April 26 Update

We wrapped up another week at Ancestry.com today.  I haven't seen Moms stats but I think I've been handling around 50-60 calls a day.  Don't know how that compares to seasoned reps, but I suspect it is still low.  I tend to spend too much time on each call.  I had a meeting on Monday afternoon with one of the recruiters to followup on an application I submitted through monster.com for a recent posting for a Senior Director Web Operations.  I meet every one of the posted job requirements.  I am told HR will be meeting with the hiring managers the middle of next week and they will choose about 6 candidates to call in for interviews from among "many" qualifed applicants.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  Not sure what my chances are, but I am hopeful.  We have had some heavy rain and even some more snow this last week -- and both days we were reminded how grateful we were to NOT be out flagging in that weather.

April 19 Update

Well, we've completed our second week on the job.  Hasn't been much to report all week, so I'm putting it all in a this weekly update.  I missed a couple of days (Sat and Sun) because I stayed home fighting the left-over cough and wheezing from my cold.  I'll be seeing the doctor this afternoon to see if there is anything that I can do to speed getting over it.  My wheezing has been keeping Mom awake at night.  I found a posting on Monster for a Senior Director Web Operations at Ancestry.com and applied.  I haven't heard anything yet.  The recruiter I've been working with at Ancestry was on vacation until yesterday.   I think I'm a pretty good match for the stated requirements -- pretty much exactly what I did a the Times for seven years and the requirements could have been written off my resume!  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  I found out who the hiring manager is but the guy I talked to, who is one of the training managers in our customer service department, didn't know him.  He is a Senior Vice President of IT and reports directly to the CEO.  Hope I can at least get an interview soon.  It sounds like it would be something I would enjoy and would be good at -- and would be able to make a bigger contribution to Ancestry.com than I can as a customer service rep.

Still kind of strange having our "weekend" in the middle of the week but it does give us time to set up things like chiropractor and dentist appointments that we might otherwise have to take time off for.

April 12 Update

Well, we made it through our first full week out of training.  Mom is feeling better and better about it and is doing a smashing job.  I still get really tired by the end of the day.  Guess I miss the stimulation of doing more creative work as a programmer.  We have the next couple of days off and plan to get some routine maintenance tasks taken care of.  My car is having a problem with one of the oxygen sensors so I've got to get that checked.  The weather forecast is for rain both days so I don't know how much we'll get done around the ranch.  Just about to where it needs to be mowed and we need to start getting ready to plant our garden.  I also noticed a few more singles have blown off the roof so I've got to climb up there and take care of that. 

April 10 Update

Sunday!  And yes, it was interesting.  The call load was much lighter.  Mom even found time to review Sunday school and RS lessons.  We still had only one lead again today and NO escalation folks, so on some of the more complicated calls our hands were tied.  This puts us just over half-way through our first full work week--just have Mon and Tue to go, then we'll  have a couple of days off.  I am still not used to how tiring it is when I'm not doing anything physical.  I would have expected that my construction work or flagging would have been more of a physical drain, but by the end of the day here I'm pretty whipped.  Guess my body misses the exercise provided by more physical jobs.  We have signed up for the Orem Fitness Center, we just need to get organized with proper gear and get into a routine of going.  I'm sure that will help.  When I was at the Times I was able to use the Executive Fitness Center and started my day with a couple hours there 3 times a week and it felt great.  Of course I was salaried then and could easily adjust my schedule to accommodate the morning workouts.  Now we're on a fixed schedule so we'll have to go really early before work or  hang around afterwards.  But I'm sure we'll work it out.

April 9 Update

Today was Saturday so the number of calls were down a little but we still kept pretty busy.  While they've hired a bunch of new people (including us) as Customer Service Reps, they apparently haven't beefed up the supervisors or "escalation" folks.  There was one "lead" covering two or three support groups today and only one "escalation" person -- which meant endless time on hold when we needed help.  I lost at least one caller while waiting on hold for escalation and had another poor lady on the phone for nearly an hour, much of it on hold while I tried to get more information and help than is available on our standard customer service screens.  Tomorrow is Sunday.  Should be interesting to see how that goes.

April 8 Update

Today marks the beginning of our first regular Fri-Tue work week.  Mom and I both got emails indicating one of our earlier calls had been monitored and we both got 100% ratings.  Guess we're doing something right.  I don't think my body likes my chair very well.  The last two or three days on the job I've had a tension headache by noon.  Yccch!  The weatherman here still hasn't gotten word that it is Spring!  We have fruit trees blooming, grass growing, and shade trees leafing out -- and it snowed a good part of the day today.  No accumulation, but an inch or so is predicted tonight and tomorrow.

April 4 Update

Today was my first day on my own on the phones.  Kinds of stressful, but all in all, it wasn't too bad.  Mom passed her written test and was on her own this afternoon too.  It started out cold this morning, around 24F when we left home, but warmed up to somewhere in the 60s during the day.  Most of the recent snow has melted.  They say there is another storm coming Wednesday and will last through Saturday.  The forecast is for both rain and snow, so who knows what we'll end up with.  I still think the weatherman didn't get the memo that March 21 was the first day of Spring!  Looks like the grass and the trees around here did though.  The grass is getting pretty green and the trees are getting ready to leaf out.  Wyoming and Colorado were both still pretty brown when we were there.