Friends

Friends, how many of us have them? These words are the words of an urban song back around 1984-85. People view the word differently. People use the word loosely. You are my friend. What does that mean? Some thing that if you frequent the same places, see a person more than once and awhile, they call you a friend. Some people think that just because you work together side by side 8 hours a day and converse reguarly, you are friends. Some people believe that if you do a favor for some one once, oh now you are a friend. What is the real definition? Some people do not take that word or expression lightly. People deal with eachother in odd ways. To really be someone's friend takes more than some act of loyalty or charity. Being someones friend envoles more than just being someone to call to hang out and blow money with. Some folks will call you their friend as long as you have money or resources that they can benefit from. Once you are no longer good for a beneficial gain. You might not hear them call you a friend, because they won't call you at all. These were never friends. Some "friends are there only to brag and show off what they have. They seek your company because somehow they think that being around you makes them look better. They do not want you to have more than they do, but they always with no sincerity remind you that they have your back. I say to this friend "stay there because I'm moving forward. Some friends always have an excuse for their lack of being a true friend. This friend talks about his issues all the time. They have too many issues to tend to your needs in a friend. To me a friend is all of these things and yet none of them. No one is perfect, only time can tell how genuine a person is at being your friend. Just when you think you can not count on a certian person, they end up being the one to come through for you. You should not expect a person to be a superfriend with all the right qualities. There are billions of people on this earth, there is no reason why we shouldn't have or be a friend for any situation, any need.

Big Dog's Office

After the lay off at GE, I learned to install carpet and worked w/ a family member for almost 2 years before my next office job. This one was a quite different from the others. I was approached by a good friend of the family about a sales position he was offering at his company. He was the district manager at United Insurance Company of America. This was a sales agent position at a national life insurance co. This job required me to have a life and health insurance license. I accepted the position and the company sent me to classes to obtain my licenses. This job was not just an office job. I was given an agency of clients and I had to visit their homes to service their policies and create new business opportunities. This was with the big dogs of sales. I was the younges one in the office at 28 years old. I had to use my car as an office basically. I went in to the literal office to work at my desk maybe about twice a week. Othwer wise I was in the streets working the agency colledting premiums and marketing the products. This was a fast pace job. I was my own boss in the field other than my manager checking in on me for my numbers for the day. This was an experience. I was all throught the city all day and evening traveling with hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars on hand. When in the office, by the way, the atmosphere was about the same, drama, drama, drama.

Back Home Office

When I moved back home from Philly, I againg took an office job. I applied at Signature Group Inc. owned by Montgomery Ward. There I was responsible for retaining benefit services on major credit cards such as creidt card protection services, discount services. These charges are billed monthly to these credit cards and when they call to cancel or have questions, I service them. The primary function of my job is retention. Most customers who call are calling because they have no idea how the fee was authorized onto their card. I had to explain the service and and that they checked a box on a statement or answered a phone call to authorize the charges. I had to "save" or keep the customer from cancelling the charges. Often to negotiate, I had the authority to credit three months while I send information to review to see if they want to keep the services. What is intersting is that the services only charge a monthly fee for 12 months and then the service is paid for completely. They call usually with only 2 to 3 months of charges left. If they get irate and want to file a complaint, we can give them a full credit. That is only if they insist and wants to speak with someone in management. Aside from the job desription, the atmosphere was the same as any other office. Drama on top of drama. This was the largest office I worked in. over 150 employees at the time. Ages ranging from 18 - 65. I met all kinds of people working there. I was successful, reaching CSR level II. The company was taken over by GE and became GE Finacial Assurance. After the buyout,GE closed the office in about 3 months. On to the next place.

The Philly Office

I moved to Philadelphia in 1996 and immediately started looling for work. A friend that I knew there helped me land a job at Telespectum Worldwide. This was a taste of big city office life. Guess what, no difference. Same type of folks that come to work and get through the day the quickest way they can. One thing I can say about the "Philly" office culture. They are very selfish and shrewd. It took me a while to get use to their ways by me coming from Virginia and all. They accepted me very quickly because they saw my experience and professionalism. I blended in fast. Besides, its an office, and I know offices. They heard the way I talk with my southern drawl and they were curious. Most of those folks have never traveled outside of the city. They have never been face to face with anyone who is from outside of their city. That is sad, because they think I am the one behind on things. That office hosted a variety of services, and I gained much exposue there. I was handling credit card sales, long distance phone service, fraud protection programs, fraud verification for new credit card accounts, home equity loan services. That place did it all. But offices are offices. The women were 10 times as agressive. The overall atmosphere was mean and gray. It made for depressing work days. Everyone had major problems. I worked there for about nine months until I moved back home to Virginia.

Office Life continued

The office world did not stop there for me. Actually I took another job while I was at sears. It was a job offering accident insurane to be billed to a major credit card. This job was worse. It was way more fast pace. The same type of people there. I did not enjoy that office at all. The desk space was cramped and we were shoulder to shoulder. It was loud and management was rude. I really hated working there. I made a few friends. I just could not work for nine hours in that office. We only had one 20 minute lunch break and two eight minute breaks in between. You were not allowed to leave your seat any other time during your shift. I left on my lunch break one day and went to Taco Bell to get something to eat. I saw some old friends there and decided to go with them out to a club. I never went back into the building. I hated it that bad. This was the worst job I have had up until that point. I was still young. I was experimenting with life.
The next office job I took was with a resort company selling timeshares over the phone. This office was low budjet. No computers. Were given a list of phone numbers and sat to a table wi th an old style phone. We had to dial and dial until we got some one to talk to us. We then try to sell them on the idea of investing in a timeshare out of the blue. This was a difficult sale but sales were made. I did not take that job very seriously because I was contemplating moving out of state. The manager of the office was creepy and he drank coffee constantly. I called out of work alot there and I quit after 2and ahalf months. I still did not get enough of the office life.

First Job

Working in an office setting is so frustrating, irritating, stressful, and depressing. I have been in sales everysince high school. I got hired at Sears Marketing Center in my senior year that march. A friend of mine told me about that job in class one day. I asked my mother to take me to fill out an application. I went and was hired on the spot. I accepted a position as a telephone sales rep. This was the first taste of the real world in the workplace. My job was to sit at a cubicle in front of a computer and wait for calls to come in on an automatic dialer. I had to sell maintenance protection plan options to customers who brought appliances from sears. The quota was to sell at least ninety one percent of your contacts to receive a bonus for the month. I found the job to be easy. The difficult part of the job was dealing with the office atmosphere and the people that I had to work with. I was only 16 yrs old. I was exposed very quickly to grown ups and how they act younger than me. I was shocked and how women well in their twenties viewed me as a piece of meat and acted like wild animals in mating season. The management were power tripping to the point that the lights actually flickered from time to time. I have seen and been involved in workplace scandals, affairs and confrontations. I was not mature enough to work around immature adults who wanted to have more fun than I did. What was sad, I worked there until I was 19 years old and saw many high school kids come there and get "turned out" by the real world. This is just my first office job. I dated older women who wanted only to brag to the others that she landed the young dude. I wish I had the insight I have now. Maybe those experiences gave me this insight. My introduction into the real world was wild. My best friend worked with me there for a couple of years and we thought we were the luckiest guys on the planet to have such a playground at our disposal. Looking back, we were the ones loosing out. A lot of time I waisted pursuing women and a social life that branded me as a "player". Now that I look back. It is embarrassing.

Sick of it

This weekend was very sad. I enjoyed my time off, but my wife is sick. She got sick wednesday night. She has a virus which was diagnosed by the doctor. I am so scared because of the pestilence and diseases out there now. We have been sick together off and on since the summer. This world is so full of uncertrianties. One minute everything is ok, you are enjoying yourself and then all of a sudden, almost immedieatly, you are blindsided by dispair, problems, difficulties, and obsticles. I try to be positive and that is what has gotten me this far. But the world still hurts, no matter what you achieve or gain in it to make you feel better. That feeling subsides and emptiness sets back in and you are on the chase again. A chase for happiness, a chase for comfort, a chase for security, a chase for purpose. My uncle was diagnosed with late stages of cancer two months ago. The other week I was called out of my sleep at 2am to rush to the hospital to see his dead body. I view this live as a series of temporary pleaseres and long lasting grievences. As a child I only thoutht about the day presant. Lives were so simple and energetic. So full of promise and wonder. Children are clueless about the reality of the world. It is like taking the job of your dreams and then realizing you have to fight every day to keep it. It does not seem right. It is not right. I understand this world ( the system in which we live and function) itself is temporatry. Better things are ahead and that is were I have my hope, trust and faith.