Customer Service Department
Pros
Decent pay ($18.50 starting as a CSR). Decent benefits (PTO, healthcare, dental and vision; benefits kick in inside of three months for direct hires.) Secured building. Business casual dress code. Some excellently supportive co-workers. Occasional optional overtime. I was genuinely distraught when I had to leave this position, because there are some truly remarkable people working for this company. Often a stressful or nebulous job can be bearable or even pleasurable -- if one can count on the support and honesty of their management and all team mates. If you can keep your nose to the grindstone while ignoring favoritism, unequal treatment of others (and potentially yourself if you speak up) and a never-ending workflow, this is a legitimate place to make decent money.
Cons
Directly observable favoritism concerning late arrival and unscheduled PTO toward those with children. Inconsistent enforcement of expectations by management. Sensitive information about other employees concerning job performance, reviews and disciplinary action is shared freely by management with lower-ranking employees. Unrealistic expectations of workload completion by owners; management uses it as a tool to persecute employees they do not wish to continue working there, while allowing near total leniency with others. Someone who had been with the company for years was first offered to step down, then a few days later, the owners and the CSR manager were cleaning out their desk with no explanation. It was presented to the rest of the CSR team as the individual 'leaving' the team during peak season. I shouldn't even be aware that this person was up for review -- but I was told so by a fellow CSR, who learned the details from the CSR manager. When I went to HR to address this, I was promised no retaliation. In the days after my first visit to HR, I was met with new levels of micromanagement, inflexibility and stoicism from the manager I reported. When a family emergency arose, I was met with "I'll cancel MY trip with MY family to be sure we're staffed" when a week before, there were two CSRs gone, scheduled by the manager. When I asked what changed, I was informed that it was now "busy season." The day in question was July 5th. My family emergency was to watch my six-year-old niece. When I left the office to go to HR (as I was directed by the HR representative), management followed directly after me, calling out in a loud voice: "Right behind ya!" Minnesota is a “one-party consent” state, which means that only one party to a communication needs to consent for a recording of the communication to be legal – unless the recording is made for the purpose of committing a criminal act. I began recording my meetings with HR and interactions with management the very first time I went in about the loose flow of private information, so this is not a case of "he said, she said," as often employers will attempt to discredit past employees by saying. If a CSR who has worked there less than three months begins to feel so unsafe they need to start recording conversations with their manager, I think anyone reading this can form their own opinions about what that says about the company, just as I did.
