First day back at work and it’s been interesting so far.
Feeling much better. Occasional feeling sick but getting better.
As you can see, I seem (at the moment) to have access to LJ at work! YAY!
But they have blocked all the Lottery sites.
Strange.
V10 software out and LOADS of calls. SLA reduced from 80% to around 11%
Nothing to do with us though. We’re still working just as fast.
Apart from that nothing has changed here.

Looking forward to going home.

I know how totally terrible I have been at updating lately.

But the LJ muse seems to have left me for a while. I am sure it will soon and I can do proper updates again.

Anyway

I passed my ITIL exam!!

With 82%

I am totally amazed!

On all my life. This is actually the first time I have passed an exam!

I've done tests like my Driving test. I've done courses that end with a certificate.

but in all my 43 years this is the first time I have sat, and passed a proper exam! (Even though it was a multiple choice one.)

So.

Wow.

One kick in the goolies of the 'dark Chris' who thinks I'm totally useless.

10:40

Watched Big Brother 9 last night.

Well, what an interesting lot of humans.

At least.. I think they are human?

I am constantly surprised that C4 is able to find such ‘strange’ people. I cannot image how some of them can exist in the ‘real’ world without medication or being sectioned!

Okay, maybe that’s a little harsh. I don't really know any of these people first.

But I do think one of the first signs of insanity must be wanting to be on Big Brother!

I mean these people must realise that people watching are not going to be laughing with them, but at them! But perhaps that is the point.

It’s like a Victorian Freak Show. But with the ‘freaks’ being of a mental rather than physical side, and most importantly volunteering to be watched and laughed at.

One of the housemates is from Coventry!

When she came on Viv asked what sort of accent she had as we could hardly understand her! THEN we found out she was from Coventry.

Can I change my place of birth please?

The new chap at work is very into BB, so we will have some interesting conversations I am sure.

Anyway. In other news.

It was very warm last night. I could not sleep until I opened the window. Had a good night after that.

Viv is going away to a Conference this afternoon until Sunday afternoon. We’ll miss each other terribly of course, but I do hope she has a lovely time.

I plan to do mostly nothing at all this weekend apart from eat pizza and watch TV.

I did the £50 Lotto Draw at work, and didn’t win. Our Lottery at work is between 6 and 12 lines (Depending on who is involved – or bothers to pay!) And yet it’s taken about 5 months for us to win £50. That means it’s cost us between £300 and £600 pounds to get 5 £10 wins.

Not a good percentage I think. But still. A one on infinity chance of winning millions?

We have also started a new draw, to win £49 a time. You put £1 and pick a number from 1 to 49. When all 49 numbers are taken we use the bonus ball from the next Main Lottery and whoever wins gets all £49.

I’m not sure if it will work. But we will see.

More updates later I hope. :)

(posted by Viv)

Well work has finally caught up with the idea that Live Journal is a "Social Networking and Personal Sites" which is, apparently, a bad thing.

I have been able to find quite an interesting site that by putting the address in and pressing equals gives me access to LJ, but it does not allow me to log on, so I can only see public posts, and can only reply as anonymous. So very limited.

So, There may be a delay in some of my comments or responses.

As well as posts like this, which I am typing at work and emailing to myself, so won’t be able to post until I get home.

And as I like to spend a some time with Viv and relaxing, I may only get to view and post at weekends.

But we will see.

I asked a pharmacist to find a hub for me.

( Cut to save Embarrassing the Human Race )
After a 50 minutes on this call to get her laptop working on a network we finally agreed we could not get the dam thing working and I would get an engineer out.

3 minutes after putting phone down I was calling an engineer out and she called back to say all was okay.

I'm not calling her back to see what happened!

There are supposed to be three of us working today, starting at 08:30

So far I'm the only one here.

Scary!

Other news: This has been a good week.

Edit: The other two arrived just before 09:00

Despite being off a week myself, and another two members of our four man team being off this week, we still managed to win the bi0weekly prize for the most calls.

A free lunch (£20 between the four of us)

I've just been awarded "Employee of the Month"

I'm rather chuffed.

I can't have Xmas week off. So I have three days more holiday left than I though.

Woo. Hoo.

That was the heading of a email received from the boss this morning.

very exciting.

Then the 'good news' arrived

All the 1st line on 1 year temporary contracts are being upgraded to 2 years.
a couple of new starters are becoming permanent.

And for Crys?

Who has been on 1st line longer than anyone else.
Who takes and fixes more calls than anyone else.
who dose voicemail, Techpoint and lunches as well as taking calls?
Who has had more suggestions implemented than anyone else?
Who would have won Employee of the month had they not changed the rules.

Nothing.

Good news for 1st Line - Kick in teeth for Crys.

Don;t get me wrong. I'm happy for the others, and I do get a lot of praise for my good work.

But it would be nice to get something a little more tangible occasionally.

I guess I'm in a bit of a delicate mood, as this has upset me far more than it should. To the point I almost feel like crying.

Still. Maybe one day.

In other news it was wonderful to hear from Sarah yesterday.

And Winter is officially here (for me) as I had to use a kettle of warm water to clear the ice off my car windows this morning.

Pharmacist called:

Problem:
Was using 'cheap' photocopy paper (his own words) and it kept crumpling and jamming the laser printer. He then changed to a higher quality paper and the printer is now working perfectly.
He wanted to know if there was a hardware problem with the printer?

Answer:
No. There is a problem with you being a cheap Bas#@rd

Advised there is no problem with the printer but to avoid using the cheapest paper.
Have a nice day

I know it's been an age since I last updated. But I do have a good reason.

I have had a bit of an 'epiphany' at work which has made life so much better.

Basically I was having a chat with my boss, who was talking about too many calls being passed to 2nd line (to explain - 1st line take calls from pharmacist. If 1st line cannot fix they pass it to 2nd line)

I explained (in my usual probably annoying way) that the reason calls were being passed over so much was not just because we have not had the training, but because we have so many calls waiting and are so ruched to answer as many calls as possible. We don't have the time to investigate the problems properly or go around asking for help.

He did not disagree, but pointed out that I do at least 50% more calls than anyone else, and if that was to fall slightly it would still be amazing.

At first I was confused by this.

How could I work less?

Then I realised, in an epiphany sort of way, what the issue was.

I, as always, have a tendency towards customer satisfaction. To me that has always been my top priority.
And as far as I was concerned, leaving a customer waiting too long on a phone is bad customer satisfaction. But a call already answered then passed to 2nd line to fix is better.

But what if I was wrong? What if fixing the problem was more important than answering calls? A total switch from what my mind set was.

I realised that if, rather than doing all I could to help then passing it on. I did all I could to help - then try and find out more so I could help them, and only then if I could not fix, would it be passed to 2nd line, then in the longer term I would gain more knowledge and be able to fix more calls and thus reduce the number of calls awaiting.

Obviously, the main aim is to have no calls awaiting and all calls fixed. But that has issues beyond my control, like staff and technology.

SO. I have 'reprogrammed' my work self. No longer am I looking to speed through calls, feeling down when a 'difficult' call comes through, feeling guilty for not fixing things and feeling like I'm doing far more than my fair share.

Now I relish every call. I have set myself a template up reminding me to do all the things they think are important. Like saying Good morning / afternoon. Confirming name and address, offering a reference number and asking if anything else. If I get a problem I can't fix with my brain I look externally for a fix, in old calls, databases and asking 2nd line. If I find a new fix I note it and close the call. If I pass it to 2nd line I ask them to let me know how it was fixed.
I've also starting writing my problem report in a file I can spell check before saving it in the call software.

All this while still offering comfort as well as technical support to the customer.

I'm thinking of work as a game to see if I can keep up my performance.

And you know what?
Its working!
Not only am I enjoying work more. I'm feeling better in the morning and no longer thinking 'oh no.. another X days to go'

It's a little like having a new job. All I have really done is alter my perception and basically told myself to stop winging and get on with it.

Okay I've only been doing this since Monday, and half that day was off with Viv to the hospital. So.. a day and a half.

But I really hope it sticks and keeps being fun.

Wish me luck :)

Edit: Oh. I forgot to say. The reason no update recently is because I've been too busy at work :)

Well here I am, back at work.

Coping pretty well so far. Had a good talk with the manager about the time I have had off and my current state of mind and it all went very well.

Taking one minute at a time, keeping myself busy and already I've received praise from Managers. Seems the desk was falling apart without me!

Strange. Here I was, worrying that I wasn't doing enough, feeling guilty every time I took a break or even paused for breath. Yet, even on quarter power' I seem to be doing incredibly well.

It's so frustrating. I crave praise and confirmation all the time. Yet I find it hard, and almost embarrassing to accept it. I'm just a crazy mixed up guy (Maybe I should change my name to Beeblebrox

Apart from that everything is going fine. Not enough time at home, especially as I have to go to bed around 22:30 to stop feeling so tired.

Well that's as much of an update I can manage at the moment. Back to work :)

I had another pharmacist call just now. Said she was 'doing an update' (which means clicking on the icon that says 'update' - complicated!) But said she had been "told by the Helpdesk" to go to DOS prompt and type 'F: exe'

Now. Bare in mind this is to install a file from a floppy disk, and an icon is there for it WHY would anyone have told her that?

She said she had typed that in and was now stuck with "none system disk error" on the screen!

Now, you may know the only time that happens is if the system is started with a floppy disk in the drive. So she much have rebooted (she of course denied this)

So I got her to take disk out. click on the icon and ... gosh! it worked!

Then a chap who calls a lot, really annoying and acts as if he knows everything. Giving a Major complaint because his password was not being accepted! Saying how the system must have change it by itself and how unreliable it is....

I asked him to turn off the caps lock and try again.

It worked of course :)

Hee Hee. He must have felt so small :-D

Oh and I had someone else say their program was grey when it was obviously blue!


Still. keeps life interesting!

A little Quiz for you:

1.

You have a floppy disk in front of you.

It says ‘Stoke File Update’

You have a computer in front of you.

There is an icon on this computer.

It says ‘Update Stoke File’

You have done this update every month for about a Year.

Would you call the helpdesk?

Yes/No


2.

Your computer has a message on it:

“Press C to Continue”

You want to Continue.

Do you call the Helpdesk?

Yes/No


3.

The only software you use every day has a Grey background.

You’re asked what colour the background is. Grey or Blue?

Do you say Blue?

4.

When asked a question about what you see in front of you do you say what you see or make up a random answer that you think sounds right?

If you answered yes to any one of the above questions:

Congratulations. I’m impressed you got here! You should consider getting some help!

If you answered yes to ALL the above questions:

Congratulations. You are now qualified to hand drugs out to people!

NB: To any Pharmacists who may be reading this: I’m sure 99% of you do a great job and know what your doing. This is just a bit of fun and a vent for frustration.

Well I've been 'lent' a Internet Access for work (Shhh. Don't tell anyone)

So this is just a test to see if it works. Firewalls and all.

So far the only page I've found that dosen't work is HP:Lexicon. How odd.

Well it's been a while since I did a proper update, And I realised that the reason was I missed a day and the thought of having to 'catch up' put me off.

So I'm not going to bother. The last few days can be a mystery and I'll try and update every day from now on.

So far today has not been to bad. very bored (as usual) But at least I have a computer, the chap who is off, because his dad died, was supposed to be back today, no idea why he isn't, but I don't blame him. I think was off about 3 weeks when my dad died. Teal Leader is around, but not at desk so can't ask or hint as to when I actually get to do any work! (She's also
wearing a skirt that Ally McBeal would blush wearing! Don't these young girls feel the cold? is it some sort of Genetic thing?)

Dreamt last night, but all I remember is walking through a pub, or club where there were some people sitting down at a table dressed in suites and reading newspapers. But instead of heads they only had brains and spines. Kinda scary.

Just had an internal email sent to me titled 'Hardest call ever'....

"SK - CUST COULDN'T GET INTO LS1 FROM HER CLIENT MACHINE - SHE SAYS HER SCREEN IS BLANK- TOLD CUST TO TURN MONITOR ON - ALL OKAY. Action: Closed

I'm impressed. Once I start taking calls I hope their all that 'hard' :)

Very tied this morning. A little less so so far this afternoon. Didn't have a nice lunch. Some strange veggie nugget things with chips. They do nice chips here.

Looking forward to going Home

Not a bad day at work so far.

Have a computer today so able to access email (but having to use
outlook!)
But no internet access. Apparently we're not supposed to have it, but
may be
able to work something out ;)

Anyway, thanks to email I've been able to chat with Mandy and
sent a
mail to Sarah and Andy, but no reply from them yet, so not 100% if they
got
it or not, or if they are too busy.

Just had lunch. Faggot, Chips and Cauliflower. Can of Pepsi and a
packet of
Cheese and Onion crisps. £2.42. not too bad. They do good food here.

My eyes are going very strange today. Started yesterday. They usually
are
sort of Grey/green. but yesterday looked more blue, and today more
green.
Fells like they 'changing. Odd I know, but that's how they feel. My
focus
keeps going as if they get 'stuck' and I start to see double until I
concentrate on getting them back in focus. I don't think it's anything
serious, maybe a weakness in a eye muscle or a mild infection maybe. We
will
see how it goes.

Tonight I have a 'date' with Fin and Sarah on Everquest! I finally got
it
set up and we are meeting at 21:30 on line. should be fun. I have the
manual
with me today and having a look through because I've forgotten how to
play!

Apart from that pretty boring. Nothing 'work-wise' to do, other than
some
reading, which I am doing between Everquest Manual, Email and eyes!

Don't know if I'll have computer tomorrow, it depends on who is off as
I
haven't been 'allocated' a space yet.

That's it so far. Updates as and when.

Well. Day off today. Which is Nice.

But having to work from 09:30 to 19:00 on Friday and 08:30 to 15:30 on Sataday isn;t so nice. Make talk a lot of getting used to!

Spent most of today looking at jobs. Applied for few. nothing to get excited about.

Had a nice chat with Mandy, and a quick hello to Sarah.

Hopefully taking Cally to the Vet today to have a look at the lump she has at the back of her neck. IF she dosen't go into hiding again!

Plus Shopping, Vist to job centre to get soem forms filled. Busy afternoon.

Decided I might have another go at Everquest, if my susyem can take it. Just uploading pactes now.

And thats it. Viv's home for lunch, which is always nice.

Well I have survived my first full week at work (well, not actually full, only 36 hours when a full week is 37.5)

Had fun chats last night, and slept well. I know I had strange dreams, but forgot them.

Went to Interview at 9 today, it was so cold out! Interview went okay. But I had to 'blag' a lot! Seems they want an It Manager with a lot of network experience. Well, 'technically' I have that, but not really much 'technical' knowledge. I am sure they could find someone better than me.

Anyway, work was okay. Very boring again. Did tons of photocopying and some work on a till. Not very interesting at all (just like my journal entries)

Missed lunch because Café closes at 2pm when I had lunch. But had 2 packets of crisps and chocolate (oh, and tuna sandwich)

Finished work at 7pm and had a Chinese for dinner. Very nice. Then on line a little and then watching 'Hannibal' with Viv. It was so nice to sit and watch a film with Viv, seems liek ages since we did. Too adicted to computers LOL. Not at all impressed with film. It was a slow and totally missed out good bits from book, as well as ruining the ending. Buffy seemed to liek it. She sat with us staring at the screen! So glad she is getting better. Just need to get Cally to the Vet. MAybe on Tuesadya when I have day off (working Sataday SOB!) But she has a habit of disapperaing when the time comes.

Poor Viv hurt her foot somehow. cut it loks like. Have to make sure it's okay tomorrow.

Well that's it for day. Harry Potter tomorrow!

Just another day

Well. Work, again, was okay.

Sat with 'Alison' Sweet lady who is 'too helpful' but doesn't know too much. I did learn a lot, but mostly from asking questions.

Next to hear say (insert name here if I remember LOL) who had a picture on her computer of a man in a kilt. Looking closer I saw it was a campsite, and he had latex leg grieves on! AH! A LAP'er I thought! And I was right; She was looking for Chain mail on the net so I asked her. Turned out she is a 'Gathering' person. (Which isn't as good as Renewal) and we chatted over the day about LRP. She dose a lot of Vampire stuff.

Had lunch again at café with Cathy and 'mad crowed'. Chicken, not that good

I have to work till 7pm tomorrow I start at 10:30 but have an interview at 9am, so no lie in :-(

Anyway. That's about it.

Not a lot to report today.

Not as tired this morning, surprisingly as I was chatting with FinzillaUK on AIM (Great chat about Comics!) And doing Niki's Quiz (see last entry)

Work was okay today. I was shown how to create a disk to fix some problems, then had to write a procedure! (From memory after seeing it once!) I did okay I think.

Had a great lunch. Went to Café with 'Kathy' who is obviously the 'department Mother' Introducing me to everyone, Telling me the Gossip! Obviously an 'extrovert' Personality.

Café is great. Wonderful Roast Beef meal today. Yum!

Then I went around all the different desks and sat at each for a while. All pretty basic stuff. I'm obviously way over qualified for this job.

Then I came home, finished off Niki's Quiz (I love doing them) and then wrote this while chatting with Emmad.

And that folks. Is my life so far today :)

Happy Niki and Stu are getting better :)

Well so ends my first full day at work since end of August. Boy am I tired! More from boredom that lack of sleep (although I did get about 5 or 6 hours)

Most of today was spent sitting with Roger and listening to him take calls. Extreme boredom! Obviously I have a lot to learn about the systems supported, but most of it seems pretty easy. Used also seem pretty dim. That always makes it harder.

Got to do some 'actual' work. Changing to dates of some log dates.

Also booked for works Xmas Party on 7th December.

For lunch I walked over to The 'Big W' superstore (no connection with the US president) to see what their café was like. Not very good at all. (I chicken out of works café. Might try it tomorrow) Ended up at 'Wimpy' in the Super Blow.

Not too bad a meal, but not good either, and too expensive.

Anyway. Came home, traffic not too bad and that's it so far. Off to read journals now. And catch up on HP.

Right. Journal Time.

Well. First day at work today.

Didn't have too much trouble getting up. A little slower than usual, but okay.

Had to go to Dole office and get a form signed and then off to work.

Got there about 15 minutes early, but had to wait ages. (Gave me time to read the Times)

Eventually a Team Leader (called Paul I think) came to get me. Turns out the person I was supposed to start with (Mandy) is off sick!

Paul showed me around, met lost of people (who I instantly forgot) and pointed out all the important things like fire exits, toilet, where to smoke, coffee machine (free Coffee!!) and Canteen (which I haven't a clue where is)

Sat with a chap called Roger and listened in to a few calls then it was arrange I would g on a course (Customer Complaints course) - I think manly to get me out of the way.

Went to Lunch (treated myself to a Burger King, which was not at all nice. I hate their new fries, and I'm sure burgers have got smaller)

Got back and Paul had gone! His wife had a Baby! (Typical! My first day and everyone runs away!)

Then I was asked if I wouldn't mind taking a couple of people to the place the course was (about 5 miles up the road)! Of course I 'had' to say yes. And had to rush and clean out all the junk from Gabbie! (My Silver Daewoo) How embarrassing!

Course was fun. Lots of 'activities'. Started by having to write down three things about yourself. 2 true and once false:

1. I am a qualified Masseur.
2. 2. I LOVE cheese
3. 3. I help run a Harry Potter Role Play Group.

Well they put far stranger things down, so I didn't feel out of place, and were impressed by the 'Masseur' bit. (BTW, only 4 of us there. Including 'Mr. Ward' The 'icle kiddie team leader who interviewed me first)

Had to do some 'drawings' for a good and bad support experience. People were impressed by my 'stick men LOL

Anyway course finished at 5ish and I was told I could go home.

Starting at 08:30 tomorrow (eep! Early for me!)

Working till 17:30 until Friday. Then 10:30 to 19:00.

Have interview on Friday at 9:00 so that works out okay.


Came home and Buffy seemed better, she is eating now on her own, not a lot, and still painfully thin, but I really hope she is getting better.

Poor Viv is depressed because of work. I feel so helpless, but I try to help were I can. It didn't help when Cally deleted a diary entry she was really working on.

Niki seemed down when talking to her, obviously, and Stuart's last journal had a poem in it. One from the heart it seemed. And a good one too. I do so hope they get better soon too. I hate it when people are depressed, worse than when I am depressed. I guess that's why I bottle it up, so as not to worry others.

Tired now. Bedtime. Journals have been down, but I think up again now.

Sweet Dreams for a better tomorrow.

Okay. I haven't updated for a few days. Very typical of me!

Lets see...

Feeling better about the job. Excited really, a bit apprehensive, not sure what to wear! I think my suit would be best, probably.

We had a great meal out on Halloween. Lots of fun. When we got back the house had been 'egged' aren't kids just great!

Anyway. What else?

Buffy has been poorly. Her fur was getting thin on one side to I took her to Vets. She HATES being in the car! Meowed all the way there. She was okay with Vet though. He said she might have an allergy, so gave her an injection.

Had to take her again a couple of days later because she went very thin and was being sick!

He said she had worms and gave her another injection. She dose seem to be getting better now. Moving about a little and has started to eat a little.

What else? Hmmm.

Built a little fence outside using a pole and lots of brambles. Not much use, but the kids might trip over it.

When out for a drink with Andy. Ended up in Yates when they had a karaoke night! Obviously we didn't sing! But music was okay (a bit loud)

Having fun with HP-Hogwarts. Me trying to do my Diplomat bit. Still time will tell.

Do I agree with people too much? Something Andy said 'I'm the one that always agrees' I think it's because I understand people too much! If someone says something I disagree with I will tell them, and if we discuss it, fine. I don't try and push my view onto them, no point unless they are open to change their mind. If I'm wrong I'll admit it, no problem. If I'm right and they still won't change their mind what's the point of pushing it? I'm Confuddled ;)

Thinking hard over last few days. What else happened

Coventry University offered me an interview, but it was paying even less so I declined.

Office angles has got me one for 9th, but given me no information! I'll see if I can call them.

Sarah has set up a 'live' web cam page! LOL I'm sure that girl has an exhibitionist streak! LOL

And hopefully Mandy is coming over on Sunday. :)

Off to Coventry later.

Well I 'think' that's about it. I'll update again if I remember more.

Well. What a day!

Wedding anniversary course. 10th, which according to the net is TIN! So I got Viv some Harry Potter Tins. Would have been nice to be able to get her flowers and a card, but not having a job, well I know she would not have been pleased.

Had an interview at 9:30 today.

The Job is a basic Helpdesk Bod. Same as I was doing 4 years ago. Supporting EPOS systems for Lloyds Chemists.

Went well. And in fact they offered me the job then and there!

I'm very happy of course, only downside is the pay. Very very low. 'JUST' enough to live on, with a few cutbacks. And it will mean working Saturdays, and some Sundays too.

Still a job is a job, and I can always keep looking.

I was told by an agency that I was going to have a 3rd Interview for a job I really wanted, and with great pay.

I've been trying to get in touch with them for 3 days now, Always 'in meetings' 'away from desk, you know how it is.

Eventually I said I'd ring the Company! And then they just 'happened' to find someone to speak to me....

Only then did they tell me someone else had an interview and that they got the job.

Thanks a LOT!

Still life goes on.

Applied for another job via Jobserve and have been told my CV has been sent. So fingers crossed.

Apart from that, Viv and I are going out for a meal tonight, paid for by Parents in law, so will miss most of the kids Trick or Treating. (But they have started already)

See ya later

Happy Halloween!