9:46am

First, it's damn cold out. I think I saw the temperature at 16 degrees. I heard that the windchill was actually 4 degrees. It is amazing though, how much warmer the sun being out can make it seem. It's not really warmer, but it does seem like it.

Second, send Julia to Uganda! My friend Julia needs to raise money to go to Uganda for the US/Uganda Youth Summit in under a month, for a more detailed explanation and information on making a contribution, please check out Trainlove. Please give as generously as you gave to me when I ran the send Jen to Chile campaign. (Sorry, Julia, "Send Julia to Uganda" just doesn't have the same ring as "Send Jen to Chile" shrug, we'll try and get you there.)

Third, there is nothing like spending the day and night camping in the woods to make you really appreciate indoor plumbing. Below freezing temperatures, and half nakedness does not really provide a conducive environment to peeing. I was never so happy to pee inside as when we got back to JZ's house, and it was warm, and cozy.

Fourth, driving 30 miles in the wrong direction is not the best way to start your camping trip. Forgetting the key to the cabin is not at good way to follow up the 30 miles in the wrong direction. Getting drunk and playing board games while half naked. Priceless.

10:27am

Who picks out "on hold" music? Is that someone's job? On Hold Music Coordinator? Customer Aural Relations? Maybe they should have a job like that, because I've heard some really awful hold music, and I've heard some fairly good stuff. I wonder if it affects the mood of the caller if there is really crappy/good music. Someone should do a study. Maybe someone already has.

10:55am

WHEW -- 10 calls in the first hour, what a way to start the week. ICK.

11:55am

The Saga of the Stupid Sales Rep is far from over.

So last week, I took a call from client who had initially called three or four days prior and we had taken her information, but she had not recieved a call back. (The sales reps are supposed to call the client back within 24 hours of us taking the information.) So I pulled her information and emailed her sales rep to tell her to call the poor woman back. in addition, I took the liberty of emailing the client with her sales rep's name and direct office number. The first is standard procedure, the second is my own little addition. A couple of hours after I send the email, the client emails me to thank me for being so helpful. Fast forward to today. I get an email from the clent informing me that we had some information wrong in her account and that she needed it changed before she would be able to order. (Now, when a client is assigned a sales rep, they also get another person that handles the account. The sales rep makes the sale, and the relationship rep handles the account thenceforth. Customer support does not handle these things.) So, after consulting with the former space cadet (who has actually turned into a pretty helpful resource) I emailed the proper person, CCed it to the client and the sales rep, brushed my hands off and went on my merry way. Two hours later, James has me read over a complaint form that he is filling out on behalf of my client. She apparently had called back into customer support because her sales rep had told her that she needed to call me, named me by name, to fix the problem with her account. The crazy sales rep had a) told a client to call customer support, when in reality her relationship rep should have handled it, and b) told her to ask for me, a temp, who has zero access to the systems that contain said information. She is completely losing it. And just to be clear, this is the same rep that emailed her boss last week and chewed us out for not knowing how to do our jobs. scream scream scream

1:15pm

My office has decided that I will be President one day. My "supervisor" refers to me as Madame President, he is my Chief of Staff, I've got a National Security Advisor and a Veep. And bless Greg, Dexter asked him to name five world leaders, and he did it!

4:06pm

Wow, my boss either wants to entrust me with more responsibility or she hates me--she gave me a big stack of things to do, and I'm still working on it.

4:30pm

It's official, she hates me -- basically the stuff she had me do could be compared to solve this 1000-piece puzzle, now undo it, and do it again.

4:57pm

If you need 180 of our product by Friday, why the hell would you wait to order until the Monday before?