John26

I had the most bizarre experience today. This morning, I started my new job in San Francisco near the Wharf. Some of our offices are in the Northpoint Center. My boss told me that there was some office furniture up for sale and asked me to help him measure it to see if it would fit in my office.

I went with him to the 4th floor (we had to use a security card to get the elevator to stop there). The doors opened and we stepped into a darkened but huge office space. It basically is on top of the Safeway supermarket, but extends into the rest of the plaza (think larger length and width than a supermarket, but not as much ceiling height).

I asked him who used to be there and he said, "United Airlines - it was one of their call centers."

The place had been pretty much cleaned out, but there were still some documents on the floor and some trash that wasn't picked up yet. Basically just needs a good vacuuming and it's ready for the next occupant.

Considering this was only 1 of their Call Centers, and considering that I manage call centers in my profession, I have to say I was impressed by its size. My boss said it had 750 work station (I'm not sure how he would really know that, other than maybe from the leasing company that we pay, but I could see that # of small workstations fitting in the space).

From what we walked through, it was (is) designed like 2 cubicle mazes, 1 on each side of the elevators. Near the center of each maze is a raised desk (probably where supervisors passed out assignments to new employees coming on the clock, or maybe some type of employee service center of sorts). Those things kind of looked like "command posts," and are basically what gave you any sense of direction amongst the cubies.

Bordering the 2 mazes were larger offices, probably for managers (maybe for sales managers?). They were of varying sizes. The only thing distinguishing them from the cubies is that they were pretty large office spaces (especially when compared to the cubies) and they all had windows, most with great views of the Bay.

Each cubie sat 2 agents next to each other, and then would come the ubiquitous cubicle wall, before the pattern repeated itself. The same was also repeated in a mirror fashion behind the seated worker (so you basically had 4 stations inside each cubie).

The space itself didn't look confined but the deskspace looked tiny. Basically enough room for a computer monitor and keyboard, and maybe a pen and pad of post-its. I imagine it was much worse when filled with staff at each station.

The color scheme of the desks, floors and carpet didn't match any of United's logo colors, but were still contemporary in terms of office design (I think it was that light veneer color, with somewhat dark green/teal office chairs, with the cubicle cloth walls matching the chairs). None of the white lights were on and it was pretty dark so I could be wrong (there was enough sunlight from the manager office windows to see).

Some of the bulletin boards still have the blue and dark blue "butcher paper" covering them. They have those striped blues (dark blue & light blue) like you see on the fins of the aircraft.

You enter from outside the center so, employees could start even if the shops and Safeway had closed.

Considering that I'm one of those frequent fliers who has a lot of affection for United, and considering that I almost worked for UA as an Onboard Service Supervisor managing Flight Attendants, this was, to say the least, an eerie experience for me (I would have been laid off had I applied and been hired earlier, etc).

I've felt apprehension over revealing to FlyerTalk my past employment interest in UA (partly out of fear of being labelled a UA apologist by zealous FTers, and partly because I thought FTers would always take my viewpoints as unbalanced). Now that I'm getting over that, I guess it would be semi-useful to mention that as I went through the interview process, I learned about FT on my own, and planned on monitoring it as a lurker to help Onboard Services with improvements that were within reach, as well as to get a feel of what "some" of the Premiers (yes this includes 1K, 1P) were really thinking.

I felt sad, but also remembered that, physically, these places are just as easy to set up as they are to tear down. It made me hope even harder that UA gets through these awful times.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading about what others will probably call a dull subject. I imagine I'll be in there to pick out some chairs and a credenza. I'm not sure what else to say to describe it (if you have a question you think I'll be able to answer, go ahead).

As always, fly safely. Thanks.

FireWire

The 'raised platform' is what reservationists call 'the tower' it's basically the command center of the office, where employees are 'gated' into differnt products, they monitor call volumes, etc. the small cubicles, if you saw any, which would be scattered among the workstations, are used for the shift supervisors (NOT the 'supervisor' you speak with when you have a problem or compliment, they sit at a normal workstation) and then the cubilces with much taller walls, or full-blown drywall walls, is where the management would reside. Sales managers, also, would have little more than a workstation.

SFnFlaGuy

Awww...the old SFORR. I worked there from 1995-1997.

It was an interesting time for me. I was still doing my undergrad and working there full time as a res. agent.

One thing I liked about working in res was that you didn't have to dress up for the job. We had a pretty liberal dress code. Jeans and all were allowed.

The res center consisted of two floors. (Been a while since I've been there but I might get these floors wrong.)

The upper floor had the fairly big lunchroom, the conference room, and several classrooms where the training for new hires would take place.

The lower floor is where the actual call center was, including the tower, and some of the supervisor offices.

It was an ok office. Nice location, walking distance from Fisherman's Wharf, just on top of safeway, close to the 24hour gym, and Uno's.

I only hated the fact that when I worked there, I had to find street parking everyday. If I worked the afternoon shift, that meant trying to compete for parking with all the other tourists around the area.


Oh well, I still can't believe that they are gone. Never in my life did I imagine that that location would be closed down. They have been there for a looooong time.





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SFnFlaGuy

SPN Lifer

I worked at SFORR as an RSR (Reservations Sales Representative) from 1985 to 1987 during my first two years of law school.

I have a lot of good memories. The job technically required only a high school diploma, though there were plenty of college graduates. I figured explaining the fare basis codes would be good practice for talking to a jury. Not to mention the benefit of being able to study in first class enroute to HNL and back for a day studying on the beach using The Bus.

There was a high level of turnover among those hired on the "B scale" salary (after 1984), often to the airport or CTOs, so it was easy to advance on the seniority-based shift bid lists. While paid days off were scarce, it was easy to trade days and hours with someone else to accumulate time off for travel or study. There were almost continuous six-week training classes of about 30 new hires, throughout the year, and one kept a sense of identity with that class, e.g., 86-3. One of my original classmates, the friendly and irrepressible Cindy O'Connor, was a trainer when SFORR closed.

The actual number of work stations was closer to 250 than 750, with domestic res on the north side of the third floor, international on the south side, training and outside [travel agent] Apollo sales upstairs, etc. The "supervisors" that the public speaks with were known as TSRs, or Technical Service Representatives, and had regular work stations, albeit clustered together at the TSR desk or "Help Desk."

The Shift Supervisors in the glass-walled "tower" (so called because it looked like an aircraft control tower) and had a raised floor inside to accommodate computer equipment (?) and to allow visual contact with all the RSRs, were indeed in charge of call volumes, technical day-to-day operation of the systems, phone "gating," measurement of calls per hour, segments per hour, restroom breaks, working hours and that all-important granting of LWOP (leave without pay, or "WOP") from the daily sign-up sheet, as well as offering overtime. One of my favorite Shift Supervisors was Kevan Dykes.

All general res agents were on one of five teams, each headed by a Sales Supervisor. These junior managers were the direct line supervisors of the RSRs, whose focus was on increasing productivity as measured by calls per hour, segments per hour, tickets by mail, etc. They would randomly monitor phone calls, and counsel RSRs on improving call quality and other statistical measurements, through the sales techniques originally taught in training, ("Assume the sale," etc.), and did the annual employment evaluations of the RSRs. Each Team had its own bulletin board, where "Orchid Letters" from customers were posted, or commendation letters as a result of surprise spot check calls from EXO (now WHQ). The top ten RSRs each year got a nice dinner.

The office closed 4 Jan 03. Employees were given various options, including transfer to HNLRR and others whose location escapes me.

There must be a lot of SFORR alumni out there.



[Spelling edit.]

[This message has been edited by SPN Lifer (edited 02-25-2003).]

aw

Indeed, there are a lot of us out there. I worked in SFORR from 95-97 and then moved up the ranks until 2000. To this day I can not imagine how I was able to survive at about $6.50/hour. I guess my passion for travel and willingness to learn carried me through. It was a great experience despite the meager salary, exhausting shifts during irregular ops and vociferous irate customers that one inevitably gets from time to time.

[This message has been edited by aw (edited 02-26-2003).]

SPN Lifer

See Unprecedented Wait for Service at 1K Phone Line
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...=104978&page=4

Originally posted by FireWire (in the above thread):
I cannot say FireWire's view is wholly without basis. Even as a very recent naval officer, I found the management practices to be autocratic. Nevertheless, UA knew that a lot of people wanted the job for the travel benefits, had a high applicant rate, and apparently felt that high turnover was acceptable. The best solution if dissatisfied was to vote with your feet, which many did, whether to the airport or to another employer.

While I did observe some arbitrary and capricious employee discipline (we weren't unionized then--was that systemwide?), from UA's point of view it was important to operate on a strict time clock (employees did get up to half an hour "flex" time) precisely to ensure adequate call servicing and minimal abandoned calls. Unlike writing a legal brief, for instance, employee calls must be answered when the customer desires, not when the employee feels like it.

Also, given the high cost of living, SFORR and LAXRR seemed to make sense as the res centers to close.

Teeejay

"Oh well, I still can't believe that they are gone. Never in my life did I imagine that that location would be closed down"


I sure hope the rest of us won't be saying this about the entire airline!

SPN Lifer

So what reservations centers are still open?

HNLRR
LAXRR
CHIRR
DTWRR?

chitownflyer

AFAIK, the following call centers are still open.

IADRR
DTWRR
INDRR
ORDRR
DENRR
SEARR
HNLRR

Wiggums

None of them are south of the border?

SeattlePilot

I almost worked for IADRR in 97 out of college. The sup was this Philipino lady who gave us the example of her traveling to Manila on F for almost nothing. Since the salary was low, this was the way to motivate the people..

I found something that paid better and it was in IT, so I had to call them and say that I was not going to show up in my first day of work..

FireWire

Scratch off INDRR and yes, there is MEXRR but it's primarily mileage plus

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SA (SU) Aaron T. Slater, USN
NAVSUBSCOL, Groton, CT.
(Formerly UA Res DTWRR)

airpeter

And not to forget DUBRR , in good old Europe !

sftrvlr

I'm another one that worked at SFORR. At the international rate desk in 1995 and 1996. Loved the work, hated the pay! But I parlayed all that I learned into a very well paying (for the travel industry) job, so for that I'm thankful.


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sftrvlr

SPN Lifer

So the UA Reservations Centers remaining in the United States are

• IADRR
• DTWRR
• ORDRR
• DENRR
• SEARR
• HNLRR

Obviously the high cost of doing business in California was the downfall of SFORR and LAXRR.

From looking at the ticket sleeves, with all their numbers, there are probably more overseas locations that take calls, such as Australia, Japan, South America, etc., but they are unlikely to be anything like the huge centers with hundreds of RSRs as in the U.S.

However, does anyone know of other international locations besides MEXRR and DUBRR? And are we sure these are real "RR" (Reservations Sales) centers, and not just part of operations? In other words, airpeter, do you know or has someone told you that "DUBRR" is its official designation? Does it take U.K. calls, too?