firedfromwest

May 10, 2002

Analysis Of My Involuntary Termination

     Since I was 16, I have worked at West Teleservices a total of ten times, never longer than three months at a time. When applicants go to the Human Resources department at West they are not there to arrange for an interview, they are there to be scheduled to work, plain and simple. Therefore, West is not your run-of-the-mill employer. As long as you have a pulse, and are literate, you can expect employment at West.

    For most, West is a “stepping-stone” job. A strictly temporary job. I have no respect for people who stay with West for an extended period of time or seek management positions. Get a real job, please. West Teleservices, telemarketing in general, is an evil business that revolves around lies and deceit. There are two modes of work at West. Inbound and outbound. I worked in the inbound department for one month before transferring back to outbound, on my most recent jaunt at West.

    Inbound is where the telemarketer receives calls from customers. Most of the infomercials seen on television are handled at West Teleservices’ inbound call-center. It would be honest work if all one had to do was take down an order for the product advertised only, but employees are forced to offer up-sells to customers. Up-sells are extra offers mandated by the client. If a customer states, “I only want what I saw on the commercial and that’s it”, you must reply with “I am sorry Mr./Mrs._______, but policy requires that I make you aware of all the offers available in this call”. At times there are up to 5 or more up-sells per call.

    Outbound is just the opposite. The telemarketer places calls to prospective customers offering them products or services. Every outbound project at West is a scam, in my opinion. If the deals offered were so good, there wouldn’t be such a thing as outbound telemarketing. People would be calling the telemarketer, not the other way around.

     I currently work(ed) on an outbound project soliciting credit cards. Sales came quite seldom on this project as you can expect. The goal, or “quota”, was one sale per hour. I met all the call-quality requirements. I had a pleasant tone, was enthusiastic in my calls, and possessed the product-knowledge.

    Managers at West are basically high-paid cheerleaders. Their supposed purpose is to coach team members and help morale, which they rarely did successfully. Due to the low standards at West anyone could become a manager, they would just have to apply and be willing to work the hours.

     In the branch that I worked in, there was the branch manager, Clay and the production manager, Henry. Clay carried himself very professionally. He dressed in a suit and tie and occupied the large office in the back of the branch. Henry on the other hand, also dressed in a suit and tie and tried to be as professional as Clay, but failed miserably. Henry was very unprofessional in his thinking. At times, he made no sense whatsoever. If you were not making sales he would come down on you and chastise you for not performing.

     Recently, when I only had one sale for the whole day, he asked me to the office and began to threaten me with my job (even though he didn’t have the power to terminate me). He told me if I didn’t improve my SPH(sales per hour) that I would be fired. In every conversation I had with Henry I was very polite and respectful. He would always be wound up in telling me things and I would politely wait for my turn to speak. I asked him, “Sir, may I speak?” and was given permission to. I told Henry, "When I don’t make sales, it’s not because I don’t want to. I am filling all the requirements given to me by the call-quality department. My calls are up to par with my peers. I can’t force people to buy these credit cards. Wouldn’t the correct procedure when you have an MR(marketing representative) not performing be to listen to his calls(which he never did), see what he is doing wrong, and coach him?" He took my honesty as arguing and told me, "Don’t you be telling me how to do my job! What makes you think you’re always right?" He threatened me with termination again. Later on that day he pulled me off the phone for a coaching-session. He heard one of my calls and told me that my tone of voice needed work, that I sounded too "smart-aleck."

     A couple days afterwards, on Wednesday, May 8 (right after I had made my first sale of the day, after only working 20 minutes, on the first contact I had) Henry walked up and told me Clay needed to talk to me. I removed my headset and walked to Clay’s office and said, "You needed to see me, Sir?" On his desk I saw a sheet of paper, that I was able to read upside down, that said I was to be involuntarily terminated due to performance. I have always gotten along with Clay, he seemed to like me. He was very apologetic and said that he had to follow the rules of the company. He informed me that I had the option to appeal my termination in the Human Resources department. He also included that even if I was to be terminated that I could return to the company in 30 days(what a joke). So just like that, I was terminated. I handed over my badge and left after telling Clay, "It was a pleasure working with you, Sir." The Human Resources department was closed at that time. I visited the Human Resources department the following day and I am scheduled to appeal my case on Tuesday at 9:30am.

     I believe it was an unjust termination because there were others in my branch that performed less than I did and they were not terminated. I think Henry had something personal against me and somehow influenced Clay into terminating me. At my appointment I plan on requesting recordings of my calls so the review-committee can hear them and they can decide for themselves whether I was meeting call standards or not. If they agree with me, and let me remain employed, I would not want to return to the same branch.

     Even if they don’t agree with me, West’s hiring policy is so messed up that I would be able to return in only 30 days. Therefore, I am not worried about this termination. West’s location is way too convenient bus-wise(five minutes away) to not work there, at least part-time.

     On my return to West I am interested in arranging an interview in the call-quality department. On this project I would be calling back people who were fraudulently sold products or services by a West telemarketer. This project requires knowledge of many different programs and since I have worked at West so many times, I am already familiar with most projects there.