The Ascendant

Chapter Four

I checked my watch again, grimacing as I realised I was nearly forty minutes late. This would mean a written warning, maybe worse.

As I opened the reception door, I smiled through embarressment at the pretty girl working behind the nearby desk but she looked back at me only fleetingly. A manager from the third floor was behaving importantly in front of her, and she in turn, skilfully massaged his inflated but rather fragile ego. Birds of a feather, I thought bitterly as I swept past them, wiping the sweat from my brow.

I actually ran most of the way in to work today. Contrary to popular opinion, I really did care about my job. Well, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but I was aware that I couldn’t afford to get sacked, which is sort of the same thing when you're situated on such a low rung of the corporate ladder.

I headed up the corridor towards my office, trying to gain some composure, thoughts and excuses. Punching-in the security code, I wandered in, looking around the vast expanse of desks and telephone operators for my Team Leader, Jane Jones.

I spotted Jane but she either hadn’t noticed me or had decided to ignore me, so I left my bag on an empty work station and hung my coat on the rack. One of the lads, Jamie, was leaning back in his chair, shaking his head while tapping his watch. It was hardly original but he loved it. In fact, I wanted to tell him how lame his joke was but we both knew that the joke was on me. Probably best not to think too hard about that. I steeled myself from giving him the finger (I could have done without the bad attitude rap on top of my punctuality record) and smiled back at him, though my facial muscles didn’t feel up to it.

I looked over at Jane who was still leant over a minion’s desk, embroiled in a telephone conversation with a customer. I sat down at my workstation and towelled my brow on my ruffled sleeve. There was little chance of her being unaware of my lateness, so I opted for damage limitation and put on my headset, logged on my telephone and computer, and got on with the job.

I heard a beep through my headset and a caller was on the line. With the standard greeting, I introduced him or her to the company and extended a cheery good morning. The caller, a man, was clearly agitated and immediately launched into an lengthy diatribe about how valuable his time was. I gave him plenty of assurance that I understood exactly how important both he and his time were and this seemed to momentarily appease him.

I soon got to the nub of the matter: he had made an insurance claim following some damage to his property and had become frustrated at the subsequent lack of progress. He felt there was a lack of urgency shown by those responsible for dealing with his case and was at pains to tell me about our pamphlet which states that the claim should have been smoothly settled within fourteen days. Almost three weeks had elapsed since the claim was first recorded and there was still no evidence of any progress. He had called our company, as we were his insurers (who officially prided ourselves on speedy service standards) and had got through to me because I was a telephonist, call centre operator or claims handling agent within the company.

When at work, I was a telephonist or call centre operator; on the pull I was a claims handling agent. I know, it still doesn’t sound great but we’ve all got to start out somewhere. Whatever the job title, it paid £4.60 an hour, or £8,970 per annum, and I had to listen to this sort of shit for up to 37½ hours per week, depending on what time I turned up in the mornings. Still, the experience gained learning about inherent failings in the system, spotting the pitfalls and understanding difficult customers got me through that interview in London. These little claims were also something of a microcosm of life itself: the more seriously people take themselves, the more seriously they are taken, and as a result the greater their financial reward. I shouldn’t knock it. When there is money at stake, most people are willing to alter their personalities accordingly for the duration of negotiations. I was learning all the time.