[You] should say that you’re back in Texas for a bit longer… you’ve got a great opportunity to write something about the similarities and differences. I’ve been in some sort of bizzaro-world for a little while where everyone I meet who wants to comment on my accent wants to talk about Texas. Not New York or Florida, as usual, but Texas. Yee-hah. I just tell them, yep, well Tennessee and Texas are ideologically and alphabetically next to each other.

The building I work in while in Texas is six stories and my office is on the top floor.  I found myself alone with the security guard in the lobby waiting for the elevator.  The guard, looking straight ahead said; “Yup.”  All I could say was “Mmm-hmm.”  I felt like Boomhauer from King of the Hill.  (Okay, okay, I’m really more of a Dale.)

And from what I’ve seen King of the Hill is not that bad of a starting point when it comes to understanding Texas. The older neighborhoods have alleys so driveways and garages are on the back of the houses, just like on KOTH, there are big white water towers and propane tanks, pick-ups are nearly even with cars in number and…get this, the local exterminating company owns the minor league arena football team.

San Angelo has about a hundred thousand people, maybe a bit more.  It’s home to San Angelo State, Goodfellow Air Force Base, and is currently the center of the FLDS madness. The surrounding country side is mostly farm land.  I read in the paper today that cotton planting season is about to begin.  In the city there is of course Sitel, my purpose for being here, as well as Verizon and Blue Cross call centers, and a few collection agencies.

I found a baby cage like they had in the nursery at the Iroquois Avenue church in Oak Ridge in a thrift store. It was $45.  I bet the church paid a lot more for theirs.

The NPR Station comes out of Austin and is about a billion times better than Knoxville’s.  They have the normal shows (Morning Edition, All Things Considered, etc) and when they’re not playing those they play music.  Not classical or jazz but music people actually want to listen to.  I’ve heard Steve Earle, Dwight Yokum, Allison Krauss, and a new discovery for me, She and Him.  It’s NPR that I would actually consider donating to.  It’s that good.

This has been a hard week.  As I left the office in Tennessee I was leaving behind a big transfer of staff from one project to another.  I had hoped that I’d left that behind.  After one easy week we had to start the same process in the Texas office and once again, the process fell to me.  I’ve been stressed.

To add to the stress I had my first sit down with my new boss.  It wasn’t bad.  He actually relieved a bit of my stress instead of adding to it.  We talked about his expectations, what his plans are for me and what my plans are for me.

All in all…it was a day.

I’ve been in Texas for a little over a week now and since I promised I’d blog while I was here, I guess I need to get on that.

I’m in San Angelo, a town suddenly on everyone’s lips thanks to the FLDS folks a few miles away.  There’s a CNN van parked in the hotel parking lot and there’s not a hotel room to be had in this town.  The kids from the compound are being held about three miles up the road at the convention center.  Until recently they were being held at an old fort a bit further out but after the kids’ mothers’ started complaining that the facilities were sub-par.  Whatever.  They’re a bunch of crazies.

A woman a work said that she has a neighbor who has been working with some of the kids.  She said that two pregnant, twelve-year-old girls were upset that they were, most likely, not going to be allowed to return to their husband(s) to raise their kids.  These teen girls think of themselves as adults.

Aside from the media madness San Angelo is a quiet little city.  There’s right around a hundred-thousand people but the city offers the shopping, entertainment and dining of a much larger town.  There’s a mall, though not a very big one, two Wal-Marts, a Target, a Best Buy and the rest of discount stores.  It’s still seeing a lot of growth and, in typical Texas fashion, they’re creating some pretty crazy sprawl.  The strangest thing I’ve seen is that many of the apartment complexes require you to drive through a commercial parking lot to get to the apartments.  It’s enough to make me not want to rent.

The site is quite a bit different that Oak Ridge.  First of all, the site is located in a six-story building.  We occupy, and own, the entire facility.  My office is on the top floor where I manage five coaches and around sixty agents.  There are support people who do almost every task that I was taught would be my responsibility.  I spent a lot of time working with my staff on a one-on-one level.  I have a counterpart who works on the forth floor and, thus far, she’s seemed reluctant to let things go.  The people are great though and, assuming the job offer is right, I am thinking of staying.  We’ll see.

Since I’ve been staying in a hotel I’ve  had the chance to watch a lot of television.  I’ve come to a decision.  I don’t need cable.  Sure I’d like to see Deadliest Catch, Naurto, Dirty Jobs and Survivor Man but being subjected, even for a few seconds, to Rock of Love, Flavor of Love and the like is enough to make me rather go without.

My sister has asked that I take some photos of the town and such.  I’ll be doing that soon.  I promise.  Watch for more posts kids.

I love Kentucky almost as much as I love Tennessee. I used to take periodic trips up to Lexington to see my friends Mel and Lance but hadn’t been in a while. They got married a few months ago and I made the journey north to attend.

While there I got to visit with some people I’d gone to college with; Chris, Stormie and Adrian. I got to see Stevie and Tilly and of course Mel and Lance. A good time was had by all.

I’ve kicked the idea of moving to Kentucky around over the past year. Things at work are going really well for me but my personal life really sucks. I could transfer to Kentucky without too much trouble and probably get a promotion in the process. At the same time though, I’m scared to death to step out into the unknown, the Bluegrass State.

Here are some pics from the trip to KY.

So I’m going to try and start posting again. I may someday go into all the reasons why I stopped but not tonight. (I actually just deleted an entire post I had written outlining a few reasons but…well…maybe some other time.) I do want to get you caught up though. I’ve decided to just give you the top fifteen words that more or less sum up the past few months. If any strike your fancy, let me know and I may elaborate.

1. Doubt
2. Rage
3. Release
4. Moves
5. God
6. Hopeless
7. Rejection
8. Family
9. Promotion
10. Stress
11. Rotation!
12. Placenta
13. Therapy
14. S-h
15. Kentucky

That sums it up kids.

Last June I posted about a Shark and Gator that’d been seen hanging out around the parking lot where I work. Though she had nothing to do with the original appearance of Shark and Gator, my friend SS and her boyfriend took the plastic critters into their hearts and home. 

SS recently discovered Stillspinning and saw the post. She brought Shark and Gator to work today and gave them to me. 

I’m pleased as punch to have them.

How in the world can we have an employee named Trevelle and Trevellis and they not be twin brothers?  They’re not even related!

I had to fire someone at work today.  The agent just lost it and unfortunately they lost it on a supervisor. It’s not the first this agent caused a scene.  Not too long ago my boss and I sat down with them to talk about how to air concerns or even anger in the workplace.

Call centers can be a high stress environment.  The calls never stop coming and some days they come faster than others.  We’ve had crazy call volume for weeks now and its taking its toll on the agents.  They’re tired and stressed and overworked.  It’s a perfect storm.

We found some problems with the way calls were being sent to us that may provide some relief.  Its too late for some.  They cracked under the pressure and quit or got fired.  Call centers aren’t for everyone.

My boss has been out of the office since last week.  Normally this would be a good thing as we get a lot of work done when he’s not around.  But this time he’s “working from home.”  What this basically means is that he emails us orders all day long demanding that we put out this fire or that.  What he doesn’t see is all the stuff we’re trying to get done in between his fits.

My job has become too much to take lately.  They keep asking for more and more of us and we’re all afraid that if we don’t give it we’ll be out on the streets.

Today an email came demanding that we each solicite overtime from our teams and if we fail to get enough we’ll have to come in and work in their place.  We need the overtime because we’re short staffed because we undercut ourselves on how many people it’d take to do the work correctly.  Now we’re constantly begging people to work over in the same breathe as we’re telling people they can’t take their lunch or breaks.  It’s a broken system and the bossman doesn’t seem to see it.

He’ll see soon.  He’s going to have a rebellion if he’s not careful.  Either that or we’ll all quit.  Quitting sounds nice.

I’ve been sick all week long.  It starts each morning with a slight headache and before I leave the house its come to full-on nausea.  I haven’t really eaten anything since Monday but crackers and a grilled cheese.  I’ve lost a few pounds and can’t focus on anything.

A few years ago I worked as a customer service representative for an Accidental Death Insurance company.  It was basically a scam that banks participate in to create yet another revenue stream.  I got yelled at all day long by people who finally noticed the quarterly charge on their bill or, worse, people who were depended on the policy to bury their loved one and we weren’t going to pay.

While I was working there I developed really bad stomach problems.  I wasn’t able to hold down anything, wasn’t sleeping and was always on the verge of cracking up completely.  I started going to the doctor on almost a weekly basis to have more tests, try difference medications and to answer another round of questions.  Finally a nurse asked me what I did for  living.  When I explained my job the doctor said: “Quit.  Quit your job.  It’s killing you.”

So I got fired a few days later, just before they were going to do some minor surgery to see what they could see, and the stomach problems cleared right up. 

I’m scared to death that I’m back in that situation.