After I left the power plant and went to work for Dell on August 20, 2001, I wrote letters back to my friends at the plant letting them know how things were going. This is the eighty eighth letter I wrote. Keep in mind that at the time when I originally penned this letter I didn’t intend on it being posted online.
11/6/03 – Matrix at Dell
Dear Sooner Plantians (and others less fortunate than to be working at Sooner Plant),
It has been a couple of weeks since I wrote, so I thought I would let you guys know how things have been going for me down here in Dellsville (not to be confused with Dullsville — Which this is definitely not!).
Well. Last week and the week before, I had loaned my daughter’s movie camera to our Customer Experience team so they could make a video about how Dell deals with the Customer Experience. Next Monday they are going to film Michael Dell talking on the phone to a customer that accidentally calls Michael on the phone when they were trying to get Customer Support.
Michael stops what he is doing to work with the customer (the customer is a dad who is calling for his son’s computer, and Michael speaks to the little boy) and then tells his secretary (we call them Admins down here) to tell Bill Gates (from Microsoft, — for those of you who work in the coalyard) he’s going to be a little late for his meeting.
The Customer Experience group asked if I could video tape my son Anthony talking on the phone to Michael Dell, and they would use his voice in the film. — So they are using my daughter Elizabeth’s camera to film the video, and Anthony’s voice for the little boy. (That is pretty neat).
Well. The last time I wrote, I think I told you guys that I had put together a PowerPoint Presentation for the extra boring class I had to teach. — Well. We had the first class last Tuesday. — After the class was over, a manager that had taken it called me up and told me that she thought that was the best class she had taken since she had been to Dell.
My manager came over to my cubicle yesterday and told me that people were going out of their way to let him know that they really liked the class. (So I guess it went over well — I wasn’t sure what the reaction would be). Now, my Vice President has signed up for the class, either next week or the week after, so we’ll see what his reaction is to it. — Either way. At least one class went well.
That is kind of interesting. I started the last paragraph with the word “Well” and I ended it with “well”. Well what do you know about that?
Now, that’s interesting. I started the last paragraph with the word “That”, and I ended with the word “that”, I wonder what I’m going to do now?
Look at that! I…… Oh, never mind. Sometimes I just get caught in a loop.
Anyway. I only have one hour to do work today, because at 9:00 I have a meeting, and then right after that, our whole team is going to go to the movies and watch the new Matrix movie that just came out.
After that we are all going out to lunch, and then our Vice President wants all of us to go to Dave & Buster’s (the big arcade, bar, pool hall place) for a team-builder and refreshments. — Well. He called it an “All-Hands Meeting”.
That’s the place that has that electric chair game where it tests to see how much it can shock you before you let go of the handles. After being an Electrician for 18 years, and having an extremely shocking experience with our Equipment Support Supervisor about every three hours, I can hang on to those handles while the juice on that electric chair goes all the way to the top. — And then I win a whole bunch of tickets that I can redeem for a bunch of little prizes like you might get at a “Chuckie Cheeses”, only a little better.
I’ll let you know how that goes.
______________________
Kevin J. Breazile
Programmer/Analyst III
Dell Inc.
(512) 728-1527
Power Plant Men 