I passed

First I want to say thank you for the words of encouragement that I've received since my last post...tears are coming down my face as I write this, my emotions are so out of whack and it's not even "that time". :) So, thank you...it means a lot to me to know that I'm not alone.

On a happier note, I passed my test today. We spent most of the day practicing and then at 2pm we split into groups of four and then the first group took their test and so on. Luckily I was in the first group. We each signed in to our phone, set up net meeting and allowed our "customer" (I thought it was going to be someone from our quality team but it ended up being one of the many 'coaches' that we have) to share our desk top. We were given about 5 minutes to get settled and then received our first call...first let me mention something that is really cool, we have a fairly lengthy greeting that we have to say when we first answer the call and our phone system allows us to pre-record our greeting and every time a call comes in, we hear a beep in our ear & then our greeting automatically plays. Totally cool. So here's my greeting "Thank you for calling geico, my name is Michelle Hoffman and I'd be happy to assist you today. May I start by getting your policy number?"...thank goodness I don't have to say that every single time.

Anyways, back to the test. So, we were each going to be receiving 3 calls. Geico has a grading system for each of their calls, their hope is for each call to be what they call "A Level" and for this test all three of our calls needed to be "A Level" to pass. So, first call comes & I did great...as soon as the call disconnected I remembered that I forgot to tell the policyholder to disregard their cancellation notice that they'd be receiving in the mail as they had just made their payment with me. Moved on to the second call, simple. The third call was a combination of making a payment and id cards, not huge but NY state is the only state that has a "check list" of items that we need to verify before we're able to send the id cards and I knew that I nailed it. I walked out of there feeling pretty darn good. I casually mentioned to my trainer when I was leaving the room (we weren't allowed to ask for help from him, only use our materials) that I forgot to mention that they should disregard the "can notice" (insurance slang..ha ha) and he said not to worry, that I wouldn't get "dinged" for that. I'm thinking "sweet!".

Fast forward to an hour later and we've all taken our tests and one by one are being called to go over how we scored. Unfortunately the coach that called me, Lindsay, had to go into a meeting and was unable to go over my calls with me but she took detailed notes and another coach went over it. He said "You did great, you got 2 out of 3"...I was like "WHAT???". He tells me that I didn't do such & such on one of the calls and I said "yes I did"....I wasn't arguing with him per say but I was debating I guess you could call it. First I was irritated that he wasn't the person that actually called me and he didn't quite make it clear to me which call it was that I had missed, he just mentioned a general situation that came up on each call. I am fuming, mainly because I expect perfection from myself...I know that's a bit of a conceited attitude but I can't help it, that's how I am with work stuff. So we all get back into our training class and I tell Jared (my trainer) that I am very irritated and explain to him why. Those of us that missed a call were able to do a retake and we did that one by one, so in the meantime I am continuing to bitch & moan about how I know I did such & such and that I felt that they were being contradictory, etc etc.

Long story short, shortly before I took the retake of my call I figured out that they were right. I felt so stupid because I was thinking of a different call other than the one I had missed. I have to admit that I didn't quite admit this to those around me because I felt rather silly for getting all worked up and making such a fuss over something that wasn't even the case.

I took my retake of the call and aced it. I got some great feedback both times and feel good about it. I'm still irritated that I didn't get all 3 calls the first time but only 3 people in my class did, some missed 2 calls and some missed them again on their retake and that's our only chance to make it up. Not that they'll get into trouble or anything like that, they'll just get some more 1 on 1 coaching. I love that...actually working with your employees on what they are struggling with....what a concept. Can you sense my sarcasm? ha ha

So, that was my day. I woke up this morning and my eyeballs literally hurt and I didn't know why. Then gradually throughout the day the bones above my eyes just began to throb and then each time I would move my eyes it would kill...a migraine was coming. Grrrrrreat. Luckily I made it through the day and picked up some exedrin for migraines on my way home from work, took 2 and fell asleep for almost 3 hours. I'm feeling much better now, my eyes still ache a little bit but I think I caught it in time. I think it's this darn weather. The humidity is picking up again, tomorrow & Sunday the humidity is going to be really high and on Sunday it's going to be around 90. Luckily I have a/c here but I have to be honest, I don't like a/c...I love having the windows open and actually having fresh air, but the a/c does come in handy when sweat is pouring down your face. :)

I don't know what I'm going to be doing over the weekend. One thing I've learned lately is to try to be better about taking things one day at a time, sometimes I tend to think too far ahead and then I get scared or anxious. Even little things like what I'll do tomorrow, I'm just trying to go with the flow and do whatever it is that I feel like doing and not dwell on it. Probably sounds silly but I'm going to see if it helps.

Well I think I've rambled enough for now...thanks again for your kind words and I hope everyone has a great weekend! :)