Unexpected Change

I have been at my job fer just over a year now. I had my annual review mid June. We talked bout how he wanted our office to be a little more proffessional. We talked bout how I have been doin so well there and how he loved havin me there. I was a big help to his Agency. Then we proceeded to the negative issues, things that we both agreed that I need to work on. My biggest flaw is the tone of voice I use when I am on the phone with an irate customer. Sadly, when a customer calls and starts to "shoot the messenger" per say, I have a tendency to get a condescendin tone in my voice. I have been made aware of this in my last job, and have done my best to work on this. And trust me, it hasn’t been very easy. With this job, when I catch myself doin it, I put the customer on hold, either give the call to someone else, or take a minute to calm down. I remind myself that it isn’t me they are upet at, it’s the Company. After the call, 9 times out of 10, I talk to my boss bout it. I let him know what the customer’s issue was, and he has always heard how I handle it. Anyways, we agreed that I still need to work on this. Anyways, I got my raise effective the first of Aug. All is well. Or so I thought.

This mornin at round 9am, my cell phone rang, it was my boss. He told me that he was gonna wait till Mon to talk to me but felt he needed to talk to me now. He had talked to a customer, who also happened to be a great personal friend of his, and he truly trusts this person’s word. That he was tired of gettin calls from customers complainin of my "attitude." That it isn’t appropriate fer me to call someone a snot while I am on the phone with one of our sister companies and when a customer is in the office (these were his words). He said that he is just ready to let me go, that there is most likely another Agent out there that could use me. That things just weren’t meshin well. Mentioned again that he is tired of gettin calls bout my "abrasive and condescendin tone." At that point, he told me to think bout all this and that we would talk on Mon. I said ok and he hung up.

My first thought was to be pissed. You don’t call yer employee on a Sat and fire them over the phone. He talked bout bein "proffessional?" That isn’t very proffessional in my opinion. I was tempted at that point just to drive out to the office, pack up my things, and leave. Of course, put the key in an envelope, lock the door, then drop the key on the nite drop slot. Then my next reaction was where is this comin from? At my review, not even 2 months ago, he appraised me and how well I worked fer the customers. I don’t get it.  After thinkin it through, and of course talkin to a great friend of mine, a few things I hadn’t thought bout came up. By callin me on Sat, and lettin me know what is up, it’s possible that mayeb he is givin me the opportunity to fix this. He said "think about it" before we hung up. Any other boss would’ve waited through the weekend, then just let me go first thing Mon mornin, right? I mean, to me, and any other person may think that I just lost my job, and that may still be the case. He may still let me go Mon mornin. I guess I truly won’t know until then. But atleast on Mon mornin I can attempt to plead my case, or atleast try to find out where this came from and even though we discussed it before, why it hasn’t been this big an issue till now. Not to mention, if he is constantly gettin the calls bout me like this, then why did he just give me a raise? Why has he constantly praised my work ethics and what I do as far as "going above and beyond" what most people in my position would do?

Either way. I guess that I won’t know fer sure till Mon if I still have a job or not. Part of me wants to tell him whatever, fire me. But another part of me doesn’t want to lose my job. I have enjoyed the last year workin there. I have grown to care bout the people I work with.