Thursday, 30 August 2007
Dragon*Con check-in tonight :)
(9:00am) - I'm leaving at 6pm sharp for Atlanta; I'll be there about 10 or 11pm depending on when I actually get to hit the road. I'll have to check in to the room first, then I'll hook up with everyone who got there early ... there's gonna be six of us (possibly a seventh!) splitting the cost, so it'll only be $60 per for the room for all four nights.
My schedule is laid out and ready ... here it is.
Wednesday, 29 August 2007
Hamster (powered!) shredder
(7:30pm) - Rather original, if you ask me ...
http://www.tomballhatchet.com/hamstershredder.html
Free Spirit Spheres
(7:30pm)
- Also rather original ... these are habitable human-sized living
quarters that hang in trees and can be linked from one to another (and
to the ground of course...) by rope bridges & ladders:
http://www.freespiritspheres.com/eryn.htm
'Bout as close as anyone can get to living in an Ewok Village, methinks...
Tuesday, 28 August 2007
Attention NASCAR fans!
(11:00am) - Just learned something truly fantastic for all Dale, Sr. fans: The movie Dale, which has caused a sensation for its production quality and accurate documentary-style depiction of the life of The Intimidator, will be shown on CMT TV on Tuesday night, Sep. 4th!
For the CMT webpage on the show: click here.
The news story where I first saw it is here.
Friday, 24 August 2007
A real, workable plan for Iraq...!
(2:00pm) - Fascinating ... Sen. Joe Biden, one of the Democratic candidates for U.S. President, and Leslie Gelb, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, have a sensible plan for resolving the stalemate situation in Iraq. This is something I can definitely throw my (not insignificant!) weight behind:
http://planforiraq.com/
Wednesday, 22 August 2007
Three more cool/funny web-things...
(6:00pm) - These all appeared to me via one or two "Good Morning" SiliconValley.com newsletters:
Wal-Mart's version of iTunes (no DRM*)
* Digital Rights Management: copy protection like Apple's; doesn't allow complete ownership of the purchased song.
Namaste!
Monday, 20 August 2007
WikiHow ... Leash Train your Cat
(1:00pm) - WikiHow sometimes posts some questionable howto's that don't seem very useful to me ... every now and then, though, something cool is posted. That's why I added their Google widget to my Google home page. I recently posted a link to the one explaining how to make caffeinated Jello shots. At any rate, here's the latest ... another one I think I'll try:
Friday, 17 August 2007
Next Week ... Summerfest!
(9:00am)
- Next week in York, SC where my sister lives is the weekend long
festival called (imaginatively enough) "Summerfest." It's a full
weekend of streets closed in downtown York (two parallel blocks) and
booths and food of all kinds available for sale. The best part: a HUGE
classic car show ... there's always some really cherry '65 and '66
Mustangs for show and for sale ...
It's pretty standard summer fare you can see in any of a hundred small towns all over the South. But this one is special to us, since we've been going every year since my sister married and moved up there.
I'm going to Atlanta this weekend, but I'm most looking forward to Summerfest next week!
Namaste! (that's from LOST, btw)
Thursday, 16 August 2007
Corrective action sucks ...
- UPDATE:(6:15pm)
- About an hour ago, I got
reinforcement from my supe....
It appears I'm very valuable; I'm the only
customer service agent who can handle a
particular customer... YES! <thrust fist>
(9:00am) - I came in early this morning to have a coaching and counseling session with my supervisor. I do tech support for a software package, and evidently I've been saying the wrong things (sometimes) to customers.
I'm a man who accepts responsibility for my own actions. I also believe that being honest is always the best policy. Also, I'm quite strange ... more than a little weird ... a fully self-aware oddball. Evidently all of those facts combine to make me a bit troublesome on the telephone with customers.
Before
I explain, you should know that I listened to her, said only "Yes,
ma'am," "OK!", "Absolutely," "You're right!", or some combination of
those four. (Except once.)
Unfortunately,
after the first one, I slipped and said, "But I always follow that up
with '...but I can find out for you'". And after saying it, I realized
my mistake...
Here's her four points, why she corrected me, and how I'll fix it:
1.I should never say, "I don't know." I can understand that. However, I think this refers to the one time I didn't immediately follow that up with, "....but I can find out for you!" That ONE time was yesterday, and I didn't know what the *customer* was saying - I couldn't understand her phrasing of the problem.
** Henceforth, I will strike "I don't know" from my repertoire of customer communications.
2.I should never give a *deep breath (sigh)* while talking to customers. It sounds like exasperation. In truth, it was never exasperation with the customer. No, it's frustration with my training! I only did the *SIGH* when I didn't know an answer, and I felt I should know the answer. I would have known the answer, had the training not had to be so quick and shallow.
** Henceforth, I will never give a *Heavy Sigh* while on the phone with a customer.
3.I must say "Please" if I ask the customer to hold on. Her exact phrasing was, "you aren't talking to a friend, you're talking to a customer." That's funny, because I've always tried to treat the customers in a friendly way. In truth, I have never said the actual word "Please." I always say exactly this: "Would you mind if I put you on hold while I look that up?" I always follow that up with a "thank you!" and then I put the customer on hold. (I learned that while working tech support for a large ISP.)
** Henceforth, I will always say "May I please put you on hold while I look that up" if I need the customer to hold on.
4.I should never say another agent was wrong. Sadly, I have done this! I know about loyalty and all that amongst co-workers, but if I say something wrong to a customer, I fully expect that the next agent stuck with fixing my mistake would apologize to the customer for me! That's all I ever do.
** Henceforth, I will never say, "That agent was wrong." I will only say, "I'm sorry, but this is what I know about your situation, and this is what I can do for you!"
O === O
It's extremely weird, I know, for me to post details of a coaching and counseling session I got from my supervisor on a public website. But then, I am weird, as I stated already. I needed to write this out to make absolutely sure I ingrained the new habits I'm making, rather then dwell/obsess over the bad habits, and my embarrassment over being coached/counselled.
I
hope you understand. It's not likely that someone beyond my circle of
family and friends will read this, and it's precisely my family and
friends I would want to know. That I'd want to know I am being a man,
accepting responsibility, and not afraid to admit I was wrong. If
someone I don't know does end up reading this, well ... at least I've
publicly confirmed I'm an upstanding man.
In short, this is my first opportunity here at my new job whereby changing these specific bad habits will also help me change my lifetime habit of depressively destroying myself just because I made small mistakes ...
That would be a guy thing, childish, and not mature!
Namaste :)
Wednesday, 15 August 2007
Happy day to everyone!
(9:10am) - Just felt like taking a few moments out of my work-day to say "Hello, everybody" ...
Nothing else. Just feeling good today is all.
Namaste!
Monday, 13 August 2007
Happy Birthday to me!
(6:15pm) - Wish me happy birfday, dammit ....!
That's better. Thank you :)
Best Bands that never existed....
(6:10pm) - Because I'm in a hurry, since it's my birthday and the fine pair of 'rents with whom I've been blessed want to buy me dinner at T-Bones ....
Here's a link to the 10 BEST bands that never really existed (spot on for most, #9 is questionable):
http://tinyurl.com/yupvzh
Intro to Lolcats 101
(4:00pm) - Check out the whole site for cat-laughs ... :)
http://icanhascheezburger.com
Friday, 10 August 2007
I'm a compleat Geek ...
(7:00pm) - I'm so proud of myself I could go without showering for a week ... :)
Thank God it's Friday ... 6:30pm!
(6:30pm) - URLs: I've been so busy at work this week I can't stand it - well, actually, OK then: if I really couldn't stand it I'd quit. So I *can* stand it ... I just don't have to like it ... :)
Aside from work I was housesitting for my sister who is out of town on vacation. ON Saturday, they packed up the F350 with enough food and supplies to feed and billet all the troops in Afghanistan, hooked the boat trailer up, and took off for St. George Island in the Gulf. I couldn't go.
I had to work :( ...
But all's well that ends well, because despite the crushing heat I didn't kill the dogs, I got enough sleep, I was able to swing by the house and feed my cats on the way to work, and never was late to work. Not even one minute.
My sister and family are still there, until tomorrow night. Wednesday night my pregnant neice and her fiancee came back early to relieve me and get back to their usual work. So I'm back to my usual schedule, pleasing the parents, and trying to squeeze in some fun wherever I can.
Speaking of which: tomorrow I'm going to help out with a kid's Star Wars event at Beattie's Ford Library in Charlotte. It starts at 11:00am here:
http://tinyurl.com/2onc27
Don't know how long it'll last - but should be fun.
Until next time ... Peace!