Routinely Flawed

So, the (hopefully) eagerly anticipated next post... here's an update on what's new (but perhaps not very exciting) with me.

Flat
Still nice. Still expensive. If Carlsberg did property management companies, they would be on a par with Edzell Property Management. I came back one day and they'd tiled the bathroom. I came back another day and they'd installed a shower. It's just like most things in this commercial world - you get what you pay for.

Job
The job doesn't seem as bad as I'd initially perceived it. I'm in Sky Reinstates, which basically involves doing outbound calls to existing/ex Sky TV customers. There are 3 types of call mainly; calling customers who haven't paid a bill and have had their viewing cut off, customers who are due to have their viewing cut off for not paying a bill, and customers who have chosen to cancel of their own accord. The aim is to get payments/make offers to try and bring back/save customers.

The training was 8 days in total (the last 3 days being Mon-Fri last week), and then because of the team I'm in, the shifts started straight away. As it works on a 3-days-on, 3-days-off basis, my shift last week was Thu-Sat. Thur and Fri were 11.5-hr shifts and Sat was a 9-hr shift. This meant that that we were required to work a total of 56 hours last week (including training)! Unfortunately I was unwell for the first couple of days so I could only make it in on Sat (and hence have only done 1 day in the job proper); this meant I got a couple of days break, but I also missed out on a lot of pay! The overtime system is good - you can just turn up without warning and do your overtime. I might do some at some point to compensate for the missed days.

My problem has mainly been that my sleep pattern had shifted again during my brief unemployment period, and my bodyclock had gone nocturnal again. I'm still readjusting, which means I have days of unpleasant tiredness, and can find it hard to get to sleep at night. This to me has been the habit of a lifetime; something which I find hard to control if I've nothing to get out of bed for. I'm still not sure why this happens, but it can be so frustrating! Before I got sacked from Scottish Power, I was into a perfectly normal rhythm, but since getting sacked, and going on holiday, I've gradually lapsed back into staying up late and sleeping till late in the day. I really want to nip this problem in the bud, as it's practically been the bane of my existence!! For example, this morning I'd slept 9-10 hours but still, come 12pm, I still couldn't wake up and just felt so comfy and warm - the feeling was probably akin to the effects of heroin (not that I know about that - I'm just guessing!).

To be honest, I was nervous about starting the job as I didn't feel prepared, but I was buddied up all morning and after my first day I feel a lot more confident. The job will no doubt get very repetitive, but the unusual shift pattern may suit me, and there is a lot of very pretty females to look at in the call centre, which will help to make the job bearable! There is no comparison with Scottish Power here; believe me, there are a lot of babes who work for Sky! Apparently they are going to extend the Reinstate training from 8 days to 16 as they feel 8 isn't enough. We were among the last of the unlucky ones.

The Sky call centre actually has a bad reputation, but that is going by what I've heard from people who worked for customer services. Up on the sales floor, it is less cramped, and so far the people have been nothing but delightful and helpful. Perhaps sales people are generally nicer, but I doubt that's generally the case!

I can't see myself staying at Sky for long, but I'll try for 3 months before moving on. This is because I would then have 6 months' call centre experience in total, and will look good on my CV. To my knowledge we have 2 dropouts from the original training group of 13, but I will personally try to soldier on. Today is my first of 3 days off, so I can relax, but starting on Wednesday, I will have 3 11.5-hour shifts in a row to look forward to - agghh.

Gym
Still been going regularly with my homie (and I don't mean that in a homo-sounding way) Mark. I haven't been able to focus on the exercise very much due to being tired most days lately. I've got a year's membership so might as well give it my all, and who knows, perhaps I might eventually get some results!

I enquired about getting a refund for my Healthland membership with the bank, because I'd heard that some people who'd paid by Visa got one. However, I was told this is because with a credit card you are insured against events such as this, but because I paid mine by cheque, the only way to claim it back is to make a claim through the liquidation company. The who? I don't know. Does anyone else know who the liquidation company is who dealt with Healthland? Answers on a postcard please! Unfortunately I can't ask Healthland as they no longer exist. Oh dear.

Girl
Yep, you guessed it - I'm still single! I was round at a girl called Cat's (friend of Mark's friend) house last night for a few drinks, and then they decided to get a taxi into town. I'd had a long day and felt tired, so decided to go home. I found out later that Cat was interested in me. I wasn't sure at the time, but wouldn't have been much company anyway. She seems like a nice girl. Also, I'm still in contact with a couple of girls from Scottish Power. Basically there's hope for me yet, but all that remains is for me to make an effort! I also wouldn't mind getting to know some of the totty at Sky, as there is plenty of it.

I'm tired of analysing everything and posting it here. Think I'll leave it for a while until something interesting actually happens.