Right before Christmas, I was let go from my part time tech support job. The company was called Telenetwork. They did DSL support for Centurytel and a few other ISP's. This place is run by a bunch of kids who are totally clueless. My Team Lead was a good guy. He was freshly married with one child and in college. I had been doing support longer than some of these kids had been alive. This job was a soul sucking job. Customer's would always whine and complain. You would ask them simple questions and they would act like they were not sure what you were talking about. I got to the point where I was using remote access to fix most of their issues. The biggest complaint was the customer service surveys. They would get one every call. You would get negative comments based on a previous tech's incompetence. One lady called it and whined the whole time I was trying to help her. I finally put her on hold, and submitted a trouble ticket for her. The second issue is the pay is too low for tech support. They start you out at $8 an hour and offer you $1 more if you work nights. If you get a Team Lead that likes you, you can get him to promote you rather quickly. Even when I was let go, I was still barely making $12 an hour. I could easily walk into a tech support department and they would start me at least $15 an hour. I guess its all the turn over they have. It is a non stop hiring and firing feast over there. Third, I loved the fact that they terminated me via email. Where is the sense in that? I guess its less stress on them. I knew my days were numbered. I did not think it would happen when it did. Forth, it took them a year and a half after promising me from day one that I could work from home. They almost told me I was not going to be able to because I was only part time.
On a positive note, the extra cushion of money working part time was nice. I was able to buy a new stove and refrigerator and pay cash for it. I liked the idea of having an emergency fund just in case. I found another company that lets people do remote support and pays them by the job. Not a bad gig at all. The down side is that the training is long and boring. It is al web based. You do a module and have to fax in these forms to show you did complete it. I did a Webinar with one of the trainers and you could tell it was another bunch of young 20 somethings working there. They were totally unprofessional. The trainer kept telling me she was hungry and she wanted to go outside and smoke. It will be interesting to see how long this job goes. Will be nice to work a few extra hours when I want.
