(no subject)
Jan. 13th, 2004 01:36 pmExciting times here at work today. Someone at a construction site on I-495 cut a fiber cable and now the office has no phones.
Did I ever mention that I work from my home in Michigan, answering the toll-free tech support line for a software company in Chelmsford, Massachusetts? My normal routine is to log in to a server which redirects 800 number calls to my house. I also receive calls here that are made to my direct dial office telephone number in Massachusetts. I'm in a minority; 95 percent of my colleagues work in one big office in Chelmsford.
We have no 800 number calls today, and no direct dial extensions.
Everyone who calls a direct extension is getting a fast busy signal. AT&T is routing all the 800 number calls to an answering service who is then faxing them (no idea how that fax works) to some clerical staff at the office who are entering them into the case tracking system and dispatching them to queues. The email about this says "Some of these cases are urgent!" We have been told to use cell phones and email to talk to the customers.
The company doesn't issue cell phones to most of the support line personnel, as a normal thing. I wonder how many people up there are willing to put their personal phones into service for this, and how many are saying "Cell phone? What cell phone? I don't have a cell phone."
I've got two land lines to my house. I guess this means I've got more ability to work than most. I am calling every case that comes to any of the three queues I am in the path for, explaining the situation, getting actual good technical details of the problems, getting email addresses, and putting notes in the cases.
Did I ever mention that I work from my home in Michigan, answering the toll-free tech support line for a software company in Chelmsford, Massachusetts? My normal routine is to log in to a server which redirects 800 number calls to my house. I also receive calls here that are made to my direct dial office telephone number in Massachusetts. I'm in a minority; 95 percent of my colleagues work in one big office in Chelmsford.
We have no 800 number calls today, and no direct dial extensions.
Everyone who calls a direct extension is getting a fast busy signal. AT&T is routing all the 800 number calls to an answering service who is then faxing them (no idea how that fax works) to some clerical staff at the office who are entering them into the case tracking system and dispatching them to queues. The email about this says "Some of these cases are urgent!" We have been told to use cell phones and email to talk to the customers.
The company doesn't issue cell phones to most of the support line personnel, as a normal thing. I wonder how many people up there are willing to put their personal phones into service for this, and how many are saying "Cell phone? What cell phone? I don't have a cell phone."
I've got two land lines to my house. I guess this means I've got more ability to work than most. I am calling every case that comes to any of the three queues I am in the path for, explaining the situation, getting actual good technical details of the problems, getting email addresses, and putting notes in the cases.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-14 03:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-14 07:15 pm (UTC)