I have quit the call centre for good. Well actually I got fired, but I knew it was coming and I hated the place anyway. I only went in on Monday because I had a few call backs to do that I had acquired on Saturday (when I made one whole sale!). Nothing came of them and so the day shift manager called me into the office 15 mins before the end of the shift.
She confirmed my suspicions that she was actually planning to fire me on Thursday but the miracle of my 2 sales in a row - just as she was about to call me into the office saved me from the chop. Apparently she is legendary for sacking people on a Thursday so she doesn't have to pay them the weekly retainer (by sacking on a Thursday she prevents them doing the 5 consecutive shifts necessary to qualify for it). The Bitch.
She also said that she knew that I and 3 other staff from the night shift had been into the rival call centre across the road on Friday lunch time. Apparently they have an gentleman's agreement that they won't poach each others staff and she was most upset that I would try and go behind her back to get another job. This is from the woman who wanted to sack me so she wouldn't have to pay me!
Anyway, I was informed that if I wanted to seek employment from them now I had to write a letter of resignation which I had to get her to sign otherwise the place across the road won't touch me with a barge pole.
Tuesday, 30 August 2005
Life in a backpacker hostel
If you're wondering what it's like to live in a backpacker hostel try taking these easy steps to recreating the experience at home.
1. Label all your food in the fridge and mark the level on your bottle of orange juice so you can tell if anyone is stealing it.
2. When no one is looking steal some of the milk from an unlabeled carton in the fridge (they'll never know).
3. Swap your nice comfy bed for a bunkbed that squeaks. Ask a random stranger from the street to move in and start sleeping on it.
4. Get your new room mate to set their alarm clock to go off at 5am and then rustle plastic bags for 20 minutes after it has gone off.
5. Ask your new room mate to come home drunk at 3am and make loads of noise in the hallway outside your room before barging in, turning on the lights and then passing out and snoring really loudly for the rest of the night.
6. Get your new room mate to shag their partner on the top bunk while you try to sleep on the bottom bunk.
7. Turn off your hot water heater so you can only ever have cold showers.
8. Ask someone to steal some of your carefully labeled food from the fridge and then sympathize with you when you complain about 'dirty thieving bastards who have no respect for other peoples property'.
9. Invite 20 people over to watch TV in your lounge. Before they arrive turn the TV over to a History channel documentary on the life if Ghengis Khan and then hide the remote.
10. Try and get your landlord to let you stay rent free in exchange for housework.
1. Label all your food in the fridge and mark the level on your bottle of orange juice so you can tell if anyone is stealing it.
2. When no one is looking steal some of the milk from an unlabeled carton in the fridge (they'll never know).
3. Swap your nice comfy bed for a bunkbed that squeaks. Ask a random stranger from the street to move in and start sleeping on it.
4. Get your new room mate to set their alarm clock to go off at 5am and then rustle plastic bags for 20 minutes after it has gone off.
5. Ask your new room mate to come home drunk at 3am and make loads of noise in the hallway outside your room before barging in, turning on the lights and then passing out and snoring really loudly for the rest of the night.
6. Get your new room mate to shag their partner on the top bunk while you try to sleep on the bottom bunk.
7. Turn off your hot water heater so you can only ever have cold showers.
8. Ask someone to steal some of your carefully labeled food from the fridge and then sympathize with you when you complain about 'dirty thieving bastards who have no respect for other peoples property'.
9. Invite 20 people over to watch TV in your lounge. Before they arrive turn the TV over to a History channel documentary on the life if Ghengis Khan and then hide the remote.
10. Try and get your landlord to let you stay rent free in exchange for housework.
Sunday, 28 August 2005
ever changing plans
I know I swore blind I was leaving Brisbane today and that Friday was going to be my last ever day at the call centre. But things happen, plans change, life takes a twist. Specifically, this tends to happen when you realize you have spent far too much money this week and need too do at leat one more week of work in order to be able to afford to leave and do the things you want.
I was having a beer with my friend the chef yesterday and she was saying she might have to leave Australia next week and go home to work. At the moment she has enough money for a ticket home. She could go home work for a year save tones of cash and then come back out on one of the new 4 year working holiday visas.
It's typical that they go and introduce them after I arrived here. On my crappy one year visa (which is all that was available when I left) I am not allowed to work for one employer for more than 3 months. On the new visa you can work in one job for up to a year.
Most employers don't want to know you if you can only stay for 3 months. Even the manager at Nandos was like "by the time I get you trained up you'll have to leave" (yeah 'cos I'm so stupid it'll take me 3 months to learn how to use a till and serve chicken in a basket. Moron.)
I was having a beer with my friend the chef yesterday and she was saying she might have to leave Australia next week and go home to work. At the moment she has enough money for a ticket home. She could go home work for a year save tones of cash and then come back out on one of the new 4 year working holiday visas.
It's typical that they go and introduce them after I arrived here. On my crappy one year visa (which is all that was available when I left) I am not allowed to work for one employer for more than 3 months. On the new visa you can work in one job for up to a year.
Most employers don't want to know you if you can only stay for 3 months. Even the manager at Nandos was like "by the time I get you trained up you'll have to leave" (yeah 'cos I'm so stupid it'll take me 3 months to learn how to use a till and serve chicken in a basket. Moron.)
Thursday, 25 August 2005
The boy has left the building
Yep, the boy is no more and I am now able to stop obsessing about him. In theory.
Wednesday, 24 August 2005
The call centre from hell
I got into work last night and was called into a team meeting. They told us that due to poor sales and low staff numbers they were transferring us all to the day shift and getting rid of the evening shift completely.
This sucks.
We now have to be at work for 8am instead of 2pm. Deep fry was off yesterday and nobody told him about the change. He turned up at 2pm expecting to start work, only to find that everyone else was finishing for the day.
Tomorrow I have to be in for 7.30am for training because my sales are so low.
I didn't sell a single plan today, I didn't even come close. Apparently my usual one sale a day has made me a priority for the 'under 5's' training session at stupid o'clock in the morning.
I'm quitting on Friday. The money sucks and I'm intending to head up north to go fruit picking. I'll play along with their stupid training and bide my time until the end of Friday when I will have qualified for my $200 retainer and then I'm out of there.
So long fair well, call centre from hell.
This sucks.
We now have to be at work for 8am instead of 2pm. Deep fry was off yesterday and nobody told him about the change. He turned up at 2pm expecting to start work, only to find that everyone else was finishing for the day.
Tomorrow I have to be in for 7.30am for training because my sales are so low.
I didn't sell a single plan today, I didn't even come close. Apparently my usual one sale a day has made me a priority for the 'under 5's' training session at stupid o'clock in the morning.
I'm quitting on Friday. The money sucks and I'm intending to head up north to go fruit picking. I'll play along with their stupid training and bide my time until the end of Friday when I will have qualified for my $200 retainer and then I'm out of there.
So long fair well, call centre from hell.
Tuesday, 23 August 2005
Earth Girls guide to saving money while backpacking
Free Food
This one is easy but can be very hit and miss. Hostels that have a kitchen will usually have a 'Free Food' shelf or box. Basically when people leave the hostel they often don't have room or can't be bothered to take all their food with them and so leave it on the free food shelf. This food is then up for grabs to the fist person who comes along.
The staple contents of free food shelves are pretty much universal and you will usually find a few packets of 2 minute noodles (the backpackers staple), half a loaf of bread, half a jar of jam/peanut butter/vegemite, salt & pepper, packets of McDonald's ketchup, and some teabags. Quite often you will also find a few potatoes and some sundry fruit and veg. It's up to you how much of meal you can make of it.
This one is easy but can be very hit and miss. Hostels that have a kitchen will usually have a 'Free Food' shelf or box. Basically when people leave the hostel they often don't have room or can't be bothered to take all their food with them and so leave it on the free food shelf. This food is then up for grabs to the fist person who comes along.
The staple contents of free food shelves are pretty much universal and you will usually find a few packets of 2 minute noodles (the backpackers staple), half a loaf of bread, half a jar of jam/peanut butter/vegemite, salt & pepper, packets of McDonald's ketchup, and some teabags. Quite often you will also find a few potatoes and some sundry fruit and veg. It's up to you how much of meal you can make of it.
Free Internet
Local library's always have free internet, sometimes you must prove local residence though. However if you are ever in Brisbane the State Library of Queensland on the South Bank will let you sign in as a guest for 1 free hour of internet 'research'. Also in Australia look out for flyers advertising the Peterpan travel agency which usually have a voucher attached for 20 mins free internet access.
Free Entertainment
free entertainment is usually easy to comeby if you are in a big city, epecialy if you can master the knack of sitting on a single glass of coke for 2 hours. Loads of Pubs & bars have free entertainment ranging from bands and comedians to pub quizzes where you can win yourself some much needed cash. Also look out for flyers and adverts in local papers for all sorts of free stuff from concerts and gigs to free film screenings, art gallery open evenings, free museums, arts and crafts work shops & loacl guided walks. With the minimum of effort finding free stuff to do is pretty easy.
Free Books
Most hostels have a 'Library' or book self with books which are free for you to take. The idea being that you replace it with a book of your own that you no longer want.
Sometimes the books available are complete crap. At the moment 90% of the books available in my hostel are foreign language due to the high turn over of English language students staying there but occasionaly a gem will turn up like the copy of Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
Free Accommodation
Freen accomodation is much harder to come by, but most backpacker hostels will offer some limited work for accommodation. Usually this involves a 3 hour shift of house keeping/cleaning/bar work/handing out leaflets each day in exchange for a free nights accommodation.
These jobs are very much in demand and you have to be quick to snap them up when the opportunity arises. Sometimes they will want you to agree to work for a minimum amount of time as they don't like having to train you up and then loose you after a few days. But there's no harm in saying "yes I'll be here for 2 months" and then quitting after a week. It's a bit dishonest but hey you're broke and they won't have any problems finding someone else to take your place.
Sometimes you'll even get free meals and some cash in hand thrown in but this all depends on the hostel and how tightfisted they are. Bar work and work in the kitchens is always good because even if its not officially part of the deal a nice bar manager or friendly chef will bung you a few free drinks or meals 'cos they like you and they know what it's like to be a broke backpacker too.
Work for accom is also available a some pubs and hotels too. So if you can't get any at the hostles in town try the Hotels and Pubs (not bars) you're also more likely to get meals and money thrown in as well.
Being a Mothers helper or au pair is always a good way to get money and accom if you don't have any child acre qualifications but you are usually expected to do a lot more work for less pay and you may have some really bratty kids to look after. But the advantage to this is you get to experience life with a local family, usually out of the usual tourist and backpacker haunts and submerse yourself in local life (and you quite often get the use of a car).
Finaly there is alwayd the option of pulling a local and spending the night at their place. You might even get breakfast out of them !
Other free stuff
Tampons & Condoms
We all know these are a necessity, and often quite expensive. But if you know where to look it's not actually that hard to score yourself a free supply of sanitary products and free condoms.
You will often find that in your posher hotels (especially in the USA) there is a free supply of sanitary products in the ladies wash rooms. Often you wont notice but sometimes the tampon dispensing machines will say complementary. and when you twist the knob or pull the handle out popsm a free tampon all packaged up nicely ready for you to pop into your hand bag. And you can keep popping them out until you have all you need or someone walks in and you have to stop because you don't want them to see what you are doing (these machines usually dispense free condoms as well). Some times in the very best hotels there won't be a machine as they would spoil the look of the carefully designed room but if you look carefully you can usually find a stash hidden away in an ornamental box or drawer in an otherwise useless design feature.
Sunday, 21 August 2005
The South African psycho
You may recall me mentioning my stalker/friend earlier.
My feelings towards her have now come full circle and I can't stand her again. She was fired from her housekeeping job at the hostel because she's a complete bitch and always nasty to every one. She can't understand it and thinks she's being unfairly treated. Everyone else just wonders why they took so bloody long to do it.
Today she told me that the Japanese guy we befriended asked her out. She was calling him a freak and a wanker and saying she felt harassed wants him to stay away from her. All he did was one day ask her if she had a boyfriend and ask her out the day after. Ok so he handed her a note with 'I want to be your boyfriend' written on it but the poor darlings English isn't that great and he probably just wanted to make sure the message was understood.
She is a psycho fuckwit and I can't stand her. But I'm forced to interact with her on a daily basis because she's in my room and back to stalking me again.
My feelings towards her have now come full circle and I can't stand her again. She was fired from her housekeeping job at the hostel because she's a complete bitch and always nasty to every one. She can't understand it and thinks she's being unfairly treated. Everyone else just wonders why they took so bloody long to do it.
Today she told me that the Japanese guy we befriended asked her out. She was calling him a freak and a wanker and saying she felt harassed wants him to stay away from her. All he did was one day ask her if she had a boyfriend and ask her out the day after. Ok so he handed her a note with 'I want to be your boyfriend' written on it but the poor darlings English isn't that great and he probably just wanted to make sure the message was understood.
She is a psycho fuckwit and I can't stand her. But I'm forced to interact with her on a daily basis because she's in my room and back to stalking me again.
more about the boy
Last night I wanted to go out to celebrate the last day of working at the Ekka and my huge cash in hand pay day. I was all tarted up with no place to go and sitting in the bar on my own with a diet coke. I'd been talking to the boy earlier and he knew I wanted to go out, so he invited me to come along with him and some people from his room.
We went to a couple of bars in the city. We lost a few people on the walk form the kebab shop to the irish pub. One of them was the boys friend. He stepped outside to call him and see where he went and never came back. Slowly but surely the 10 or so people we were with all started disapearing and soon the only ones left from our group were me 2 canadian girls and a snogging couple. the girls were being chatted up but some blokes at the bar.
I stood alone loitering like the third wheel I always find myslef to be, until on the verge of tears I decided to head back to the hostel alone.
Not the fun night out I envisioned. But then they never are.
We went to a couple of bars in the city. We lost a few people on the walk form the kebab shop to the irish pub. One of them was the boys friend. He stepped outside to call him and see where he went and never came back. Slowly but surely the 10 or so people we were with all started disapearing and soon the only ones left from our group were me 2 canadian girls and a snogging couple. the girls were being chatted up but some blokes at the bar.
I stood alone loitering like the third wheel I always find myslef to be, until on the verge of tears I decided to head back to the hostel alone.
Not the fun night out I envisioned. But then they never are.
Sunday, 14 August 2005
Ekka
The Ekka is the annual state fair of Queensland, Australia. It was originally called the Brisbane Exhibition and is now known as the Ekka because Australians like to chop up long words and stick a vowel on the end.
For ten days each August The Ekka takes over the RNA Showgrounds and attracts over 600,000 visitors. This year the highlight of the show was buying a plastic cup of ice cold lemonade from an English girl in an ugly yellow baseball cap and matching T-shirt. Me.
Attractions at Ekka include fairground rides, a sideshow alley full of rigged games where you spend $100 to win a stuffed toy, animal parades, woodchopping competitions, agricultural displays and equestrian events and Showbags.
Showbags are a uniquely East Australian phenomenon. Brisbanites are obsessed with them, children save up their pocket money for months to buy them and no one leaves the show without ten in each hand. The bags themselves are mostly bright plastic carrierbags with cartoon characters on the front and they are mostly full of the kind of crap that you'll either never use or tones of sweets that you will eat within an hour of arriving home.
There is a whole giant pavilion dedicated to showbags at the Ekka. The most popular showbags with teenage boys were the army bags, containing a helmet, a machine gun, platic hand grenades and some camouflage bullet proof vest. The Ninja bags were also extremely popular and containing plastic swords, plastic death stars, rubber nunchucks and a black head scarf and body armor. It was great fun to watch 18 year old boys dressed in these outfits meant for 10 year olds & stalking each other through the crowds.
Another popular novelty item was the inflatable baseball bat. Children aged 3 to 8 particularly seemed to enjoy demanding that their fathers buy them one and then beating the crap out of him with it when he did.
Teenage girls (and for that matter the 20 somethings too) were all about the angel wings and furry halos. The black wings with real feathers were partiularly in demand due to the large contingent of goths and rock chicks inhabiting Brisbane.
On the final day of the Ekka I gave in and bought a couple of showbags. One was a Cadburys bag containing chocolate and a really cool pack of Cadburys playing cards. I also bought a New Woman Magazine bag (it was on sale) which contained a variety of stuff ranging from foot moisturizer to Hoi sin sauce and a back issues of magazines. All in all quite a pleasing haul.
My lemonade stand was in prime selling location, which meant that on the sunny days it was busy all days. Ekka week is notorious for bad weather and on the first 2 days of the show I was so cold I was layering up in 2 t-shirts, a sweat shirt and the bright yellow rain mac provided by my boss.
Standing directly in front of my stall were 4 off duty firemen selling the 2006 Fire Fighters of Queensland calendar. We struck up a friendly relationship with the fireman and snuck them free lemonade when the boss wasn't around. Occasionally some of the guys who had posed on the calendar would come down for a shift and they were always being asked to sign the calendars and pose for photos with the house wives. The most popular and most pretty was Rob who was on the front cover.
The stall next to us sold Fairy Floss (that's Candy floss in England and Cotton Candy in America). The stall was manned by the Mad Maria and Chris the Canadian backpacker. Chris was gorgeous and great fun and of course had a girlfriend. Maria was born and bred on the show grounds of Australia and has spent her life traveling from town to town with her family making fairy floss. Maria is a Showman not a Worker she gets very upset if any one dares label her as such. There is a distinct difference in the 2 which forms the basis of the traveling shows very own class system. Showmen own stalls, rides and canteens (burger vans and snack carts etc). Workers simply work for the Showmen. Showmen (Showys) are born into show families and the of the families that work the shows are extremely large and always extended. Mingling in the form of dating and relationships between these two classes is frowned upon. It doesn't matter if the worker has been on the shows for 20 years it is still a huge black mark upon the name of the Showy who dares enter into a relationship with one.
Maria was dating a worker. Her brother was not happy about this and decided to sabotage the relationship by spreading rumors. When Mad Maria found out she went off her nut and stalked off to find him and punch his lights out. Chris took the opportunity to sneak me some free Fairy Floss in exchange for some lemonade.
History of the Ekka & Ekka Official Site
For ten days each August The Ekka takes over the RNA Showgrounds and attracts over 600,000 visitors. This year the highlight of the show was buying a plastic cup of ice cold lemonade from an English girl in an ugly yellow baseball cap and matching T-shirt. Me.
Attractions at Ekka include fairground rides, a sideshow alley full of rigged games where you spend $100 to win a stuffed toy, animal parades, woodchopping competitions, agricultural displays and equestrian events and Showbags.
Showbags are a uniquely East Australian phenomenon. Brisbanites are obsessed with them, children save up their pocket money for months to buy them and no one leaves the show without ten in each hand. The bags themselves are mostly bright plastic carrierbags with cartoon characters on the front and they are mostly full of the kind of crap that you'll either never use or tones of sweets that you will eat within an hour of arriving home.
There is a whole giant pavilion dedicated to showbags at the Ekka. The most popular showbags with teenage boys were the army bags, containing a helmet, a machine gun, platic hand grenades and some camouflage bullet proof vest. The Ninja bags were also extremely popular and containing plastic swords, plastic death stars, rubber nunchucks and a black head scarf and body armor. It was great fun to watch 18 year old boys dressed in these outfits meant for 10 year olds & stalking each other through the crowds.
Another popular novelty item was the inflatable baseball bat. Children aged 3 to 8 particularly seemed to enjoy demanding that their fathers buy them one and then beating the crap out of him with it when he did.
Teenage girls (and for that matter the 20 somethings too) were all about the angel wings and furry halos. The black wings with real feathers were partiularly in demand due to the large contingent of goths and rock chicks inhabiting Brisbane.
On the final day of the Ekka I gave in and bought a couple of showbags. One was a Cadburys bag containing chocolate and a really cool pack of Cadburys playing cards. I also bought a New Woman Magazine bag (it was on sale) which contained a variety of stuff ranging from foot moisturizer to Hoi sin sauce and a back issues of magazines. All in all quite a pleasing haul.
My lemonade stand was in prime selling location, which meant that on the sunny days it was busy all days. Ekka week is notorious for bad weather and on the first 2 days of the show I was so cold I was layering up in 2 t-shirts, a sweat shirt and the bright yellow rain mac provided by my boss.
Standing directly in front of my stall were 4 off duty firemen selling the 2006 Fire Fighters of Queensland calendar. We struck up a friendly relationship with the fireman and snuck them free lemonade when the boss wasn't around. Occasionally some of the guys who had posed on the calendar would come down for a shift and they were always being asked to sign the calendars and pose for photos with the house wives. The most popular and most pretty was Rob who was on the front cover.
The stall next to us sold Fairy Floss (that's Candy floss in England and Cotton Candy in America). The stall was manned by the Mad Maria and Chris the Canadian backpacker. Chris was gorgeous and great fun and of course had a girlfriend. Maria was born and bred on the show grounds of Australia and has spent her life traveling from town to town with her family making fairy floss. Maria is a Showman not a Worker she gets very upset if any one dares label her as such. There is a distinct difference in the 2 which forms the basis of the traveling shows very own class system. Showmen own stalls, rides and canteens (burger vans and snack carts etc). Workers simply work for the Showmen. Showmen (Showys) are born into show families and the of the families that work the shows are extremely large and always extended. Mingling in the form of dating and relationships between these two classes is frowned upon. It doesn't matter if the worker has been on the shows for 20 years it is still a huge black mark upon the name of the Showy who dares enter into a relationship with one.
Maria was dating a worker. Her brother was not happy about this and decided to sabotage the relationship by spreading rumors. When Mad Maria found out she went off her nut and stalked off to find him and punch his lights out. Chris took the opportunity to sneak me some free Fairy Floss in exchange for some lemonade.
History of the Ekka & Ekka Official Site
Saturday, 13 August 2005
busy
Hey all,
been very busy working 12 hour shifts on a lemonade stall at the Ekka. Will post all about it as soon as i finish, dont excpect any posts for a week.
xXx
been very busy working 12 hour shifts on a lemonade stall at the Ekka. Will post all about it as soon as i finish, dont excpect any posts for a week.
xXx
Wednesday, 10 August 2005
brisbane clock tower
I went up the clock tower in the Town Hall today. There was an old man in the lift with me. he decided that he wanted to share his knowledge of Brisbane with me. It was mostly interesting. All two hours of it.
Well some of it was, alot of it was waffle, but he was so nice and freindly I didn't have the heart to make my excuses and leave. I would have felt awful and besides he did have a few really interesting stories to tell.
The best one was about the Rolling Stones Gig he went to in Brisbane Town hall in the sixties. The Stones were second on the bill after Roy Orbison. Roy was great. Roy had them dancing in the isles.
When the Stones took to the stage, the largely unheard of band did not make a good impression with their scruffy appearance, long hair and general hoon like demenor. About half of the audience got up and left before the frist song was over.
Well some of it was, alot of it was waffle, but he was so nice and freindly I didn't have the heart to make my excuses and leave. I would have felt awful and besides he did have a few really interesting stories to tell.
The best one was about the Rolling Stones Gig he went to in Brisbane Town hall in the sixties. The Stones were second on the bill after Roy Orbison. Roy was great. Roy had them dancing in the isles.
When the Stones took to the stage, the largely unheard of band did not make a good impression with their scruffy appearance, long hair and general hoon like demenor. About half of the audience got up and left before the frist song was over.
Tuesday, 9 August 2005
More tales from the call centre
Customer quote of the day "You're a Dickhead, mate !"
I love the way Aussis speak. In England we'd just call someone a dickhead and be done with it, but out here they like to call everyone mate even when there insulting you.
One of the girls from the day shif was talking to me in the break and apparently The night shift are referred to at the Ferrals. This is the Aussie equivalent of a Scally, i.e the scum of the earth. What the hell did we do to deserve that except have much better time at work due to our much more relaxed take on the working day.
She was also telling me about the guy she had just managed to kick out of her house. He was a friend of her boyfriends who originally asked to stay for 2 nights while he sorted out his new place. He stayed over a year and refused to leave. He also refused to cook or clean or show any respect towards his hosts.
Guitar sessions starting at 2am were common, so was getting drunk and bringing home 18 year old girls to shag (he was 39). She threatened to shange the locks and leave his stuff out side once,a dna he threatedn to call the police if she did 'something about moving his stuff wiothjout permission'. Finally her boyfriend had to put his friend down to get him out. It happened soon after the soap holder incident.
Someone broke the soap holder in the shower and she asked if it was him. He said yes. She asked how it had happened and he said 'I was sitting on the floor of the shower having a wank and when I finished I stood up too quick and hit the soap holder with my head and it broke off'.
I love the way Aussis speak. In England we'd just call someone a dickhead and be done with it, but out here they like to call everyone mate even when there insulting you.
One of the girls from the day shif was talking to me in the break and apparently The night shift are referred to at the Ferrals. This is the Aussie equivalent of a Scally, i.e the scum of the earth. What the hell did we do to deserve that except have much better time at work due to our much more relaxed take on the working day.
She was also telling me about the guy she had just managed to kick out of her house. He was a friend of her boyfriends who originally asked to stay for 2 nights while he sorted out his new place. He stayed over a year and refused to leave. He also refused to cook or clean or show any respect towards his hosts.
Guitar sessions starting at 2am were common, so was getting drunk and bringing home 18 year old girls to shag (he was 39). She threatened to shange the locks and leave his stuff out side once,a dna he threatedn to call the police if she did 'something about moving his stuff wiothjout permission'. Finally her boyfriend had to put his friend down to get him out. It happened soon after the soap holder incident.
Someone broke the soap holder in the shower and she asked if it was him. He said yes. She asked how it had happened and he said 'I was sitting on the floor of the shower having a wank and when I finished I stood up too quick and hit the soap holder with my head and it broke off'.
Monday, 8 August 2005
tales from the call centre
The evening shift at the call centre is a small team. It consists of Me, Stonerboy, Deep fry, Shy guy, Ginger girl and Welsh surfer.
Ginger girl and Welsh surfer have one of those boy-girl friendships where they both clearly fancy each other but get on so well they don't want to spoil things by getting involved.
Deep fry likes to harras the staff at the MacDonnalds every tea break by asking them to deep fry random stuff for him, like apples, caramel sundays, orange juice and cheeseburgers. They always refuse but he's determined to get them to do it one day.
Stoner used to be a door to door salesman. People used to phone up his company and complain about him being too pushy. He used to get a $50 bonus every time they did. "Good on yah mate your doin' your job well if people are complainin' about ya!".
He got told off yesterday for shouting "stupid fucking whore" after a woman hung up on him.
Most of the office likes to say "Fucking old people!" after about 30% of our calls. They're annoying, they either can't hear you or don't understand what you're trying to tell them. Most of the time when you get an old person on the line you try and get rid of them by saying stuff like "Do you want to change phone company?" which always gets you a "No!" and allows you to hang up and get on with the next call.
Ginger girl and Welsh surfer have one of those boy-girl friendships where they both clearly fancy each other but get on so well they don't want to spoil things by getting involved.
Deep fry likes to harras the staff at the MacDonnalds every tea break by asking them to deep fry random stuff for him, like apples, caramel sundays, orange juice and cheeseburgers. They always refuse but he's determined to get them to do it one day.
Stoner used to be a door to door salesman. People used to phone up his company and complain about him being too pushy. He used to get a $50 bonus every time they did. "Good on yah mate your doin' your job well if people are complainin' about ya!".
He got told off yesterday for shouting "stupid fucking whore" after a woman hung up on him.
Most of the office likes to say "Fucking old people!" after about 30% of our calls. They're annoying, they either can't hear you or don't understand what you're trying to tell them. Most of the time when you get an old person on the line you try and get rid of them by saying stuff like "Do you want to change phone company?" which always gets you a "No!" and allows you to hang up and get on with the next call.
Saturday, 6 August 2005
about the boy
Last Saturday night a guy I know spent half an hour trying to get me to shag him. Until now we've only had a few quick conversations in the kitchen about looking for work and the sort of general chit chat you do to pass the time. I will admit that I only started talking to him in the first place because he looked nice and he seemed like a nice guy.
He was very drunk on Saturday and a lot more outgoing than he is normally. I'm just confused as to weather he was trying it on because he was drunk and fancied a shag and I seemed like the most likely candidate or weather he actually likes me and was just drunk and over confident.
Yesterday he seemed to want to talk to me but couldn't because I was already talking to someone else. But this morning he seemed in a rush to get away from me.
He was very drunk on Saturday and a lot more outgoing than he is normally. I'm just confused as to weather he was trying it on because he was drunk and fancied a shag and I seemed like the most likely candidate or weather he actually likes me and was just drunk and over confident.
Yesterday he seemed to want to talk to me but couldn't because I was already talking to someone else. But this morning he seemed in a rush to get away from me.
Wednesday, 3 August 2005
Is your monthly phone bill over $60 ?
Because if it is I can save you some money !
Yes, I have joined the ranks of evil also known as telemarketers.
Yesterday I spent 8 hours interrupting peoples dinner to try and convince them to switch their home phone to a new provider. In all honesty, the product I am pushing is quite a good one and most people would be better off on our plan. But most people aren't interested and stubbornly stick to Telstra.
I don't blame them though as I don't ever buy anything from people who phone me up at home. I always hang up on telemarketers which is probably why I hate doing this job so much. But I need the money.
Oh and there are 2 new posts about LA and Las Vegas if you look at last months postings.
Ta ta for now. xXx
Yes, I have joined the ranks of evil also known as telemarketers.
Yesterday I spent 8 hours interrupting peoples dinner to try and convince them to switch their home phone to a new provider. In all honesty, the product I am pushing is quite a good one and most people would be better off on our plan. But most people aren't interested and stubbornly stick to Telstra.
I don't blame them though as I don't ever buy anything from people who phone me up at home. I always hang up on telemarketers which is probably why I hate doing this job so much. But I need the money.
Oh and there are 2 new posts about LA and Las Vegas if you look at last months postings.
Ta ta for now. xXx
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