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.

We Dream Big Here: The Story of Comcast

I was talking about my blog last night with a friend, and I was saying that there was just no way to sugarcoat my time with Comcast. Simply put, Comcast was the worst job I have ever had. There is no other way to say it. There is no other way to express the horrid existence that encompassed my every moment at Comcast.

I joined the ranks of Comcast when I left Flextronics on a whim. I felt that Flextronics had terribly mistreated me (which was somewhat true), and that the only way to escape was to seek other employment elsewhere. Of course, Comcast would be such a place, right? I mean, they are a multi-billion dollar company that owns their own networks, call centers, and what not. This would be my plan, to get in at a call center and eventually through my hard work and dedication apply and land a job with either CN8 (which is now the Comcast Network) or Comcast Sports Philly. I had months of experience working in TV. I had years of training for TV Production and Film. Surely, this would have to work. I was wrong yet again. And, being wrong this time led to perhaps the worst year of my working life.

I worked in a Call Center with Comcast. I was hired for the APG or Advanced Products Group Department. When I was hired I was told that there would be no selling involved (as that was a concern of mine) and that I would be troubleshooting internet issues from people. I would not be taking any calls about cable or the rather new phone that Comcast had launched. My only concern was to troubleshoot the internet, and that was the most of it.

It sounded like an utopia. I would just have to tell people to unplug their modem. wait 30 seconds, and try to get online again. I'd do this between 20 and 30 times a day, and I'd get paid for it. It was beyond an easy payday. This was getting paid to basically sit there, watch TV, and tell people to do something that they should have done before they called us.

However, Comcast had a series of metrics in place to ensure misery on your part. First, they timed your calls. It's been so long now that I forget exactly what the metric was at the time, but it was something like a 5 minute call average. Think about that. Within 5 minutes you should have gotten the customer's info, verified it, troubleshot their issue, ask them if they had any other issues, and say goodbye. The first problem with this is obviously some people that call are just slow either mentally or physically. Some people would call and their modems are nestled in the corner of a basement that only a trained acrobat could get to. Some people had no idea what a "modem" was. Some people didn't even have the power to their computer on. It was times like this that you would go a bit crazy because you knew you were in a bind, and if you were on a call longer than say, 12 minutes, you would have a supervisor or one of their lackeys come over and ask you why you were on the phone for "so long". The job was still bearable, but things soon changed.

I was trained to take calls about phone issues soon after I started (I believe within three months). These calls were much more technical, and took more time to figure out. Sometimes, it was an issue we couldn't fix and we'd send it off to the appropriate department. This took time though, and raised your average call time. The biggest issue I had initially with the phone issues was on Thanksgiving of '07, after 8pm, I was the only one on staff for the entire state of New Jersey to take phone issues. So, while my co-workers were literally throwing a football over my head and generally loafing off, I had call after call after miserable call. Honestly, most people took 4 or 5 calls the entire night. I took 35 or so. I nearly quit that night.

The second metric that added to my misery was around the fifth month there, they decided to make us, the service department, sell. Now, remember, I asked during my interview(s) (to three different people) if selling was part of the job. I was told by three different people during the interview process that there would be absolutely no way that selling would be involved, much less as a way for you to be measured on as a successful troubleshooter. Before the switch to selling, my numbers were pretty good, if not excellent. My average call time was excellent. My hold time was excellent. The calls that were reviewed were good to excellent. All the metrics they measured me by were golden. They were so good, that within five to six months of employment I was promoted to a level 2 position. Level 3 would never come to pass simply based off my upgrades (selling).

In a word, I felt betrayed that this company was looking so desperately for revenue that they figured they could make us sell. I felt betrayed because I was told in the interview and the months in between that selling was never going to be an issue. I felt betrayed...because soon it became a reason to put people on PIPs (Personal Improvement Plans) that would stop you from transferring to other places. I couldn't see what selling a person faster internet had to do with transferring into the Production department. I couldn't see what selling a second phoneline to people had to do with getting into dispatch. But, if you were on a PIP, it disqualified you from transferring out of the call center and going anywhere else.

When I found out about the impending doom of selling crap to people that they couldn't afford or even need, I tried like a madman to transfer anywhere but the call center. I tried Dispatch, several TV positions, Research, etc. Those applications for internal transfer just sat there for months while my numbers went south based solely on my upgrade numbers which were now more important than any other metric we had. In the course of perhaps three months, I went from someone who was promoted rather quickly to someone of the verge of being placed on a PIP. I saw my intentions of using the call center as a springboard to a TV position go up in smoke right before my eyes all due to something I never had the intention to do.

Just after about 9 months of being there, I was formally placed on my first PIP. This led to meetings with my apathetic and MIA supervisor, the Night Manager, and eventually the Director of APG. I know it was after my second meeting with both my supervisor and Night Manager that I decided I would just phone it in from there on in. I was told during that meeting that it was their job to make sure I was happy whether that was with Comcast or not. From that point forward, the writing was on the wall, and I decided I would just show up and take calls. I sure as hell wasn't going to sell. But, I would take calls, troubleshoot, and wait for the pink slip that would surely be coming my way.

But, the pink slip would never come. I would stroll in a half hour late and not a word would be said. I would sometimes get on the train to go to work, get off at the station, and just get back on and go home. I would call Comcast and use their very liberal Flex-Time, and nothing would ever be said about it. I swear, I didn't show up for about a month at one point, and I still had a job. I just came back to work and NO ONE said a thing. I still get health insurance, pension, and the like from Comcast. For months afterward, I was still signed up for trainings through the company. It was so odd. I couldn't shake this place.

Other reasons why Comcast was so horrid was the management team never, and I mean, never wanted to help out. With the exception of my first supervisor (who wisely left APG soon after selling became a huge metric), I had a series of increasingly horrid supervisors. The first was a Kermit look alike that was never at his desk after 6pm when most of the calls started coming through. I'd have to search through the maze of desks, lockers, and cubicles to find someone who could help out. There was a rather large, fat, and lazy supervisor who stayed at her desk, but she would make such an issue out of you coming to her, that you hated seeking her out. "Where's YOUR supervisor?" she would ask already knowing the answer that he was in the gym or not even on site. We had a Tier Two team that was just right next to us, but we couldn't ask them for help for reasons I don't even understand. Here's the people right here who could settle an issue, but let me fill out this form instead and hope they fix it within 48 hours.

Finally, the people who called in were just horrible people. There were a few good natured souls who were very happy that you were there to help them get back online so they could watch porn (I had one guy at midnight tell me that). But, I'd say a good 90% of the people were bitter souls who didn't know how to deal with people. They would curse at you. They would belittle you. They would threaten you with bodily harm. We had one guy who was so bad...he was actually a gravedigger (I can't make this up) and he would call in whenever his meds wore off and make women cry (seriously). He would say the most outlandish and messed up things. I never got to take one of his calls, but whenever he called in there would be an email alert that he was on the prowl.

But, even if you didn't have these extremes, most people were generally complete a-holes. Like I said, they didn't know how to deal with people and would just yell and scream demanding everything under the sun. One call after another was the norm. I was called everything under the sun and back again...all because they couldn't get online (usually due to their own incompetence). It was insane how people would treat you. At my peak I averaged 40 calls a night and I'd say 30 to 35 cursed me out, called me an idiot, or wished death upon me. It's not because of anything I had said. This was usually their greeting to me..."You SOB, I f-ing hate Comcast, and you f-ers f-ing f-ed up my internet, and now I can't get HD channels on my f-ing TV because you're all f-ing f-s. You listenin' to me, you f-ing idiot?" After a while, this bears down upon you.

So, I never did get to transfer to TV Production. I never did become a Level 3 CAE. No, my career was stalled at Level 2 and since I wouldn't sell, I would forever be a Level 2. I felt there was no career advancement because I tried to get out of the call center while my numbers were still on the up and up. Hell, I even tried to transfer to the warehouse...seriously. I tried all this because I did feel that Comcast was recession proof and they provide stability. But, I just couldn't bear being called a f-ing idiot one more time, and I just couldn't stand the thought of being stuck in a call center for the rest of my days. Add to it I was going through a rough patch mentally at the time, and well, I made my decision to use all my Flex-Time and never come back. And, that's what I did. I was hired at Col Penn just as I took my last Flex day. And, even though Col Penn didn't work out, it was a reprieve from the horrible place that Comcast was. I met some great people at Comcast that I keep up with on facebook and all. We're not close friends, but we keep up with one another. I don't harbor any ill will toward the company because I do think they offer some good services, and overall I'm happy with the Triple Play I currently have. I just wish that selling never became a part of success there, and I could have transfered out to TV which was my intention, and which I was told would be an option for me due to my background. I was lied to by nearly everyone in the company and held back. I think they just wanted to keep everyone in their place.

But, overall, it wasn't so bad. Some of the callers were fun. Like the old guy who called after the McCain/Obama debate and told me Obama was born in Kenya and we shouldn't put him on TV. Or, there was the "meow" game I would play with a few customers here or there. My record was 21 "meows" in the course of a conversation (the "meow" game was inspired by Super Troopers). I was on a podcast for a while that was fun, but I felt wasn't going anywhere. Maybe I'll start calling in again. It was fun to do. The co workers were the only reason to like the job. Everything else was rubbish.

Up next in the series, "Life on Hold: The TL's Guide to Flextronics".

Smilin' and Dialin': The Untold Story of Colonial Penn

I decided to start a series here on my blog. While I feel it's important to discuss my feelings about Marion's condition, I also feel it may be wise to go back and look at things that only time can give you clarity on. They say that a man is his job. Well, I can only say that I've had one job in my entire life that I gave 100% for. We'll get to that in another post. For now, I'm going to go back in time and review the jobs I've had. I think it will be an interesting and humorous look back at my accomplishments, failures, and mistakes. Perspective, I believe, is only gained after the fact. I now have full perspective of each of these jobs.

The last job I held was with the nationally known Colonial Penn Insurance company. I worked in telesales. Basically, each day we would get a new list of the people that called the 1-800 # the night before and we would call them and attempt to sell them the life insurance. It was fairly easy because, well, you were dealing with older Americans that basically had no concept of what life insurance was or why they even needed it.

Now, let me direct you behind the curtain and illustrate the dirty dealings of just how Col Penn worked. We would call the person and using a liberal script (you were encouraged to use the script as a guideline, not verbatim, as a way to sound more conversational) give them a sales pitch on the virtues of GBL or Graduated Benefit Life. Basically, GBL is a product aimed at people who are older and may not qualify for another type of life insurance. It is a good policy for those suffering from AIDS, cancer, COPD, or any other number of diseases that would otherwise disqualify from getting life insurance. The issue at hand was that most of the people that we called were doing pretty good health wise. People had a way of telling you the truth, I think. They figure we would catch their bullshit if they did lie, so I guess they didn't bother. Actually, this was one of the selling points we used. We would tell the people that we're not going to send someone out to their home and do a physical. Just pay us the premium, and you're set. Easy peasy, Japanesey.

I was good at selling the policies because I'm pretty good at bullshitting people. Honestly, it would bother me when I knew that some of these people could get better insurance from other companies if only they researched rather than called our number because they recognized Alex Trebeck. People are generally lazy and apathetic, and we offered a pretty easy solution. Just call us, and within 24 hours you can have a policy. But, I knew that it wasn't my job to tell these people they had other options (I did tell a few people). It was my job to offer false sympathy, empathy, guilt, and various other techniques to get them a policy and send back their first payment.

There was a side to all this that did wear down on me. I'm not sure if other people were bothered by it, but it always got to me. I was working here around the time my Mom passed away, and I was a wreck. The last thing you want to think about when you lose someone dear to you is death. However, at my position, death was always in every conversation. Some people would call having just lost a parent or a spouse, and since they were left in a financial bind due to the passing, they wanted to get some type of coverage for themselves and not "be a burden" to their families or loved ones. I put "be a burden" in quotations because on each call we said that phrase numerous times. In an effort to make people "feel comfortable" with their decision, we would coddle them and make them feel good about getting ripped off.

Anyway, getting back to where I was in the story, the people that were still bearing the wounds of grief were the worst for me to deal with. As I said, just losing my Mom just weeks before, my own wounds were fresh. Here I was trying to convince people that our policies were the best thing since sliced bread when I could barely functions some days due to my own grief. There was one woman in particular that lost her husband after a lengthy battle with cancer. She told me the story of Frank's life...how he was a decorated soldier in 'Nam, how he was a great provider, his musical taste, everything. It struck me halfway through the conversation that she just wanted to talk about her husband whom she missed so dearly. I wasn't about to just hurry her along and get on with my pitch. I didn't feel that was the way to deal with people. I would listen. And, dammit, I think that's what most people dealing with a loss want anyway. Too many people, however good intentioned, give advice when confronted with a loss. You know what I mean. People will tell you how long you should grieve, when you should go and pack up belongings, when to seek out additional help, and all that.

The trouble is that grief is a very personal and solitary journey. No one can tell anyone else how they should react to a loss. No one could convince me that you should do anything but listen. Offer words of comfort, but never offer any advice. Frankly, most other people will be all to happy to offer their advice (when they haven't even experienced the same type of loss as the person they are offering advice to). So, the best thing I can say is listen to someone who is suffering and in pain. Or, just sit with them. You'll do a lot more good that way.

My employment ended with Col Penn rather abruptly over some issues I'm really not at liberty to discuss here. Suffice it to say that it was not due to my numbers, as I always did a excellent job on the policies I sent out. It's not that I hated my time at Col Penn. It was that I didn't like the person it was making me become. Slowly, they were ebbing away any compassion you had and replacing it with false sincerity. I met some great people in my short time there, and have no regrets about leaving Comcast to go there. I do wish that things were handled better by everyone involved, but life is a journey that makes little to no sense anyway. John Lennon once said, "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans." I believe that whole heartedly.

Up next, my time with a media giant, Comcast.