Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Sunday morning 4:30am??? TODAY WAS A GOOD DAY!!!

Sunday morning 4:30am, I’m awake and getting ready for work…there is something very wrong with this picture. Truth is I was heading to Jackson to do eight hours of CPO9 training. I mention in one of my last post that AT&T may be going on strike in April and if so I would be on a plane to Hamden, CT to be an operator for the duration of the strike.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9e3dTOJi0o

I left the house around 6:00am and made a quick stop by the office to get a few things I needed, then I was off on the 90 mile drive to Jackson. I got to the training center around 8:30am (and yes I used my GPS on my Iphone…it took me right to the front door) I snapped a quick photo of the building as I was waiting for the security gate to open.

Once inside I was greeted at the door (another security door) by one of the helpers (sorry I can’t remember her name) and was given a brief tour around the building before entering a large room



normally filled with operators so I was told. There were 5 or 6 fellow trainees already in the room, we did the meet and greet and then I saw her…my instructor for the day.

She waved me over and introduced herself to me… her name is Adrian (I have to admit I had a good laugh inside every time I heard her name, it reminds me of the seen from rocky at the end where Rocky yells out “Yo Adrian! I did it!!!)




That was my plan at the end of the class and yes I screamed it out loud once the class was over. Adrian turned out to be a great instructor, very good since of humor, she kept the class lively but still moved us along at a fast pace. I admit I would have rather been at home but I did enjoy the class.

I would say there were around thirty of us that attend the class, we were paired up in twos at a very small desk



(a desk made for one…I might add) I sat with a guy named Billy through out the training (sorry I don’t remember his last name) we ended up having a lot in common we both are into motorcycles and best of all he could type with more than one finger, so guess who I let do most of the typing.



That’s right... old Billy boy. He was a good sport about it and my plan was working great until I heard Adrian yell “now switch the key boards” NO!!!!!!! Well turns out it was not that bad even typing one handed, here is a photo of the key pad




in case you were wondering what the operators use to type on…it takes a little time getting use to but this key board does everything and you can find everything…so be good because trust me I now know how to find you whereevery you are…I’m a bad boy, with my new found knowledge!!!

Well the class went great, I thanked Adrian for a class well done, and drove home, I got home around 6:30pm…long day but at least it rained all day so I did not feel like I had missed anything. Overall it was a GOOD DAY!!!

Ps: Once I got home I put a little pen to paper





(in case you might be thinking AT&T is not making its share of money in the business world) directory assistance gets $1.75 a call, my guess would be there are 50 operators on a normal day working in this one room, each operator answers between 800 and 1000 calls per day…hmmm…let go with an average number of calls, say 900 calls times 50 operators = 45,000 calls, times $ 1.75 per call = $ 78,750 a day, times 365 days a year = $ 28,743,750.00 a year. And let me remind you that is just one 8 hour shift in one office…here is the scary part…directory assistance is open 24 hours a day seven days a week. Wow!!! That’s a lot of money.


1 comment:

Chessie (Chesshirecat) said...

When I was an operator...we still had cords and plugs...I'm not kidding you, it looked just like the board you have pictured from Laugh In!
Telling my age am I?
It sounds as if your day wasn't a waste, and that your gonna be around to keep the country in the information age...thumbs up, and a hearty clap on the back Al...
Chessie

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