vB Easy Archive - Cingular employees - be careful what you post here!

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Cingular employees - be careful what you post here!
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Posted by: gsmgprsfan

A while back, I posted a pretty good rant here about working in a Cingular Call Center.

Apparently, some 'peers' in another call center brought my rant to the attention of some people.. and those people ran it up the chain, and it went further and further up the chain.. really ruffling some feathers.

Shortly thereafter, I was put on a 2 week unpaid suspension with a final written warning in my file, which disqualified me for my annual bonus (about $5,000) and Value Share bonus (about $1000).. all this after working for ATT/Cing for 5 years.

So, instead of taking my concerns seriously, and looking into ways to address them, I was 'shut up' and 'shut down'. I was put into a position where I really had no choice but to resign, because I knew that a final written warning would haunt me for as long as I stayed with the company.

So - if you have frustrations about Cingular - do NOT post them here or on any other website - because apparently Cingular employees are not allowed to voice their frustrations. I did, and lost 2 weeks salary (approx $2500), and two bonuses - all together, about $8500.00 .

Posted by: ivwshane

I'll be happy to post for you guys that can't

Sorry about what happened. Good upper management would have handled it differently and would have looked into the negative comments to get to the bottom of it and try to fix the issue rather than ignoring it. But then again this is cingular.....

Posted by: genetru

Nice. Sorry to hear it.

TMO also recently sent out a warning to be careful not to disclose any confidential information on message boards; it's good advice for anyone here who works in the cell industry.

Posted by: ozzzyUO

That's good advice for ANY industry.

To be honest, you should have brought your concerns up with your manager in a non-confrontational manner rather than publicly decrying Cingular as a whole. As someone looking for information about phones and service on this forum, Cingular employee comments can affect my purchasing descisions. Your manager was taking care of this immediate business problem first.

As for listening to the comments you posted, large companies have many people with different ideas of how the business should be run. It is possible that they ARE trying to correct the issues you brought up. It just takes time to avoid stepping on everyone's toes. To change practices and processes numerous people must be convinced. This takes time and effort, not just a decree.

Sorry that you lost all that money, hopefully you'll learn from this experience in the future.

Posted by: Toothless Tommy

How did your " peers " find out ? You must have told them or someone looked over your shoulder ? Everyone in my store knows i post here but they dont know my Toothless name here . And I def dont use my stores computer .
sorry to hear about the money but they did you a favour when you got let go . The business world is huge and there are way better ways to make money rather than listen to moron customers all day cry about 2 dropped calls or I wrecked /lost my phone i need a FREE new one right now etc etc ! Everyone in my store looks at Monster all day to get out - SAMgular should ban that website from us - ha ha .

I am near my wits end for this company . I hear we will be able to give out credits soon - morons again --- we should have had this ability for small credits the last 3 years without living in fear of been fired . So this is what will happen ( Crapular all scared of the future - Verizon passing us ) --- we will be given more " mouse power " and reps that dont care will abuse it and then a year from now or sooner = no more credits because too many credits are been given out . If Crapular could just stick with a idea ( eg, stealing Roll Over minutes now or forcing people to change rate plans ) they would get more respect from the customers . we have the highest churn for a reason - we have very poor upper mgt in this company . 90 % of the reps I have worked with are outstanding with cust complaints and most are decent sales reps .

I hope Cing mgt reads my posts - maybe they will learn something !

Posted by: theclarks1

Its pretty bad when you cant post your opinion or a rant or rave. I can see it to a point if you would have been posting some kind of confidential information that would have caused the company grief, but why would you resign? I would have fought it all the way until they made me quit! This is a public forum and you cingular rules should not apply here. HO FO rules yes but cingular dosent own the site or what you post so I really would have fought.

Posted by: bobolito

....and there are soooo many ways to voice your frustrations here without getting caught.

Posted by: gsmgprsfan

In my rant, I didn't discuss any proprietary information at all. Additionally, I had brought my concerns up to my area manager previously, as well as on various conference calls that I was a part of (I was a manager) and repeatedly got shot down - with the typical response being something along the lines of "that's how we've always done it, why would we try something different?". I didn't post it from a work computer - I did it from home.

Finally, in my rant, I did mention some of my job responsibilities and how long I had been with the company... so when the rant made it up to the call center director, he had a feeling it was me.. and he asked me if I did it. I was honest (I learned a lesson here - I should have lied!) and told him that yes, I was the author of the post. That's when the **** hit the fan.

Needless to say - the way that this whole situation was handled by Cingular upper management (it made it up above our Director and RVP) simply reinforces all the frustrations I mentioned in my rant

Posted by: kilowatt

yea, you should have just lied. they could have done nothing. then again, i don't see how they could say anything because the post wasn't made from work and you didn't give out proprietary info. too bad they didn't fire you because i bet a lawyer would love to look at a case like that.

Posted by: xj911

LOL, wonder why they haven't fired Alfred? As many rants as he has on here I'm suprised that they didn't fire him, rehire him and fire him again!

Posted by: KikoKazuma

Dude that totally sucks. They did you dirty....with no vaseline or anything.

*Kiko flips Cingy the bird*

Posted by: anubis9278

they'll never catch me...snitches get delt with.

Posted by: KevinACrider

Snitches get stiches

Posted by: hadeedg

**** cingular

Posted by: Seltzer

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102 UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

Sorry to hear that...but if employees don't voice their frustrations then the company will continue to be a lousy employer. Cingular has not business in a public forum, unless there' propietary information involved. Also, employees should NEVER post from work, that's just asking for trouble.

Posted by: Perceptions

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobolito

....and there are soooo many ways to voice your frustrations here without getting caught.

ladies and gentlemen of the jury I present exhibit A: Alfred_Neuman.

Posted by: Alfred_Neuman

Quote:

Originally Posted by xj911

LOL, wonder why they haven't fired Alfred? As many rants as he has on here I'm suprised that they didn't fire him, rehire him and fire him again!

because im slick

or maybe they read my posts and said "wait, hes got a point here" ?

Posted by: Wiggum

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsmgprsfan

A while back, I posted a pretty good rant here about working in a Cingular Call Center.

Apparently, some 'peers' in another call center brought my rant to the attention of some people.. and those people ran it up the chain, and it went further and further up the chain.. really ruffling some feathers.

Shortly thereafter, I was put on a 2 week unpaid suspension with a final written warning in my file, which disqualified me for my annual bonus (about $5,000) and Value Share bonus (about $1000).. all this after working for ATT/Cing for 5 years.

So, instead of taking my concerns seriously, and looking into ways to address them, I was 'shut up' and 'shut down'. I was put into a position where I really had no choice but to resign, because I knew that a final written warning would haunt me for as long as I stayed with the company.

So - if you have frustrations about Cingular - do NOT post them here or on any other website - because apparently Cingular employees are not allowed to voice their frustrations. I did, and lost 2 weeks salary (approx $2500), and two bonuses - all together, about $8500.00 .

Since you've been outed what is it you did in the call center? And what center was it?

Posted by: steva

well, it is against company policy to participate in any online forums.

Posted by: gsmgprsfan

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wiggum

Since you've been outed what is it you did in the call center? And what center was it?

I was a supervisor in one of the CA call centers

Posted by: MrAlifEkin

Supervisor, huh? Ouch. No wonder they were hard on you.

Posted by: gsmgprsfan

Well, gotta roll with the punches - right? I'm working somewhere else - for a company that VALUES the input of it's management and doesn't try to stifle their creativity. People at Cingular seem to be so happy to just say "well, that's the way we've always done it" and not consider any alternative ideas or processes. Not to mention the constant network outages, poor (if any) communication from the network people to the call centers - who end up finding out 3 days after the fact about some changes the network guys made.. usually after filing hundreds of tickets for an issue, and doing all kinds of digging to be told "oh yeah, we knew about that, it was planned".. but "that's the way it's always been".. so why would anyone want to improve on that?? I got so tired of beating my head against the wall trying to get people to see beyond their own little world, it was crazy. Not to mention, everyone is ONLY out for themselves - they preach all they want about the importance of teamwork, the customer, etc etc.. but when it comes down to it, if doing something isn't going to make that person's life easier - it won't get done... there is NO sense of teamwork between departments..

Posted by: theclarks1

Quote:

Originally Posted by steva

well, it is against company policy to participate in any online forums.

This is a FREE country, what a person does on there own time is up to them. WE arent disclosing any company information that will hurt the company. I wish it would have been me they did like that. I would have been stan the man.

Posted by: SoCal91302

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alfred_Neuman

because im slick

or maybe they read my posts and said "wait, hes got a point here" ?

Or maybe they will just promote you to management so you will no longer be under the protection of the union and can you. Just kidding

Posted by: Phoenix Fire

That's bogus. What you do on your own free time, unless you are giving out company info, should not be any of their business. Shows what kind of company Cingular is though.

Posted by: genetru

Now I am really curious. Could you link to the rant that got you in trouble?

Posted by: gsmgprsfan

Here is the original rant in all its glory. I had originally removed it from HOFO because my boss' boss asked me to.. so I did. We had a good, long talk and he had assuaged a lot of my concerns and I thought all was good. Then I got put on 2 weeks unpaid suspension, yadda yadda... so now I'm no longer with Cingular.

Here it is:

I was hired by ATT Wireless just over 5 years ago.. I was hired as a Customer Service Supervisor and a few years ago got promoted to Technical Support Supervisor. One of the great things about ATTWS was the way that we were allowed to make decisions without going through a million levels of red tape and beauraucracy, and if we tried something that worked and had a positive impact on customers or efficiency - great, .. if it didn't work as well as expected - no problem, we go back to the way it was. I, along with the other supervisors in my department had a lot of control over the direction of our department.. how to make things better, how to give our tech reps the tools and resources they needed, etc.. . Our network was GREAT - the employees had a lot of faith in the company, the network and the products/services we were offering. And, the majority of us really enjoyed what we were doing day in, day out.

Then, executive management made some REALLY bad business decisions that caused 'the perfect storm' of system crashes and customer impacting processes..(remember LNP and Siebel?) our stock took a huge dive and we were the bleeding goat just waiting for a hungry coyote to finish us off.

Stan Sigman and Cingular were the coyote. ATTWS was bought when we were crippled and still reeling from bad business choices that were made by the upper brass at ATT.

So, now it's been just over a year since Cingular purchased ATT Wireless... our employee attrition is at the highest rate it's ever been (over 70% employee turnover annualized), we see our network crashing in LA, Las Vegas and San Diego almost weekly... I have NO input on the direction of my department, and when we get new processes rammed down our throat, we have NO voice or input regarding the impact they may have on the customers or our employees. The entire company is bent on 'analysis paralysis'.. they want a spreadsheet for everything.. we need to track every thing we do, fill out reports and do so much administrative 'busy work' that we don't get to put any effort into developing and coaching our employees.
Not to mention, the Union (CWA) was just voted into power in our region ... all the employees in my department are so mad, they're ready to quit, because they liked the working relationship we've had and the working environment that they've been used to when working with me and my peers for the past few years.
Cingular does not seem to put the same emphasis on actually providing good service as a lot of us are used to.. a lot of people like to talk about emphasizing customer service, but nothing gets done to show that it means anything... all talk, no action.

Executive management at Cingular has NO clue what's going on when it comes to customers, and what is impacting MY ability to help provide the level of service (both service with the network, and customer service) our customers pay for and deserve.. but I am not allowed to let my reps do what they want to, because they're held to such incredibly ridiculous and rigid performance expectations that they are only allowed to do "what's in the box" and nothing more.. whereas we used to really encourage them to 'think outside the box'.. and they took pride in being able to do that.

To give an example.. I put together a multi-page proposal on how to make a couple minor tweaks in a process that would speed up resolution time of customer impacting outages, and eliminate a lot of unnecessary redundancies in the existing process. I sent the proposal to my manager as well as a project lead for the existing process. I checked with my manager today about it, and she let me know that it won't get anywhere because of all the money Cingular has invested in the existing process. Even though it won't cost ANYTHING to change the process to what I proposed. In order for anyone to take my proposal seriously, I need to put together all kinds of cost analysis, timelines, etc etc.. basically it's a way of shutting me down.

I have always taken pride in the fact that I am passionate about what I do, the quality of work that I do, and how I motivate the people who report to me. I like to challenge processes and ideas that have been in place for a long time.. and when it was ATT Wireless - I was able to do those things and was always successful.

Now that it's Cingular -I am treated like I'm just a moron who shouldn't bother thinking about anything except what's 'inside the box'.

So.. I find myself getting called into my managers office frequently.. being asked 'why' I did something, or why I'm making waves... when I care TOO much about trying to help my department and my reps succeed.

So..

Our customers are NOT alone in their frustrations with Cingular.

And... I can tell you that EVERY other person at my level who was a previous "blue" employee feels the same exact way. Now we have to deal with the CWA filing 'grievances' on behalf of the lazy people who don't get what they think they're 'entitled' to.. and we have to jump through a million hoops to justify what we've done. And as a member of 'management', I'm not ALLOWED to voice my opinion - I'm not even allowed to HAVE an opinion about the Union!!!

So.. for some.. it's a cell phone. For me, it's my career, livelihood and what I try to take pride in on a daily basis. It's all I know. I've been working in the cell phone industry for nearly 10 years in call centers... and the way things are going, I hate to say it, but I have NO faith in our network, our executive leadership, our business decisions or our billing systems.

Posted by: KikoKazuma

So much commotion over a post like that..

Man, cuck Fingular....

Posted by: ivwshane

I remember that rant.

Posted by: Soopafly

Just stay away from this site at work.... use some common sense. There is no way they could ever prove anything unless you did posted at work or you told someone at work.

Posted by: Seltzer

Ridiculous. One man's constructive criticism is another man's complaint. It's exactly mismanagement like that ones found in the rant the reason(s) why Verizon Wireless is outperforming Cingular is every possible way.

So, they let you go with 10 years of experience? Personally, from what I can tell, it seems very poor decision by Cingular. Of course, this is just one side of the coin (with all due respect).

Posted by: Phoenix Fire

I remember that rant. I really enjoyed reading it the first time, as well as this time.

Cingular just does not know how to take contructive criticism, which is all that post was. I'm sorry you lost your job over something like that. That was well written and not offensive in any way. Oh well, time for you to move on to bigger and better things.

Posted by: Rattlesnake2k2

Go to another carrier, you should have no problem getting a job imo.

Posted by: Isriam

people don't understand the internet. they think you went around at work telling people you hate cingular basically. they don't understand the internet is anonymous. i always lie about anything that happens online.

Posted by: Alfred_Neuman

remember, this is the same company who overnights a box with a belt clip and nothing more to stores.

Posted by: jeffro01

that is pathetic.... but.... when i worked for tmobile i got "warned" about posting in here..... my rant was about indirect dealers and their shady practices, well..... it seems that one of the owners of an indirect in wichita participates in these forums and had tmobile track me down.... and i didn't give out any propriatary information, somewhat the same situation

Jeff

Posted by: CingularZ

First off, please stop with the Verizon vs Cingular comparisions, this has nothing to do with each other and considering both COMPANIES have the same POLICY about situations like this

Im sorry, but I dont feel bad for you at all. In my opinion, I wouldnt say you deserved it but you had to know it was coming for ya

Complaining, ranting isnt an issue .. thats not what you did. What you did was disclose information publicly on a forum badgering your own employment regardless if the information is proprietary or not.

In business, theres a cost to everything. You should know that.

What you posted may have cost Cingular more than just a customer and probably more than your bonus check.

Next time, act professionaly and address any of your concerns to your management above. And if THAT DOESNT WORK, then do what you need to do to move on, find another company or deal with it.

Cingular is no different than your local mom and pop, NO ONE, NOT ANY OWNER would appreciate or allow anyone especially peopel they pay salary to publicly demean or put forth a negative image onto their own.

Posted by: gsmgprsfan

Quote:

Originally Posted by CingularZ

First off, please stop with the Verizon vs Cingular comparisions, this has nothing to do with each other and considering both COMPANIES have the same POLICY about situations like this

Im sorry, but I dont feel bad for you at all. In my opinion, I wouldnt say you deserved it but you had to know it was coming for ya

Complaining, ranting isnt an issue .. thats not what you did. What you did was disclose information publicly on a forum badgering your own employment regardless if the information is proprietary or not.

In business, theres a cost to everything. You should know that.

What you posted may have cost Cingular more than just a customer and probably more than your bonus check.

Next time, act professionaly and address any of your concerns to your management above. And if THAT DOESNT WORK, then do what you need to do to move on, find another company or deal with it.

Cingular is no different than your local mom and pop, NO ONE, NOT ANY OWNER would appreciate or allow anyone especially peopel they pay salary to publicly demean or put forth a negative image onto their own.

I beg to differ. What I did was no different than going into a bar with some friends and expressing my frustrations vocally. Bottom line is that Cingular executive management really doesn't put much (if any) stock in the opinions/ideas/suggestions of all their employees - like they should.

Posted by: Sprinter

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsmgprsfan

The only point I'd like to add is that the heat is always turned up whenever vocal frustrations are commited to print, be it leaflets handed out around town, or a post on a message board. Somehow, when it's written down and there's a record, people get nervous.

So writing something on the internet and having a conversation in a bar are not the same thing, exactly.

Still, tough luck on the Cingular career ender, but the post you wrote described a person very unhappy with his current employer and it may have been the best thing for you to seek a different one. I know you wish you could have done it with the $8500 in your pocket though...

Posted by: theclarks1

Quote:

Originally Posted by CingularZ

You seem to be more of a Company Man. Truthfully there are lots of things that cingular does that should be more voiced against. As to lots of other carriers also. So him being able to come into a forum and voice his opinion like stated in the constitution as a right of any AMERICAN in the US can do without being jailed or shut up! Cingular is very diffrent than ANY mom and pop. They are a company out for themselves to make money no matter what the cost of business is. No information that would damage cingular in anyway was mentioned so as said above its no diffrent than discussing it with friends or in a public resturant. There is no way that any company should or will be able to regulate what any person states in this forum, again this is not a communist forum.

Posted by: CingularZ

Quote:

Originally Posted by theclarks1

It is very clear and concise in 99% of any companies that do not allowed this type of actions. This isnt about the consitution or your personal rights.

You signed a an agreement prior to hiring, and lets be frank.. you cant possiblly say that you agree that this should be allowed?

you stated no information that would damage cingular , according to who? Keep in mind, its all how its interpreted. To you, you may not care but to the person who is looking to find a job, may not choose to anymore.. or to the person who is looking to purchase a phone may use this as an excuse to not purchase cingular, yes this world is crazy and people will find any reason to do anything.

There is a way a company can regulate this, as in this case.. has the company not?

I know what you;re saying, but realistically as an "employee" you cant do what he did , no matter how you want to look at it or break it down.

Posted by: theclarks1

This was not posted from a company machine, was not on company time, I havent signed any agreements only to be at work ontime do what Im supposed to do. I disagree, there is no clause that says a person cannot say what they want as long as they dont disclose company information and there was no statements of that nature made. The only mistake that he made is telling the supervisor that it was him, otherwise he still would have had his job, and at that point I would have found out who the person was that said it was me and had a little talk. If you think this kind of action is right then im sure that you are in cingular management and probably one of the ones that made the decision, or one of the people who ratted him out. There is no reason that anyone should have to worry about there job by what they post here. If anyone is smart enough to do a little research you will see that there are much much worse rants than this with more detail to them.

Posted by: CingularZ

I think we killed this topic

I cant disclose what I do, and Im not saying I agree. Im telling you from the standpoint from any company , not just Cingular

This issue unfortunately though may not always be black and white, has to be treated as black and white. You;re absolutely right, in a way that NO COMPANY CAN REALLY CONTROL WHAT THEIR EMPLOYEES DO, WHETHER ITS VERBAL IN DISCREET OR NOT however, posting on a forum creates exceptions.

And that is the problem I guess, there will be too many exceptions and that is why its pretty much forbidden.

I know when I was with VZ, it was made very clear that no statements made by employee is allowed unless approved by company/management.. that means even going to our clients and making statements like WE HAVE THE BEST DATA SPEED , because I tell you now.. if it comes down that we cant back it up, we literally can be sued and held liable for making false statements even if we PERSONALLY think its true or rightfully so to say.

Posted by: helpermonkey

Quote:

Originally Posted by steva

well, it is against company policy to participate in any online forums.

It is? Can you tell us where this is written?

Posted by: genetru

Quote:

Originally Posted by CingularZ

I cant disclose what I do, and Im not saying I agree. Im telling you from the standpoint from any company , not just Cingular

As a former AWS employee, I have to say that I don't agree with you. I'm pretty sure that the company under McCaw (one of many reasons people craved to work for McCaw) and possibly even under AT&T would have actually looked at what the guy said in his rant instead of just killing him. Probably not under Zeglis. But then, under McCaw that frustration wouldn't have been there in the first place. And that's the background the poster was coming from. AWS wasn't just "any company".

AWS once upon a time was an innovative, responsive, forward looking company. Adopting the far, far more restrictive and less responsive Cingular straightjacket culture was tough for a lot of AWS employees, especially the old-timers who knew what working for a less restrictive more responsive company was like.

It is true that a lot of employers would retaliate against someone who ranted like that, but that's only true to degree that they are self-important rather than interested in doing a good job.

I can assure you that the poster was only voicing what many former AWS employees did and are muttering to themselves.

Posted by: gsmgprsfan

Quote:

Originally Posted by genetru

Exactly... and Cingular is losing a LOT of very passionate, intelligent, motivated, loyal, hard-working people... who are being replaced by low-paid, slacking, unmotivated union members who can barely construct a sentence using proper grammar.

Way to go, Cingular!

Posted by: Isriam

you should see what cingular offers their technicians and what they do with their long time technicians

Posted by: theclarks1

Well before long they will be wearing the AT&T brand. I would hate to have to wear that orange crap.

Posted by: KikoKazuma

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsmgprsfan

Isn't that the truth.

Posted by: Wiggum

Quote:

Originally Posted by genetru

nice post.

Posted by: Toothless Tommy

Quote:

Originally Posted by KikoKazuma

Isn't that the truth.

I second that !!!!!!!!!!!
the company is losing top people left right and center . A rep with 3.6 years exp and over 200 % revenue is quitting ( for LESS PAY !!! if that is possible ?? ) becuase he is sick of the garbage from Crapular and the cretin angry customers that come into corp looking for free everything plus they need someone to yell at
Plus another sales rep 1 month later --a Summit winner no less -- gone = hates it .

You walk into Verizon - they have full service and thats why they kick us every quarter ! Crapular is all about paying off 40 billion ATT purchase - who cares about sales reps ? right ? Samgular BOUGHT first place they didnt earn it - so second place will occur soon .

Verizon experience goes like this

phone doesnt work - go see the tech in white coat over there ,

bill or rate plan or VM problems - see CS rep in corner to take care of it

want to buy phone or add line or buy some type of package - go see smiling sales rep over there that makes over $50 grand p/y

Crapular it is not done like that - when will the professional email senders ( upper MGT ) learn anything ?

Posted by: cingman66

Have to agree that we don't stack up with Verizon as far as CS is concerned. Their stores have us beat hands down. But as an agent, I'm glad we don't provide all that service...they don't staff us to handle that kind of volume. There is no way we would take time away from sales to handle CS in an agent location. I'm not saying that the Verizon design is bad, I'm saying that Cingular should follow it in more locations. It used to be that our COR stores were set up like that, but over the years Cingular has gone to XBM, eliminating the need for tech's in the stores...and only COR stores take cash payments, (which has been that way forever), so customers can't come in to many stores to make payments...and we don't get paid for CS, so that service is often not provided in many locations (we just send them to COR...hee hee). Overall, I'd have to say that we provide almost nothing the customer needs except sales anymore. Which is fine, because that's all they pay me on anyway. But still, given the choice, I'd rather be a "full-serve" store for ALL customers (not just my own)...I just wish we got paid for that extra work. I'm not sure how Verizon breaks down pay for all the staff they have at their locations, but I'm pretty sure NONE of them make what I do, so maybe "sales only" IS the way to go. I'm on the fence about this one (as you can tell...lol).

And btw, when I say CS, I am referring to a wide array of things...free SIM replacements, free phonebook transfers (we provide both of these services for a fee to non-customers, it is free for OUR customers), cash payments, help setting up a phone that was purchased elsewhere, transfers of service--before it went back to being just a phone call, etc. These services, and others, could be provided everywhere if there was money in it...but since we all gotta pay the bills, we stay focused on what actually pays the bills...SALES.

Posted by: Parrot Squawk

You need a good atorney.

File a labor relations greivence within your state.
You will get your back bonuses and penalties and you will become bulletproof.

If you need help finding one, look for some slip-and-fall attorneys in your area for a referral.

Posted by: naviwilliams

I've not read through all the replies, but my opinion is this:

An online forum is just that, meaning I can say what the hell I want, when I want. Why on earth should that affect my job? It's like saying I'm at work 24 x 7 x 365! Which we all know is not the case, am so pissed of that this happend, and I don't even work for Cingular or in the mobile community!

Am sorry this happened to you! I wish the company, Cingular, and others that read this, take heed to the issues rather than trying to fire someone...

Posted by: CingularZ

Would uh any of you guys go to your bosses and tell them you went online and publicly b*tched about your work and compay?

Just wondering , wireless or no wireless, how many of your superious would say its okay...

Posted by: theclarks1

Quote:

Originally Posted by CingularZ

Would uh any of you guys go to your bosses and tell them you went online and publicly b*tched about your work and compay?

Just wondering , wireless or no wireless, how many of your superious would say its okay...

Regardless I dont care what the boss thinks. This is my off time, if they want to investigate every post ever made then fine. Im sure that they would like to see some of the posts referring to customers and other things that have been said here. Again this is a FREE country, if you work for someone who is going to spy on your every thought and wants to know every conversation that you have then they need to get a life. Its an intrusion into what I call my private life. What are they going to do next, make me wear a wire so that every dinner that I go to they can hear what conversations that I have at work? Maybe they need to look at what is being said from employees and change the way that things are going. Management is one of the reasons that nothing is being changed. Well let me say SOME management. If you come in and go to your office for the day and come out only for lunch or to try to solve a problem then you have problems. You should be on the floor observing how things are running and how customer service issues are being handled. Thats what management is for.

Posted by: CingularZ

My point of asking that was to make obvious that most would say no, and wouldnt go to their management to disclose that.

Hence the reason why we dont post our real information (ie. name) on here because we want to protect our privacy . That same privacy that we all expect but yet you guys are arguing that you should be able to do anything you want with no repurcussions? I dont think its that simple as you guys may think. I had made a suggestion prior that its best you just dont . In the end, you will lose. No matter how you try to put in your favor or reason it out, its just better and safer to not do it, and this applies to any corporation/company you work for.

Also your examples are not exactly up to par, having a conversation with your friends is not exactly the same as going on a forum and posting your thoughts.

Dont get me wrong, I completely understand your frustrations and all. but theres a place and a time for everything. At the same token, would "keeping it to yourself" also be an option? just a thought..

If you cant go to your mgtm to have things changed, what does bursting out on a forum going to help the situation any better? And yes, I know this a forum and all ,and if you;re going to tell me you;re allowed to come here and vent.. then I guess no answer is needed. You can certainly do anything you want .. all im saying is be smart about it, on time or off time...

Posted by: Binx75075

I happened to come across this thread......

Same thing happened to me because I was talking on a message board about a customer & I mentioned the name of the company I work for. Apparently we have someone in our corporate office whose job duties including surfing the net looking for any kind of discussion about my employer. So, they basically googled the name of the company & came across several of my posts. I was put on a final written warning.... which was lifted three months later..... but was strongly advised not to mention the name of my employer on the net under any circumstances.

Posted by: steva

I also post on another mobile forum. the other week a customer posted an issue of being incorrectly billed for sms and I copied and pasted the known biling issue on the forum and told him to call customer care. he did, and the rep he talked to said he was correctly charged. that rep filed a case, the guy got a call back a couple days later saying tech had confirmed he was correctly charged. he spoke to a supervisor and directed them to my post.

the supervisor said they need to invesigate and called him back an hour later apoligizing and issuing credits. (i don't believe they know who i am)

that's why i started to post. this guy would have been incorrectly charged. and why!? the billing issue was one of the first things i saw when i came to work one day. and i'm only in customer care...

Posted by: Wide_opeN

Quote:

Originally Posted by gsmgprsfan

I'm still reading your intitial post and havent gone any further... Before I continue I must ask "HOW IN THE HELL DID THEY VECTOR IN ON YOU"... Fact is I already know the answer... you cant tell everyone and anyone all your business. There is nooooooo way it could have gone that far unless you made specific references which were familar to you coworkers who in turn ratted you out. Long story made short... Keep your mouth SHUT!!! at least internally that is !!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Wide_opeN

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toothless Tommy

How did your " peers " find out ? You must have told them or someone looked over your shoulder ? Everyone in my store knows i post here but they dont know my Toothless name here . And I def dont use my stores computer .
sorry to hear about the money but they did you a favour when you got let go . The business world is huge and there are way better ways to make money rather than listen to moron customers all day cry about 2 dropped calls or I wrecked /lost my phone i need a FREE new one right now etc etc ! Everyone in my store looks at Monster all day to get out - SAMgular should ban that website from us - ha ha .

I am near my wits end for this company . I hear we will be able to give out credits soon - morons again --- we should have had this ability for small credits the last 3 years without living in fear of been fired . So this is what will happen ( Crapular all scared of the future - Verizon passing us ) --- we will be given more " mouse power " and reps that dont care will abuse it and then a year from now or sooner = no more credits because too many credits are been given out . If Crapular could just stick with a idea ( eg, stealing Roll Over minutes now or forcing people to change rate plans ) they would get more respect from the customers . we have the highest churn for a reason - we have very poor upper mgt in this company . 90 % of the reps I have worked with are outstanding with cust complaints and most are decent sales reps .

I hope Cing mgt reads my posts - maybe they will learn something !

I concur captain!!!

Posted by: b_theone

Quote:

Originally Posted by genetru

This should be the post of the Century. These Cingular people wrecked a once great company. This is why there will ALWAYS be an animosity towards "orange" people from us "blue" folks. I worked for AWS/Cingular for 5 years and I witnessed, first hand, how they come in, change things that work, and then won't listen to any "blue" ideas.

I worked in our (AWS) Advanced Network Services group. When Cingular took over, the first thing that they did was limit our power and give it all to their darling "Product Management Group" in Atlanta. These so called experts had far, far less experience and knowledge than us-- They even used our online knowledge base to solve their customers problems, before the merger. We were forced to sit back and watch the Cingular management make the same mistakes that we made when we created our Data Support group, years before. These Atlanta reps were paid more, treated better, and given more tools to solve customer problems. All the while, the more qualified and more intelligent people (blue employees) were left to rot.

Trust me. Any old "blue" employees left, run for the hills! I cannot explain how much better it is anywhere else you may go. The grass truly is greener on the other side.

Posted by: Seltzer

Quote:

Originally Posted by b_theone

Wow...just...wow....

Personally, I'm strongly hoping that with this AT&T / BLS acquisition we get a new CEO/President for the new AT&T Wireless. Stan Sigman is one of the greediest and most unsympathetic executives in the USA....this would be the first step towards making the new AT&T Wireless a respectable company (pretty much like Verizon Wireless) with loyal employees who take pride in their work.

Posted by: gsmgprsfan

Quote:

Originally Posted by cingular1977

Because in my initial rant, I mentioned that I had been with the company (AWS) for a certain number of years in a certain dept, then promoted to another dept, I mentioned how many years of experience I had working in Call Centers, and how many years as a call center supervisor, .. one of the other tech support supervisors (Cingular calls them "Managers" but they're really "supervisors") in another call center saw the post and brought it to the attention of his boss because I said some things that were pretty hard for some people to swallow.. and it escalated from there and ended up making it to someone who recognized my writing style and the things I identified about myself. I didn't point out my thread to anyone I worked with, and kept it completely out of the work environment.

I would be willing to bet $1000.00 that any of the reps who reported to me would back up the fact that I ALWAYS presented a positive and supportive attitude at work, and did everything I possibly could to motivate them and keep them as positive as possible. I may have really disliked Cingular's way of running a business, but I took my role VERY seriously and took great pride in being an effective leader for my team. They KNEW that I was there for them and would do anything to support them, and in turn - they gave 100% when they were at work because they believed in me.

Cingular wasn't willing to take that into consideration. Their loss. I quit, and am now working elsewhere - and my physical and mental health are better as a result.

Posted by: spengel

I think a lot of people are way off base here. If you're putting a roof over someone's head, feeding their kids, and paying their heating bills, and then they stab you in the back in public, you're probably going to shut off their water, huh? Wouldn't make any difference if their argument was correct or not, you don't bite the hand that feeds you. If you really can't stand the company you work for, quit.

Posted by: Toothless Tommy

Quote:

Originally Posted by spengel

I think a lot of people are way off base here. If you're putting a roof over someone's head, feeding their kids, and paying their heating bills, and then they stab you in the back in public, you're probably going to shut off their water, huh? Wouldn't make any difference if their argument was correct or not, you don't bite the hand that feeds you. If you really can't stand the company you work for, quit.

Crapular doesn't feed me I feed myself by hitting and going above quotas most months . Plus sitting there for 8 hours dealing with problems and angry complaints/customers /morons that 95% of the time has nothing to do with me in the first place . But that it the job so here I stay for now but hating almost every minute of it = ice cold beer after almost every shift keeps me going ! ha ha

Why does this company have such a big turnover rate with employees and customers ? Reason - greedy and lack of concern for their employess .