Today, there was a meeting.
An unexpected meeting. It is apparently a meeting that everyone in the company has to go through at this time of year, though, being completely oblivious to anything relating to my employment besides 'why is my pay one day late, punks?' I was not aware it was coming.
There was some brief chat about targets and strengths and weaknesses and some mention of 'low-hanging fruit' and 'pooling our resources.' She probably harangued me about my TPS reports and not wearing enough flare.
I had zoned out at that point.
She then asked me where I want to go in the company. What my plans were. Whether I had any Long-Term Goals. And then I opened my mouth.
"Well, Supervisor, working in insurance isn't exactly my dream job."
Oooh, good start, me.
"I think that my, uh, strengths lie in other areas. That is, I don't actually like customer service. Um. What I mean to say, is, um, I'd rather not actually speak to, you know, people."
WELL DONE ME.
"Ok," she replied, somewhat hesitantly. "Uh, well there's areas within the company with more of an admin focus, if that's what you mean?"
"Oh, yes," I replied, not wanting to seem an utter twat. "An admin focus." I nodded furiously. "That's what I mean."
"Well I think that you have a great rapport with the customers, you know. You shouldn't underestimate yourself."
"Thanks. Um." I pause. "Yeah, no, I don't really want to talk to them."
"Ok." She sighs, audibly. "Let's run over..."
"HEY!" I cut her off, suddenly, filled with enthusiasm spawned by the thought that she might actually give a shit. "I'm thinking about travelling for even longer when I go away next year, and then QUITTING!"
Oh. My. God. If anyone is skilled in the art of wiring mouths closed, then Hook Me Up.
"Ok, well keep me posted on that." She starts tidying her books and papers in a 'Yes, I am most definitely leaving' manner.
"Um, thanks for the meeting."
"No problem."
Is it any wonder that I can only find monkey's work?
An unexpected meeting. It is apparently a meeting that everyone in the company has to go through at this time of year, though, being completely oblivious to anything relating to my employment besides 'why is my pay one day late, punks?' I was not aware it was coming.
There was some brief chat about targets and strengths and weaknesses and some mention of 'low-hanging fruit' and 'pooling our resources.' She probably harangued me about my TPS reports and not wearing enough flare.
I had zoned out at that point.
She then asked me where I want to go in the company. What my plans were. Whether I had any Long-Term Goals. And then I opened my mouth.
"Well, Supervisor, working in insurance isn't exactly my dream job."
Oooh, good start, me.
"I think that my, uh, strengths lie in other areas. That is, I don't actually like customer service. Um. What I mean to say, is, um, I'd rather not actually speak to, you know, people."
WELL DONE ME.
"Ok," she replied, somewhat hesitantly. "Uh, well there's areas within the company with more of an admin focus, if that's what you mean?"
"Oh, yes," I replied, not wanting to seem an utter twat. "An admin focus." I nodded furiously. "That's what I mean."
"Well I think that you have a great rapport with the customers, you know. You shouldn't underestimate yourself."
"Thanks. Um." I pause. "Yeah, no, I don't really want to talk to them."
"Ok." She sighs, audibly. "Let's run over..."
"HEY!" I cut her off, suddenly, filled with enthusiasm spawned by the thought that she might actually give a shit. "I'm thinking about travelling for even longer when I go away next year, and then QUITTING!"
Oh. My. God. If anyone is skilled in the art of wiring mouths closed, then Hook Me Up.
"Ok, well keep me posted on that." She starts tidying her books and papers in a 'Yes, I am most definitely leaving' manner.
"Um, thanks for the meeting."
"No problem."
Is it any wonder that I can only find monkey's work?
posted by GBE at 7:30 pm
7 Comments:
I also work in insurance, I agree my job would be so much better if I didn't have to speak to customers.
oops!
Atleast your were being honest but is there something you want to do, as a career? I take it you are getting the wanderlust/walkabout out of your system, then you are really going to make the job dream a reality?
Here in the UK, it is seen as a bit odd for people to just take off traveling. I know of only one person who did it and what she found after the second time was she just ended back at the bottom of the job heap, again.
I dont know why, in this age of global travel, it should be frowned upon. Strange, isnt it?
Jeez you are the daftest of the daft aren't you? But really, those situations are always mini-disasters and if you still have a job at the end you should be happy. The best you can hope for is to avoid the worst, as they say.
Great spew story by the way. lol.
I've found myself in the same situation - I confide overmuch in the boss because I actually think they are concerned about my life goals.
I've found it's usually wise to do the sitting and nodding yourself, and let them do the talking - ESPECIALLY during those "impromptu meetings" where they are just trying to throw you off enough to make all sorts of confessional comments.
Jen, the thing is, it's so difficult to avoid them in insurance. No matter where you go, there's always customers, and they're always whiney bastards. I'm sick of rude people.
KH, it hasn't worked out too badly for me so far. I quit my first job and took off, and came back to land a job that paid about 30% more. Travel agency jobs start off higher than my current wage, too, and I'm pretty certain I could land one of those now I have mucho sales + travel experience. But that would involve customers again. Sigh. To answer your question, no, I have absolutely no career goals in mind. Must work on that, pronto.
Mark, I haven't been sacked yet, so all must be ok. Staff that stick around are a rarity as it is so they probably don't want to get rid of one of their more 'experienced' staff members. Or so I tell myself. And I knew I could count on you to appreciate a spew story.
Marcheline, the thing I hate is the way they try and make conversation, like they actually care about what you're doing on the weekend, and they don't even pay attention for long enough to hear your answers. I am starting to suspect that the good jobs really do not exist.
Mtk recently had a meeting at the large department store she 'works' for. They kept using this analogy about 'being on the bus' and then at then end wheeled out this cardboard bus and made everyone sign their names on it.
Ooh, Audrey, identical comment time! I think if my supervisor had brought out a bus I would've had to poke her in the eye. Or I would've picked up the bus, made vroom vroom noises and pretended to run my supervisor over. Yeah. Take that.
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