Oct 1st, 2009 – Recall

Date: 1 Oct 2009 Comments:0

Labor Day Weekend….

Date: 10 Sep 2009 Comments:0

As if things at my job couldn’t get any more complicated..

I ended up having a 4 day weekend for Labor Day. Most people would rejoice for havin a long weekend; however, I dislike the setup. Why you ask? Here’s why…

If you read my lengthy post about whats been going on in my workplace, we are going through a schedule change as apart of a re-organization. Our work weeks run Sunday to Saturday. Up until this last weekend my days off work Tuesday and Saturday; for this new schedule I will be off Sunday and Tuesday. The schedule change look place on Labor Day weekend; Labor Day is always the 1st Monday of Sept, and the 7th [this last Monday] was the first Monday in Sept this year.

Usually I work on holiday’s for the extra money; unfortunely, there were many people above me that volunetered this Holiday and I did not make the list. Therefore, my weekend resulted in being off: Saturday, Sept. 5th due to my old schedule; Sunday, Sept. 6th, due to my new schedule; Monday, Sept. 7th, because I did not make the list for Holiday work; and Tuesday, Sept. 8th also due to my new schedule. Thus 4 days off…

I went to visit my family for the long weekend; most of my time was spent jsut relaxing and visiting with family. Not much is new in Silsbee aside from a few new resturants. It was nice to share some time with my family, though after about day 4 I was in need of my routine at work. I got back to Dallas early Wednsday morning and got back to work. No OT this week, just straight pay. Sigh…

Senority, Tour Selections, & Over-Management

Date: 4 Sep 2009 Comments:0

As of lately my job makes little since… here is why…..

Here is the background:

In the UVDC there is only one title: Dispatcher. The scope of work for our title is pretty simple: we speak to customers, internal and occasionally external, of the company that call for dispatch information; we are to help in the timely dispatch of installs & repairs either by calling customers and informing them of the tickets status or calling techs/managers to get the PLD jobs out; and we are to look over JEPs and handle ticket as needed.

In our center there are 6 area managers [AMs], each of these AMs has a market they are over or a specific center related fuction; there is an AM responsible for the Southeast, one for Texas/MOKA, & one for the West. There are two AMs that are over the JEPs team and dispatchers who only take calls and one final AM that is over the Force to Load managers who use the lovely spreadsheets to figure out movements and the commits for techs.

Each of these AMs have an average of five 1st line managers; for the 1st lines under the AMs with a specific market the 1st lines have the cities/small areas; for the 1st lines over the JEPs & Call-Taking Dispatchers each of these have an area they are apart of; and the final managers that are for Force-to-Load these managers have specific areas they have calculations for.

Down to my level, only 5 of the AMs have 1st line managers that have direct report employees [Dispatchers]. Of these 1st lines each one has about six they are over. If you aren’t good at following numbers:

6 – Area Managers x 5 – 1st Lines /w employees x 6 – Direct Reports = 180 Dispatchers

Now, i have worked in another part of the company and I have spoke to several of my co-workers who also have come from a variety of other places; I came from support/sales, they are from special services, MLAC, TTY, technical support, etc. None of us can recall a time when we were working for the company when 1st lines only had 6 employees and/or a center of 180 people had 6 Area Managers & 30 1st lines.

Moving forward, the following is within our contract on how work schedules are to be posted:

Insofar as the needs of the business and the abilities of the employees permit, Net Credited Service will be the deciding factor when assigning work schedules. Determination of the “needs of the business and the abilities of the employees” rests solely with management.

Consequently, there has been a recent upheaval to the processes used to select a tour; it goes so far as to restrict movement if dispatchers into different job assignments.

To paint the picture, let me explain how tour selection WAS set up. The collection of dispatchers in the UVDC are treated as one work center; for the most part, everyone is trained and able to work any particular assignment/project we have. There are 3 groups: JEPs/Offline Dispatchers, Loader/Controller Dispatchers, & ACD/Call Taking Dispatchers. There are 6 tours within the center: 5a – 2p; 6a – 3p; 8a – 5p; 11a – 8p; 1p – 10p; & 2p – 11p; each of these slots corresponed to a specific group. In the past there were shifts available that allowed for have Saturday and Sunday off; for the past year these tours have been gone. When time came for tour selections one manager when around in order of senority and allowed the dispatcher to pick a tour and off days. Since the center only has these certain slots when you picked your tour and scheduled days off this determined the work group you were in; in some time slots the groups overlapped so you could choose which one you wanted to work in.

Ex 1. If you chose 5a – 2p this is a tour specifically for the Southeast area loaders/controllers & ACD/Call taking dispatchers.
Ex 2. If you chose 8a – 5p you could choose to work as a West area loader/controller or on the JEP/Offline group.

This system allows the most senior people to work 8 to 5 with Saturday & Sunday or whatever tour they wanted; in turn, the new people had to work what was available to them which did not always allow for what they wanted. This system would work in reverse when it comes to a forced time situation; as an example, if an insufficient amount of people volunteered to work on a holiday or overtime the people with the lowest seniority are forced to work. Most of us know this as working our way up to pole or earning our time in title.

Still following? GOOD JOB!

Here is the situation:

Six months ago, a new arrangement was put in place during our tour selection; each dispatcher was asked to make a commitment of six months within a specific job assignment of either: JEPs/offline, Loader/Controller, or ACD/Call taking dispatchers. We were told that during the six months we would not be allowed to transfer out, but at the end of the commitment we could leave to go to another. What this meant for most of us is that when we picked our tours we knew that for six months we would work a specific area [JEPs in Atlanta, Load for San Diego, taking calls only]; also, during the six months we could move to another geographical area when tours selection came around but only doing the same type of work: If you were on the JEPs team you could change to working JEPs in Miami; as a Loader you could change to being a loader/controller over Houston; you could choose to take calls fro 5a to 2p instead of 1p to 10p.

The previous system allowed us the ability to change job assignments when tour selections came around; the new system restricted our movement between job assignments, but still allowed the freedom of what time of day we worked and what days off we had.

In the last four weeks there have been some very serious upheavals to how the aforementioned phrase in our contract is used. Our management sent a message out to the center announcing that there was a need of four dispatchers to work a special project going forward; if we were interested we were told to send a positive response by a certain day. Several days after the date passed, management made the announcement to the center of who was selected. Of the four dispatchers that were chosen only 1 had 1+yr seniority; the other 3 had <6 months seniority; the announcement lead many of the more senior dispatchers to question why they were not chosen. What we all were told is that “The needs of the business dictate your current assignment as critical function with no backup and you have been deemed non-releasable by your Area Manager.” The dispatchers that were chosen all had been in the ACD/Call taking work group; where as myself and others are on the Load/Control & JEPs/Offline groups. The viewpoint all of us now have is that we are punished for taking a specific job assignment. We as dispatchers do not get to pick how many people work on our shift, in our workgroup, or weather we have backups on our team. This all comes at a time when were were told in the past that we would be given the option to move to another workgroup, however, in this case we are being told that we cannot move to another job assignment because of managements poor planning.

The way others and myself would approach this is simple logic. If the more senior people wish to move the new job assignment then train the less senior people for the function the more senior people are leaving. If you were to move a less senior person into the new job assignment you would have to train them as well; therefore, those of us who have greater seniority do not understand why after this was brought to their attention, they still think that doing so is an alternative that is not viable.

To further complicate our days, management in this recent time has also attach guidelines to our new tours; which ever job assignment we so choose it is that job function we will remain in indefinitely.

Ex 1. If you chose 6a to 2p as a Loader/Controller you will remain under that job assignment & manager going forward.
Ex 2. If you chose 8a to 5p as a Call taking only dispatcher, then you will stay in that group going forward.

Essentially, that means we all would have a certain function and geographical area we could work and we could only move between working a morning time slot and an afternoon time slot in that job assignment and geographical area.

Ex 3. When the next tour selections come around as a Loader/Controller in the TX/MOKA area I can choose to work 6a – 3p or 1p – 10p.
Ex 4. Next tour selection in the JEP/Offline group I can either work 8a – 5a or 11a – 8p shift.

During this last round of tour selections we were not able to chose off days at the same time; it was only AFTER we picked our tours we learned that ACD/call taking only dispatchers were going to be able to have Saturdays and Sundays off. As loaders/controllers we would be forced Saturdays and Split days off [there aren't consecutive days off like Wed/Thurs or Sun/Mon for any loaders.] Personally, I just wanted Saturday off and would take any other day; however, many of the higher seniority people that chose a load/control shift are beyond PO. The higher seniority people wanted Sat/Sun but can not get it because the new guidelines will not allow them to move to the ACD/Call taking only job group now that the choose their tours; they feel very much rolled over because they were not made aware of the off days at the same time tour selection as it may have changed their choice.

Within the center of 180 people, nearly 100 are loaders/controllers; only a rare few [usually 3 in each area] the of new load/control tours allow for a Saturday off in any fashion. In the ACD/Call taking group has about 40 people and their tours are allowing 80% of their team to be off Saturdays; the 20% that is working on Saturday is being forced 2hrs of OT. Contained in these newest guidelines we have been told that the Load/Control group would spend less time taking calls and more time to allow for managing our areas [status our customers, sending pages, roll call for techs] and their would be an increased capacity of ACD/Call taking only Dispatches to handle the inbound call queues.

How is it reasonable to allow 32 people off on a Saturday and force 8 people to a 10hr day? Would it not make more sense [and cost less] to pay 2 people regular pay to cover the amount of hours? The math here is 8 ppl * 10 hrs = 80 worked hours; why not 10 ppl * 8 hrs = 80 worked hours. Ten people can take more calls in 8hrs than eight people can in 10hrs; reason being is you would have more people in the peak of the day and can therefore grab more of whats in queue. Also 7-8hrs of calls is mentally draining; forcing 2-3 more hrs you reduce the quality of the call and people take longer on each call as to not have to take another.

Also, in this case of OT, there are some dispatchers that like to work a lot of OT. Up until this most recent bid, we all were forced an equal amount of OT; when additional people were need volunteers were taken and if there were not enough volunteers the bottom people were forced OT. Now will all the guidelines and rules in place, within the center there are some groups that work more OT than others; since the changes limit our movement from job assignment some people are working OT they don’t want when there are volunteers that are sitting on the sidelines.

For those of you who may think outside the box as I did and see a little of management pushing an edge on contract wording; the phrase above does give them the ability to say that, “You abilities are Taking Calls you do not have the abilities needed in the JEP group” and then later say, “You abilities going forward are working as a Loader/controller and you no longer have the ability to work on the ACD/Call Taking group.” Eventually, there is a point there the company ends up having to shoot itself and by its own actions proving that its actions are counter-productive.

I.E. Dispatcher in this new tour moves from Group C to work in Group A for 6 weeks; along the way is “loaned” to Group B for 3 weeks; there are only three groups: A, B, & C. If dispatcher has worked in these three groups he/she now has the abilities of each of the group; the company can try and say the dispatcher doesn’t have such abilities of one of the groups, but by its own actions proves he/she does. Getting a confession of this would not happy, but a little simple logic shows the company really is not thinking clearly.

*whew*

For anyone that has read ALL of this you now have a good idea of what goes on in the UVDC; lots of managers everywhere, but never one around when you need one. Managers stepping on top of other managers; none of which can agree on how to do something that isn’t written in an M&P. Other managers who don’t even know what that M&P is or even how to use the systems we as dispatchers must use. Rules and guidelines everywhere none of which make logical sense.

Looking into a Mirror….

Date: 2 Sep 2009 Comments:0

I saw myself for the first time today in over 5 years….

My trip to California has helped me think a little more clearly about how I should approach things in my life. I wrote a few days ago as a small hint of how I have lived life over the past 5 years. I moved to Louisiana on June 19th, 2004; I was living life how I wanted. I moved to Crowley, LA and had a job at a local Winn-Dixie; I partied some, but also was moving towards getting into College. Life to me was a lot different back then and I have grown up and experienced a lot since then. However, even with all the events and emotions I have gone though; a little bit of that spirit I had when I was 17 and moved out of my parents house still drives me today.

I spent a lot of today just going back to some of the core things I enjoy and that may me who I am. I set a little bit of a mental plan in place but its time I put it down in e-paper so I can remember:

• Photography – Think back to the 1990s; when you were just learning house to use one | Sometimes you need a visual clue to capture an idea
• Transportation – Your car is important; but remember there are many other ways to get places
• The City – The Human interpretation of environment
• Technology – Texting in 1998; DSL in 2001;  Digital Camera in 2003; handheld mobile computer in 2006 | Your tools in life that help record your journey
• Family – You love them and know that who you are is because of them; even if they do not always take all thier pieces to understand you.
• Logic – Putting things in order; one asset you use well, but one that you also mis-use deliberately when it suits you best.
• Money – Something you should better take hold of in a responsible manner or else you will always feel like you are going no where
• Learning – Reading and Researching is something you do daily; think back to Telecommunications, learning HTML, why’s Corollas > Civics
• Career – This is something you have worked at a long time; waiting sucks, but the position will come
• True Friends -  The ones you know and keep close at heart; the people you know are capable of great things; the people who help you resonate each other’s souls
• Independence – Remember, there is a fine line that you walk from being hard on times needing help and just not putting in the effort to try go it alone when you blind
• Blue – not just a wavelength of energy with a width of 475 nanometers; you have made this color a corner stone of your life.
• Direction – Not just knowing where you are going; but also understanding where you are going. Traveling you have a map & in your soul you have your heart and mind.
• History – Not just the past; but how you imagine the future | Science Fiction, Theories on the Universe, Theology, Politics

My Remaining Days in California….

Date: 2 Sep 2009 Comments:0

So I took a huge leap…. something I do not normally do…..

Shorty after my last post I asked Brandon if he did not mind taking a few minutes to talk with me. The conversation we had was about an hour and a half; the topics covered carried into a lot of things I have held deep in my heart and in mind for some time. I will say in the the mix I have been attracted to and cared a lot about Brandon; I had a 2nd broken heart feeling, but not one that is unrepairable.

In the end, I discovered I was caught up in the mix of personal emotions and feelings that I was not dealing with, I was not taking into account a lot of things that needed to be resolved in my life, and at a precipice of trying to push away being the reserved individual i have tried to be for others without taking into account my own needs. Sadly, another chapter between Brandon and I was closed in the mix of me trying to deal with all these things, but another chapter begins as it has in the past. I can relish and be humble that if the moments in time were Brandon and I have been in proximity to one another; I have been shown that there is a time and place for everything and sometimes what we want is not what we need. What we dream is not always unattainable, but it requires us to persevere against the challenges, internally or in reality, that keep us from realizing what is in our heart, soul, and mind.

Back to My Road Trip

I left Seaside, CA around 11:30p that night and started the rest of my trip; I drove into San Jose & San Francisco to the Golden Gate Bridge. [Trackr: Seaside to Sausalito ] I stayed the night at Dana Point which is right at the end of the Golden Gate Bridge. I took a few pictures the next morning but the start of the day was quite foggy; I was only able to catch the road deck and a small portion of the super structure.

I spent about an hour that morning around the park trying to get some pictures and then I decided to head to Southern California. [Trackr: Tracy to Los Angeles ]. I got into Los Angeles County around 1:30p and first went to Hollywood just to be able to say I had been there. I also wanted to go somewhere in the hills to get some good panoramic shots of the area; thanks to the Internet and Yahoo Answers [ Question: Where is the best viewpoint/outlook around Los Angeles for a panoramic picture? ] I went to Griffin Park and was able to take several beautiful pictures.

Side bar: since I started working for AT&T in the UVerse Dispatch Center I have been a Dispatcher for the San Diego market. I have flown into San Diego on Southwest before, but I had never been out in the city before. I knew a lot of the area map wise because of seeing techs and their where they were on their jobs each day; however, not having been in the area first hand, I did not always understand the geographical challenges they face some of the technicians that I work with on a daily biases. As my day in Los Angeles started to grow later, around 4:30p I started towards my last major city on the trip: San Diego, CA. [Trackr: Los Angeles to San Diego ]

I got caught in world famous Los Angeles & Orange County rush hour traffic; although I did manage to make it into San Diego County to take my final sunset pictures of my trip. I stopped in Oceanside to take a picture, and I also stopped on the side of the highway in Escondido to take some cool nighttime freeway shots. I ate are Chioptle in Mira Mesa and it was here I decided to treat myself a little bit on this trip. I had not really planned on staying anywhere on San Diego so I hoped on Hotwire.com and got an awesome deal: $78 for a 4-Star hotel on the bay in downtown S.D. The hotel was the Manchester Grand Hyatt [ Link: Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego ]. As I walked in and saw this place I was amazed; I have never stayed in a nice hotel before; I ended up with a room on the 25th floor looking over the bay.

I got a great night of sleep in the very comfortable bed; I have to admit of all the places I have slept in my life that bed came very close to being like my own. Upon waking up Thursday morning and checking out of my Hotel, I went to meet of the guys I work with in S.D.; his name is Brandon Belmudes [Facebook: Brandon Belmudes] and he is one of the technicians that I usually end up talking to throughout my day. There has always been this restaurant him and another tech I know go to called Wings n Things; for my Louisiana and Texas friends its almost like a Wing Stop, but a litter different and the wings are like 10x better. Putting a face to a name makes working with someone more fun IMHO. Brandon introduced me to the garage he works; in terms of my work area its one of 5 that I dispatch techs from/to each day. I got to meet a few of the other techs and one of the managers and also got to sit in on a little of their start to the day; I got there as the time the PM technicians where starting their shifts. Sadly, this was the last of my stops on vacation and had to start heading back to Texas.

Pictures & Tracks

You can visit this link to see the pictures of my trip:
Flickr: California Road Trip (August 22nd – 27th 2009)

The below links are the GPS tracks of my Trip:

Trackr! -
Day 1 – Road Trip to CA
Day 2 – Road Trip to CA
Day 3 – Looking for Brandon
Day 4 – Visiting S.F.
Day 5 – Headed to SoCal
Day 5 – Down to S.D.
Day 6 – Last Day in Cali
Day 7 – Drive back to TX