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Red Roof Inn, not the job it was made out to be

Before you read this entry I am stating now that anything wrote here is fact. Anything I state here has been recorded in one way or another and is not just said due to what happened. I normally don’t write things when angry which is why I didn’t write this on Saturday. However I’m still royally pissed off so it still may not be pretty.

I want to say now to those I did have respect for at Red Roof I’m sorry for what you’re about to read if you read this.

Are you looking for a job you can do from home? Have you maybe heard that working for Red Roof Inn could be the place for you? Well, let me tell you a few things that you don’t find out until after the gloves are off and training is over!

Most important work for them is more important than the health and well-being of their employees. I was told this quite clearly by a staff member several times in one conversation to make sure I heard it correctly. If you need to take off because you are extremely sick…forget it if there isn’t what they call *time in the bucket* either for VTO, voluntary time off or PTo, paid time off. You won’t get it. Hell or their may be time in the bucket but you can’t have it for whatever work reason they come up with. You are forced then to take a UA and that stands for an unexcused absence. 3 of those equals bye bye, you’re gone!

So, during training we were told that things are handled on a case by case basis. That’s cool, that makes sense. You could have ones take off just because they just don’t feel like working, but then, you may have ones like these.

1. an at home agent that has no heat in the middle of winter and the agent could be at risk of getting frost bite if they stay in the house. Red Roof doesn’t care they are not giving VTO for whatever work reason. You must work or take a UA.
2. An at home agent lets their supervisor know they are extremely ill and at risk of passing out and it would not be good for callers or business to work that night…..oops, sorry, you must work because Red Roof is not allowing VTO’s that night. UA again.
3. One you absolutely have no control over and once again have informed your supervisor about. The at home agent is extremely sick and the calls will definitely be crappy tonight for making reservations, but still willing to try since…yep, same song and dance! Unfortunately things get worse and the agent ends up in the hospital severely dehydrated and a fever of 101.8.Once again forced to take a UA because of work related reasons they refuse to give a VTO in this case. Sadly it’s the third!

Now, it is this third one that really gets me pissed off. Red Roof expects their agents to work knowing how sick they are while claiming they aren’t heartless. After hearing the agent is in the hospital and could have passed out and worse went into a coma or died during the shift they would have been forced to work and *no one* would have known until it was too late. Then what would have Red Roof done? Tell the family….oh I’m sorry, but calls were backed up and we couldn’t do this or that and our hands were tied?”

This company claims that can’t get enough workers, it’s hard getting overnight people to work and they are *so* backed up with calls, but instead of working with the agent they let them go. What sense does that make?

And forget about asking for them to rethink/appeal or whatever their decision. They don’t even bother answering. Just state the same thing. We were backed up and couldn’t do XYZ. You should have managed your time better to plan for illness and such. I mean, seriously, who the hell can plan for going into the emergency room due to having the bad version of the flu? Who can plan the weather and sitting in a freezing cold house with no heat. If someone can, please let me know!

Anyways, moving right along.

If you think working from home is great give this a thought as well. Unlike the agents in house you don’t have co-workers to talk to or vent at or get things off your chest without being spied on. In house, meaning at the Red Roof Inn call center they can at least see who may be coming and shut up or go talk in more unpopulated areas. They have a chance to get to know each other during their breaks if they show choose. They have food parties and on and on!

What do at home agents have? Skype and that’s only if they accidentally get to know each other and calls are super super slow.

however, there’s software on your computer that allows any Red Roof higher agent see what’s going on on your computer. They say this is only when you’re on a call, but several times this fact has been disproven. So if you decide to work for Red Roof and get to know other workers on your shift, really get to know them out of work as well and start sending text messages or talk in code. However, I’d still be very careful whom you choose to be close friends with.

One of the biggest things that made me loose respect for Red Roof is when I told something confidential to one of my higher agents and it made it’s way to others that never ever should have been given that information. They told this information to people that were the problem and lost respect points in my eyes. So when they tell you that you can tell them something and it stays…take it with a grain of salt! I had great respect and even liked the person up to that point.

Thinking of working third shift?

Now here’s a big one to consider as well. The third shift workers get the short end of the stick. Due to the mistake of some higher up that whole shift lost their VTO, no warning what so ever, just poof gone! So there could be times you’ll sit there for a long time without a call when call times are slow, like after Christmas until around March. But keep in mind, that even if it comes back there’s no certainty you can get it if they don’t want to give it out or others stole all the time.

You may be wondering why I mention VTO more than PTo. Well, simple, PTO is hard to get. First, you don’t get it until 6 months *after* you work for them and then after that you really do want to only use it when you need to. But it works the same way. If you want to use PTO and there’s no time….sorry, you’re screwed.

Love perverted callers?

Hope so because you definitely get your share of them during third shift and you’re not allowed to hang up on them. You have to waist more time getting them over to a supervisor…if they stay on the phone that long. And get this, that perverted call, just counted against your conversion score! You didn’t get that nasty pervert to make a reservation. Like I’m sorry but unless I’m working for a 900 number, the money Red Roof paid wasn’t worth putting up with calls like those.

Now lets talk about that conversion score.

You know during training and during the hiring process it was *stressed* by different people that *quality* was more important than *quanity* Yes, our job is to make reservations, but no one would *push* you to make a certain number.

aaaaaaaaaaaa! stop, hold the phone!

They do push and push hard, some more than others. Making a certain percentage is very important. Some demand you make more than the center or more than the team. If you have a percentage lower than say 20, that’s just not ok. Bad days are just not allowed depending on whom you ask!

One last thing I will say before closing this out and moving on. I just had to get this all out of my system before I could let it go completely. The ohs of writing!

Red Roof will tell you all day until they are blue in the face that they are a family and treat their employees as such, but I’m sorry even if I don’t count all I saw after training, their actions this weekend makes it a family I seriously don’t wish to be a part of after all. I was hoping they’d have a heart and work with me like they did in the beginning when I was pregnant with Jaydon, but I guess that was just a one off deal. Even though they claimed in a recording that they looked at things on a case by case basis and speak with the agent, they don’t. It’s all smoke and mirrors. Except for maybe if you’re one of their favorites and you can do no wrong in their eyes. Even dysfunctional families listen to each other and don’t always make feel like crap. i wish I could say the same for my time at Red Roof Inn or hell be one of those lucky ones that could do no wrong and the job is absolutely wonderful!.

Sorry for the long rant post. Have a good night and thanks for reading!

3 Comments

  1. Annie Davis Annie Davis

    We’ve never spoken or met officially, but I just read this today and I am right there with you on a lot of this stuff. Those ververted calli, ugh. Made me sick sometimes. And yes, you miss out on so much when working from home, unless you can drive all the way out to Springfield for those shindigs they have twice a year.

  2. Steph Leach Steph Leach

    I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anything as bad as this happening here. My last roomate worked for a call centre and sure they had issues but nothing like this. I’m so sorry to hear that your experience was so bad.

  3. cb cb

    seriously? wht’s wrong with the fact that a hotel chain has all these fucked up rules? I thought the government was bad? Nope!

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