Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho

Yesterday was my first day at Virtual Hold Technology. I wanted to write about it last night, but I was completely brain-dead and exhausted by the time I got home.



When I arrived at the office yesterday morning, my desk was preloaded with VHT goodies: a fabulous travel mug, two coffee cups, a water cup, a VHT pen, two pocket packs of mints, a clock, a little skooshie thing that I don't even know what to call, and a little teddy bear wearing a VHT t-shirt. Later in the afternoon, the VHT gear lady arrived, and I was outfitted with a great monogrammed shirt and fleece jacket. The motto emblazoned on all of these goods: "Virtual Hold Technology: the world won't wait." Cute.

I've been very favorably impressed with this company and all the people I've met from day one. There are about 70 employees, and they hope to grow to 100 this year. They've got it all figured out. At IBM, I had to wait three days for my userid; At VHT, my userid was put in place and my Outlook mailbox set up three weeks ago so I could see the e-mails that have been going around before I arrived. A brand new Dell laptop was waiting for me, including all the software I'll need. Impressive.

And education. I spent yesterday in classes, learning what virtual queuing is, how it works, what the Virtual Hold product is and the process that is utilized whenever we get a new customer—to sell, to install, to follow-up. Impressive.

Whenever a customer signs a sales contract, an e-mail is sent to the entire staff. The subject line on the e-mail is "Ding Ding Ding." In the early days, when there were only a few employees, there was a small bell that would be rung whenever they made a sale. So that tradition continued, and new a cyber bell rings to signal further growth.

The drive was not bad, even though it was raining and snowing when I left in the morning. I made it easily in one hour, with time to explore and find the nearest Starbucks. As I ordered a muffin, Liz (behind the register) noted she hadn't seen me there before and asked my name. She said she hoped to see me frequently. Ah, heaven.

So all in all, a Very Good Day for a Very New Employee at Virtual Hold Technology. I'm pleased.

Oh, and the marketing director took my boss, the Tech Pubs Manager, and me to lunch at the Mexican restaurant around the corner. Mexican in Ohio? Sorry, kiddies, it was just as good as any Mexican restaurant I routinely visited in Tucson.

By all appearances, this is the start of a beautiful relationship.