The guy whowas training me might be crazy

I started a new job a couple of weeks ago. Its back to the call center. I'm hoping that I can use this position as a springboard to better things. I was shadowing a few different people over the past weeks. Most of them have been pretty cool, but I had this one guy that I had to blog about.

Everything started normal enough - the usual blah, blah about what I did before this, how to use the phone functions. He appeared to want to be the Alpha male and assert his superiority over me. Never mind that I have worked for the company longer and likely had a better overall knowledge of the way things worked - but when in Rome. I had noticed him while I was training. He sat by the window and he was hard not to notice. He had a banker's light on his desk and he was constantly in motion. He was moving things around and all the while bouncing his knee up and down. He was like this amazing kinetic ball - always doing something - lots of wasted movement.

After giving me the rundown, he took his first call with me on the line listening. I started to notice something. Some sort of accent. I couldn't quite place it, perhaps Texarkana, perhaps Texas. For a moment it seemed he might be attempting a Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday impression. When he was done with the call, he recapped the call with me - no trace of an accent.

It was weird. Every call was went predictably the same way. Slow and steady. Key phrases kept repeating themselves. "I'm mighty sorry about this whole mess". "We are over here in Maintown, ( city name changed to protect me), so we aren't too far from you." "Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with."

Wow.

Then he talked about how every morning he has breakfast with his pastor. I mean, I can see Sundays, and the odd every other Monday - but every morning? Smacks of one thing - cult.

It all stays pretty surreal with me. I have completed my training and I feel comfortable with a couple of co-workers to aske about it. I asked about the accent. My co-workers seemed incredulous. He always has that accent. No, no he doesn't. And anyone who really is familiar with that part of the country and the accents would ferret it out as a phony in a minute.

So, now I am completely scared of him. I'm hoping if he ever comes in for a spree killing of everyone on that floor, at least there will be this blog as some kind of record.