Bleh!

I have been in an total funk lately with the absolute indifference I have over my job. I've reached a point where there is no challenge, little that is enjoyable, ample aggravation and I frequently don't give a crappola about the customer. Not a good place to be in a job where I spend 40+ hours a week.

For my millions of readers (ok, maybe just 5 or 6), let me explain that I'm a insurance agent for a major, Fortune 500 company and am currently a licensed agent in 20 states. Or, as Velvetsaje so succinctly stated once, I'm a customer service bitch. My job consists of taking between 70 and 120 calls a day from customers who have 70 to 120 different attitudes, 70 to 120 different levels of intelligence, 70 to 120 different concepts of personal responsibility, and 70 to 120 different feelings about insurance companies. Now, not all of these are bad interactions; on an average day, 50-60% of the calls are easy and hassle free and the customers are friendly, reasonable individuals. Now, the other 40%........well, let's just say that the company I work for does not require its customers to necessarily be friendly, civil, reasonable or literate. No, the only requirement is to have the ability to pay an insurance premium. That's it. Period.

The other 40% has been a challenge for me for some time. First, let me explain that I like people. More specifically, I like pleasant people. I really like pleasant people who can ask questions in a complete sentences (kind of like I like President's who can speak in complete sentences) and have some basic clue of what's happening with their own bank account. These are not the people I encounter in the 40%. A great number of those are people who have their premiums drafted directly out of their bank accounts and, almost inevitibly, they are having banking issues because they have failed to keep up with when and how much is being drafted from their accounts. Now I'll save my feelings about EFT for another time (it's the work of Satan, 'nuff said), but let me just say that if you choose to allow a huge company to have access to your bank account, if you VOLUNTARILY GIVE THEM your bank account and routing numbers, you best stay totally on top of withdrawel dates, amounts, clearing time, changes to amounts as they are communicated to you and how much you have in you bank account. Oh, and you should also not be completely surprised if, once in a while, the huge company withdraws some amount in error (which they will of course correct for you in due time...glacial time).

The company is big on me making "empathy statements" to the customer. "I can imagine how frightening the accident was" or "I know how difficult it is to pay high insurance premiums (especially when you have 5 DWI's, 10 speeding tickets and 4 at fault accidents) maam". Sometimes, the best empathy statement I can muster is, "I'm sorry you can't keep track of your bank account or seemingly perform simple addition and subtraction, Sir. It must really suck to be that inept." Probably not what the company is looking for.

On the positive side, there are things I love about my company and job. I love the hours; I work 10:30-7:30 and enjoy having relaxed mornings and no commute during rush hour. I love my income. It's not huge but it's sufficient to meet all my needs and many of my wants. I love the stability of the company; they'll be here 5 or 10 years from now and probably much longer. I completely love my insurance benefits; I dont pay much for it and, in addition to all your usual coverage for doctors visits to just about any kinda of MD and or specialist I might need to see, I have amazing prescription drug coverage and I can see chiropractors, acupuncturists and massage therapists (I kid you not!) all for little or no copay. I love the fact that if I dont feel like shaving or if the most dressed up I can get is shorts and a t-shirt, that's perfectly ok with the company.

But I sure am apathetic.....no, make that burned out on my day to day duties. I'm capable of far more than what I'm doing and while I really do like helping people, I have a low tolerence for caca. Much of my job is dealing with people's BS and I am reminded everyday that there are a lot of people who's lives are built around BS.

As Sam Cooke said, "A Change Is Gonna Come"...............................