D is a bigger than life, funny, super intelligent man. He wears chivalry like skin. For a while, in the beginning when he came to QA row he intimidated me. Not in a scary sort of way, but rather the sun was so bright wherever he went. D is outrageous good fun to be around. His sense of humor gets us all going. D is also a compassionate biker and frequently participates in charity rides.
Last spring, D brought me home after we had an all day blizzard that dumped nearly three feet of snow on us in one day. The snow was so deep, D ran his jeep up and down the driveway to pack the snow down so I wouldn't have to struggle through the depth.
D has become a good friend. When I asked him about recovery he got a whole list together for me of places I could go. His heart is big and he so much wants to share it with a special someone. I hope he finds her, one that will be his forever friend and love. He's had it a bit rough in that department. So many heartbreaks.
But, D has a new job and that is really something in this current situation our QA family finds itself in. No one seems in a super rush to find the right fit. None of us want to go back to work for United Health Group/Optum. We still aren't thrilled with the way they said "good-bye" to us. We get a small severance which is something, but we are getting emails that ask us to refer potential employees to them which we are not at all excited to do. They want us to take continuing ed classes that are appropriate for the business, but again, not appropriate for where we are going to be sooner than later.
We actually got an email today regarding writing the next chapter. One segment was on "Evolving How We Talk About Optum: Our Five Core Capabilities." Not one of us is motivated to assist Optum at this time. We didn't see Optum's core values of Compassion, Integrity, Innovation, Performance and Relationships at play in our current situation. They flat out said that the site was too expensive and they couldn't afford to pay the wages they needed to for the Colorado economy. That's pretty tough to reconcile with the fact that the company had revenue growth of 23.7 percent. We won't even talk about the pathetic raises we were offered.
So D is leaving us, for something better. He's going back to a place he'd been before, where personal changes have happened that allow him to feel comfortable in going back.
We gave him a little frog - well not terribly little - to sit on his desk. It's a plushy light green fellow and we all signed the tag.
He tells us it will sit on his desk, secretly sharing with him the knowledge of what the frog represented while working in quality. The frog is like the elephant you have to eat. We've had plenty of calls that were difficult to listen to, that are like frogs we have to swallow.
We've learned there are "bad" agents, people who shouldn't be allowed to talk to a customer on the phone. We've got some great agents too. We try to listen to them after we've had to swallow a frog. Listening to them lifts our spirits and gives us some hope that there really are people who talk to customers on the phone, who know what they are talking about, who know how to treat a caller with kindness and respect, who put a best foot forward for the client we work with.
D helped us when we had to deal with the insufferable ones, the ones we wished we could get off the phone right away. His attitude about helping callers was as genuine as it gets. He helped a lot of agents grow in their jobs, and more than anything, D is going to be missed. D is turning the page in his life, moving on, hopefully to better days.
Don't stay a stranger D. We love you.