Fact Finder wrote:
RTO is a license to steal, my Dad owed a RTO store in a small town and after a few years he couldn't in good conscience keep it open. He made a killing renting and re-renting VCR's and TV's that people would rent for hundreds of dollars over their costs, and then they would get behind and Dad would get the TV back and rent it again to someone else. He used to tell me he couldn't believe the Government let him get away with that kind of shit. As I said, he gave it up due his conscience and stuck to selling the shit instead. I would hazzard a guess that you were working for sharks and the real reason they let you go was for lack of collections not harassing customers, because harassing customers is what they do for a living. Follow the money.
I actually dropped 6.5 percent credit (alone) the day before I was let go. Believe me, that is not an easy thing to do.... As far as harrassing, yes I was paid to harrass people and the process made me sick. I was actually getting slowly used to it though, as sick as it may seem. I always did my best to be kind to people. I would have custoimer call and yell and curse me out before I could even say hello.
One of teh last straws was a customer who called me to make her payment, she wanted to pay $50, but I had to push her to pay $96 or we would take the furniture. We went round and round about it. She hung up on me several times, and I had to call back..... Finally, after I had been berated, called stupid, every name basically, she agreed to pay the $96 dollars. Only the card number and sec code did not match. This prompted me to ahve to back out of the system and start again. The second time, I made sure to read out every number before filing the payment. It still did not go through. This prompted her to be even more upset... She then hung up on me again, saying she would have to check the card nunber,,, click mid sentence... So I wait a few minutes, and she answers didn't I tell you not to call me back? I will call you. I told her I did not hear her say that as the phone went dead. So this time everything went through....Only I forgit to change the pay dates... charging her for a full mth instead of the $96 to get her current. I hit the cancel button , but still too late. I told her I needed to out her on hold. I then refunded the money. I then told her what happpened, that I refunded the money as soon as I noticed the erro, and foir her to check her bank statements. In the meantinme, I was still obligated by my manager to get the $96 payment. I again apologized, and asked if i could please runthe $96, to which she said yes. SHe then hung up on me.... Many hours later she calls back she calls me irate that the money had not yet hit the acct, and accused me of running the full payment on purpose. That I knew what i WAS doing. Where again, I tried to apologize to her. She tehn said you need to get your head t ogether, you don't act right. Everytime, I call you don't your head in the game. I am going to have your job.... She tehn proceeded to get mhy DISTRICT manager's name. I am sure between that honest mistake and her off the cuff comments about my supposed mental state probably got me fired.
Granted, I made a mistake running her card over, but it was not on purpose. A dishonest person wouldn't have said ANYTHING.... I understand why she got even more upset. Money is so scarce now adays.... I know I would be in a huge panic if that happened to me.
I am not perfect. I had trouble with some technical aspects of the job which between that and constant harrasment by a few select customer fed into my anxiety, and made my technical performance worse than it normally would have been. I had most of the procedures down pat. There were still some things I needed to work on. I always tried to be careful how I said things because I would otherwise be accused being rude. I am not a rude person. I did feel pressure to make our credit goals everyday, so I think my stress and anxiety over that fed into how I related to customers.... I also had to ask them exactly why they were late, when they got paid (so i could make payment committments), stuff that is in many ways very intrusive....
Most of them just wanted to pay their bill, and I had to give the spanish inquisition. The few that made sure to get me fired, didn't want to pay their bills. Had no interest in paying their bills, adn otherwise just felt a little bit entitled....
And if that last line sounds judgemental, I don't mean to be. I try hard to treat everyone with respect even if I think they are personally less than savory. And yes, RTO is a rip off. On the other hand, I always made sure to explain the terms, and show them how much overage they would pay out if they went teh full term. I made no bones about what they were signing, and encouraged people to pay off early...
I just, my job, deals with a lot of difficult customers.. I guess some of them complained about me, maybe a coworker. Probably both, based on what the DM said.. I wasn't even allowed to finish the day. Granted, this was never the ideal job for me in the first place, but I needed this job! I was hoping that I would become better at it. And I was, just not fast enough. I don't even know if I will qualify for unemployment being fired, vs laid off....
I hope you find something else that's better suited to your personality very soon. You're a very kind person, and someone will appreciate that somewhere. Rent to own places are worse than a damn used car lot. I think the whole business is shady as hell. Losing that job is probably the best thing that could have happened in the long run. Keep your chin up! 
