Act 1

It was like any other day at MCI, sitting around taking Hewlett Packard Pavilion calls, noting the women walking in an out of the center form the outbound call center, when Tom came up to me and told me the center was likely to close within 6 months. I didn’t think much of it, other than I had 6 months to find another job, which at the time was not hard at all this was when the. Dot com’s we’re in their prime and tech jobs were a dime a dozen and for good money. So after looking around on the best places to go I settled on INACOM, as I already knew some people who went over to them and it was pretty good and provided a decent challenge verse the humdrum day to day calls at HP.

INACOM’s center looked nothing like Hp’s it was more the stereotypical tech office, square building with lots of windows that only the privileged would have the ability to look out of, other than from a distance. It turns out Brian whom I had met before was also working there and he was the person to conduct my skill test. The test was for the most part cake as well as the Interview with my soon to be manager Carrie. 2 weeks of training went on and I found myself, not taking things too seriously as the trainer Konnie and I ended up clowning the entire time. At the same time I met Bridget, Carrie’s right hand for the most part where as Brian was her left. We went to lunch a few days out the 2 weeks training classes and started to pick up some vibes from her, which I really didn’t pay too much attention to.

On the final day of the Customer service training Konnie and I had made plans to meet up at a club later that night and kick it with some of her friends, I had barely passed the final exam, which really didn’t matter as customer service is about feeling a person out not some pie charts distinguishing how you should act, and owed Konnie at least Long islands for the hookup. So after the last day of the 2nd week of training in which we would then be placed into our prospective department, and trained further on our specific job functions, the President of the center came in to congratulate us, and inform us the rumors about the company filing bankruptcy were true but that the doors would stay open and no one would be laid off. So with that in mind, we all went to lunch.

I went to lunch with Bridget, who would be continuing my training in my department and Chi another trainee in the class. So we went to lunch and I have to say I was feeling more of the vibes from Bridget which would later come into play more than what they already were, as I learned nothing of what I was expected to do during the last week of training. So has we came back from lunch I noticed a few other ex MCI walking out of the building with boxes. Apparently the center director didn’t know just what to what extent of the bankruptcy meant, for when we walked in the door we were greeted by teary-eyed INACOM employees who were now un-employed. Fortunately for us the company we were outsourced from was located here locally and was more than willing to have their helpdesk move to their offices. This was the beginning the beginning of probably one of the most confusing chapters in my life and in the end turn out to be one of the worst and darkest.

We were huddled into a room the size of and average bedroom of a small apartment. 12 techs with 22 computers on one big boardroom table, needless to say it was crowded and cramped, but we made due. And I thought what better way to show how well I can deal with pressure than to keep and upbeat attitude and positive outlook on things. I also saw it as an opportunity to show my leadership skills to keep the room in some kind of order. Unfortunately this was to all back-fire in my face. Carrie wasn’t having anything of the sort; she wanted things ran her way and only her way.

The problem with Carrie’s way was she had never done anything in regards to technology service, as she had a background in nursing. Months passed and things got worse, and eventually people began leaving, Eric was one of the 1st, followed by a few others who simply cracked under the pressure. Eric left because he refused to allow someone like her to simply run the helpdesk we busted our asses to maintain, into the ground, by not listening to the people that knew the business and the technology. Often the days were filled with mini battles and life seemed like it was always us against her, the MCI crew against the Frau as we called her. After Eric left she began to take out her frustrations on Sean, who was still a somewhat wet behind the ears tech, but was coming along nicely on the patch to guru-ism. Lets’ just say the force ran with him, the problem was Carrie saw him as her son and not an individual, and began to treat him as the black sheep of the team. At the time Sean, and Brian and I got a house together to poll our finances and regroups as INACOM closed without ever paying us, thus most of us worked 10-14 hour days without pay.

Things at work were also not going well Brian and I often found ourselves stepping into the line of fire, almost like telling her to pick on someone her own size. A type of camaraderie formed between us and life almost seemed like it was getting better. We were getting paid much more than what we made at MCI and outside of work was one big party. The battle at work still waged and after a while Brian just gave up as he thought he could infiltrate the Frau lair and work as an insider instead of the direct approach. This process failed as Brian was soon consumed by the Frau’s dark legions of lap dogs, and soon lay helplessly on the sidelines.

I was the only one left, and things were looking quite bleak, I had an opportunity to possibly end the war, but I failed to take it, or for better words her. The price of my decision is Sean was fired within 2 weeks. Let’s just say Bridget wasn’t happy about that and decided she would now fulfill her destiny by carrying out the Frau orders, by for the most part framing Sean for some pretty explicit items, but for the most she just set him up to fall enough that Carrie would feel she had no choice but to fire him. Brian, whom we considered MIA broke his foot, (supposedly) was of no use, and I was placed in charge of taking him to work, as we lived in the same house.

I can honestly say this was a mistake on my part, which I will probably never do again. The following month I was late to work or back form lunch entirely due to Brian’s inability to get up in the morning while taking his pain prescription and inability to effectively get out of my car. During the tail end of this escapade I would take Brian to work, come in late of course and then take him home, only for him to then get in his own car and go to bars. Finally enough was enough and my ability to withhold a growing rage, persuaded me to simply begin leaving without him. If he could drive to the bar after work on his own he could drive to work by himself. During this month Carrie also assured me that my tardiness was not going to be held against me as it was not entirely my fault, and the fact that she had basically strong armed me into insuring that my level 2 was able to get to work to do her biddings.

A week after I stopped bringing Brian to work I was written up for being late after I had to file a police report that my car was broken into, and my firearm was stolen, this did not sit well with me, again Carrie ruled with her emotions and not her brains or lack there of. I had called in within the allotted time to notify her of the situation and her response was “get your ass to work”. When I arrived I was verbally reprimanded in front of my team, which severely tainted my perspective of her managerial skill sin further. An hour or so passed and I was taking calls as usual when I was called by Mesa PD and advised that a police report had to be filed and the car had to be fingerprinted, because a deadly weapon was involved in the situation. I informed Carrie of this and again was belittled amongst her minions. Engulfed with fury, I simply walked out of the room, and went back to my seat. Thankfully Will and another employee who were active reservists and military informed Carrie of the severity of the situation, advising her that if I did not file the police report and someone was shot with my registered weapon it would come back on me as the prime suspect, bringing with it a minimum of detaining for questioning. This was the same information that I informed her as well, 2 hrs later she allowed me to leave. I should have never returned.

Act 2