Archive: 2010

The way we begin and end our conversations can be likened to the frame on a painting. If you have a Picasso with a ten-dollar frame, it will cheapen the master piece. The same holds true of the way we answer the phone and end our conversations. Your frame can give the picture of a world class company or run of the mill operation.

You are using a ten-dollar frame if you:
 Answer with ‘yeah’, ‘waz up’ or ‘why are you bothering me’
 Sound like you are half-asleep as you answer
 Begin your first question with ‘gimme’
 Yawn, burp or breathe heavy

Leave Your Trash At Home

I read recently that if we could just acknowledge and accept that life will have trouble, we could actually handle life’s trials better. I wish I was able to be that logical about my daily trials and tribulations. There are plenty of books on how to overcome adversity or how to deal with difficult people. But, ongoing family drama, money issues and health problems are the “trash” we carry with us to work each day. Some of us do better than others when it comes to putting our personal trash in the can and closing the lid before we get to the office.

I have daily trash

Manager- “I would like you to use the script.”
Negative Nora- “I don’t have time.”

Manager- “It will help all of us eliminate some of the mistakes we have been making.”
Negative Nora- “I don’t want to sound like a robot.”
Manager-“It will help you to remember to ask for the customer’s e-mail address.”
Negative Nora- “I haven’t asked that for the past 10 years. It wasn’t a problem before.”

Are you open to correction and can you be changed?
It is sad to say, but I run into people like “Negative Nora” all the time. I would bet that you can think of someone

Commitment to perfect performance motivates the Green Team

Customer Service Representative Monique Figueroa states that prior to Tooty it was taught to deliver the dry message “I’m sorry but those are the rules”. But this two-year member of the Green Team of San Jose has learned through Tooty the tools for better delivery of the same message. Monique has learned to really listen to a customer and help solve a problem.

It’s one of the skills that makes Figueroa and her fellow team members — Erin Avila, Denay Dominguez and Lindsey Gutierrez — near perfect performers in Waste