Are you worthy phone calls

Back in October (before I realized my job was unstable), I went to interview with a national company for their customer service department. I saw their ad in our local paper and it hit two big things that I thought would be great: a salary of $30,000-$32,000 per year, and FREE in home services. Considering I use their in home services daily and they normally cost an arm and a leg monthly, I figured this would be a good gig. I knew the hours may be different because they had a first and second shift, but I was willing to work until 9PM if I was going to make that kind of money and save on a big monthly bill.

I followed their online instructions and then made a phone call to the recruiter (I've learned a lot since starting my job search, such as Human Resources has been over taken by these things called "recruiters"). She put me through a phone interview, which I am now calling the "are you worthy" (or AYW for short) phone calls. It seems not only has the term "recruiter" crept into the job system, but also "are you worthy" phone calls are also a staple for any job you are trying to get.

Her call lasted about a half hour (typical in AYW call) and during this call she mostly talked about the job and asked if I thought I would like it. Here and there she asked me things about what I did, but mostly it was her blabbering on about this wonderful job. It was then that I found out that the salary for this job was $11/ hour. Now, I didn't have a calculator with me, but I knew that I already made more than $11 per hour, and I wasn't making a salary of $30,000 per year. Just in case you don't have a calculator handy $11/hour is $22,880 per year. This is a $10,000 discrepancy between what was listed in the paper and what I was told by the recruiter. The way you make it up is by products sold and your weekly commissions. We'll get to that later.

I was deemed worthy to move on to their job fair hosted at a local hotel. I decided to go because I figured I could at least get another dollar an hour out of them because I am VERY experienced. I have been doing Customer Service and phone sales for years.

The interview lasted 2 and a half hours. Now, not to be rude, but this was not a job for a brain surgeon. I had to take a skills test on the computer and then go through three rounds of interviews with different people. As the day wore on and I realized I wanted nothing to do with this job, my answers became more an more outrageous. I didn't give a shit about what I said and I really told them what I thought. For example: if someone called about a problem with their bill, I was not supposed to transfer them. No, because that would make sense. I was supposed to try to get additional sales with this person. Really? Someone was overcharged by $50 on their bill, and I'm supposed to ask them if they would like to add another product which would add another $20 to their bill. Riiiiiight. I was then asked how I would respond to someone who got angry about trying to refer them products. I told the "recruiter" that I would thank them for their time and let us know if they change their mind. Wrong Answer! I was supposed to browbeat them until they bought something. I said "hold the phone! As a company would you rather people start hanging up on me because I've pissed them off, and then rethink whether or not they want to even bother with your service because you have some pushy broad constantly trying to sell them products? Or would you rather your company take the high road and keep your customers happy?" I could not belive that they didn't care if they pissed off their customers. I told them I was not comfortable with doing that and I thought I finally would be let go and told I was not a good fit.

Not so.

I ended up with another lady who wanted to go over benefits. She told me it was $11/hour and I asked if that was negotiable. It wasn't. I pointed out that I'm very experienced. She didn't care. I told her the paper made it look like $30,000 is what the salary is and they should be more careful when putting an ad in the paper. She said they make it up with commissions and typically the dollar amount that was listed in the paper is what people make. I also told her that I was not happy that their "quotas" were daily and there was always someone breathing down your back to see if you fulfilled them. She offered me the job.

I was literally like WTF????? I just put down your business practices and made a fool out of whoever listed the job in the paper and you people want me? I know it was only because I heard one of the other interviews going on and the girl was only talking about Grey's Anatomy. Their other choice was a 600 pound woman who had breasts the size of beach balls. Everyone's interview stopped the minute she walked in.

I turned down the job and four months later was told I'd be losing mine.