The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer - Review

A young presidential aide thinks he is on top of the world. He allows the president's best friend to have a few minutes access to the president on the way to a brief speaking engagement never know once they arrive his world would shatter. He would be disfigure and the best friend would be dead. Years later young ex-presidential aide is still working for the ex-president and sees the dead friend in Malaysia on a speaking tour. Now the mystery begins what really happen that day did the events really happen the way he thought they did. With the help of his old friend Nico, a female report, and another presidential aide who is currently running for a senate seat the Presidential aide Wes Holloway is able to piece together the correct sequence of events and how the big three FBI, Secret Service, and CIA tried to blackmail the government.

This book was very enjoyable and for the most part kept me reading to the very end. There were a few places where it drag but for the most part I really enjoyed it. The look into the emotions that a president and his wife go thru once leaving the White House and the position of such power was eye opening and something I really haven't ever read about in presidential biographies. But this book makes you aware of some of those emotions. It also made me more aware of why the FBI, Secret Service, and CIA do not necessarily get along or work together in the book it explains that it is a way of maintaining a system of checks and balances over their kind of information. This is one of those books you can read over and over again.

Call Centers an insight

Call centers started growing about 10 years ago at that time I think most of them were overseas, but more are springing up in the states. While looking for a job last summer I interviewed at about 3 of them. They were being used by marketing companies, Fast cash companies, and even the government is using them. The first one I worked at was for setting up business DSL and the one I'm working at now is connected with the government. I have noticed the overall atmosphere in the call centers I have worked at trend toward high schoolish. The people on the phones tend be college age or in their thirties. Although I'm starting to see more older people coming into the call center arena.

Working in a call center you talk with a true cross section of America. There are those people who think life is all about them and their needs. They want their information now immediately with no work involved or they want someone to come out and fix it for them. Then there are the ones who give you the information have a little bit of patience and just want to get their information with as little static in the conversation as possible. The ones I like the best are the ones with patience who are ready to work at getting their issue resolved with the help of the other person on the line who will give them their information as quickly as they can.

In the past Corporate America tried to deal with customer complaints by setting up a phone system that would automatically resolve the customer's complaint through voice promps but that didn't work out because people want to talk to people not a automatic machine thus the call center evolved. Then they tried to outsource it overseas but the language barrior caused problems. So they are back in the states and over in the UK because we needed people who speak our language and will understand the problem. Call centers are also being used in the collection business, insurance companies, and credit card companies. The biggest problem the call centers have is a high turnover rate. Most call centers pay more then minimum wage and offer benefits but since one has to deal with fustrated, angry, and rude customers the wage is just not enough to make the job worth it. Which is why collection agencys usually pay the most to their customer service representatives.

All call centers usually have a quality department these are the people who listen to the calls to make sure the customer service representative (CSR) is responding in a polite courteous manner and is resolving the problem correctly, usually the client company or the customer who is paying the contract to the call center company have a quality group also who will also listen to a percentage of the calls. All CSR's are given specific phrases or words they have to say during the conversation the quality department watches for these phrases and words, if they are not said then the CSR is marked off for not saying them. So have patience with those long end of the conversation sign off's the CSR has to say all that verbiage. The quality departments sign a contract with the contracting company to the effect that the call center will maintain a quality percentage of excellent calls. Which means a specific number of calls have to be monitored a month and have to be above a specific percentage meaning the calls have to be above 90 percent or excellent calls as far as the quality of the call is concerned. If the quality of the call percentage is not met and the number of calls is not met then the call center company is fined or not payed for their services. There in lies the reason why several call centers are in the red and no longer around. The other problem is the turnover rate each call center has be staffed with a percentage of people or they lose the contract. Which is why most call centers are always hiring and why a call center doesn't always work in a small city because they can't maintain the body count.

I just wanted to introduce you to my companion Meeko. She has been with me for about 3 years now. This is her most common pose next to my chair. She is part chihuahua and part Pomeranian hence the lion effect of her face. Her name Meeko I think means Little Chief in Iroquois I found it somewhere one time but can't locate it now.





She has her princess moments but it you wake her up from a nap she will bite your hand off and when she is chasing after a cat or squirrel. You are not her friend. Recently she has been playing out in the snow and she enjoys it for the most part but if her claws get muddy she'll come through the door at a run straight to the bedroom and under the bed because she knows her paws need to be cleaned and she hates getting her paws washed in the kitchen sink.

She is next to the shed now where she discovered a cat underneath it. I'm not sure when the cat left but I'm glad it did because she would stay out there for two to three hours barking at it. She is use to cats I had one for 20 years but I had to have her put down when I made my last move. Her hip was giving her problems and I didn't think she could survive in a house with three Labs who aren't use to cats. Meeko use to herd her around every now and then. She also liked the cats food every now and then. Occasionally the cat Baby would venture outside which would disturb Meeko who ruled the back yard. The cat would just ignore Meeko and just wonder around and eat the grass then Meeko would herd the cat back inside. After the cat was back inside Meeko would jump on the couch settle down on her blanket and go to sleep. Herding cats after all is an exhausting business.