in so I can't blame her. In explaining to said supervisor what the issue was and what I'd told her, the supervisor said I'd done everything right. I still needed to take a little personal break after that to pull myself together, but I got right back on the phones. No nervous breakdown for this girl. X-D
We had a class on a new service we're offering and then after lunch we got back on the phones. I was able to do a lot of calls without having to ask the trainers for help so I'm pretty proud of myself.
I did have another caller, the bank rep was actually calling in, but brought the merchant on in a three-way call. Sufficed to say, the merchant was pretty upset. She'd canceled her account, but was still getting billed. Someone else had already submitted a request for a refund so there was really nothing I could do. While I was still a bit un-nerved, it didn't affect me nearly as much as that first caller. Yay for me.
And...drumroll please...I get my own desk tomorrow! I'm a teensy bit nervous about not being in the same room with people that can help with me just raising my hand, but I'm sure it'll be alright.
On another note, I had a lot of people yesterday and today that thanked me profusely for my help and said I did a very good job. *insert excited squeal here*
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
today and tomorrow
Today, from 11am until noon, we all took test calls from various trainers outside the classroom. It was rather nervwracking at first, but by the end I'd decided that it hadn't been as bad as I thought it'd be.
I got three calls total. Two of 'em I kinda messed up on, but the other I did pretty well. I also found out that I say "alright" a lot when I'm confirming information. On the first call...well, I'd have to give a ton of background info, but mainly, I filled out a form requesting equipment pick-up when I didn't need to. I filled out the form perfectly, but in that specific case, the form wasn't needed.
But, tomorrow, we take real calls from real merchants. I'm pretty nervous. They've paired us up with another person in the training class, so one will take the calls in the morning while the other helps and then after lunch we'll switch out. Come Friday, though, we'll be on the floor taking calls like everyone else, with the exception that our "managers" will be the transition trainers instead of the actual floor managers.
Other than that, I've got about 5 more weeks of an 8am-4:30pm shift and then I move to my 10am-6:30pm shift. I'm DEFINITELY looking forward to that. No more 6am wake-ups for this chickie.
One cool thing, though, the only real anxiety I felt today was about 5 min. before we started taking practice calls. I seriously felt like breaking down in tears and running to the bathroom to throw up. Other than that, it was just general nervousness. *grins* We'll see how I do tomorrow.
In other news, my back has been doing pretty well. No real pain except for some tightness when I wake up in the morning and lingering tightness when it's been a couple days between chiropractic visits.
Also, I heard on the news yesterday that Morgan Freeman was in a car accident. Last I'd heard, he was driving home and allegedly ran off the road. He had a broken arm and shoulder, but I haven't heard anything further.
I hope he's alright since he's one of my favorite actors.
I got three calls total. Two of 'em I kinda messed up on, but the other I did pretty well. I also found out that I say "alright" a lot when I'm confirming information. On the first call...well, I'd have to give a ton of background info, but mainly, I filled out a form requesting equipment pick-up when I didn't need to. I filled out the form perfectly, but in that specific case, the form wasn't needed.
But, tomorrow, we take real calls from real merchants. I'm pretty nervous. They've paired us up with another person in the training class, so one will take the calls in the morning while the other helps and then after lunch we'll switch out. Come Friday, though, we'll be on the floor taking calls like everyone else, with the exception that our "managers" will be the transition trainers instead of the actual floor managers.
Other than that, I've got about 5 more weeks of an 8am-4:30pm shift and then I move to my 10am-6:30pm shift. I'm DEFINITELY looking forward to that. No more 6am wake-ups for this chickie.
One cool thing, though, the only real anxiety I felt today was about 5 min. before we started taking practice calls. I seriously felt like breaking down in tears and running to the bathroom to throw up. Other than that, it was just general nervousness. *grins* We'll see how I do tomorrow.
In other news, my back has been doing pretty well. No real pain except for some tightness when I wake up in the morning and lingering tightness when it's been a couple days between chiropractic visits.
Also, I heard on the news yesterday that Morgan Freeman was in a car accident. Last I'd heard, he was driving home and allegedly ran off the road. He had a broken arm and shoulder, but I haven't heard anything further.
I hope he's alright since he's one of my favorite actors.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Last test
We had our last test today for the classroom portion of training. I was kinda nervous about it just because of how much they played up the difficulty of it and the fact that the last two systems we learned were quite complicated.
I was ready to walk out of there on Thursday because I just couldn't seem to grasp that last system. But towards the end of class that day it was much better. The last half of class (after lunch), we mainly did review and then practice calls again. This time the trainer took turns calling us with "problems" he needed resolved. It wasn't too bad, until one of my co-workers got an actual call from an actual merchant. I think everyone was pretty freaked out after that. We were sent on break after that thankfully...I think us smokers all needed a cigarette. *grins* I wasn't event the one taking the call and my heart was pounding. We did some more practice calls after break, but I don't think any of us wanted to on the off chance we got a real call.
I think the instructor realized we were really over it all because we played "Who am I?" for the last 45 minutes.
So, test day. We got in this morning to a smorgasboard of Panera Bread bagels and cream cheese and started the test around 8:45. Again, not as bad as I thought it'd be. There were a couple things I struggled with, but skipped over them and came back later after figuring out what it was I needed to find in answering other questions.
I got done around 10am, but the two instructors were grading a couple other tests so I had to wait a few minutes. I think that was the worst part. Finally I heard my name called and went up to the desk to take a look at how I did. Out of a possible 100 points........I scored a 98. X-D
WOOT!!
I think I was like the 3rd one done and a few more got done while I waiting for D to pick me up. But there were a good 6 people still taking the test when I left. There are a couple people in particular that I'm wondering if I'll see come Monday. I hope they passed.
But, now that the boring class-type stuff is over, I get the immense joy of being nervous all over again because I'll be taking live calls come Wednesday. I think Tuesday will be just managers and trainers calling in to our phones to give us a little more practice, but then it'll be real merchants, with real problems, and real chances to royally screw up. Oh joy!
Anyway, I'm gonna go relax a bit.
I was ready to walk out of there on Thursday because I just couldn't seem to grasp that last system. But towards the end of class that day it was much better. The last half of class (after lunch), we mainly did review and then practice calls again. This time the trainer took turns calling us with "problems" he needed resolved. It wasn't too bad, until one of my co-workers got an actual call from an actual merchant. I think everyone was pretty freaked out after that. We were sent on break after that thankfully...I think us smokers all needed a cigarette. *grins* I wasn't event the one taking the call and my heart was pounding. We did some more practice calls after break, but I don't think any of us wanted to on the off chance we got a real call.
I think the instructor realized we were really over it all because we played "Who am I?" for the last 45 minutes.
So, test day. We got in this morning to a smorgasboard of Panera Bread bagels and cream cheese and started the test around 8:45. Again, not as bad as I thought it'd be. There were a couple things I struggled with, but skipped over them and came back later after figuring out what it was I needed to find in answering other questions.
I got done around 10am, but the two instructors were grading a couple other tests so I had to wait a few minutes. I think that was the worst part. Finally I heard my name called and went up to the desk to take a look at how I did. Out of a possible 100 points........I scored a 98. X-D
WOOT!!
I think I was like the 3rd one done and a few more got done while I waiting for D to pick me up. But there were a good 6 people still taking the test when I left. There are a couple people in particular that I'm wondering if I'll see come Monday. I hope they passed.
But, now that the boring class-type stuff is over, I get the immense joy of being nervous all over again because I'll be taking live calls come Wednesday. I think Tuesday will be just managers and trainers calling in to our phones to give us a little more practice, but then it'll be real merchants, with real problems, and real chances to royally screw up. Oh joy!
Anyway, I'm gonna go relax a bit.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)