Well, *that* didn't exactly go as planned....

I returned from church to find BC had dropped off the pole and brackets, yay, some assembly required, no problem---except that the pole turned out to virtually span the garage from side to side.

I don't have tools to saw an iron pipe, for one thing, and for another, I don't particularly want to saw it. So...I raised it up and ran it side-to-side on a level with the cabinets. It isn't ideal, being unsupported in the middle, but it'll work for now. This leaves me with both brackets and studs...a rack with a shorter length of pole can always go into another room.

It certainly is eye-opening as to how cluttered the garage is. I went through a pile, and it featured two quilted queen bedspreads, a chenille bedspread, a comforter, an afghan and a MONSTER of a polyester patchwork comforter. That's one pile, and does not include a plastic laundry basket full of towels and linens, a stepladder that's almost completely buried in stuff and an ironing board, covered with IDEK. And that? Is just the landry area. Correction: PART of the laundry area.

Small victories...one at a time....
.

Well, *that* didn't exactly go as planned....

I returned from church to find BC had dropped off the pole and brackets, yay, some assembly required, no problem---except that the pole turned out to virtually span the garage from side to side.

I don't have tools to saw an iron pipe, for one thing, and for another, I don't particularly want to saw it. So...I raised it up and ran it side-to-side on a level with the cabinets. It isn't ideal, being unsupported in the middle, but it'll work for now. This leaves me with both brackets and studs...a rack with a shorter length of pole can always go into another room.

It certainly is eye-opening as to how cluttered the garage is. I went through a pile, and it featured two quilted queen bedspreads, a chenille bedspread, a comforter, an afghan and a MONSTER of a polyester patchwork comforter. That's one pile, and does not include a plastic laundry basket full of towels and linens, a stepladder that's almost completely buried in stuff and an ironing board, covered with IDEK. And that? Is just the landry area. Correction: PART of the laundry area.

Small victories...one at a time....
.

Undercover Boss: GSI

Gimme a break. Okay, for starters, the Melbourne segment was the only part I'm qualified to comment on (although the rest was certainly enlightening). From the entrance to the breakroom and everything in between, I could pretty much tell you where they were standing to take every shot.

I was wondering how they were going to pass him off as a CSR, because you have to be really proficient in five or six different programs to work that job, and basic training takes a week. Instead, they put him on E-Team (Escalations, or "I want to talk to your supervisor."), which I've never actually done, but I could've told him that tentative is NEVER the right answer. Grovel early, grovel often! The first guy he sat with looked familiar, but not anyone I knew personally. They were in a different vertical (department), sports, which was at the far side of the building from where I worked in apparel. The scene in the breakroom amused me; I spent so many hours in that breakroom, it probably adds up to weeks---but the sound on the TVs was turned down---usually it's blasting!

The second rep he sat with, I didn't know her either, but damn! I'm torn between feeling sorry for her---one bad call and all of American gets to see her getting chewed out for it---and being pissed that I worked my ass off as a CSR and gave terrific service for them and I got canned for "taking too long". Kind of ironic, since he got fired for the same thing when he worked as a packer!

The problem that touched off the call with the fireworks, IE credit after the fact on a sale item, is standard practice, and always has been. There is NO WAY to make the computer change the regular price on an item back to the sale price. Unless he creates some kind of brilliant new work-around, that's how it's always going to be, too bad, so sad, but every caller thinks the universe revolves around them...the news that it *doesn't* has to be broken firmly, but more gently than she did. So they "retrained" her and now she no longer works for the company? Uh-huh. Cheer up, honey. Misery has company.

All in all, I still don't think he got as close a look at the hardest job out there, but it raised his awareness a little, and a few people directly benefited from it. Good for them.
.

Undercover Boss: GSI

Gimme a break. Okay, for starters, the Melbourne segment was the only part I'm qualified to comment on (although the rest was certainly enlightening). From the entrance to the breakroom and everything in between, I could pretty much tell you where they were standing to take every shot.

I was wondering how they were going to pass him off as a CSR, because you have to be really proficient in five or six different programs to work that job, and basic training takes a week. Instead, they put him on E-Team (Escalations, or "I want to talk to your supervisor."), which I've never actually done, but I could've told him that tentative is NEVER the right answer. Grovel early, grovel often! The first guy he sat with looked familiar, but not anyone I knew personally. They were in a different vertical (department), sports, which was at the far side of the building from where I worked in apparel. The scene in the breakroom amused me; I spent so many hours in that breakroom, it probably adds up to weeks---but the sound on the TVs was turned down---usually it's blasting!

The second rep he sat with, I didn't know her either, but damn! I'm torn between feeling sorry for her---one bad call and all of American gets to see her getting chewed out for it---and being pissed that I worked my ass off as a CSR and gave terrific service for them and I got canned for "taking too long". Kind of ironic, since he got fired for the same thing when he worked as a packer!

The problem that touched off the call with the fireworks, IE credit after the fact on a sale item, is standard practice, and always has been. There is NO WAY to make the computer change the regular price on an item back to the sale price. Unless he creates some kind of brilliant new work-around, that's how it's always going to be, too bad, so sad, but every caller thinks the universe revolves around them...the news that it *doesn't* has to be broken firmly, but more gently than she did. So they "retrained" her and now she no longer works for the company? Uh-huh. Cheer up, honey. Misery has company.

All in all, I still don't think he got as close a look at the hardest job out there, but it raised his awareness a little, and a few people directly benefited from it. Good for them.
.