My company asked everyone to put together a one-page story about their time at Genesys. I'm sure most of the stories will be heartfelt tales of company loyalty and sadness at the end of an era, but of course my lack of empathy wouldn't let me play that game. Here is my entry...
This is my story. I grew up in an Afghan village, where I spent my days flying kites, eating lamb kabobs and avoiding bullies. When the Russians invaded, my father took me to America, the land of opportunity. I left behind my dearest friend, whom later I would come to find out was actually my brother. Wait, wait, wait, this isn’t my story this is the best-selling novel The Kite Runner. Let me start again…
In 2002 Genesys acquired my talents for their Help Desk in a trade for a future draft pick and a case of Corona. While in training the first call my master (he was really into the martial arts and made me call him that, and in turn I was his grasshopper) and I took was a woman who wanted to change her meeting number to 8675309. At the time of the call I was focused on how to make the change in the system, but for some reason I began humming “Jenny I got your number, I need to make you mine…”. Then it dawned on me, that woman had just ripped off Tommy Tutone. Mentally I gave her mad props, and my Genesys career was off and running.
After six months of problem solving and learning the product in and out, I earned the certificate “How to Deal with an Irate Caller”. It still hangs in my office today to represent the patience needed when callers stop being polite and start getting irate. Around that time my biggest fan Colleen Wells decided to move into the sales arena leaving her position as the Demo Queen open. (See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the demo queen). That’s when opportunity came a knockin’. I decided to leave behind the land of irate callers for the greener pasture of excited, wide-eyed prospects.
I intended to do the demos for a year or so, but that turned into four years. I got to the point where I could do the demo and converse on IM at the same time. My mouth was saying “That’s why Software as a Service is such an advantage”, but my fingers were typing “IDK, my BFF Jill and I are so down for happy hour. ROTFL. Car Bombs FTW!” The Help Desk taught me the product and the demos helped me learn how to sell it. Now I was ready for phase three of my Genesys career, Web Marketing.
Do you know HTML? Nope. Do you have any experience with SEO? Nope. Ok, then you’re hired! Luckily, Saleem’s team had developed a CMS which allowed someone with a creative vision who lacked certain technical skills, to work in a web marketing capacity. Now, all I had to do was edumacate myself on the glacier sized field of web marketing in a few short weeks. Unfortunately, the commercials for trade schools that offer truck driving, custodial services and paralegal, don’t offer a course on web marketing, so I had to learn the old fashioned way. Google!
I have learned a great deal from this company, and as Genesys grew I seized opportunities that may not have been available at other larger organizations. The European approach of work hard, play hard is one that I fully subscribe to, and I am proud of what this company achieved.
This was my Genesys story. Now, fetch me my kite and lamb kabobs, I’m starving.
No comments:
Post a Comment