"Some days your numbers will be down..."

Its a fact of life here in call center purgatory. Some days you will be a poop magnet and not have any calls that go well. But other days your numbers will be good and you will produce more.

That maxim is mostly true. But for me, it isn't as true as I would like it to be. I know my numbers are not as good as other people, and it worries me sometimes. But I have only been directly spoke to about it one time, and then I responded to check out the rest of my numbers and how I am more accurate than other people. That was over a year ago. I have not heard anything since then. There have been some other indicators and comments-but only the one real direct talk. I have never been given an official warning of any kind. It has been several months since my hire anniversary after five years here. I still have had only two reviews in that time.I come to work every day, and am on time at least 95% of the time. I stay over if I think they need help and I can. I really keep my nose clean and my head down most of the time.

I've figured out why my numbers are low, its both a good and a bad reason. The good reason is I won't take more calls on than I can handle in a timely manner. If you take a trade, but you are late in processing it, then people lose money and they get pissed. But we don't get money unless we take as many transactions as possible. I take the time to complete every trade within a certain window of time, if I see its getting old I don't take more new calls.

What is bad is that if I see calls are backing up, but I have to get something documented, I've found "methods" that make me look busier than I am so they don't notice I'm not taking new calls while I get everything documented and straight on my own work.

It's pure passive-aggressive behavior, I realize that. I don't want to argue with them about my phone being off while I make every trade perfectly documented. But other people don't do that. They just do things half ass and do more calls. Meanwhile, call volume has increased while memos and policies increase.
"Must notify every customer of significant changes in value..."
"Emails and faxes must not be failed to be sent..."
"Authorizing parties must be documented..."
on and on and on it goes....

You have to see my dilemma here. If I do big numbers half-ass they can yell at me for not following policies. If I do big numbers half-ass, I make my customers angry, and have to lie to them when they ask if I will let them know if something goes wrong. But if I don't increase my numbers, I'm not being profitable to the people that pay me. But if I do what's profitable, I could make a mistake in my speed and lose the company money through an error. I can't win.

The system here is broken. They want high numbers and accuracy, but won't provide real leadership or standards to get either. Since I don't receive any real personal instruction and leadership about my work, I'm really forced to listen to my conscience. I want to treat people the way I would want to be treated. I can't live with myself not caring about the job I do, and just cranking out shoddy service. When I look in the mirror, no matter what the numbers say, I know that I was accurate, and I was courteous, and I finished my customer's service in a reasonable time. That is worth more than bragging about high numbers on a computer screen any day. If they don't like that, they can work up the courage to write me up or issue a verbal warning, or fire me. Either way, I have a plan to leave here, just have to bide my time until it all comes together...

Thanks for reading,

It's good to be back in the saddle again.

AC