Lobster and the carrot on the string pt. 2

Back to business. As I had alluded to some time ago, Jenn basically had sent out a request to permanently switch shifts with someone else in the call center so that we could have the same hours/days off. Well it turned out that someone on my team took her up on her offer and the gears started turning towards a shift swap. It was decided that the switch would occur the first work week of the following month, which was several weeks away. During this time it was made known to management that Jenn and I were engaged and we made sure that this was not against any sort of policy; everything was approved and she moved onto my team. Coincidentally the person that left my team had the top stats, and being that the switch technically took place 1 or 2 days before the month ended, I took top performer by default (Woo! Default!).

Anyway, Jenn and I were on the same team with the exact same hours and days off. All was good. However, before our first week together was through an ominous cloud had appeared on the horizon. Apparently, two people on another team had started dating and their manager was making one of them change teams. Somehow our names came up (I have no idea how, nor any idea who the two people were) and they asked why we got to be on the same team while they couldn't. Rather than allow that couple to stay together, or even deny them and treat this situation on a case-by-case basis, Sprint did what it does best: it went back on it's word.

After several meetings and a very heated (but professional) email to my supervisor/manager it was decided Jenn would have to move to another team. The decision was very offensive to me because we were basically treated as if we had somehow arranged this behind managements back, when in reality we had gone out of our way to get approval before the change took place... and then waited weeks for the change to go into effect. Ultimately, she was able to keep the same shift, so overall it was a bittersweet ending.

Sprint's repeated lack of professionalism as an organization, combined with mandatory overtime, the stress of being thrust onto floor support with no training, and the cruel reality of being placed into a position to help people (customer service) and not being empowered to do so had really started to wear me down. The button I use the most on my phone is the transfer button...

I sent another strongly worded email to my supervisor which basically said that I had no interest in building a career with a company with such blatant disregard for the satisfaction of it's customer's and employees (at least they're unbiased in their indifference). As such I asked to be removed from floor support and requested my position be given to someone with an eye for advancement. Interestingly this sparked a lot of support to my cause. I met with my supervisor, Danielle, and she completely agreed with the issues I raised. Danielle, in turn, talked to one of her supervisor friends (who was actually one of Jenn's old supervisors) for advice and got her all worked up. She is half Puerto Rican and very feisty and sometimes hot tempered, but overall very nice and funny. She ran into her manager's office and basically started yelling and venting her own related frustrations. She also made the point that something was really wrong with the company when someone like me, who really likes helping people, has become so jaded.

It escalated further and the supervisor that runs the floor support program came and pulled me off of the phones and we walked around a little and had a talk about my frustrations. Basically he said that he really didn't want to lose me, that he thought I would make a good supervisor and that floor support is a good way to get noticed for advancement. He asked me to take a couple or three weeks off from the program to distance myself a little and think about what I want to do, which I greatly appreciated. So much of our communication at Sprint is handed down impersonally through Memos and emails that it is nice to communicate with a face.

Anyway, enough of that. Since then, mandatory overtime has been done away with (earlier than expected!) and I am feeling much less burnt out at work. Positive changes are taking place, though sometimes excruciatingly slowly. Still, I am planning to write a letter (essay?) to the director about my views on why I think Sprint ultimately fails in regards to customer service in the hopes that we can turn things around, but I have not had the energy yet.

Things are looking up, I have a three-day weekend coming up for my birthday. Roughly two weeks after that Jenn and I will be on vacation! I can't wait! We've weathered quite a storm and I am ready for some good times again.

Today's word: Carrot.