"WCI and CapTel phones, this is Keri, how may I help you?"

Everything about today seemed... off. It was probably because I woke up minutes before I had to leave for work, and I hate HATE rushing in the morning. I hate getting up as it is, but to have to rush out of bed and get dressed in a mad rush is even worse. And of course this caused my day to be off. No computer, a class of deaf students came in, a woman smelling like poo came in, and then those fun, interesting calls. Needless to say, once I got home, I crashed onto my bed and haven't moved since.

Whenever someone asks me what my job is, I usually give them a very brief and vague description. I do this not because I'm ashamed of my job but because it's just so difficult and long to explain. I honestly don't think I've told anyone exactly what it is I do. So, here it is:

I work for a company called WCI. We are a leading distributor of products for the deaf and hard of hearing. I'm talking telephones/ttys, alarm clocks, signalers, personal listening devices, TV listening devices, and so forth. However, our main sell is something called the CapTel phone. And if you live in Texas, New York, or Florida, chances are you've seen our PSA. This phone is the grand-daddy of all our products. Our company lives and breathes CapTel. This phone is an amplified phone that captions out word-for-word everything that's being said to you --so you can hear what you can but read what you need to. It's not offered in every state (DE and MA are the only ones who don't have it) which means every state has their own rules and restrictions with this phone (state mandated vs. federally mandated). We have PSAs running in various states (never Illinois or Minnesota) which means people call us looking for more information.

My job: I am part of the customer service team. This means that I help answer calls. 90% of our calls are about CapTel but we do have people calling looking for other products. However, I am nearly last on the call queue because I focus more on the order entry side of the team (the Quality Assurance team). When people place orders, someone enters them into the computer system. They then get printed out and handed to me. I check to make sure there are no mistakes with names, addresses, product codes, pricing, etc. I then hand the orders to our Special Accounts manager who "final proofs" them and passes them off to our two warehouses (one at our office, the other in Wisconsin where CapTel ships from). I'm also the customer service administrative person, which means I make sure alllll the order needs are taken care of. I am currently establishing rapport with state programs and dealers; I am learning about our special accounts; and I do reporting. All while taking calls every now and then.

The majority of our customers are older. And surprisingly, hard of hearing. Which makes for some preeeetty interesting calls. I've had to scream in the phone to make myself heard. I've been yelled yet, cursed at, and been threatened with Florida's district attorney. We've had customers in our office who have urinated on one of our chairs and who've smelled like poo.

The job is never dull. And I thoroughly enjoy the people I work with. We're a small office (about 18 or so) and everyone is fairly young. We all get along with each other (for the most part) and some of my closest friends have come out of that place. Is it a forever job? No, it's not. But it's giving me a lot of good experience and things to put on my resume.

Which comes to the question: if it's not your forever job, keri... then what do you WANT your forever job to be? Well kids, I don't know. But, I'm looking into getting my teaching certificate so I can try teaching for a few years. And if I like it, then I'll go back to school and get my masters (and eventual Ph.D) in education. High school history is ideally what I'd like to teach, but if it were to be my forever job, then I'd want to teach college level history. But I'm still not letting go of finding some studio honcho to marry so I can live in luxury. However, I sorta decided I needed a back-up plan in case that didn't pan out.

So. That's basically the jist of what I do. Is it tiring? Yes, at times. Is it stressful? Yes, at times. But I go into work every morning not knowing what to expect. Which makes working at 7am tolerable.

If you ever go deaf, let me know. I gots you.

i'm a liar.

I lied. "This is Your Life" is my fav.

album of the moment

(click me!)

I've never been a fan of The Killers. Buuuuut this album is so f'ing fantastic, i can't even describe it. I know that I'm about, oh, six months late hopping on this band wagon, but I couldn't help but share it. "A Dustland Fairytale" is the best track on the album.

fun fact of the day

happy 176th birthday, chicago!!

it was this date in 1833 that chicago was founded with only a population of 350! today, the city's population has reached 2.8 million people, making it the third largest city in the country! holla.

so take a moment and wish the city that gave us al capone, second city, the first ever blood bank, the ferris wheel, the remote control, and skyscrapers a VERY big happy birthday!

what about the environment?

The world is about to hit 7 billion people and there’s no sign of it slowing down. What’s even MORE staggering is the fact that it’s only going to take 12 years for it to increase from 6 billion to 7 billion people. How quickly will it reach 8 billion? 9 billion? Can our world even hold that many people?


The Population Reference Bureau’s 2009 World Population Data Sheet projects that 97% of global growth will happen in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean; to simplify it: third world countries. What will this increasing population due to our environment? And to the countless number of species living in inhabited lands that will eventually become habited to make room for a billion new people? I’ve never taken an active role in environmental issues. It was always something that I glossed over, not really striking much of an opinion. But thinking about these questions has raised an alarm in me. I want to know where President Obama stands and what sort of things that he’s doing/attempting to do to combat these questions. Don't you?

[source]

god, i love her

musings pt. 2

*has it really been over TWO years since i've last blogged? unreal.

*sometimes my "h" and "g" keys on my laptop don't work. you never realize how many times you use these letters until they magically disappear while you're typing.

*talked to my brother today. he's back in the states briefly but will be going back to iraq in about a week. i never really realized how much i missed him until i talked to him today.

*i wish i could have been there:

*what is it with people and their fascination with vampires? don't get me wrong, i do enjoy a good vampire movie or book (i'm totally hooked on the "twilight" series... guilty!). but what is it about them that has people so... obsessed. is it because they're supposed to be so beautiful? so graceful? so deadly? would you really want to live all of eternity like that? i really want to read bram stoker's "vampire." see where it alll begain.

*speaking of reading. i need more books to read. i only have 5 books here with me, and you can only read "harry potter and the half blood prince" so many times before you go crazy.

*sad day today: eunice kennedy shriver died today. she was 88. she lived a long and healthy life --unlike 5 of her other siblings. i can't believe that only jean and teddy are all that's left. and let's face it: teddy doesn't have that many years left. i can't believe that after 8 years, this family still has a hold on me.

*dexter is the best show on television. hands down. watch it on sidreel.com.

*i'm ready to become a real person. i wish things would just magically fall in place.