Week One, Day Four
Training Room, 6:40pm
Steffi can be heard talking to a customer. It sounds like she has been on this call for a long time.
“I can hear what you’re saying, sir.”
I try to input some information for a customer record, but the fields on my computer screen remain blank.
“That’s what I’m trying to do … I would like to help you with - uh huh. Uh huh. I see in your records that — uh huh.”
Sara quietly leans over and points to the pencil icon on my screen. Bless her.
“I can see how you would feel that way.”
I start entering the model number of the fridge, but then drop the pretense. I turn in my chair to look at Steffi and notice that Julien is hovering nearby.
Even Mike has looked up, now, from Melissa’s computer screen, where he had been leaning over her, to watch Steffi struggle through this call. Most of the temps have stopped what they’re doing.
“If you can just take it in to an authorized service center … I understand that, sir, but we can’t proceed with your case unless you … I’m just a temp, sir, and this is the first time I’ve looked at your case, but if you can … Yes, I can give you a call back when we get the fax … My name is Steffi. S-t-e-f-f-i. Yes. Ending in “i.” Yes. Thank you.”
She hung up the phone.
“Asshole!”
Steffi leaned back and fanned herself. She grinned as a few of us pretended to clap.
Julien taps her on the shoulder.
“Steffi. Conference room. The rest of you, keep working.”
Sara and I exchanged glances and went back to work.
7:04pm, Break Room
Steffi comes in and everyone stops talking.
“So? What happened in the conference room?” someone asks her.
“He offered me a full time job,” she says, throwing her arms up with an air of surprise.
“What? Already?”
“So soon?”
“They didn’t say they were offering jobs right away.”
“After one night on the phones?”
“Full time? Regular day staff?”
“What exactly did he say?”
“How much does it pay?”
“Are you going to take it?”
“When do you start?”
Steffi pulls up a chair and sits down.
“I don’t know, they just liked the way how I handled that call, I guess.
And then next thing you know Julien was like, come to this conference room, and then he was all, we really want you to come work for us. He didn’t have the paperwork, it was like a verbal thing.
I don’t know if I’m going to take it. I guess I’ll have to. My husband’s new job has gotten put off every week for the last four weeks, and there’s been no money coming in.”
She shrugs.
“Oh, and guys?” She looked around to make sure it was just us and then shook her head. “Don’t get too excited about the salary.”
She tells us the figure, which prompts a chorus of groans.
“That’s worse than Kumar said.”
“F—ng recession.”
“I could make more money sitting at home doing nothing.”
“I’m not working for that, no way,” says Sharon. “Absolutely no way.” She looks around the room and I avert my eyes. “Not if they offer that to me, not happening.”
“Well, I don’t have a choice,” says Steffi.
There is a pause.
“Hey, has anyone noticed that Derek is gone?” I say.
“Ooh, you guys, I know what happened with that,” says Steffi, brightening. “I was listening through the wall earlier, and they were talking about him. You know, Julien and Amber.
They were saying something about how he wasn’t working out and they didn’t like his attitude. So they had called Kumar to tell him to call Derek and say don’t come back.
But then Kumar didn’t call him, and so when Derek showed up last night for work, Julien and Amber were like, what is HE doing here?
So then they got rid of him at break,” she finished. “I mean, I couldn’t hear them perfectly,” she added apologetically. “But that was the gist of it.”
I feel relieved that Derek didn’t spend the night locked in the building just because I wanted to save face in front of Victor.
But on the other hand..things were happening awfully fast around here.
“So someone’s already gotten hired, and someone’s already gotten fired,” said one temp.
“And we haven’t been here a week,” said another.
“Looks like getting hauled off to a conference room could be good or it could be bad.
You either get a full time job, or, that’s it, you’re never seen of or heard from again.”
The door swung and Amber came in, talking with another member of the day staff. She ignored us.
“That’s nothing. Do you know how many emails I have? Two hundred and thirty four. And I’ve been here for twelve hours today. I should go home, but I just can’t. I just can’t. I have so much work to do.”
She swivels to look at us.
“We’re going to be handing out lists to you all tonight. We’re going to be watching how you do. Let’s go.”
8:56pm, Training Room
Sara swings her long, lustrous dark hair around and calls over one of the day staff managers.
“I’ve finished my list. Can I work on some of your list?”
“I loooooooove you,” the manager coos.
I feel my cheeks growing hot. I really like Sara, she’s my most trusted pal here. And she deserves to get the next full time job. And she probably needs it more than me.
But I’m used to being first in the class. And for some reason, much as I thought I would be a natural at customer service, I’m not catching on as quickly as I thought I would. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’m in the bottom half of the class. And if Derek’s already gotten fired…
I suddenly feel the need to go to the bathroom.
As I turn the corner into the hallway, I run into Victor. The big boss!
“How’s it going?” he asks politely. I can see that he can tell that I’m a temp.
I take a deep breath.
“To tell you the truth, I think I’m going to need another week or two to catch on to all the system stuff,” I tell him.
“That’s okay,” he assures me.
“I don’t know,” I say.
“I give you my word of honor,” he says emphatically. Standing there, in his sweats, looking exhausted. “My word of honor. You will have a couple of weeks to get really good at this stuff. And if anyone else says otherwise, you can come to me.”
“Thanks,” I say, and he walks off. Probably should have given him my name.
Well, that’s one thing I’ve learned tonight: so far, hallways are proving to be a safer place to hang out than conference rooms.
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