Working at AAA ET — Reviews by Employees

First off they are wolves dressed as sheep. A not for profit company. With from what I gathered over my time there at least 14 million in the bank and in real estate holdings. Thats a not for profit? The towing thing is a numbers game only. Most members use it infrequently. The ones who abuse it get canned quick. But the real business is selling. any and everything. As a non-towing employee ( travel agent) you are hammered daily about bringing in money. You might get a real employee review yearly. Might! But what you bring in to the coffers in terms of commission is tallied weekly. They are huge on satisfaction too. Keeping the members happy so they continue to spend. As an employee you are under constant watch to make sure you are selling. God forbid you should let someone off the phone without trying a pitch. If they call in because they are in a blizzard and need to know road conditions you sell them something. If Grandma needs a cheap hotel to go to her grandkids graduation you upsell her into a more pricey hotel that has a sweetheart deal with AAA. Too bad she can't afford dinner now.
If they need a car rental because the work car is in the shop you sell them the expensive car from the partner company even if there is one available at HALF the price. And promotions are based on the numbers only. No matter if you are a bipolar monster. If you make the numbers you get the next step up. You could be Ted Bundy and end up as a supervisor. For fifty years they had no HR Dept. at all. Then they hire a gunslinger who's only job seems to be to threaten the entire staff with ominous emails. The payscale is a little better than bagging groceries. You pretty much have to kill on commissions to make a living wage. One year the CEO decided that all raised would be bundled. Only the top earner in each department would get a raise. And they got the entire amount budgeted for that department! In my department the guy who got it
was a slick fellow who would have been at home selling infested blankets to the natives back in 1860. So close to twenty other good workers got nothing and he got a pot of gold. (He quit within a few months to go to a better scheme. Probably funerals.) The Ceo thought that this would make us all into little selling machines I guess. Wrong. About forty percent turnover during the next year. OK. The bottom line is...Sure you get free maps and if you don't abuse it you can get a tow. But to work for these people is tough. You get an emotional beating at least once a week. The supervisors are going to berate and humiliate you depending on what mood they are in. Usually in front of as many people as possible. (Sinks in better that way.) They use the not for profit status to hide and have the most unfriendly benefits package they can scrape by with. If you're nineteen or twenty and need summer work? Do it! Valuable lesson. If you are trying to make a living and have a family? God help you. Put your eyes down, don't listen to the cries coming from the next cubile, march straight ahead and maybe you won't be singled out.
Do NOT work for AAA ET. Oh, one last thing...YOU BETTER be a Christian. It's not an official requirement, they can't get away with that at least. But your beliefs had better be well hidden.
Nod your head and smile. Over my time the number of emails ridiculing other religions and beliefs numbered in the thousands. I am ashamed to admit that I just put my eyes down and kept on going. I wish now that I had saved all of them. Pardon any spelling or grammar mistakes I have made. I'm venting :)