First week impressions of Convergys

This past week I began my adventure with Convergys. Going into it, I wasn't sure what to expect. The three week wait to begin training was as torturous as anything I'd ever undertaken. Being unemployed for this long has been tough on me and I looked forward to finally beginning something, especially a job that was full time. Call Center work is still something I'm not certain of. It's radically different than anything I've done before and although I'm anxious to take on the challenge, there's a certain fear that comes from taking on a task that's pretty much clear outside of my typical "comfort zone".

Day One was a good day. The training environment kind of reminded me, and everybody, of school. Everybody was nervous and sleep deprived but the trainer Terri was very professional, genial and quite funny. Her personable attitude helped make any nervous transitions dissipate and she was very good at getting the class to open up which I think has resulted in everyone getting more comfortable in the environment in general. We didn't get into too much the first day, it was mostly orientation related things. Downright boring Power Point Presentations that outlined the expectations of the job and talked about what CIGNA Health Care is all about, among other things.

Day Two we finally started to get into learning some of the processes. We shadowed some employees for a couple of hours, listening in to calls while we observed their techniques. The consensus seemed to be very general. I had the advantage of bouncing to a few different employees to shadow because of different circumstance. They all pretty much told me the same thing. The Job is pretty easy and most of the learning of the process will be done out on the floor, not in the training. It's only as stressful as you make it. Which really can be said about anything. We also began to tippy-toe into some of the medical terminologies we will want to have a familiarity with as we work.

Day Three, "hump day" as many of us were calling it. By now we were starting to feel more comfortable in our environment. I had almost felt compelled to put myself into that "class clown" kind of position. Mostly for self-amusement more than anything else. We continued to review medical terms and we also started to learn the main program that we will be using, called "One View" which is the program that we will use to log the phone calls and the different tasks we undertake while in the middle of a phone call. Was also the first day we started to sit with fellow trainees during lunch. The bonding process beginning! People were certainly opening up by this point and everyone was enjoying themselves. It was important because I don't even want to imagine what it would be like if everyone was taking this "All business" super serious attitude into training every day. I would most certainly go crazy if I was the only one in the room trying to be a smart-ass and for the most part, I was.

By Thursday (day four) we were all pretty comfortable with each other I would say and we continued to dive into the learning experience. We continued to practice with OneView as well as continued to review the medical terms. It's all very general medical things at this point. Working us toward being familiar with the terms we're likely to hear on the phone while we're helping providers so that when we're answering calls, we're not the ones asking all the questions we can simply help them and end the call. Convergys has a efficiency code of making sure the "issue" is resolved in one call. That's something I can live with. We had our first evaluative assessment which I scored 100% on (It was "open resource" so... pretty hard not to ace) and we ended the class by playing pictionary for the last half-hour of the day.

Friday was a day everyone was excited, because the weekend was just around the corner. A much hyped and anticipated game of Pictionary was played against one of the other training classes. Which we lost but only after giving the other team a free point because of a member of our team saying the answer out loud. A moral victory was taken that day, regardless. Our team was very lively and we had a lot of energy. That could've easily been attributed to the fact that our training class is pretty young overall. There are older people but there is a large portion of people that are younger than me, and I'm 22. We continued to review OneView and also began to learn about reading benefits which is one of the main portions of the job. Reading Benefits and Eligibility as well as assessing Claims (but we won't be beginning that for a few weeks yet...)

So far I'm enjoying this. It felt like a lot to take in at first and it is, but as we dive in to learning the individual aspects of the job it doesn't seem so bad. The training classes are well paced and we learn quite a bit each day while reviewing things and keeping on top of the things that are essential to us being effective employees. The overall environment is kind of campy. It really makes me think of the "Sebben and Sebben Orientation Video" episode of Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.  We'll see how things continue to go. Overall, I'm excited that I've got a full time job that pays well. Since being hired, Tim Horton's has called me twice, nothing stopped them from calling me the month or so between when I gave them my resume and when Convergys hired me. And everywhere else I've applied seems to still be looking on and off as well. They didn't want to call me, they lost out. Convergys hired me and I'll bring my work ethic and professionalism to that job for as long as I can stomach it. It really can't be worse than working in retail, dealing with bitchy customers who cannot be pleased.

No, I think this will be much better.

Backbreaker, a new kind of Football game.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love sports games. My friends are never hesitant to point out how "they're all the same" or "they're boring" or find any way what so ever to shortchange their value to me. The point remains, that I would rather fantasize about throwing a winning touchdown or scoring the winning goal or throwing the strike-out pitch than I would about shooting somebody in the head or slicing something up with a sword (Though I do love games, like Ninja Gaiden or Legend of Zelda). Pick or chose any of the abundant of overly and needlessly violent video games there are out there. I'd rather play a sports game.

One of the "big" sports games for me is Madden NFL Football. It comes out every year, though I am tempted I don't buy it every year. I am a fan, sure, but I am a consumer and there is just rarely enough improvement from year to year beyond roster and statistical updates, and maybe one or two features to warrant me buying every year. Sometimes though my need to be entertained shines beyond my resistance to spend money.

There is however, finally, an alternative that's coming out that isn't just another attempt to re-invent the way that Football games like Madden are played, this game is taking a whole new approach to the game of football and its one I'm very excited to experience.

The game is called "Backbreaker" It's made from the "Eurphoria" engine which was originally created by Oxford university as a physics engine designed to study the way humans interact with one another physically. The engine has been adapted in this sense to be turned into a football game that focus' on bone crunching "realistic" hits that are more grounded in the way the players interact with each other on the field. Promoting a unique and diverse experience driven by physical interaction and not pre-scripted animations on the field. Here's a video where the developers describe the Euphoria engine.



With the use of the engine, the game promotes a uniqueness that isn't typically found in Madden or other "franchise" football games. Because of the nature of the design, with animations, you're likely to play through scenarios that are familiar and ultimately exploitable. The games, to a degree, become predictable and they can become a bit repetitive but that never really kills the experience for me because when you're playing two or three or more games of any given sport in a single sitting you're bound to experience some form of repetition.

Backbreaker promotes a new way to play football, this is endearing to me. Promoting a more, dare I say, intimate 3rd person angle. The game's focus is to make you feel like you're one of the players on the field as opposed to the more traditional "broadcast" style of gameplay where you oversee all of the action on the field simultaneously. The game is pushing an experience that gives a sense of excitement and intensity with the advantages of the euphoria engine that you wouldn't otherwise get out of a football game.





I'm excited because I'm pretty bored with the same ol' same ol' from Madden. EA has really failed to innovate the game and that's due to EA being EA more than anything. Their pretense is to make money over delivering an innovative product and that's another issue (meant to be discussed on my other blog, more than anything). Backbreaker is an opportunity to get a new experience that isn't driven by $$$ its driven by delivering a game play experience to the fans and that is sadly not EA's priority at all.

Backbreaker is striving to deliver a different experience but the fact that their priority is rooted around delivering an experience as opposed to glossing over the fans with cosmetic upgrades. Backbreaker isn't just striving to deliver an experience, they're pushing to deliver a unique experience that as sports gamers, we have not had the pleasure of having yet. It's not going to be a campy, over the top game like NFL Blitz which was one of my main concerns. It may not have the hyper-authentic imagery that Madden likes to embrace but if the game play is superior that's all I need to hear because that's what it should be about when it comes to video games.

To end this with a mute point about gaming in general. It's sad that too much focus has been laid on the cosmetic aspects of a video game when all that really matters is how it plays. I don't give a shit about how big the main characters boobs are, or how skimpy her outfit is in Heavenly Sword when the game is boring to play.

Backbreaker looks like its going to break some rules and hopefully, open some eyes in the sports gaming world. I just hope the fans are ready to embrace a different type of game play experience. I know I am. I'm really looking forward to it.