Written by: Joseph Maffettone
Lauren Maffettone has been working for Verizon for 28 years and her current position as part of the company is consumer sales. Today, she gave insight into what led her to joining and becoming a member of the Verizon family. Lauren gives a look into the technology she had worked with back then and compares it to the technology that she is now currently working with, the best memories she has had in the past 28 years of working for the company, the different positions she has had from the start all the way to now, how the Covid pandemic affected her work, and finally, what she plans on doing when she retires in 2 years. The questions that were asked to Lauren give a look into her previous jobs, her history with the company, and a look into how things operate.
Before Lauren began working for Verizon, she worked three different jobs before she landed the job that she would work for the next 28 years. Lauren told the interviewer, “Before I worked for Verizon, I started as a cashier at KeyFoods, then I became a waitress for TGI Fridays, and finally I was the Office Manager at Royal Prestige.” Lauren was 20 years old when she applied to take the test for Verizon, which around the time she took that test, Verizon went by a very different name, NineX. Lauren would talk about the process of the test and how the test has changed since she first applied for the job. Lauren said, “First, you need to apply for the test for the phone company (Verizon) which was NineX back then. Once you got called, you went through a series of tests. The first test was communication skills. The second test was typing skills. And the third test was sales skills. If you passed all three, you got hired.” The test since then has changed but the only parts that have changed were who were allowed to take the test. Originally, the test allowed people with a high school diploma to take the test which was how Lauren was able to take the test in the first place, however, it has been changed since then to now only allow people who have taken 2 years of college to take the test.
While giving questions about how things worked back then, Lauren would talk about how different the technology was when she started around that time and how the technology has changed and what she is now working with. Lauren stated that, “It was very different. We used a computer system that was only able to show us accounts in New York. We did not even have long distance or many of the features that many would have on their phones today. There was no fiber optic technology at that time and the internet ran over a phone line. A lot of our work was done on paper, and we would send it to the programmer to complete. Today, our system is very complicated and allows us to help customers in all the states Version provides service to. We can also troubleshoot and fix most computer and tv issues right through our computer which means less technicians are needed to troubleshoot.” Lauren would receive different benefits while working for Verizon that would not only help her, but also help her family as well over the years she been working there. Lauren stated, “Version provides many wonderful benefits such as a 401K, full pension, full medical, dental, and eyecare for our families. We also do get many perks such as free trips, free products and gift cards. We are also protected by our union CWA 1101 Communication Workers of America.” Lauren would have many different positions while working for Verizon, which included roles such as, billing team, sales and service team, repair team, and was part of the win back team from the Optimum team. Lauren jobs while working for Verizon would be a range of different tasks from the different teams, she has been a part of over the years. The tasks that Lauren would do involved troubleshooting, work with Fios, work with equipment and service, issued orders for customers of Fios, billing and finally did maintenance on Fios for customers.
When the Covid pandemic hit the world in 2020, Lauren’s job would become affected by the virus and would be quarantined before Verizon would make a decision that would help Lauren continue her work while staying indoors during this pandemic. Lauren stated, “When Covid struck the world, we were forced to work from home. We were very unsure if the Version system was gonna even work, since we never worked from home before. It took a few days to work out the kinks, but Version employees were up and running at home. To this day, most in-house office employees are still working from home. It was hard to do team meetings and not everyone's home internet was strong enough to hold a household working from home.” To this day, Lauren is still working at home and plans on retiring while working at home for the rest of her time that she left with the company. Lauren shared her favorite memories while working for the company the past 28 years which involved the vacations she had won and taken during her time at the company. Lauren stated these were her favorite memories, “I have 2. Winning a trip from my sales team to California to go to the live Grammys on tv. I got to walk the red carpet. My second favorite one was winning a trip for 7 days all-inclusive with a guest to Maui.” Lauren is soon reaching the end of her time with the company that she has been working for in the past 28 years of her life. She has discussed her time with the company and how much things have changed. She has discussed what her plans are after she retires in 2 years. Lauren states that her plans are to volunteer with local companies and organizations for the rest of her life and potentially start up her own business close to home. Lauren is prepared to retire as once her time is up with the company. Currently, she is receiving full support from her family and currently we look forward to seeing what in store for her once she retires from Verizon. Lauren gave a good look into her history with the company along with what the technology looked like back then, the memories she had and what she has done today.
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