Friday, January 13, 2012

New and exciting adventures.

So let's see, what's happened in the last month since I quit regularly posting .... had a mental breakdown, failed to be able to pay most of my bills, holidays, got a boyfriend, oh yeah, and embarked on an exciting adventure known as Not Waitressing. Or more accurately, Not Waitressing Full Time. Have no fear -- for the time being, I'm still a bitch for tips. Last night I had a fun shift, got stiffed on a $30 check -- although I expected that one because they were super fun people until it turned out I'd ordered the wrong variety of garlic steak for the bitch, and then they just turned fucking nasty. What I didn't expect was the people next to them, who ran up an $86 for the five of them, and left me $5. Fucking dicks. Oh well. Now that I have a 40 hour a week, hourly paying job, I'm much more able to blow off shit like that.

What's not so easy to blow off is how motherfucking stressful that place is! The call center is mellow. The most stressful day I've had there isn't a tenth as stressful as an average, smooth shift at the restaurant. The constant running around, the chaos of the kitchen, the never knowing what's going to happen in terms of business levels and money ... I knew that place made me miserable, but I didn't realize quite how miserable until I had something to compare it to. Now just having to go there makes me want to throw up. But, gots to pay the billz, riiiite?

My hourly job still involves the public, though, and as always .... they're idiots. I'm doing telephone customer service for a cable company, which is great because I can keep my voice in check even while rolling my eyes and making faces at the dumb bitches. Perfect example from yesterday:

Customer: "I don't have any television! I woke up this morning and there's nothing on my screen! I'm so sick of all the problems with you people!"
Me: "That's definitely frustrating, ma'am, and I'm going to find out what's going on for you. First of all, is your television currently on?"
Customer: "How am I supposed to know! There's nothing on the screen!"
Me: "*sneaking suspicion I'm dealing with a total fucking moron* Okay, let's look at your Cable Company receiver. What lights do you see?"
Customer: "Just one red one."
Me: "Thank you. Now, can you please press the power button on your receiver and tell me what changes?"
Customer: "*HEAVY SIGH* Okay." Immediately I heard a tv program come on. "Oh, it's fixed! What did you do! Thank you!"

Fucking moron. Of course, we also get angry people calling sometimes -- had a Southern guy rip me a new one the other day, swearing up one side and down the other while telling me I was sitting on my ass and that's why he didn't have tv. Let's review. I'm west of the Mississippi. He sent his money order, less than a week ago, to a processing center in Atlanta. Yeah, that's my fault. What the fuck ever. I still get paid the same despite him not being happy, which is awesome.

6 comments:

Joe Sixtop said...

Hell yea! That's great!

SkippyMom said...

oooh a call center - for a cable company no less - you are going to have so much fun with those dillweeds! I can't wait to hear more. heehee You can SO handle them. :D I am glad you have a less stressful environment to deal with and will only be waitressing a bit. Glad to hear you are feeling better.

Now, what's this about a boyfriend?

[You didn't think I was going to let THAT pass without asking about it did you? heehee]

Hugs my friend. Again, so happy you are doing well.

dawnie said...

I worked for our local cable company for 20 years, and you are in for a treat. Your first scenario brought back so many memories! I have had that conversation many, many times! Have fun! and do tell more about the boyfriend.

purplegirl said...

Haha, I should have known the boyfriend comment would get attention. :) I don't want to be posting too much private stuff out in the open, for his sake, but if you really want to know you can email me. :)

I've done call center work before, and even some limited tech for this particular company in 2004, so at least I knew what I was in for. Some of my new coworkers were surprised at how douchey people are!

Just the Messenger said...

I am so happy for you--taking a breather from serving as much as you were is a godsend.

Last June, I quit my job in order to pursue what I really wanted to do and it made a world of difference. If you can at some point in time, quit. It may make making-ends-meet a little more difficult, but your sanity will thank you (trust me).

Good luck and I'm glad you're doing better!

yellowcat said...

People really forget to turn the receiver on? Really? Really?!

How do these morons drive themselves around?