This recent post on here reminded me of a job I had when I was at uni. I was working in a call center processing retail finance applications. My shift started at 9 and I used to show up at 9 every time. I got into so much trouble, they always used to tell me I needed to be there 15 minutes early to be ready to start my shift. When I would say that I had higher throughput and accuracy than anyone else in the department, they always said that didn't matter – I was paid for my time, not my work. In which case, they needed to pay me for that extra 15 minutes or I would be there at 9.
It pissed them off but there was nothing they could do about it really other than complain to me. It just meant I had no prospect of progression in that company (oh no! anyway…) because I wasn't mindless rule-following middle-manager potential.
And that segues into the story that this post title comes from. I remember one day I had just finished up a call with a dealer and as soon as I terminated the call, my phone rang immediately. It was my supervisor, Helen. She had been listening in (a regular monitoring activity they undertook) and said that everything was perfect – I built up a good rapport with the dealer, processes the application correctly, did everything right, etc. Then she dropped this gem:
“Anyway, unfortunately I have to fail you because you didn't use the dealer's name three times during the call.”
I mean, I really didn't care, it was just part of their performance monitoring, and I wasn't planning on climbing the ladder here. But still…I asked her “Ok. Remind me, what is the purpose of using their name three times?” “Oh it's because it helps you build rapport.”. “Right. And what was literally the first piece of feedback you gave me about my call?”
SMH…