Serious Work Related Question (need opinions)

[BayCityProgressive]

I will try and make this as short as possible. I work for AT&T. For about 2 years I worked in a clerical backroom support team making around $18 an hour. I was offered a promotion with 8 other people to a sales rep position making $25 an hour. I took this job. When taking this job I was told that our training would be cut a month short, we would have no incubation time after training ( working side by side with service leaders for help) and we would get no time offline for order writing as previous classes had. Also, we were told we would have no retreat rights because this was a special circumstance where we traded positions with existing sales reps.Needless to say the job is horrible. I am far exceeding the sales limit hitting about 150% of my goal, however I feel terrible. I am tired and depressed constantly, every day is overtime which I wouldnt mind if it was a job I enjoyed.

You have to offer our 5 main products to every customer and tailor them to their business. If they say no you have to make a second offer. You must adhere to your schedule and not log off the phone ever during the day. You must quote all fed regulations and business verbiage exactly. Even if a customer has left a funeral you must offer them all 5 products. I thought I could get used to this but I just can't. Our senior manager told us there was no way to retreat however, she cut a deal for a girl she likes and let her retreat. So, the union--knowing that I wanted to retreat, came and asked me if I would like to do the same.

The union told the senior manager she can't do special favors for one of us and not another and they would use it against her. The senior manager is not pleased with me, but the union says they can get my former job back. I feel like a loser and I think it is hurting my ego more than anything. I usually always succeed at the things I do and it makes me angry that I can't get used to this job. However, in this economy I feel like I will burn out quick and want a little security. Should I allow the union to get my job back or should I suck it up since I chose it?

[LisaM]

1. Get your job back

You are making a living; it sounds as if you need to make a life. I think you know what you want to do, and good luck to you!

[donco6]

2. Get your job back, by all means.

And don't dare think of yourself as a "loser". That's just BS. Not only is the new job intolerable, it's assinine on ATTs part to set it up that way. It's inhumane. And I HATE the way they do what they do.

[stop the bleeding]

3. How possible is it to get another job, one that is relative to the one

you came from both in work conditions and self esteem.

[diddlysquat]

4. Allow the union to get your old job back.

Otherwise you will burn out ( you already are ) and end up leaving (thus with no job).

[calico1]

5. This job may be more money but if you are

unhappy doing it then it's not worth it. Get your old job back and then you might want to start looking elsewhere if you think your supervisor might make you miserable working there. And don't beat yourself up. We all make career decisions that we end up regretting. But most of us don't get the chance to do anything about it. You do.

[Sapere aude]

6. Get your job back and look for a better place to work.

Don't put up with a job that you can't stand. I'm doing that right now. I work for a medical clinic and we don't make enough money to pay for our costs and I am real tired of having to deal with it.

[BayCityProgressive]

10. Yeah

I can't decide how she would take it. She does one of two things: she either makes you miserable, or if she thinks the unioin is really on your side she ignores you because she doesn't want to mess with them. I don't give two shits if she likes me or not. I hate AT&T and want no upper level position there. I think they are totally unethical and treat their workers like crap. That being said I live in Michigan (not a well spring of jobs) so I put up with it.

[cynatnite]

7. Sounds like you might be happier getting your job back...

It's obvious you don't like it.

[beyurslf]

8. You have a union for a reason. This is it. Use it and get your job back.

[TomInTib]

9. Ego aside, quality of life should be foremost in your decision.

And it doesn't sound as if your current professional experience has much quality of life at all.

Hey, you can have fun playing baseball and still not be able to hit the curveball.

Get back to your old position and put a smile on your face and rediscover that spring in your step.

Buena suerte.

[BooScout]

11. Get your old job back...

You are not a loser. You just realized that the new job is not right for you.

Chalk it up to a life's lesson and move on, but move on from your old position.

[caligirl]

12. They

want you to feel intimidated and fearful. Its a control method and they do this on purpose. Stand up for your self dont't let them abuse you. Don't let them reflect blame or responsiblity for any hostile actions that they make back upon you. Good healthy boundaries are important in fighting this stuff.

[RagAss]

13. Get out of there.....before you grab your chest.....

[rocktivity]

14. Some people were born to sell, others aren't, that's all.

Salespeople have to sincerely love and believe in what they're doing, otherwise they end up sounding like they're on drugs or in some kind of cult. I don't know exactly what you mean by "retreat," but it seems to me that you can't be promoted and have "traded positions with existing sales reps" at the same time. Where did those sales reps go--who did THEY change places with to the extent that they couldn't help with "incubating" you?

At any rate, definitely talk it over with your union and get your job back if you can--and especially if it made you happier.

:headbang:
rocknation

[BayCityProgressive]

15. they traded spots with us!

It was totally stupid on my part. I should have known I couldn't do it. I resigned myself to the fact that I made a bad decision and I had to own the consequences of that decision. I knew the terms going into it. However, if the manager decides to change the rules for one worker midway through the game I don't think that is fair and we should all get that option.

[Demobrat]

16. Get your life back.

What do you mean, you're not succeeding? You are succeeding. You just hate it. And life is way, WAY too short to spend it doing something you hate.

[usregimechange]

17. Phone companies are evil. Repent, and sin no more.

:hi:

[Subdivisions]

18. Fight to get your former job back...

you were misled and tantalized by the increase in pay and no one told you what a boiler room it was, though you might have known. They basically railroaded you and that is not fair.

Also, it sounds as if AT&T is in panic mode, not able to afford or allow proper training and experiencing high turnover in their sales department. This sounds alot like the recent flap over the sales guy at AOL who refused to allow a customer to cancel his account.

I'm rootin' for ya!

[BayCityProgressive]

19. I recently

found out the turnover is 60%. Of course Fortune Magazine says they are the most admired telco company :puke: . Basically they use you for every once of energy you have and then trash you. That is how they keep their high profits. Literally almost every month someone has a nervous break down at work and an ambulance is called. One woman's grandmother went into the hospital and had to leave. she had vac. time but none was available for th eday. Because she left they wrote her up for an unexcused absence. She had one hour of work left. They are Nazi's. The company has really turned me off to management in general.

[conflictgirl]

21. They wrote up my husband for missing a half-day for our child's birth

It was a scheduled c-section and he asked for the time off well in advance, but they told him there wasn't any vacation time available for that day and he couldn't have it off. He took it anyway and they wrote him up.

It's no place to work. I could tell stories all day about horrible things like you described that my husband experienced or witnessed. I hear that some of the other centers are better and the Saginaw one is particularly bad, but I've also heard that it's not exactly a *great* place to work at any location.

[BayCityProgressive]

22. I am at

the Saginaw Center. It is horrible. Our senior manager is Satan incarnate. They stick Devos stickers all over the building (GOP wackjob for governor).

[lindisfarne]

25. The stickers could be violating some labor law ... n/t

[conflictgirl]

26. Do they still show Fox news in the break room?

Yeah, my husband used to love that. :eyes:

[conflictgirl]

20. My husband worked there when it was still SBC

Feel free to PM me if you want, but I'm guessing it was even the same location. He eventually quit for many of the same reasons you mentioned. He worked there for about 3 years and said that it was one of the most demoralizing jobs he ever had. He was meeting the sales quotas but not significantly exceeding them in most months, so a lot of the managers tried to get him on very small issues and write him up. He got written up for ridiculous stuff like pausing too long in calls and not offering an international plan to someone with $1.43 in international calls. Like you, he was used to doing extremely well in every job he ever had, so constantly feeling like a failure there was very hard for him. He said that the way you describe what it feels like to work in that position is how pretty much everyone feels in that position. (His mom worked there as well in the same position. She was a sales star for quite a while, but eventually quit because of the stress.) He also NEVER got out of work on time, which got to be problematic because he wanted to go back to school.

They also change the quotas from time to time, so people who used to be meeting or exceeding quota can fail to meet the new metrics and end up on steps. (I'm using all their lingo because I'm assuming you know it as well.) My husband got to be friends with one of the managers, who told him that the managers were getting threatened that if they didn't have a minimum percentage of their people on steps, the managers would face disciplinary action as well.

I read your post to him and he said that he knew a lot of sales reps who were begging to get in the position you had before, so he would lean on the union to get your old job back. But as you probably know, there are a lot of rumors going around there that the call center may close. So whether you get your old job back or not, it would be a good idea to look for other jobs anyway. And save some of that money, because as you know, it is very hard to find jobs paying $25 an hour around here. It's been a year and a half since he quit, and is currently unemployed. He went from making $25/hour there to job offers that pay more like $12-14/hr.

I hate to be negative but I know exactly about that place, and you need to watch your back, regardless of what happens. Try to get your old job back, definitely, but don't get complacent. Good luck and PM me if you want.

[BayCityProgressive]

23. My partner

worked on the first floor for 5 yrs and finally quit and took a supplemental income package they offered. He now makes 13 dollars an hour and s still 1 million times happier. I don't think the center will close but they are oging to get rid of billing and residential in my opinion. They make us answer all billing, DSL, and cingular questions now as well.

[lindisfarne]

24. Get your job back. Since you're already trained for it, it doesn't cost

AT&T anything to switch you back (and it doesn't sound like they spent much time training you for the new job).

And, publicize widely that if AT&T explicitly says you can't "retreat", it probably means the new job is awful.

You'd like me as a customer: as soon as I know it's a salesperson, I request that my number be taken off of all calling lists and that I never be called back. I say it politely but hang up if the person continues to try to sell. You wouldn't have to worry about offering me all 5 products - even if I was coming back from a funeral (I know there are a lot of people out there who wouldn't be as assertive as to their rights, but I feel since you have interrupted my life, it's not rude to simply hang up after politely requesting never to be called back.)

[EFerrari]

27. Congratulate yourself for trying something new and get your job back.

And thank goodness for that manager handing out specials favors. :)