The end of my era at Verizon Wireless....

It has been 30 days as of yesterday since my career at Verizon Wireless ended. I had 27 combined years, when you count the early years at a Ma Bell Communication (Pacific NW Bell) and all the mergers I rode out as little US West, became AirTouch, and after several other mergers then joined others to become Verizon Wireless. I have worked in many different departments within the company over the years, and really had no clue I would stay so long.

Honestly, I have nothing to complain about. The company closed our center which effected about 850 employees in Washington State.  Many were devastated. We were offered a severance offer, or a move option.

I am going to answer a question usually asked....no, they are not outsourcing, yes they will continue to have the call centers in the US. It has to do with space, we ran out and other centers had plenty of room for expansion. It's all about business...I understand that.

I would say a small percentage took the move option and were able to choose from Alabama, Georgia, Utah, Maryland, and some other areas as well. They would receive $10,000 for the move, and had to commit to at least 2 years.  The other option was to accept the severance package.

Yes, I took the severance, and looked at it as a blessing in disguise! So, even though I had planned on 1-2 more years before retirement... I am now officially a "displaced worker".

I know that when anyone calls a call center, they expect the person on the other end to resolve their issue. I believe the folks answering the call want to do just that. Be easy on those folks when you call. The folks on the phone are scored by your calls. If you get a survey after a call, and the person was wonderful and resolved your issue...and you felt that they did take ownership...please give them the good score they deserved.

I worked with Business and Government accounts for the last several years... I consistently got perfect 10's from my customers, and believe me, I earned them...I took care of my customers, and they knew when the call ended that I really did care about their particular issue and wanted to resolve it for them.

The job is difficult, and stressful. The industry is changing so fast, and the technology is so much more complicated then the days of early cell phones. Sometimes a resolution for an issue is not that simple, depending on the issue. Equipment problems, coverage, dropped calls, is it the phone, the network, the user (yes sometimes it is user error!)... it may require some probing and information to find the answer and hopefully resolve the issue.

Now it is not just your cell phones, basic and smartphone...but it is your tablets, your mobile broadband, it is also Machine to Machine, such as ATM's, and security systems. Its also the networks, 3G, 4G and GSM for international traveling. Its the equipment, and plans for all of these as well. Lets face it, i am getting way to old for this!!

So, back to me! It does seem really weird to not have to get up at 4:45am, fight an hour  commute  to get to work... be under stress at work and when the day ended have the home commute...which was usually over an hour. 

Now the question is...what will I do, I really don't know.

I have ideas and am trying to reach inside to remind myself of what I really did want to do when I grew up...it has been a very long time since I dreamed those dreams!

Any ideas?

Your old blogger friend,

Jan