Rating Limits

Before I talk about any more of my knitting I just have to get this off my chest. Be forewarned this is kind of long.

For those of you that don't know me I work for a company called Convergys. We do customer service outsourcing. The project that I work on is DirecTV (DTV). As a DTV call center we of course have monitors on the call floor that we can use to check programming if a customer calls in with a problem. When not being used to check programming they are tuned to the channel of the day. Usually some boring sports programming. Well tonight that channel was Cinemax (AKA Skinemax). Not a big deal earlier in the night but for those of you who do have access to this channel you understand the AKA.

Another thing you need to understand before you can get the whole point of this is that these receivers, the box that translates the signal from your dish to your TV, are pretty darned smart. You can block out specific channels, you can make it so that no Pay Per Views are ordered, and you can block out programs based on content and rating. It's called a rating limit and it's very easy to set up.

We were watching Men In Black which ended about 8:30ish Utah time. Well about 8:35 I'm on a call with a customer and all of a sudden I here a women saying, rather loudly too, "Robert you need to change the channel right now!" Robert is one of the supervisors and sits at a desk with one of the few remotes that control the receivers on the floor. What caused this sudden outburst you might ask. Well scheduled after MIB was a show called Lord of the G-Strings. When I look up at the TV I see a close up of a woman's breast with her hand massaging herself.

Now I wasn't offended by the content of the programming it takes quite a bit to offend me. However the fact that this program was even able to start offends me. You would think that in today's litigious society a company as large as Convergys would know how to cover their own ass and not expect the employees to do it for them. There have been several complaints about the programming that we are sometimes forced to watch and yet nothing has been done about it.

I complained once around X-mas time about a very religious program that was on. I can understand the programming running at that time but to turn it on in a call center was not appropriate. Well when I told the Operations Manager (OM) that was on at the time his response was "Well the program is almost over." Not the right answer.

You can be assured that I am going to the Senior OM tomorrow with this, since I know I wont get a response from any of the Jr. OM's. I also wouldn't be the least bit surprised if there is a sexual harassment suit out of this.

Okay enough of my ranting now on to my knitting.

I have several W'sIP. The baby sweater featured in my previous post. I have been working on a guitar strap for my fiance. Pics to come.

Also a, dare I say it, poncho out of the most fabulous ladder yarn. It's called Melody by the South West Trading Company. They don't have a pic of the color I'm using it's a Rainbow variegated called serendipity. Again pics to come.

Also last but not least a cabled scarf for my mom. That was the second project I started and haven't worked on it in a while. Maybe after I finish the guitar strap I'll work on that some. It's not like she'll need it any time soon now that it's spring, almost spring.

Look to the menu bar to the right to see updates on my W'sIP.

Well it's late, just after 11, and I have knitting to do. I'll post again tomorrow.