Sitel Uk Ltd
Kingston Upon Thames, England, United Kingdom
After I passed the ‘C’ Programming Language Exam with 100% I took my printed program folder with me to the interview. It secured the job for me.I worked as a Frontline Exec on Bill Gates’ latest project, The Microsoft Network in “The Fishbowl”. It was a private area surrounded by tall glass screens. The Security was so tight we had to have TWO Security Passes. One to get into the Building and another for the Fishbowl. Bill Gates had pronounced that the Internet “had no future” a few years ago but I was excited by it from the word go.A few months earlier he had changed his mind and MSN was his answer. Exciting, heady times, at the forefront of the development of something that would deeply change many people’s lives. The intricacies of Modems, with their weird shrieking sound. I marvelled at being able to send emails from me to the guy at the next desk. Via Seattle, on the other side of the Atlantic and the breadth of the United States and back again in a matter of seconds!After a year I was promoted to Billing, with weekly Conference Calls with Microsoft Staff, in Florida. I got access to MS Office and self-studied Excel, including programming macros and functions. After another year, I took on Technical Support. When I told a young woman Solicitor that her computer problem was a Windows, not an MSN one, she unreasonably shrieked down the phone at me,“You’ve killed my computer!” I had to think quickly on my feet. I said, “Madam, I am a trained Expert in all things MSN but I haven’t been trained in Windows. Would you really want me fiddling around with your precious computer?” This evidently did the trick because she replied,“OK, I’ll phone the Windows Helpline, thank you.” I thought,“Wow, the power of words, if you choose the right ones.”Finally, I was promoted to Team Manager. After 3 months of excitement and innovation, my position was made redundant because SITEL lost the MSN Contract to the burgeoning Irish Economy.
