We're Having Some Fun Now
Early 2003 to March 26, 2004
In early 2003, it was decided it was time to change “teams” and I was handed off to a new manager who had the reputation of being a real man-eater, she was very curt with her responses if you had questions. Many times she didn’t seem to understand the process. And to top all that off, she reputedly was coming off an extramaritial affair with another of the men in our office that had ended badly and she seemed to be carrying a grudge against all of us. I didn’t seem to be able to do anything to please her. All of the procedures and scripting that I had worked out with my previous manager needed to be changed, but I had to change it, it wasn’t my new manager's job to assist me in making those changes. It began to be difficult to go to work.

I never knew what I might say or do that would cause My Manager to find fault with me. On or about March 25, 2003 I began having work related “panic attacks”. As I would prepare for work I would suffer from symptoms such as high pulse rate, sudden rise in blood pressure, lack of concentration, angina, shortness of breath, sweating, feelings of panic, pounding heart, feelings of loss of control and “shakes”. At night I was having broken sleep patterns and insomnia.

Since my occupation as a Customer Service Representative for SBC Communications (formerly Southwestern Bell Telephone and now the New AT&T) requires talking to customers, it appeared any and all of the above mentioned symptoms would seriously affect my ability to perform my job properly.

I pulled into the work parking lot prior to the beginning of my scheduled shift on March 26, 2003. I couldn’t catch my breath, my heart was racing, I was in a cold sweat and my left arm had spasms racing up and down its muscles. Fortunately my family doctor had an office right around the corner from SBC. I immediately headed for his office and called the Attendance Supervisor, to tell her that I was taking my “DEMAND” vacation day.

Those Were the Days
Sometime After 9/11 - October '01 - Late March '03 Because of downsizing that whole six months of Saturdays was a joke, but I could live with that. My direct supervisor was a seasoned employee who had worked up the ranks from customer service, became a trainer and was now a coach/leader, and I had known her since she was a teenager. Everything was working well. I quickly moved into the top 20% of sales reps in most area and even higher in DSL, our big push.

I received many awards, cash bonuses, special gifts, "on-the-clock" lunches. It was great!

Keep in mind we're not talking about 22 months of employment with 18 full months on the phone and working with customers when March 26, 2003 arrived.

We'll Call this the beginning of the end
June 11 - Sept 11, 2001.
I was excited to start my new career. After finally leaving the music industry behind I was going to work for one of the largest telecommunication companies in the world. They had promised to train me and compensate me well, along with providing complete health coverage for my entire family.

At 43 years old, I felt I was completely ready to settle down in the career I would retire in and this seemed like just the place. Sure I’d be working Saturdays in the beginning, but I’d been promised that wouldn’t last over six months, at the longest.

Training went well, this job was going to be relatively simple compared to previous jobs, and I was the only one I was responsible for. Wow, what a novel concept. Multi-tasking wasn’t quite as easy as it seemed, talking to a customer, five or six open screens on the computer, but it could be done. Most customers had an idea what they wanted, or at least, how much they wanted to pay.

Just as our training period was about to end, September 11, 2001 occurred. Not only did we lost thousands of our fellow Americans, but the bottom dropped out of telecommunications. Almost overnight SBC stock dropped from $48.00 to $24.00 per share. What had started out as a promising career in a booming industry changed. But the world is constantly in change and a company as well planted as SBC could surely weather the storm. And we did.