Kind of long...
I used to work as CSR for At&T, for the broadband @home cable modem service.
They work you like a robot there. I got employee of the month right when I left though. hhehehe. My supervisor couldn't stand me for some reason. Maybe it was because I gave out great customer service, and went above and beyond to help the customer out. We got in trouble if we did things that another department handled.
For example, provisioning modems. 99% of the time, the modem info was in the program already, I literally just had to click on a button. We weren't allowed to do that though, that had to be forwarded to the TASC department, which was always overworked, and normally had a 1 month wait on a sent ticket for a provisioning.
I knew agents there, so when a customer called in because "my modem isn't working, it hasn't ever worked, and I have been waiting for two months for it to work!!! and then I find out that their account was transferred to TASC before once or twice, but lost in the pool, I would take pity, call a friend in TASC, ask them if i could, "click the button" after double-checking their modem serial # over the phone. I was always told, "yes".
It was great, tell the customer, "keep checking your internet connection, it should come up here within 5-10 mins", then put them on hold, and click the provisioning button. Then browse the internet for 5 mins.
When you come back, you have them literally weeping they are so happy. "Thank you! it's been MONTHS, ive talked to 10 people, you were the only one who could help me! thank you!!!!" Then credit them for 2 months, and you got a loyal, and happy at&t customer, and word of mouth is one of the best forms of advertising.
Of course.... I wasn't allowed to click on the provisioning button at all, always pissed my supervisor off, even though I always got permission from the people in the right department beforehand, every time. He told me not to do it anyway, but I ignored him. I figured doing my job as a customer service agent superseded his idiotic reasoning. He made work hell for me though. Listened in on most of my calls, nit-picked at me.
I laughed my ass off when I got employee of the month. My supe didn't even tell me, it was all of the people I worked with who mentioned it to me. That's when I decided to quit. I was sick of it.
Not to tug my own boat or anything, but I think At&t loses their valuable employees by being too "corporate".
I like my job now much better.
Good luck to everyone else on getting into the porn biz full time!