Cashing some chips to make my relationship better

[pseydtonne]

As some of you have gathered, I'm kinda good at my job. Every weekday I sell a lot of shit.

Today, for example, I set up 31 units of digital service to be installed. Each unit equals a house getting either digital cable television, cable modem, or telephone. A double is when I schedule a technician to install two units at the same appointment; an "analog double" is when I schedule someone to get analog cable (the older stuff) and either cable modem or phone -- I get only one point, but it counts toward my multiproduct percentage. Get a good mix of units and multi and you get your commission check. Sell a lot of ancillaries (HBO, Showtime, long distance) and you get a nice check. Since my goal for the month is 305 units, I queued up 10% of my goal (it only counts when they get installed). Since some of those appointments will happen after the 21st (the end of our work month), some of it will help me next month. It's like the Circle of Life, only without the dead gazelles.

I never think of myself as having a position to bargain. I don't like to rock the boat. However, I may need to rock. I realize that Maggie needs me to be closer to her schedule as a safety. I also need Maggie. Staying up all evening surfing is dull without her.

I'll have to present it to my new job delicately. "I realize I'm asking for the rarest of rares, but I need to get a significantly earlier schedule. 9 to 5:30."

Many of you cannot imagine begging for this. You've had those hours for years and you have maybe wondered what it'd be like to shuffle them out. Well, I've had second-ish shift for a few years now and lemme tell ya...

...it sucks after a while. I'd scream for a while, but I'd still have a schedule that convinces most of you I'm not around.

My sales skills are only partly related to my pull for a better schedule. They need mid-shift folk. I'm the king of the mid-shift. Shifts go more by seniority than anything else. I have 22 months, which is small potatoes on my team. Some people have had the job so long they were with companies even I'd never heard of (Colonial Cable of Revere!) and thus it's hard to ask for what you may see as normal hours.

I'm scared I'll be told to fuck myself. I'm a salescritter -- I shouldn't be afraid of rejection. I get it all day long and keep asking. "You sure you don't want high-speed internet? This stuff is so shiny." I don't want to lose what I have (Monday through Friday, which is equally hard to get). To get both is almost impossible.

Anyone have ideas?

-just finished Adult Swim, Dante

Comments

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Selling yourself is very, very hard. But you sell stuff all day. See if you can use that experience?

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Yes! You are good goods, my friend. They know this, which should make your job a bit easier.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

I actually think the plain (although dressed-up) truth would serve you well here with most bosses: "I like working here, and I like being good at my job. But the hours are getting to me. I never see my girlfriend or my friends, and that's not a schedule I can live with. Can you move me to a 9-to-5:30 shift? If not, well, I might have to look somewhere else for a job, even though I don't want to."

Good luck.

[michigansundog.livejournal.com]

I like the truthful approach too. Therefore, I would be extremely careful of hyperbole. Saying "I never" see my girlfriend or my friends isn't 100% true, and you don't want to undermine yourself by exaggerating. Stating that it is not a schedule you can live with strikes me as hyperbole too. It is a quality of life issue, and a very important one, but I doubt you'll die if it continues. Unless you die of a saddened, Maggie-less schedule, which, yes, I can see how that might happen!

If you choose to talk to bosses about this stuff, I'd recommend a truthful, but indirect approach AT FIRST. This method can take some patience. It involves describing your schedule situation through anecdote, while not suggesting solutions to your problem. Wouldn't it be useful to have your employers begin to formulate the proper solution on their own? And then, on a day where they are already raving about your good work and seem to be in a good mood, I would mention again the schedule, probably saying something like, "It is going to be great to take Maggie out for dinner with this bonus check! Of course I'm going to have to wait xxx days until our schedules meet. She can't change her schedule around because she is new there (or whatever reason) and I need more time with her regularly". Here I would check body language and reactions and if it seems like the right time, I'd add, "and I could do that if you move me into an earlier schedule, could I not?" Or something like that, yeah?

Good luck, Mr. D! You deserve it and your confidence in yourself will make all your negotiations stronger.