Flextronics: Life on Hold

After my stint of living in Las Vegas, I cam back to New Jersey optimistic. I was ready to make some changes and put the past behind me. Somehow, it's worked out much differently than I had planned so far at this point. I don't want to make it appear that all is doom and gloom since I've been back, but these past five years since I have been back in NJ have been the most trying, sad, and stressful times in my life.

So, getting back to Flextronics. I applied to Solectron in November of 2005 on a whim. It was a posting for a technical service rep. I would be (I assumed) working on cell phones. I would repair them in shop. That's not exactly how it worked though. From the time of my interview, to being in store, I knew something was amiss. The interview consisted of just a few questions such as, "When can you start?" and "Do you have a criminal record?" Besides those few rudimentary queries, there wasn't much more. It wasn't so much a traditional interview as it was a desperate attempt to put someone in a store as quickly as possible.

The one week training was a lavish affair out of town. I traveled from South Jersey to Baltimore, MD to stay in a Residence Inn for a week on the company. Breakfast and dinner were provided as well. It was this facade of lavishness that drew you in and wanted you to stay with the company. I mean, a company that will foot your hotel bill for a week when you first start has to be a wonderful company, right?

The training was all about CDMA and cell phones and a bunch of other crap I don't want to even remember. There was a time I could have told you all the differences between a CDMA network and a GSM network, but those days are long behind me. I found it strange that the trainer wasn't actually training us on how to fix phones, but rather he was training us on how to replace phones by checking their warranty status and such. But, I figured if we didn't actually have to repair them, that made things easier because how hard could replacing a broken phone for a new one be?

So, after a week of free meals, beer, and lackluster training that prepared me for nothing, I was sent to my "home" store. Once there, I met my "Team Leader" who ran the shop with an iron fist. I also met someone who took me under her wing, and who I think I never fully thanked for her help in the early days. Without her, I don't think I would have lasted for nearly as long as I did. I also met Bill. Bill was the prototype worker for Solectron. He was fat, lazy, and avoided any and all work at all costs (as long as he didn't have to get out of his chair). I came to loathe Bill and his obvious lack of any work ethic. It made the entire shop look bad, but I digress. What struck me about the job in those early days was just how often they would give out PD's, or Performance Documents. I have never before or since seen a company that feels the need to document as many asinine things as this company. And, my first TL was a master of writing a PD. She was an artist at it and could literally with the force of her mind alone conjure up a PD out of thin air. To this day, nearly five years later, I still harbor resentment over just how many PDs I would get (over such frivolous things) and Bill didn't get nary a one. It was ineffective management.

I was transferred soon after starting to the Hamilton Mall. I was transferred because I think the TL didn't like me and wanted me out of her store, but who knows? The way the company worked they would transfer people just to transfer them for no other reason than they wanted to transfer people and move them around. I was welcomed into my new store by a kid who was younger than me (by many years) and another Bill-like clone named Fred. At least Fred was helpful and we got along pretty well. The fresh faced lad wasn't a TL yet, that wasn't his destiny at that point. He was a made up position called a...as I search my memory I can't recall what they called it. But, it was the same as a TL with all the demands, and responsibility without the pay. Yes, it was Lead Tech. It was a position I was soon to be "promoted" to.

I liked the Hamilton Mall. Working with Fred was fun because of his sardonic outlook on life in general. He was a full blooded Irishman, and filled out the stereotype quite well. The fresh faced lad was eventually promoted to a TL when we got another man in the shop. For a time it was joyous. I really liked the work. But, of course, things would change.

Verizon was Solectron's master, and Verizon noted that more than 50% of the people go to the service counter. Why can't the service department sell, they must have reasoned? So, if this sounds familiar to Comcast, you're right. Sales and service are connected, you see, so let's make them sell. There were obvious problems with this.

First, people that are having an issue with a cell phone aren't the happiest people in the world. It would seem that someone cut off their right hand because they dropped a call. As such, these people were pissed, super pissed. It was far from a conductive environment to sell to someone. The second problem was that most of these people already had or didn't need what little we could sell to them. We'd be told to look at their account histories to see if they texted much, etc. The trouble is most people who did text, already had some type of text plan. The people who didn't text, didn't need a plan, etc. If it wasn't a text plan, then we were told to sell the extended warranties that made me feel like I was working at Radio Shack. To bad I couldn't sell Double A batteries too. The last issue with selling is we weren't working on a commission, but the Verizon sales reps were. We were literally taking money out of their pockets whenever we sold a case or charger. The reason Verizon wanted this is because they could reap the revenue without having to pay the commission on the sale.

So, selling became a hot point soon after I started again. PDs were written for your lack of selling savvy. PDs were written if you were a minute late. PDs were written if you missed a "selling opportunity". PDs were written if you forgot to greet a customer. PDs flowed like wine at Hamilton Mall. My file after the Hamilton Mall was stuffed to the breaking point. Obviously, this was to document my lackluster performance. It wouldn't hold up in an unemployment hearing, but the PDs sure did make things look official. And, by the size of my file, I was quite official. It was an oppressive existence after a while and it became a challenge to get another PD for something ludicrous. I told Fred I was going to say "Damn" on the sales floor...you guessed it, PD. I had so many PDs after Hamilton Mall, they no longer meant anything.

Luckily, they shipped me out to the Cumberland Mall. I called that home for nearly the next year or so. Initially, it was a two man shop with no one in charge of anything. We didn't have anyone really looking over our shoulder, and it was pretty good for a while. The other tech, Eddie, and I got along really well. The only obstacle we faced was Verizon Management at this point. On that front, we were okay for a while because the manager was a cool dude. The Ops Manager was a total bitch, but she had little to no power at this point. So, we would do what we had to do and that was the end of it.

After some time, they finally realized we needed another tech, so I became the de facto Lead Tech. That meant I had all the responsibility with no pay increase. Now, the Ops Manager came to me about all sorts of things that really didn't matter. And, I was soon introduced to my true nemesis...April. April was a manger who had career aspirations in mind. Since this is a family friendly blog, let's just say she was a shrew of a woman. She made everyday a trial with no reward. She would talk to you and say everything was a-ok, and then email your supervisor and rag on you. She did this consistently throughout the time I knew her. She was a two faced wretch that only looked out for herself and hated the tech department with a passion. The feeling was mutual after some time.

Each day when I came in I would receive a report that Eddie went to the bathroom to long, or Ronin (the third tech) was rapping too loud, or a sorts of nonsense. It didn't matter that we did the exchanges within the metrics, or our numbers (which at this point were based on a take rate) were excellent. When things were going okay, they still found something, anything to complain about. It was all such a bunch of nonsense. Along with all this was the mounds of unnecessary paperwork that detailed our every movement in the shop. There were reports for amounts of exchanges, data and accessories sold, payroll, attendance, amount of bathroom breaks, etc. It was mind numbing. And, I was growing increasingly bitter that I was doing all this and getting paid the same as other techs that just had to show up. A posting for a TL popped up, and I took the opportunity, because a) I would be out of April's reach (for the time being) and b) I would finally get the pay increase I deserved.

The interview for the position was probably the worst I ever had. I didn't matter though, because I was shooting for them to look at my accomplishments rather than if I could answer a bunch of stupid questions. It worked out and after a lengthy review process, I finally got the promotion.

Echelon Mall was a pretty good time. I was there for a year, and Tom, the VZ manager was alright. He had a habit about complaining about how Ed sold batteries, but really that was his only issue. He was a laid back guy, and that worked with me because there wasn't too much to worry about. The Ops Manager was a crap faced jackass though. She was in charge of our monthly QA Evaluation and always marked things off for no reason. If we had one SKU error, we were unacceptable. If we had minor issues, we were always unacceptable. Add to it that she had absolutely no sense of humor, and it made life a living hell. The Assistant Manager was an awesome Dominican named Ray. He always made jokes about his heritage (like "Why don't Dominicans BBQ? Because the beans would go through the grill") Tom and Ray were great to work for, but that Ops Manager was just so overbearing.

My team at Echelon is what I affectionately called the A-Team. We were a great team. I am best friends with Anthony to this day. Sarah is still close with me. Ed, well, I wish Ed and I were closer. But, the time of the A-Team was a great time. We won awards, contests (most improved), and generally were left alone. Serena was our fearless leader, and I've never had a boss who was as awesome as she was. She would listen to me, my concerns, and work to improve things. PDs were a thing of the past...because I think we both felt they were crap. I think as a TL at Echelon I wrote maybe 3 PDs because Christine (the Regional Manager) was gripping I didn't write any.

Things changed though. For reasons I still don't understand, they changed the take rate system (basically it was a ratio of transactions vs. accessories and data sold) to an arbitrary system of 3 accessories and 1 data per tech per day. It made no sense because most stores were successful under the take rate system. The arbitrary system is a system setting you up for failure, and that's what it did.

I wanted to transfer about this time to the Lancaster, PA store. I put in for it, had a phone interview, and assumed that based on my experience and accomplishments that i would get it. Well, they had their boy already in place. I was bitter that I didn't get it, and a well intentioned joke from Ed just hit me the wrong way. Despite all that was accomplished with the A-Team and Echelon, I felt like I wasn't being treated seriously. The switch to the 3/1 system hit our store hard since we didn't have much foot traffic. The Ops Manager became increasingly unstable, and Tom started getting less relaxed and more like a real VZ Manager. I think Tom had pressure put on him by his DM, and that led to him taking it out on us.

I moved to be closer to the Echelon Mall, and during my week vacation was called and told that I was being moved to another store. I found this to be completely unacceptable because I just moved about 35 miles so I could be closer to my store, and then they wanted me to still make a 30 mile trek. I said in no uncertain terms, that I wouldn't go to Princeton. It was too far and it was a joke they would wait until I move to do it. They offered me Cherry Hill (closer than Echelon and right down the road, really) and I took it. Oh, how I wished they just left me in Echelon or I took Princeton. Cherry Hill would be the end of me.

I think I lasted about a month, possibly two, at Cherry Hill. It seemed that the deck was stacked against me. The team that was in place there was the worst group of individuals I ever had to work with in any company, period. Besides Rebecca, who is also still a friend to this day, and Angelica, everyone there hated me. It was a team effort to work against me as I replaced their uber-popular TL. If they just worked with me, rather than against me, life would have been great. The worst offender was this twit named Kyle or something. He made it a mission to outright challenge my every move, be belligerent, and just be an a-hole every minute of every day towards me. The thing was I was probably the easiest going TL in the company, and if given even half a chance, we could have gotten along. After about two weeks of putting up with his crap, I finally snapped and cursed him out. He acted like I punched a baby in the face, and an investigation was launched. I made it pretty clear it was me or him. Well, since he was an idiot, he got into another argument withe a sales rep and was shipped out by the end of that week.

There were other factors at work too. April from Cumberland Mall was the Manger here, and in the year or so since we last saw each other she became even more of a shrew. The Ops Manager from Echelon came over as well, just to add to my misery. Serena was replaced when the zones were realigned. We were a tech down and it was hard to have coverage for the store on any given day. The stress was so overwhelming that I developed a horrible case of acid reflux where I would wake up choking in the middle of the night. Everything was bearing down on me. My new manager (on the Flextronics side) was well intentioned, but unhelpful. I think it was because she was a bit in over her head at the time, I'm not sure. She was a true artist with a PD as well writing out PDs for missing conference calls I was on but she said I wasn't. I got all sorts of PDs for a variety of reasons that only added to the stress. I knew she was only trying to cover her own ass, but it looked to me that she was trying to create a patsy.

I seeked out other employment soon after. After I signed my offer letter with Comcast, I wrote my manager a brief note offering my resignation. There are grand stories that I threw my till across the store and called April this and that. I'm sorry to report it was a quiet resignation and that April was on vacation when I quit. I do like the Legend of Dean's Resignation, and it still is a rumor within the stores of Verizon.

The stress was unbearable by the time I left, and it soured me on management positions. I wanted the least amount of responsibility possible, and still seek that out to this day. The rewards just aren't worth declining health and sanity. I met some people at Flex that I consider dear friends to this day. I'm happy I met Anthony and Becca. I happy I know Sarah and Ryan. I'm happy Serena is a close friend to this day and is a true confidant. I have no regrets about leaving the company because they just didn't give a crap after all the hard work you would do. They chewed you up, spit you out, and then pissed on you and everything you did. Accomplishments were only important for a week or a month at best. It just didn't matter what you did, because they always wanted more. Well, they took all I could give. They broke me, and though I've since gotten past the hate I once had for a lot of the people involved in a rather quick downfall, I'm still bitter I was viewed as nothing more than a joke to most people there. It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. I accomplished a lot in just a few years there. I made life long friendships. That's all that matters to me anyway.