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During our team meeting today, the team building game was America's Top Model, which consisted of three teams, each team had a model, 1 person dressed the model, and the team came up with 1 person's narration while the dressed model walked the call center. I dressed my model up in toilet paper as the Statue of Liberty, who then "traveled" from the west coast to New York, stopping in several states along the way (example: over top of her tiara, she had a cowboy hat, that she tossed off for Arizona, to represent Tucson's La Fiesta de los Vaqueros). Our team won, and over all, it was a lot of laughs.
But for me, it is difficult to get involved in these games. Some people truly enjoy them, but it is really not my bag, and generally sends me into a negative space, because I don't like to be forced into things that I don't enjoy, or wouldn't normally volunteer for. I'd rather be a spectator. So, I stayed out of the photos by jumping in to volunteer to be both the photographer and the videographer, quickly decided who would be the model, to avoid the "cat-walk", and chose to be the "dresser" to avoid being the commentator. It worked out okay, but I was relieved when it was over, and the people who are extroverts were done being the center of attention. One of our co-workers retired today, after 25 years with the company. Because we all know how much Sue loves everything Christmas, our co-worker, Carol, read The Night Before Christmas at the end of the team meeting. She frequently reads children's books to us at meetings, whenever she can find a reason to. I know I sound like the Queen of Grumpyland, but frankly it annoys me, because she reads to us like we are a group of preschool children. So, I did my best to look like I was listening in the corner, but was actually reading a book on my Kindle. I'm glad the day/week is over. Today was just a bit too much for me. |
Annoying....
A couple employees (I have them in lead positions) upset about some decisions I've had to make and having a bit of attitude. So....next week, I need to deal with them......oh joy. I keep this quote by Colin Powell on the wall next to my phone...... [SIZE="2"]"Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off." Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, which means that some people will get angry at your actions and decisions. It's inevitable if you're honourable. Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity: You'll avoid the tough decisions, you'll avoid confronting the people who need to be confronted, and you'll avoid offering differential rewards based on differential performance because some people might get upset. Ironically, by procrastinating on the difficult choices, by trying not to get anyone mad, and by treating everyone equally "nicely" regardless of their contributions, you'll simply ensure that the only people you'll wind up angering are the most creative and productive people in the organization.[/SIZE] GOOD Last week ended pretty rough...and carried over to the start of this week. The flip side is that I was able to get my mind wrapped around a few other things. Information from my team was needed in very short order. I gathered a few individuals Wed. morning... and they put all the information together. I presented it both Wednesday and Thursday. The program managers liked the format and the level of detail provided. So much, that they decided this morning they want more items added to the list and have it presented to the Product Line VP and his deputy Monday morning at 9...so we are working tomorrow morning to put this together and wrap a pretty bow around it. Before I leave work tomorrow, I will submit these guys for a cash award. And for me.....Guess I'll need to buy a new suit to wear on Monday.....everything does have a silver lining :-) |
I have no clue....I'm not there.
bwahahahahahahaha :blink: |
yesterday...
a resident tellin' me: "you are a most amazing american-kiwi and all around lovely person!"
(gawd, i adore me job!) |
elderly woman behind the counter in a small town
today i stopped at an elder care apartment building
my destination was on the 4th floor and i rode up in the elevator with a wisp of a woman if i sneezed i'm sure i would have blown her over the doors closed and she looked me up and down and then said "my my look at you all grown up and sooooooooooo handsome" then she reached over and adjusted my uniform jacket like i was a small child she beamed a smile up at me and i admit i was a tad suspicious so i tapped my pocket to make sure she wasn't a crafty pickpocket - she wasn't the doors opened on the 3rd floor and she said "i'm sooooooo proud of you" gave me a big hug and departed the elevator i made my stop on the 4th floor and headed back out - the radio behind the reception counter was playing this song a tad surreal - i hope i made someone's day a little brighter even though i thought she was a crafty pickpocket |
Me: "Can I give you your account number so that you can use the automated payment system?"
Customer: "I can't find a pen, I guess my eyeliner will have to do." Me: "I'll enter it for you, and then transfer you after I enter it, I would hate if I had to ruin a good eyeliner pencil, I could never make you do that!" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Customer: "So, I'm not in danger of having my lights turned off, until after the 23rd?" Me: "Yes, that is true" Customer: "What's true, is that the way these Oklahoma winds touch my body, is exploding everything around me, have you read your bible today? Because, if my power gets turned off, you're going to wish you'd taken that more seriously!" *CLICK* :|:|:| |
OMD. What didn't happen at work today?? Here's a little snippet of my day...
5000+ people without power for 2 hours. 4999 of them thought the world was going to end if they didn't have a shower this morning. Approximately 3172 of them do not know how to open their garage doors without the clicky thing. 3 felt sorry for the squirrel that was the cause of the outage (I was one of them). 3323 of them assumed that they had been cut out for lack of payment. One of my most special customers of the day, had a one part name (like Cher, or Prince), and though he was the one with the name of a fantasy creature, I was the one with smoke curling from my nostrils and claws bared after I got off the phone with that stellar piece of steaming excrement. All I could say after the call was "I have never!!!!! 20+ years in customer service, and I have never!!!!". I had to take an impromptu 10 minute break in the gym after that, and work off a little frustration. What a world, what world.......I am truly appreciating the fact that I have Wednesdays off. I am spent, just spent. I talked to 132 customers today. A new record. Whoop-de-doo! No. |
What happened at work today?
lol, well Lord Xenu has commanded me to research a lot of very boring legal stuff so naturally that is my very top priority these days....
Plus, while I was taking a break tonight, this little guy (not really so little, though!) jumped on my back and sat beside me for a few minutes. He hung out while I tried not to move until I figured out what had landed on me. I thought it was a mouse or a bat at first! http://i1306.photobucket.com/albums/...ps86baa188.jpg Now, apparently the frog has some good symbology associated with it; I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a new job, lol. Excerpted from some random website, lol: Summary of Symbolic Meaning of the Frog Luck Purity Rebirth Renewal Fertility Healing Transitions Dreaming Opportunity Intermediary Metamorphosis I'll let you all know how that works out, lol. |
I had a visitor yesterday and actually got some manual labor done. More of that to follow today.
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Today, my lead, Chase, complimented me on my attitude about work, and asked if I would sit with a new hire for two hours tomorrow, to help her find ways to process her calls in a more timely manner. He said that I had the market cornered on interrupting a customer politely, when they dive down the rabbit hole of explanations or personal stories.
This made me :) |
Merc in retro ?
We had a scheduled motorcycle rodeo but the rain flooded the lot so we postponed it. Good thing, it was a crazy morning...
Violent crimes, angry people So many accidents that I lost count angry angry angry people ... angry. Did I mention they were angry? Bank Robberies and oh, angry people. It was supposed to be a Mercury in Retrograde thingy today but I think it was just another shitful day full of, you guessed it , impatient, frustrated, angry people :( |
The first truly hot day in the Portland metro area, included a plethora of calls from sweaty Oregonians, when a tree took a power line down. Needless to say, they were not happy, and they were not nice. At all. We closed at 7pm, I took my last call at 7:45. Good times.
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Yesterday it was busy up until the last hour, so I was able to change into my gym clothes before sliding out the door.
It's the small things... |
It was sooo cool!
I got to be part of a semi-complicated scheme to surprise my customer's wife. With her brand new car! Convertible, even! It was purdy too, even though Miatas are accordions when they get hit. I better get a new car on MY 65th birthday, dammit. :readfineprint: |
Another 130 calls kind of day...My eyeballs are tired...Time to start winding down my wired/tired brain....
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I line in a 100+ year old neighbourhood in our city, this is not a big deal in the States, but here in Canada it is, and our city is famous for tearing down anything with history. Anyway, I live in this amazing neighbourhood with tons of history and people move here and never leave, some have lived here their whole lives, many have grandparents who built their homes. It is that kind of neighbourhood.
I work in a little boutique that sells antiques and home decor and an exclusive paint line called Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, it is amazing and we paint antiques and other furniture and also help others to do so. We get a lot of neighbourhood people in wanting to make their family heirlooms their own, modernize a bit. I get to help people do that, I love it. It is a very creative and fun job. I talk about paint and decorating all day long. Today a woman, who has been in every day this week, came in to ask questions. A 100+ questions, at the end of the day she brought me a picture of her piece and she is in love. She went on an on about the help we gave and how we convinced her she could do it and she could. Now she wants to get others onto it and do more herself. That is why I love my job, this kind of thing happens every day. |
I wasn't officially working today, but I worked rather feverishly on my work search project. The downside to my day was fielding a flurry of phone calls and texts from my mother and daughter, while filling out applications in a timed procedure. It wasn't pretty and it made me feel sad. But then, things got better today and a former employer called me and extended another work opportunity. Then my day slid down the slippery slope again with my mother and just in the nick of time, my son came out into the kitchen and bless his heart, truly, he said to me:
"Mom, don't let it worry you or make you sad. Things will be okay."Just hearing him say that to me helped me so much. |
I took customer calls until 12pm, and then our team left to participate in our team day. It started with lunch at a fancy pants Chinese restaurant, where I had shrimp and scallops in a light and buttery wine sauce, and then it was on to our executive offices downtown, where I learned a few cool things about our company, and a few not so cool things about our company. Then we signed t-shirts for each other while we spent more time getting to know one another with team building games.
After we ended the team day, myself, two co-workers, one of the co-worker's spouse, our supervisor, and our lead had a few cocktails at a local brewery and shot some pool. The gloves came off before the first beer/cocktail was finished, and we all relaxed and had a good time giving each other a hard time. I won two games of pool, and I actually had a great time (I had serious doubts that this would be fun for me)... |
I have no idea, I was off :-)
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Twice, in the last few weeks, I have had this conversation, while taking a new application for service...
Hollylane: Who is your current employer? New Customer: What does that mean? Hollylane: Are you currently employed? New Customer: What are you asking me? Hollylane: Do you have a job? New Customer: OHhhhhh! No. I'm a full time college student. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Is anyone else alarmed that high school graduates, who are full time college students, are clueless when I use the words employer/employment? I am terrified. |
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