Strange Investment

It's funny how invested you can become in something that holds so little personal relevance.  I work for a company that sets appointments between insurance clients and their agents.  We do good work and rarely have serious complaints from our agents, but today, for whatever reason, I felt the complaints coming in from all sides.  Part of what I have been doing is calling agents who are currently on a January-end promotion to find out if they are interested in continuing.  I have been shocked by the small number of people who report that they have been unhappy and don't want to continue.  I'm even more surprised by the few agents who don't report at all, just tell us shortly that they want nothing more to do with us (or ... something).  We had another agent call today and yell at my co-worker for five minutes (he was kind enough to say at the end that he doesn't blame her personally and apologized that she was the poor soul who picked up the phone and had to listen to his rant).  We had another two agents this evening inform us that they wanted to cancel.  It's not that I'm offended, but I did have to stop myself from taking it personally.  The managers of this company are good people, as are the callers.  I am grateful to work for and with them, even though I am completely ambivalent about call centers and insurance.  Our little company works hard to provide excellent service for our agents, and I've seen the managers absolutely bend over backwards to accommodate the requests and concerns of their customers.  Maybe that's why I feel a little personal sting when an agent begins accusing us of neglect or poor service.  I was musing about how funny it is  that I should feel that way on the way home.

In happy news, I heard from my thesis supervisor today.  She is a phenomenal scholar.  I have been reading two very relevant books that she has written as I prepare to write.  I wrote to her last night with some ideas for a particular research focus.  I had been concerned about how to set myself apart from my supervisor, since she she has written so astutely about many of the things I am writing about.  After a lot of thought, I found a prevalent research question that she discusses briefly but not very satisfyingly.  It was that particular question that I wanted to ask her about yesterday, and I received her very happy response this morning.  Among the specific details of potential sources, etc. she said, "This actually sounds very intriguing to me, Amy. I don't know the answer ... I think you're really onto something--very good questions."  


YES!!!  Now just to write the darn thing just as brilliantly...

Comments

Paulita said…
dear amy - you have a superb mind and an incredible gift for expressing what is in there. i love your writing. it may take lots of blood, sweat, and tears . . . . but i know the result will be something to be proud of and that will be a valuable addition to the scholarship in your area. we think you're awesome!

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