I know everyone is saddened at the loss of life and property from yesterday's tornado damage. I knew from watching the video of that hugh monster rolling through Tuscaloosa that the results would be terrible. Several Birmingham television stations had remote cameras that were able to get excellent views as it approached both Tuscaloosa and Birmingham. In Tuscaloosa, it was so strange watching it live. It wasn't raining there so it was a surreal image, as if it had outran the rain. And run it did, all the way north of Birmingham, never letting up on it's reign of terror. An aerial view of it's path is here. The Weather Channel also has several good video's as well.
The death toll stands at over 200 with more than 600 injured. Brown's Ferry Nuclear plant(TVA) is offline, so most of the northern part of the state is without power. Over 300,000 are without power in the Birmingham area, which is served by Alabama Power. I have heard estimates of power restoration in the neighborhood of three weeks in some areas and I'm sure it will be even longer for some of our AT&T customers in the hardest hit places.
Rescue efforts are ongoing and kudos to Fox6 news for their all day news coverage! It was also impressive seeing the Alabama Southern Baptist Association's Disaster Relief Team already on the ground in several cities. Rick Lance stated on the news tonight that they can feed 60,000 per day! That is awesome but it requires financial help from those of us who can. If you wish to donate to either the Red Cross or the Southern Baptist team that would be a great help!
Events such as this should serve as a reminder that life is short and material possessions are not important. What is important is to be in a good relationship with your Lord and to always be ready when He calls you home! Earth is only temporary and heaven is forever! Please pray for those who are hurting.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
ATT Doesn't Want You to have a Landline?!
Hey, guess what? I'm an employee of AT&T and the following is my opinion... Most of you don't realize that your phone company doesn't love you. I know, I know, even after you've given them all that money for years. They feel no obligation to you nor your desire to have your existing landline repaired if the storm knocked it out this morning. Oh, they might tell you they'll fix it in a week or two... the old 24 hour out of service rule is long gone!
I've been awake since about 5:30am when the weather radio started sounding. The line of severe storms that moved through our area caused multiple reports of over 70MPH winds with numerous reports of trees down. Interstates were blocked along with U.S. Hwy 280 and Alabama Hwy 119, just to name a few. The meteorologist say this is just the first round and that other storms should fire up this afternoon. Since I'm "off" today(AT&T doesn't like paying overtime), all I can do is stay home and blog.
So, how does AT&T really feel about your landline? They petitioned the FCC in 2009 to remove regulatory requirements that they support a landline network and even asked for a drop dead date for killing the service. So why would they buy such a great landline company like BellSouth? Easy, for it's wireless holdings! Cell phones are all they really want. It is pretty obvious from the way they treat employees that they really don't even want us. Which is unfortunate, since we help them make their billions of dollars every year.
The old fashioned landline is a good thing to have around. Any call to 911 can be identified by address instantly. It works 99% of the time when the power to your house doesn't. Home and business alarm systems depend on them to alert local law enforcement of trouble. Voice quality is excellent, much better than cell phones. While using a landline phone, there are no radiation waves affecting your brain. Landlines are secure, no one can listen in on your calls. You also have mobility of use around your home if you have a cordless phone. Overall, a landline is a very good product. So why do away with it?
Well, as usual, it is about money. If you decide to disconnect your home phone it would be a simple matter to call and place the request. However, if you decide to disconnect a cell phone, you better get your wallet out to pay the penalty for breaking your two year contract. And guess what, you'll always have a contract, thats why they give you those cool upgrades on the phones. Those phones with the data charges which add up to much more than a landline.
Companies change technology for more profits. I was a coin collector with BellSouth when they made the decision to stop providing coin phones to the public. I didn't understand it then. Those heavy coin boxes were still being returned full on each pickup. The money from coin phones was still coming in, but ending the service did something else. It made the average consumer purchase a cell phone since coin phones were no longer available. When they eventually turn off your home phone, you'll have to buy a cell card for your computer(2nd cell line) or have to depend on your regular cell phone more. That might make you want a fancy phone that costs much more. Moreover, the profit margin is higher for cell phones than land lines and without all those high paid union people having to get involved.
Your landlines are a little more expensive due to a FCC charge to subsidize rural telephone lines. AT&T has also asked for that fund to be restructured to help pay for the national infrastructure they want. Or in other words, "Goverment, please help us build our network so we can make more profits"! Probably, the government will do it just for it's ability to track & listen in on mobile phones. It's a "big brother" thing. It was funny that a recent arrest of a gambling magnate revealed he was purchasing a new cell phone every three days and promised one caller, "they can't listen in on this phone"... yeah, right! He ended up confessing his crimes thanks to Government tapping his NEW cell phone!
Fight for your landline, it's a good thing!
I've been awake since about 5:30am when the weather radio started sounding. The line of severe storms that moved through our area caused multiple reports of over 70MPH winds with numerous reports of trees down. Interstates were blocked along with U.S. Hwy 280 and Alabama Hwy 119, just to name a few. The meteorologist say this is just the first round and that other storms should fire up this afternoon. Since I'm "off" today(AT&T doesn't like paying overtime), all I can do is stay home and blog.
So, how does AT&T really feel about your landline? They petitioned the FCC in 2009 to remove regulatory requirements that they support a landline network and even asked for a drop dead date for killing the service. So why would they buy such a great landline company like BellSouth? Easy, for it's wireless holdings! Cell phones are all they really want. It is pretty obvious from the way they treat employees that they really don't even want us. Which is unfortunate, since we help them make their billions of dollars every year.
The old fashioned landline is a good thing to have around. Any call to 911 can be identified by address instantly. It works 99% of the time when the power to your house doesn't. Home and business alarm systems depend on them to alert local law enforcement of trouble. Voice quality is excellent, much better than cell phones. While using a landline phone, there are no radiation waves affecting your brain. Landlines are secure, no one can listen in on your calls. You also have mobility of use around your home if you have a cordless phone. Overall, a landline is a very good product. So why do away with it?
Well, as usual, it is about money. If you decide to disconnect your home phone it would be a simple matter to call and place the request. However, if you decide to disconnect a cell phone, you better get your wallet out to pay the penalty for breaking your two year contract. And guess what, you'll always have a contract, thats why they give you those cool upgrades on the phones. Those phones with the data charges which add up to much more than a landline.
Companies change technology for more profits. I was a coin collector with BellSouth when they made the decision to stop providing coin phones to the public. I didn't understand it then. Those heavy coin boxes were still being returned full on each pickup. The money from coin phones was still coming in, but ending the service did something else. It made the average consumer purchase a cell phone since coin phones were no longer available. When they eventually turn off your home phone, you'll have to buy a cell card for your computer(2nd cell line) or have to depend on your regular cell phone more. That might make you want a fancy phone that costs much more. Moreover, the profit margin is higher for cell phones than land lines and without all those high paid union people having to get involved.
Your landlines are a little more expensive due to a FCC charge to subsidize rural telephone lines. AT&T has also asked for that fund to be restructured to help pay for the national infrastructure they want. Or in other words, "Goverment, please help us build our network so we can make more profits"! Probably, the government will do it just for it's ability to track & listen in on mobile phones. It's a "big brother" thing. It was funny that a recent arrest of a gambling magnate revealed he was purchasing a new cell phone every three days and promised one caller, "they can't listen in on this phone"... yeah, right! He ended up confessing his crimes thanks to Government tapping his NEW cell phone!
Fight for your landline, it's a good thing!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
A Noah Weather Alert!
I'm sure you are all familiar with the story of Noah from the Book of Genesis. Just for a refresher, you'll remember that God looked at the evil mankind was committing and was sad that He had made man. He decided to destroy all life, except for His friend Noah. Noah and his family were saved from the worldwide flood along with animals and birds on the ark. Afterwards, God made a promise that He would never destroy mankind by flood again. Genesis 9:11 says, "I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."
I firmly believe the flood is a true story! There are many scientific evidences but my favorite one is just a plain graph of the earth's population. It looks like the population we have today started about the time of the Biblical flood. Without the flood, the question for all the "billions and billions of years"
people is this... Where are all the people?
That isn't the purpose of today's blog. It's about weather control. I also believe the United States and other governments are in a cooperative agreement to control our weather. Now, before you declare me insane and go elsewhere, at least hear me out. I started watching the weather closely in the late nineties. One day, I suddenly realized that I couldn't remember the last time I had heard thunder. I asked a few friends, "when was our last thunderstorm"? No one could remember. That led me to start watching the sky. It wasn't long before I noticed the common square cloud formations, they were everywhere. Then, the contrails from planes were kinda funny and making wierd formations in the sky. Around this time, Al Gore started his Global Warming cover story. So, I started researching weather control and found Scott Stephens.
Scott Stephens was an Idaho televison meteorologist, who resigned his post because of his discust with the government programs affecting the weather. He started working full time looking at extreme weather events and studying their causes. He has a great website called Weatherwars.info. The four videos on the front page explaining chemtrails are awesome. If you can, watch at least the first few minutes of each one. They explain how the chemtrails and HAARP affect our weather now. I took these pictures over Columbiana, Alabama showing chemtrail activity just before the arrival of a weather front.
HAARP(High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program) is located in Gakona, Alaska. It is one of the most important scientific invention/weapons of our time. It is also one in which the general public is unaware of, thanks to our news media. If you would like to know more about it, there was a book published in 1995 called, Angels Don't Play This HAARP. Put simply, HAARP zaps the upper atmosphere with a tremendous amout of electromagnetism. It can alter upper atmosphere wind patterns, create a blocking high pressure, and do many more other atmospheric tricks. Some of which, the military doesn't want you to know about. The science is a continuation of Nikola Tesla's work from the early 1900's, perfected by the late Bernard Eastlund. Dr. Eastlund's U.S. Patent # 4,686,605 entitled, "Method and Apparatus for Altering a Region in the Earth's Atmosphere, Ionosphere; and/or Magnetosphere" was even sealed under a government Secrecy Order.
My Noah weather alert is issued as a watch. Watch the weather around you. If all this is true then the weather channel's "It Could Happen Tommorrow" takes on a whole new meaning. It would also mean that the strange weather events around the globe are all "created". It would be terrible if the United States were charged with war crimes from weather manipulation. As the local weathermen say, "it's something we're going to watch for you"!
I firmly believe the flood is a true story! There are many scientific evidences but my favorite one is just a plain graph of the earth's population. It looks like the population we have today started about the time of the Biblical flood. Without the flood, the question for all the "billions and billions of years"
people is this... Where are all the people?
That isn't the purpose of today's blog. It's about weather control. I also believe the United States and other governments are in a cooperative agreement to control our weather. Now, before you declare me insane and go elsewhere, at least hear me out. I started watching the weather closely in the late nineties. One day, I suddenly realized that I couldn't remember the last time I had heard thunder. I asked a few friends, "when was our last thunderstorm"? No one could remember. That led me to start watching the sky. It wasn't long before I noticed the common square cloud formations, they were everywhere. Then, the contrails from planes were kinda funny and making wierd formations in the sky. Around this time, Al Gore started his Global Warming cover story. So, I started researching weather control and found Scott Stephens.
Scott Stephens was an Idaho televison meteorologist, who resigned his post because of his discust with the government programs affecting the weather. He started working full time looking at extreme weather events and studying their causes. He has a great website called Weatherwars.info. The four videos on the front page explaining chemtrails are awesome. If you can, watch at least the first few minutes of each one. They explain how the chemtrails and HAARP affect our weather now. I took these pictures over Columbiana, Alabama showing chemtrail activity just before the arrival of a weather front.
HAARP(High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program) is located in Gakona, Alaska. It is one of the most important scientific invention/weapons of our time. It is also one in which the general public is unaware of, thanks to our news media. If you would like to know more about it, there was a book published in 1995 called, Angels Don't Play This HAARP. Put simply, HAARP zaps the upper atmosphere with a tremendous amout of electromagnetism. It can alter upper atmosphere wind patterns, create a blocking high pressure, and do many more other atmospheric tricks. Some of which, the military doesn't want you to know about. The science is a continuation of Nikola Tesla's work from the early 1900's, perfected by the late Bernard Eastlund. Dr. Eastlund's U.S. Patent # 4,686,605 entitled, "Method and Apparatus for Altering a Region in the Earth's Atmosphere, Ionosphere; and/or Magnetosphere" was even sealed under a government Secrecy Order.
My Noah weather alert is issued as a watch. Watch the weather around you. If all this is true then the weather channel's "It Could Happen Tommorrow" takes on a whole new meaning. It would also mean that the strange weather events around the globe are all "created". It would be terrible if the United States were charged with war crimes from weather manipulation. As the local weathermen say, "it's something we're going to watch for you"!
Thursday, April 21, 2011
MSOC and Privacy Laws
Yes, I know... I am an AT&T employee and the following is my opinion! MSOC is the system which gives each technician's performance data. It is posted publically on the intranet(company only) and on the bulletin board in our office. We get numbers daily, quarterly, monthly, yearly, weekends, full-moon's, etc. It is worst than baseball statistics. We are compelled to work harder, faster, longer and sacrifice our lives for the benefit of total telecommunication domination! Ok, not really. It isn't like a James Bond movie where the evil mastermind has both countries launching missles at each other, at least not yet. It's actually more like the movie "Ben Hur" and the drum beat scene. Again, let me reiterate, AT&T employee performance data is posted publicly in every work center for others to see, even contractors, visitors, and anyone else who may wander through the room.
For example, if you looked at my data for the month, you could see my percent efficiency, my percent utilization, my productivity, how many demand hours I've worked, whether or not I should have accomplished that in a shorter period of time, the number of times customers called in a second trouble(repeat report) and along with my data, you could see everyone else's on the same list. Now, I may be old fashioned(old school as my supervisor says), but that just isn't right! Privacy laws are real and are not to be played with! Our union, CWA, is standing tall as usual but bent over with their head in the sand on this issue. If they don't see it, it doesn't exist!
I made a simple internet search and found this link on fairmeasures.com. It's a site for management legal training. The question is this, "Can we tell employees about everyone's performance?" Two lawyers reply, "NO! Under the laws of every state, employers have a duty to take reasonable care with sensitive information. This is not reasonable care!" Wow, I knew that and am not even a lawyer!
I have come to believe that it has become a "game" for management and not just a whip. It may be like fantasy football to many managers. They are so competitive that they've become obsessed with being at the top of their managers - list of managers. A who's #1 thing! Not to mention the bonuses associated with being the top dog and the new benchmark for everyone else! While they play their stupid games, real technicians are panicking about not meeting their numbers and being threatened with being put on the "special plan" where everything you do suddenly takes longer with added steps.
Management really enjoys this, you can see it in their eyes. When they say, "I'm going to put a counseling entry in your file", it is with excitement not sadness! There isn't encouragment, there is only despair! In my mind, I can see some managers fantasy motivators... "Forget MSOC, give me a cowhide whip, taser, small bull horn, and a vial of sodium pentothal... I'll motivate them"! muhahaha
MSOC was originally introduced to employees as a tool and not a whip! It has evolved into something else, especially in some personality flawed managers. Come on AT&T, get your head out of the sand on this one. Call off the dogs, lets move off the plantation and get back to the teamwork concept!
For example, if you looked at my data for the month, you could see my percent efficiency, my percent utilization, my productivity, how many demand hours I've worked, whether or not I should have accomplished that in a shorter period of time, the number of times customers called in a second trouble(repeat report) and along with my data, you could see everyone else's on the same list. Now, I may be old fashioned(old school as my supervisor says), but that just isn't right! Privacy laws are real and are not to be played with! Our union, CWA, is standing tall as usual but bent over with their head in the sand on this issue. If they don't see it, it doesn't exist!
I made a simple internet search and found this link on fairmeasures.com. It's a site for management legal training. The question is this, "Can we tell employees about everyone's performance?" Two lawyers reply, "NO! Under the laws of every state, employers have a duty to take reasonable care with sensitive information. This is not reasonable care!" Wow, I knew that and am not even a lawyer!
I have come to believe that it has become a "game" for management and not just a whip. It may be like fantasy football to many managers. They are so competitive that they've become obsessed with being at the top of their managers - list of managers. A who's #1 thing! Not to mention the bonuses associated with being the top dog and the new benchmark for everyone else! While they play their stupid games, real technicians are panicking about not meeting their numbers and being threatened with being put on the "special plan" where everything you do suddenly takes longer with added steps.
Management really enjoys this, you can see it in their eyes. When they say, "I'm going to put a counseling entry in your file", it is with excitement not sadness! There isn't encouragment, there is only despair! In my mind, I can see some managers fantasy motivators... "Forget MSOC, give me a cowhide whip, taser, small bull horn, and a vial of sodium pentothal... I'll motivate them"! muhahaha
MSOC was originally introduced to employees as a tool and not a whip! It has evolved into something else, especially in some personality flawed managers. Come on AT&T, get your head out of the sand on this one. Call off the dogs, lets move off the plantation and get back to the teamwork concept!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Goldfinch Feeding Frenzy
They have very agile feet which the creator designed so they can hang practically upside down while eating. They congregate in large numbers and seem to be very social birds.
Friday, April 15, 2011
OMG? Look at Exodus 20:7
Just in case you don't have a Bible with you, it reads like this in the King James, "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain". You would have to say, that in today's society, a lot of folks are in trouble. I used to work with a guy who used "Jesus Christ" as a cuss word about every five minutes. Obviously, he thought it was funny and would make people laugh. Sadly, it did! I started saying out loud, "Where?" "Is He here?!" He would slow down a little, then start doing it again. I finally started using his own name in the same way. It got his attention.
We use God's name in so many frivolous ways... Oh my God, G.. D.mn, God Bless you(sneezing), dear God, Oh Lord, oh my gosh, etc. I believe it shows a weakness in vocabulary too. The person who uses those phrases needs to learn some new exclamations. There are plenty; amazing, fabulous, great, incredible, unbelievable, excellent, magnificent, resplendent, splendid, awesome, impressive, and that is just a few. There are so many, you can leave the name of God out of it all together.
Let's think about who HE is for a minute. He is omnipotent (all ruling - almighty), omnipresent (everywhere at once), and omniscient (knows everything)! He is holy or completely separate from any evil! He is the creator and sustainer of the entire universe. He is triune as the Father, Son, and Spirit! He died on a cross, so you could meet Him face to face one day and He is even much more that all that! Christians will have an eternity to search out the deep things of God. It is not something you would want to miss out on.
God's name in the Hebrew Bible was Yahweh. Jews stopped saying and writing it out of respect. They considered it too sacred to be uttered. They substituted Elohim or Adonai. It makes me think of Jesus prayer, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." To hallow means to sanctify or treat as holy. Also, consider the muslims as an example. If you were to take the name of Muhammad in vain, there would be a suicide bomber ringing your doorbell very soon! I'm not saying Christians need to go to that extreme. Let's just put our God on the pedestal He deserves!
I believe that taking God's name in vain is an indication of poor spiritual health. If someone is coughing or sick with a fever you don't lamblast them for not being healthy. Bring them along slowly, allowing time to grow and mature spiritually. Let's face it, most people don't read the Bible and few go to church. You may be the only Christian they know. Show your love for God by respecting His name and one day you'll get to hear Him read your name from the Book of Life!
We use God's name in so many frivolous ways... Oh my God, G.. D.mn, God Bless you(sneezing), dear God, Oh Lord, oh my gosh, etc. I believe it shows a weakness in vocabulary too. The person who uses those phrases needs to learn some new exclamations. There are plenty; amazing, fabulous, great, incredible, unbelievable, excellent, magnificent, resplendent, splendid, awesome, impressive, and that is just a few. There are so many, you can leave the name of God out of it all together.
Let's think about who HE is for a minute. He is omnipotent (all ruling - almighty), omnipresent (everywhere at once), and omniscient (knows everything)! He is holy or completely separate from any evil! He is the creator and sustainer of the entire universe. He is triune as the Father, Son, and Spirit! He died on a cross, so you could meet Him face to face one day and He is even much more that all that! Christians will have an eternity to search out the deep things of God. It is not something you would want to miss out on.
God's name in the Hebrew Bible was Yahweh. Jews stopped saying and writing it out of respect. They considered it too sacred to be uttered. They substituted Elohim or Adonai. It makes me think of Jesus prayer, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." To hallow means to sanctify or treat as holy. Also, consider the muslims as an example. If you were to take the name of Muhammad in vain, there would be a suicide bomber ringing your doorbell very soon! I'm not saying Christians need to go to that extreme. Let's just put our God on the pedestal He deserves!
I believe that taking God's name in vain is an indication of poor spiritual health. If someone is coughing or sick with a fever you don't lamblast them for not being healthy. Bring them along slowly, allowing time to grow and mature spiritually. Let's face it, most people don't read the Bible and few go to church. You may be the only Christian they know. Show your love for God by respecting His name and one day you'll get to hear Him read your name from the Book of Life!
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
The Trail to Chelsea
Thanks to all who read "Go Safely & Prosper"! It had the highest one and two day totals I've had in a while. I'll give you a short update on it, but first things first... I am an employee of AT&T and the following is my opinion(lol)... Obviously, someone in management read it because I was dispatched on a "helper trouble ticket" both Monday and Tuesday. That is a major change in the way AT&T has been operating and cudos to whoever changed it! I believe in giving credit where credit is due. My supervisor also notified me today that upper management called to say that the GPS on my truck was not operating correctly. That makes me think that I am under the microscope, which is okay, look all you want!
We were told Monday that all the technicians could not stock their trucks with material in the morning. We furthermore could not clean off our trucks on overtime, nor stock materials on overtime. We were also to drive out of the work center gate before picking up a trouble on our laptops. I'm not sure whose manager bonus we're helping, but I hope he doesn't get a thing! That supid plan is driving all the employees crazy. Actually the stress levels are the highest I've ever seen. Just wondering how you're going to complete all your jobs with no material on your truck is enough to worry about. I remembered that I needed 5pair drop Monday morning, did I get it? No way!!! We were threatened to all be put on one vacation schedule just from one guy asking a simple question... Sorry, that was a longer update than I meant to make.
I've been asked how I ended up working at Chelsea, Alabama, so let me tell you that story(opinion, right). I worked in nearby Riverchase and loved it - except for one thing, my truck! It was the oldest in the fleet, straight shift, and no air conditioning. I could have lived with that but the engine heat came through the firewall. You could scramble eggs on the dashboard! I complained a good bit, but nothing was being done, as usual. I came in one hot summer day and handed my keys to the supervisor and said, "go drive my truck". He asked why, and I wouldn't tell him. So he and another manager went around the block. They came back red faced and I asked how the trip was... "hot" was all I got! Again, nothing happened, and I gave up when a new AT&T edict came out that all the trucks would be locked up unless you were touching it. This happened after a manager in Texas lost a company laptop(we all suffered)! I thought, "what can I do? this will give me a heat stroke!" The best plan I could come up with at the time was to call Television channel 6 and let them do a report on "technician found dead in hot truck"! I felt like it would be a good story and AT&T would regret not helping me, but the consequences were just too severe.
About that time, someone in the group mentioned there was a job opening in nearby Calera. I could drive to that work center in five minutes from home, and it was opposite the morning flow of traffic. It was perfect! I sent a request in to personnel to transfer from Riverchase to Calera. The call from personel came in the afternoon on another hot day. I didn't even have to think about it... "yes", I said, "I'll take it"! Then, I thought, what will I be driving there. The personel manager was kind enough to give me the supervisor's number in Calera and let me contact him for the answer to that question and wait on my return call for a final answer.
I called and got voice mail, so I left a message requesting a callback. I guess it was maybe an hour later when the Supervisor called and I told him I wanted the job there but needed to know what I'd be driving(didn't want to jump from one hot truck to another). He stated quite frankly that he didn't have me a truck. He only had one bucket available and a service technician(ST) was driving it. He said, "I won't take him off of it!" He started on a long monologue about the ST, how he was his super tech, he could do it all, dsl, uverse, pots, cable... He then stated that "fact is, I want him to get this job and not you! What I really want to happen is for you to stay in Riverchase and ____ to get this job!"
Shocked, I didn't know what to say. I said, "you know, I'm not a new hire myself", "I'm a pretty good technician." He said, "I'm sure you are, but I don't want you to take this job!" I said, "could you call and check with someone about the truck and let me know?" He said he would and I could call him the next day. Needless to say, I didn't call him back. I immediately called the personel manager in Atlanta and relayed to her what happened and that I couldn't move into a job under those circumstances. I knew if I took that job over the tech He wanted, He would make my life miserable!
It was probably another month before a second position came open, a little further to drive, to Chelsea. Desperate, I applied and accepted that position. The same personel manager remembered me and the former incident and offered to give me the number of the supervisior there to call. I declined saying, "I'm not calling this time!" I'm not sure it all worked out for the best, but at least, for now, I don't have a hot truck!
We were told Monday that all the technicians could not stock their trucks with material in the morning. We furthermore could not clean off our trucks on overtime, nor stock materials on overtime. We were also to drive out of the work center gate before picking up a trouble on our laptops. I'm not sure whose manager bonus we're helping, but I hope he doesn't get a thing! That supid plan is driving all the employees crazy. Actually the stress levels are the highest I've ever seen. Just wondering how you're going to complete all your jobs with no material on your truck is enough to worry about. I remembered that I needed 5pair drop Monday morning, did I get it? No way!!! We were threatened to all be put on one vacation schedule just from one guy asking a simple question... Sorry, that was a longer update than I meant to make.
I've been asked how I ended up working at Chelsea, Alabama, so let me tell you that story(opinion, right). I worked in nearby Riverchase and loved it - except for one thing, my truck! It was the oldest in the fleet, straight shift, and no air conditioning. I could have lived with that but the engine heat came through the firewall. You could scramble eggs on the dashboard! I complained a good bit, but nothing was being done, as usual. I came in one hot summer day and handed my keys to the supervisor and said, "go drive my truck". He asked why, and I wouldn't tell him. So he and another manager went around the block. They came back red faced and I asked how the trip was... "hot" was all I got! Again, nothing happened, and I gave up when a new AT&T edict came out that all the trucks would be locked up unless you were touching it. This happened after a manager in Texas lost a company laptop(we all suffered)! I thought, "what can I do? this will give me a heat stroke!" The best plan I could come up with at the time was to call Television channel 6 and let them do a report on "technician found dead in hot truck"! I felt like it would be a good story and AT&T would regret not helping me, but the consequences were just too severe.
About that time, someone in the group mentioned there was a job opening in nearby Calera. I could drive to that work center in five minutes from home, and it was opposite the morning flow of traffic. It was perfect! I sent a request in to personnel to transfer from Riverchase to Calera. The call from personel came in the afternoon on another hot day. I didn't even have to think about it... "yes", I said, "I'll take it"! Then, I thought, what will I be driving there. The personel manager was kind enough to give me the supervisor's number in Calera and let me contact him for the answer to that question and wait on my return call for a final answer.
I called and got voice mail, so I left a message requesting a callback. I guess it was maybe an hour later when the Supervisor called and I told him I wanted the job there but needed to know what I'd be driving(didn't want to jump from one hot truck to another). He stated quite frankly that he didn't have me a truck. He only had one bucket available and a service technician(ST) was driving it. He said, "I won't take him off of it!" He started on a long monologue about the ST, how he was his super tech, he could do it all, dsl, uverse, pots, cable... He then stated that "fact is, I want him to get this job and not you! What I really want to happen is for you to stay in Riverchase and ____ to get this job!"
Shocked, I didn't know what to say. I said, "you know, I'm not a new hire myself", "I'm a pretty good technician." He said, "I'm sure you are, but I don't want you to take this job!" I said, "could you call and check with someone about the truck and let me know?" He said he would and I could call him the next day. Needless to say, I didn't call him back. I immediately called the personel manager in Atlanta and relayed to her what happened and that I couldn't move into a job under those circumstances. I knew if I took that job over the tech He wanted, He would make my life miserable!
It was probably another month before a second position came open, a little further to drive, to Chelsea. Desperate, I applied and accepted that position. The same personel manager remembered me and the former incident and offered to give me the number of the supervisior there to call. I declined saying, "I'm not calling this time!" I'm not sure it all worked out for the best, but at least, for now, I don't have a hot truck!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Go Safely and Prosper
Yes, I took a few days off! I managed to completely get my priorities out of whack and am determined to find my way back to sane thinking. Not that I was insane, just needed to reorder some things.
I have several new ideas for blog posts so hopefully I'll be a little more punctual. The first concerns my unbeloved company AT&T. I read online that they are okay with blogs as long as the following is stated; "I am an AT&T employee and the following is my own opinion". Now that the legalese is out of the way, let the blog truly begin...
I have written before how AT&T is so concerned with employee job stats that everything suffers from customer service to outside plant quality. My supervisor told me this week that I was too "customer friendly", that I was "old school". I needed to get with the new AT&T and act like a monkey doing everything they said. Most of my customers would disagree with that statement. Anyway, safety is another issue they toss at us with the proper amount to protect them legally if we screw up. In other words, it is often lip service. I'll give you my example, sorry my opinion on it.
I transfered to Chelsea, Alabama in the summer of 2010. Within a short time, I found an unsafe electrical condition in downtown Vincent, Alabama. Vincent is the small town whose residents are in an uproar over a planned strip mine. There have been several articles in the Birmingham news and if you drive through town it seems each resident has a sign in their yard expressing their opinion on the matter.
Back to my story, Vincent, like every other small town, decorates during Christmas time and to make matters easy, they leave the poorly attached and dangerous electrical attachments hanging for next year. It's like the guy you see with the icicle lights on his house in July, all he's got to do in December is plug them up! I have a pet peeve about electricity in my work space so I told my supervisor what I had found and the reason it needed to be taken care of. I worked with an employee in Piedmont, Alabama who was shocked while working in their downtown area. He survived but had some nerve damage and was forced to retire. I believe Piedmont helped his retirement in the form of monetary damages, but he could have been killed!
A month later, while working in Vincent, I noticed the situation still existed. I drove to the town hall and spoke with the two ladies working in the office and the maintenance manager just happened to be there. I relayed my concerns and they promised to inform the mayor when he returned from a trip on the following Monday. I thanked them and also told the Supervisor what I had done.
I allowed them what I deemed was time enough, about three months, and found the situation unchanged. I was a little annoyed! I took pictures and emailed them to my Supervisor, stating that it needed to be escalated to a higher power to help the city comply with the electrical code.
We're approaching the month of May and if you drive through Vincent today and look up at the poles this is what you'll see...
Maybe Vincent will need the strip mine to help pay for the eventual law suit!
My other complaint(read opinion) is that some maintenance jobs require two or more people to complete. It could be for various reasons... time, difficulty, but mostly it would be for safety. Such as working in an unsafe environment where more than one person is required to perform the job in a safe and effective manner. Well, it has been deemed from above that there will no longer be "helper" tickets issued. We've had more than one technician told to just "handle it"! We've also been told to make a customer report on a number nearby if we just MUST have someone! Sorry, that is a lie! That customer didn't report trouble... CHANGE YOUR SYSTEM AT&T!!!
One more for the road... Again, in Vincent, we've had a 30 mile copper cable giving trouble for years. Finally, we noticed recently that contractors were working on a new fiber fed box near the end of that route. They even put down gravel to park our trucks on, how thoughtful...
The problem with the engineering is that it is being placed in a double blind 50mph inside curve!
If you managed to "back in" which is what we are supposed to do, here is your view trying to pull out.
Safe... I think not! Sometime the truth (opinion) hurts!
I have several new ideas for blog posts so hopefully I'll be a little more punctual. The first concerns my unbeloved company AT&T. I read online that they are okay with blogs as long as the following is stated; "I am an AT&T employee and the following is my own opinion". Now that the legalese is out of the way, let the blog truly begin...
I have written before how AT&T is so concerned with employee job stats that everything suffers from customer service to outside plant quality. My supervisor told me this week that I was too "customer friendly", that I was "old school". I needed to get with the new AT&T and act like a monkey doing everything they said. Most of my customers would disagree with that statement. Anyway, safety is another issue they toss at us with the proper amount to protect them legally if we screw up. In other words, it is often lip service. I'll give you my example, sorry my opinion on it.
I transfered to Chelsea, Alabama in the summer of 2010. Within a short time, I found an unsafe electrical condition in downtown Vincent, Alabama. Vincent is the small town whose residents are in an uproar over a planned strip mine. There have been several articles in the Birmingham news and if you drive through town it seems each resident has a sign in their yard expressing their opinion on the matter.
Back to my story, Vincent, like every other small town, decorates during Christmas time and to make matters easy, they leave the poorly attached and dangerous electrical attachments hanging for next year. It's like the guy you see with the icicle lights on his house in July, all he's got to do in December is plug them up! I have a pet peeve about electricity in my work space so I told my supervisor what I had found and the reason it needed to be taken care of. I worked with an employee in Piedmont, Alabama who was shocked while working in their downtown area. He survived but had some nerve damage and was forced to retire. I believe Piedmont helped his retirement in the form of monetary damages, but he could have been killed!
A month later, while working in Vincent, I noticed the situation still existed. I drove to the town hall and spoke with the two ladies working in the office and the maintenance manager just happened to be there. I relayed my concerns and they promised to inform the mayor when he returned from a trip on the following Monday. I thanked them and also told the Supervisor what I had done.
I allowed them what I deemed was time enough, about three months, and found the situation unchanged. I was a little annoyed! I took pictures and emailed them to my Supervisor, stating that it needed to be escalated to a higher power to help the city comply with the electrical code.
We're approaching the month of May and if you drive through Vincent today and look up at the poles this is what you'll see...
Maybe Vincent will need the strip mine to help pay for the eventual law suit!
My other complaint(read opinion) is that some maintenance jobs require two or more people to complete. It could be for various reasons... time, difficulty, but mostly it would be for safety. Such as working in an unsafe environment where more than one person is required to perform the job in a safe and effective manner. Well, it has been deemed from above that there will no longer be "helper" tickets issued. We've had more than one technician told to just "handle it"! We've also been told to make a customer report on a number nearby if we just MUST have someone! Sorry, that is a lie! That customer didn't report trouble... CHANGE YOUR SYSTEM AT&T!!!
One more for the road... Again, in Vincent, we've had a 30 mile copper cable giving trouble for years. Finally, we noticed recently that contractors were working on a new fiber fed box near the end of that route. They even put down gravel to park our trucks on, how thoughtful...
The problem with the engineering is that it is being placed in a double blind 50mph inside curve!
If you managed to "back in" which is what we are supposed to do, here is your view trying to pull out.
Safe... I think not! Sometime the truth (opinion) hurts!
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