My mom wants me to be a brainwashed slug at work.

[sld72382]

Don't know where to put this, so I'll put it here....

OK, so as most people know here I work for a large call center. In the account (the company we answer phones for) I work in I do tier 2 support (the "premium" support people pay for) for a computer support company that is owned by one of the largest electronic retailers in the US. As I don't want to give the name out, I'll simply call it "(store)."

That said, that electronics retailer is one that I personally advocate against shopping at. I think they are building one 3 minutes away from my house and unless it's an emergency, I will not set foot in it. Why? This retailer has a horrible reputation for treating employees and its customer service is even worse - they have already been sued in a couple of states for various customer service issues. I used to be on Tier 1 until they took me off and let me tell you we had our share of people that said in not so many words they would never shop there again. Not only that, but for the stuff I want to buy they are grossly expensive. Why should I pay $70 more if I can get it at say Newegg.com?

At work, almost everybody knows this. Pretty much all of my co-workers know (store) sucks and admit they shop elsewhere for this very reason. Even most of the supervisors admit to this. I personally gave out tips on where to shop and what to shop for to save them money. Here's a hint: It's certainly NOT at (store)!

Yet my mom sees things differently. She believes I should go around saying "I love (store)!" And other things like "I like to shop at (store) even if it cost me more money than online!" or "I will shop at (store) even if I have to travel a bit!" (When they had a store 22 minutes away) Yuck. In other words, a brainwashed slug.

I told her no way will I do this. She responded with "Well then good luck when they fire you." I simply told her what I just typed - that just about everyone has the same feelings as me, what are they going to do fire everybody?

It's the same way for another account in the center, they do tech support for one of the largest PC OEMs. 70% of those people would not buy that brand to save their lives and are quite vocal about it, what is the center going to do fire all those people?

Now, before you start asking questions like "why'd you even take the job then?" or "Why do you stay there if you don't believe in the store you're representing?" Here's my answers:

1. When I first got hired I thought I was going to work in that PC OEM account I mentioned - in my orientation I was told along with several other people "you will train to work in this account instead."

2. In my center you can't can't just transfer to another account. Plus, I like Tier 2, the clients are much nicer because they are paying money to get some sort of resolution to their issue. The other reason is that this account is much more laid back than others, their idea of a big queue is when there is 15 people waiting and many times we are sitting on standby, in other accounts there is as many as 200 in queue all day every day.

3. For other people who say "you should listen to your mom," I say this: the name of the call center is on my paycheck, not (store). Until then, I have a right to say my opinion. The only time I will act brainwashed is if I'm talking to a customer (common sense!) and if corporate from the store visits the center (again, common sense!).

[Posture Moll]

Have you tried simply tuning the old lady out?

Or telling her you'd prefer to live your own life?

[Banrion]

I don't think you should actively advertise for (store), when you don't feel their prices and quality are not competitive. Just be aware, and make sure these opinions do not come across while you are at work, and representing (store).

[Kelly Lynne]

I agree...there's no rule anywhere saying you have to like your customers (which is basically what the store is, as they're hiring your call center to provide their support). You just have to be polite to their faces (and in this case, as you said, to *their* customers).

[BlaqueKatt]

I have my cell phone through a different one than I'm contracted to work for through a call center-and I've told friends and family that the service is way overpriced-and personally I wouldn't get it-however I love my job, and most of my customers-and our center feels about the same.

BlaqueKatt-"thank you for calling the mentor line"

[myownminerva]

I provide tier 3 tech support for a large wireless communications provided...not mentioning the name, they merged with another large telecom company in 2005. We are in a large call center and every one in our project expresses their hate and common knowledge of poor service. Yet, we are not supposed to say anything bad about the company on the phone or we fail our quality...

None the less, when someone asks me my wireless carrier, customer or not, I let them know that it is Cingular... and i try to fit "raising the bar" somewhere in the statement. lol.

Needless to say, I do not work for Cingular

~~~~" Power Up"

[nick1091]

I can sort of relate.

In my first collections job, our company did so good a job at gouging the customers one might have used their name as a synonym for the word. Essentially, what happened was small-time mom & pop type stores would be visited by a salesman, saying they could have a credit card machine outright for some ridiculous amount. Or, if they chose, they could lease the machine for, say $50 a month on a 4 year lease. This was often accompanied by promises such as "you can cancel whenever you want" or "if you're unhappy, call me and we'll find someone else to transfer the lease to. The list of people is a mile long."

Of course, the truth was:
1. Most machines could be had for about $800 top dollar retail, but this lease would have them paying almost three times that, and at the end of it, they'd still have to pay about 10% more to finally own the thing.
2. We paid our 3rd party salespeople their commission after the first lease payment, at which time the customers would go on their "pay no mind" list.
3. The promises detailed above were boldface lies, as the lease specified it couldn't be cancelled (and people had to sign for it personally, meaning you were still on the hook even if your business closed) and in my two years working their, I probably had about 3 people transfer their leases, all to people who'd bought their business lock, stock and barrell.

At first I felt sympathy, and some disdain for the company. After a little while, and after hearing my share of "this complete stranger told me verbally what I wanted to hear, why would I read the contract" or similar idiocy, it was my take (which was made concrete after a talk with my father) that if someone decided to do no research and open themselves up for a gigantic fleecing, they'd have to honor what they contractually agreed to and chalk it up to a lesson learned.

I'd still never recommend their service to anyone I actually cared for, but it made it easier listening to sob story after sob story.

[Kiwi]

Good lord your mother is a corporate jargon BS'ers dream! (no offence intended to your mum though)

you do not have to love/like/promote/advertise for the company you work "at" nor the contract you are on.

Its just a job.... and if they think they can fire you for not singing their praises to the skys when your own your own time.... then they are seriously messed up

[TNT]

I know the feeling... I was never more miserable than when I worked for satellite TV. Keep in mind, this was 1996, and the company I theoretically worked for (actually, I was outsourced) was brand new. As we had zero to offer customers, we had to build our customer base any way we could.

It started with the CEO, who was (and remains to this day) the most unctuous person I've ever had the misfortune to meet. How do you know he's lying? When he opens his mouth.

It went all the way down to our "elite dealer network" whose only qualifications seemed to be that they could make bail.

It cost money in those days to have satellite installed... our big ads touted "$199!" but that was for a dish and a receiver. Installation was another $149, and if the hapless buyer wanted a second receiver, it was some hideous amount... $500 runs in my mind, but it could have been $250.

The perfect storm was created when we got a finance company to float a huge line of credit whereby we could do these expensive installs without having to do a credit check on the customer. Our elite dealer network soon figured out that they could go down to the various slums, ghettos and senior citizen communities and sell satellite for a "low monthly fee." So they'd set the customer up with a $1200 package of several receivers, installation, outdoor antenna (local stations weren't available with satellite at the time) etc., etc., etc. The customer would then get a bill from the finance company for, say, $60 a month.

The dealers told the customers that the $60 included not only equipment, but also the programming, including all the premium channels. So the customers would call me and say, "I already pay $60 to the finance company. Why am I getting a bill from you?" Because that $60 was for equipment.... not even a single channel of programming included.

And that's only the start... forget service because those elite dealers were out making more sales.

Anyhow, I not only had to explain it to the customer, I had to tell them why it was a Good Thing and why were actually doing them a favor.

For me, each day was unrelenting misery. The worst part was when potential customers called me and I had to try to sell them on satellite. I'm really transparent... people always know what I'm thinking. No matter how hard I tried, most of my calls would end with the caller saying, "Um, I think I'll stick with cable."

People who know me now think I'm a cable fanboy because I work for the cable company. Not really. Even though the satellite business has matured somewhat, I've never been able to get past my experiences there.

PS: There were some good times, though... a sweet elderly woman around 70 years old called for service and explained that the serviceman should probably know that she and her husband lived in a nudist camp... which turned out be a mere 50 miles from me. In an effort to avoid taking more calls, we got into a discussion about the subject, which resulted in an invitation to "come on up and spend an afternoon with me and Sid." Um... ha, ha... well, you know... um... then again, I don't have any plans for this Saturday.

[Arachne]

You should listen to your mom.

No, I'm kidding. Well, I'm kidding a little bit. I agree with you that you shouldn't falsely rave about how great the store is. Lying in that way, even if it doesn't mean you're a brainwashed slug, can still get you into a lot of trouble.

HOWEVER.

When "crappy store" is paying you, then it's probably a good idea, while on the clock, to keep your opinions about "crappy store" to yourself, even when pressed by others to express them. Going around complaining about how bad "crappy store" is while at work very well COULD get you fired for having a bad attitude.

As an example-ish thing, the store where I work has some problems, mostly due to the fact that the owner, who holds the purse strings, isn't there very often. But if I had an employee where I work who went around complaining about how bad the place was, even if there were never customers present when he or she did so, I'd first talk to them about their attitude, and if that didn't work, I'd be forced to let them go. There are lots of people out there who want jobs, and it makes no sense to keep someone around who's acting so negative.

[squall]

I don't think anybody who talks negatively about their company or work out of earshot of customers ON OCCASION is really creating harm as long as they aren't loud, aren't a distraction, and it doesn't interfere with their work or anyone else's. I worked in a team environment at a certain department store. Me and a supervisor and others were teamed up zoning the domestics depts, not one of my favorites because I'm not good at folding towels and am mildly allergic to the dust and lint inside them. I said something to the effect that domestics was my least favorite dept by far, to which the supervisor responded rather snootily that I should like zoning every department if I am to work here effectively. So a year or two go by and said supervisor demoted herself due to some other responsibilities outside of work. She (the former supervisor) and some other employees are helping zone one of my specialties, the electronics dept. While making small talk she quoted that SHE HATED zoning electronics. Remembering what she said a long time ago, I said "Well I thought you were supposed to like zoning every department, right?" Looking embarrassed, she then said something to the effect that she's not paid to be a brainwashed representative of the company anymore. Can anyone say hypocrite?

[Arachne]

I agree that the occasional, quiet expression of distaste with certain aspects of a job isn't necessarily a bad thing, and even can keep you looking human and avoid people hating you for being a perky little snot all the time, but that's not what the OP was talking about here. The OP was talking about specifically disapproving of the entire company.

And while there's nothing wrong with working for a company you disapprove of, so long as you're not actually violating your own ethics for a paycheck (that's a whole different can of worms!) I maintain that it's wise to keep your distaste to yourself if in that situation, because you never know when you're gonna get backstabbed by someone, or stumble across a zealous manager, or what have you.

So I guess what I'm saying is that it's not wrong, so much as it is unwise.

[bean]

Scary thing is, I think I actually know what company you work for, and think I've worked for them before as well (on a different account).

My lips are sealed of course, unless the OP wants to PM me.

[lordlundar]

Well, I will promote the company on the clock, but keep my (really) negative comments to myself off the clock unless I can in strictest confidence say them.

You want me to praise the company? You pay me to. You want me to praise the company at all hours in the day, that's going to get expensive.

[CrazedClerk]

What your mom suggested reminds me of one of my assistant managers at a previous job. The joke amongst the employees was that he loved the store so much, he even slept in an official shirt.

(try to imagine how annoying he was, just like one of those crazy exuberant people in the TV ads).

There are products we sell that are cheaper elsewhere, mostly PC accessories. I don't outwardly say we don't offer the best price, but if a customer asks, I won't lie and say you can't get it cheaper elsewhere. I like the store I work at, but I don't agree with all of their policies nor do I EVER promote them outside of work. We have a marketing department for that.