Brain dead frontliners

Customer Service Vacancies

If you can show us that you do not have any initiative then we have the job for you!

If you can prove to us that you are void of any personality then you are the one for us!

We are looking for corporate clones who do not think for themselves and will at no time engage in personal conversation with the customer. If you are experienced in acting dumb then look no further - CALL US NOW

In the course of my work at the moment, I have had the task of approaching front line customer service people. Having approached several hundred in person and by telephone I am amazed at the calibre of customer service assistants. It seems that a prerequisite to the job is to never act on your own intitiative. Customer service assistants seem stripped of any ability to make decisions, however small. They are programmed to say ' I dunno, I'll ask the manager' or they say 'the managers not ere' and put the phone down. They seem to have absolutely no idea that they are representatives of the company and in their defence their hands are perhaps completely tied in corporate rope! The manager even has no authority to make a localised decision because he/she has to refer to the corporate rules. Customer service has become totally inpersonal and completely robotic. What does this do for community I ask??
Post Offices are not allowed to display posters advertising charity events - isn't the post office supposed to be the heart of the community??
Sports shops are unabe to advertise a sporting event even though this surely would be good marketing.
Where are we going to exercise the local community now that we have corporate high streets?
Perhaps this ties in with my previous entry on artistic co-ops. Maybe we need a local noticeboard as well as a local co-op. Is anyone with me on this? Does anyone out there agree that we need to 'think local' and overcome mindless, souless, corporate consumerism and create our own online high street where we dont have to speak to the manager but can all exercise our own initiative, creativity and individuality? We have to fight this lunacy if we want to retain the community. We have to find a platform for the local voice!!

We shouldn't laugh really ...

I don't know whether this is a spoof or for real - but who cares! It is one of the funniest things I have seen for a long time, which says much for my sick sense of humour.

It's from a Belgian chat show but don't worry that they are speaking Flemish, just remember that the poor chap being interviewed has had his testicles removed by mistake during an operation. Make sure you have the volume on.

www.controlancy.co.uk/fun/lost_jewels.htm

Dealing with my middlescence ....

An article in this month’s Harvard Business Review reveals that employees between the ages of 35 and 55 – dubbed middlescents – are apparently ‘burned out, bored and bottlenecked’. And, when I read this in yesterday’s media, I immediately recognised myself.

According to the authors, middlescents are the least likely to say that their workplace is congenial or fun. They have the lowest satisfaction rates with their managers and the least confidence in senior executives. Many feel trapped by financial pressures. In short, far too many mid-career employees are working more, enjoying it less and looking for alternatives.

Earlier generations looked to their work for security and material success – the way to combat restlessness was usually to buckle down and focus on one’s current job. Today’s generation have different goals – they want to get more out of life, and they are willing to trade some of their current success for greater significance in their lives and work.

Companies need to be developing strategies to deal with this lifeless body of workers to avoid losing good people, say the authors. But how many are even aware that the problem exists? I suspect very few.

My view is that companies can’t change things but the individuals can. I have been doing my job in various forms, for a variety of organisations and companies, for almost 30 years. I am in the middle of the middlescent age range. And I am bored out my skull. Everything I do, I have done before, in some form or other. I wonder how many people are in the same boat?

The first thing I believe people need to do is recognise that they are in this position. Like many things, acknowledging the problem is the first step to curing it. I acknowledged the truth: bored with my job, bored with my profession and slipping into what Pink Floyd famously called ‘quiet desperation’.

I have done something about it. Firstly, I identified another area that I was interested in and could train in. I am studying at college for the second step towards eventual qualification in a whole new discipline. This has given me a choice for the future, as well as important personal development at a time when it is easy to say: ‘been there, dunnit’.

I have also made the big leap – I negotiated a deal from work and will be leaving in four weeks. I am not sure what the future now holds. All I know is that it will be different, unpredictable and a challenge - three words which would not have appeared in any description of my working life during the last five years.

So, my message is – if you choose to hear it – don’t be a disgruntled middlescent. Be a very gruntled one!





Michael Douglas shows how not to deal with his 'middlescence' in the film, 'Falling Down'.

A divided kingdom?

I am currently reading ‘Divided Kingdom’ by Rupert Thomson which is set in a parallel world in which Britain is split into four different countries where people are ‘rearranged’ by the old-fashioned ‘humours’ – choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic and sanguine.

The book covers lots of issues which I feel are very relevant to the way that Government wants to move society – something I have covered before in this blog. Issues such as freedom and individual choice are clearly apparent in the book as well as more complex themes such as alienation and social engineering.

One passage struck home with me, a passage that – while not wholly relevant as yet - could become a scary reality if we, as a society, remain passive and supine and are not willing to challenge the things that will have a major impact on our lives.

“It’s like racism really … I don’t mean the old racism. That’s dead and gone. I’m not interested in the colour of someone’s skin. It’s their thoughts that bother me. The new racism is psychological. What’s strange is, we seem to need it – we thrive on it. If we don’t have someone to despise, we feel uncomfortable, we feel we haven’t properly defined ourselves. Hate gives us hard edges. And the authorities knew that, of course. In fact, they were banking on it. They force-fed us our own weakness – our intolerance, our bigotry. They rammed it down our throats … They took the worst part of us, and built a system out of it. And it worked –“

Find out more …

http://www.dividedkingdom.co.uk/

… or buy the book!

And, on a similar theme, I see they are remaking the sixties TV series, ‘The Prisoner’, as a film. Another timely reminder about things we need to be wary of.

Live by Number 6’s mantra:

“I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own. “

The Sultan's Elephant

One spectacle I was sorry to miss this weekend was the arrival of the Sultan’s Elephant show ( see above )which paraded through London over a four day period.

Judging by the pictures, reactions from the crowd and the BBC news video, it was an amazing event.

It is good to know that sometimes the powers-that-be get it right by doing something daring, different and guaranteed to please and amaze everyone of all ages.

More please!

If you didn't see the coverage, or hear about it, or want to see the video, follow this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4981728.stm