My first true career, besides the obligatory fast-food rotation in high school/college, was an interesting one, I was contracted by a company, that was contracted by another company, that was contracted by the phone company, to install this fancy new invention called DSL in the homes of computer enthusiasts who didn't mind the hefty price tag. At the time, only large corporations had anything faster than a 56k modem, and those rarely got 56k. This product was AWESOME to me. So it came as a bit of a shock that after the great 'unveiling' in Washington, I only did 3 jobs in 4 months. I didn't ask too many questions though, I was on salary, working out of my home, I got paid the same for those 3 jobs as I would have for 30. One thing I did note though, the customers for those 3 jobs were all wealthy, and 2 of them could have done the job themselves just as easily as I did it for them.

     It wasn't until I, along with a few other DSL installers, was relocated to the repair call center that I found out that adding DSL to a phone line (at the time) cost more than most people's car payments, and that the people who I'd granted 15 minutes of my time to to set up their computers to use it had been charged another couple hundred dollars for that privilege. We all learned quickly what it seems that many sales people never learn - No matter how great a product is, people won't buy it if it costs too much.

     Cable modems eventually came along, bringing competition for DSL and making the prices a bit more consumer-friendly, but I still got the sense with almost every call that this person on the phone had been treated like a number by everyone they'd talked to in my company. I stuck it out for another year and a half, changing departments twice. But still couldn't get over that customer service was always a last priority, if a priority at all. The majority of this company of tens of thousands of employees were much more concerned with either "Getting this customer off the phone so I can get back to work." (does that even make sense?) or doing as many insignificant tasks as possible to appear 'hard working'. I actually dreaded getting phone calls at work, knowing that the person on the other end could be a customer who'd been repeatedly screwed by the company I represented. I looked around for other jobs for a while, then just quit and lived off savings. (to be continued)