So I missed my monthly appointment and then some. Truth is, the free time has basically dropped to nil in the last two months. Despite the fact that I work fourty hours, I lose about twenty more to the job every week anyway, plus the hours are so early and late that the remainder is generally spent sleeping!
So I was intending to post in March as a followup to the new job process, but I missed it, which I suppose is a good thing. The first month is always the hardest, and moreso than ever with the transition from Counter Intelligence Agent to Special Agent. In addition to the on-site aspect, I got the rush treatment of being a REAL Geek Squad Agent, versus what most people who work in Best Buy Geek Squad's (BBYGS) get to do every day. I was the king of manipulating the system to get things done at BBY, because that's how we had to live. However, the Geek Squad Store (GSS) concept is very much different. Everything is proceedural, everything is set in stone and always followed to the letter. I have no problem with that concept, and in truth it works phenominally better if you have a competent staff to execute it, but it's not what I worked for over two years, so it took some work to change to. I made many a faux pa the first month that I have since managed to avoid the majority of.
On the whole, the experience is fantastic. One of the downsides of working at BBYGS is that the competence level for your co-workers was all over the place. I worked with people (both current and long past) who were not qualified to plug in a computer, much less perform advanced repairs on them. I could never delegate or hand off work to them and be sure it would be done right. I couldn't trust a process to them and be certain I would be covered. At the GSS, everybody meets a certain standard level and above, so while I may not be able to hand somebody a specific task I'm 100% sure they can do in ten minutes, I know it will be done properly and I won't have to worry about it. In addition, it's nice to run into an issue I have no clue how to solve and be able to just toss it on the table for folks. At BBYGS I would occasionally get a specific answer or vague hint from some people, but in this case I can toss it out there and get ten legit answers or suggestions in a minute.
This second month has gone far superior to the first. Less mistakes (I think!), less problems, more solutions. The niche I seem to have fallen into is the abstract-fix guy mode. Agent Watford will frequently bring me bizarre behavior machines to see if I have run across the various issues before. The Chief likes to hand me computers with a specific issue there seems to be no support for, and let me fix it.
My onsite work has gotten better in terms of following process, as there are about ten thousand things that have to be done right in the scheduling and work process. It sucks. I schedule calls in STS, our job software. Once I schedule it in STS, I have to go to Outlook and enter it in the calendar manually, using a pre-built form I made. Once the event is scheduled, I create the personal contact for the client in Outlook so that I can schedule the event to them. Once that is done, I take my
phone over to the front desk so that I can enter the information into Palm desktop so that the Chief has his copy of it too. Once that is done, I have to electronically print and fill the call paperwork. This takes about fourty minutes per call, and I have to make sure every step is done or somebody is missing a copy of the work and I can get in trouble.
I've had a couple big jobs so far, including one where I got to set up 64 routers for wireless access, for a company who literally put them in place in a skyscraper downtown. That was pretty cool, we earned the entire week's budget in five hours because I figured out a way to automate the updates for each router. Took me longer to unbox/rebox the routers than to do the setup. I was also (proud moment!) the first Agent in the history of Geek Squad to land one of our new maintenance contracts. We're test piloting a system where companies pay to have me on retainer for repairs, as well as scheduling a monthly visit where I basically do a once-over on their PCs.
On the home front, things are stabilizing in the new house. We acquired a replacement third roommate (Greg had to bow out) and things are cool so far. We had to replace the toilet the other day, which was nasty because I had to dig into the old one and help remove it. I got that blue shit from the bowl cleaners all over my arms. Let me tell you, that stuff is not easy to get off your skin. Not easy.
We are fully settled in and slowly planning things, like chores and groceries and bills and such. Bumps all along the way, but nothing more than the process of building the road to drive on. Thanks to the new pay increase I'm slowly creeping out of riding broke and going toward actual savings, which is amazing for me considering how long I survived on the shitty pay as a CIA in BBYGS.
All in all, life is tiring, but good. Work leaves me only a few hours a night to relax, if that, but it's still fun. For some weird reason Alex, who had all but disappeared socially, has suddenly reappeared. He frequents the house and is all about playing games with us and such now. Whatever works, I guess.
Wonder how long it will take her to find this...
