DAY 68 - OFF THE CUFF

For my current job I was hired to rewrite and enhance some of their training materials. I specialize in Customer Service in Call Centers – so it’s been pretty easy and fun, so far. I’m either in an office all alone, or observing at the back of a classroom – very much a “fly on the wall”. When I arrived this morning however, I was immediately pulled into the Managers Office. “We have a problem: no one is available to teach this morning’s New Hires. Can you do it?”

   Now usually I have absolutely no problem stepping in and helping out with a problem. And getting up in front of a group and teaching is easy for me – and what I’ve done for over 20 years. BUT . . . I’ve been there for 2 days. I’ve never seen the material. And there is no Instructor Guide or even an outline to follow. So basically the request was to get up and teach them something I knew absolutely nothing about.

   Hmmmmm. Now I’m not usually one to back down from a challenge, but with only 15 minutes before the class was to start and no possible way to get the information that was supposed to be covered . . . well, I’m good – but I’m not THAT good.

   As my mind scrambled through the dozens and dozens of reasons why I couldn’t do it, the question “Can you do it?” morphed into “You need to do it.” Deep breath. It’s only 90-minutes, with now only 12-minutes to prepare. Keep breathing. “Sure, I’d be happy to.”

   Fortunately I’ve been at this Training Thing for a while now. I asked for a ream of paper, a box of pens, and the Nerf Basketball I had seen around. Grabbing my bottle of water and cellphone, I rushed down to the Training Room. As I turned on Pandora, the classroom started to fill – and 13 confused faces took their seats. They’d seen me the day before, in the back of the classroom, typing away on my laptop. I’d been introduced the previous day as a “Specialist here to do Content Development” – or in Peanuts language “Blah blah blah-blah blah-blah”.

   “Happy Friday!” as a boisterous greeting, passing around paper and pens, a spontaneous quiz, a paper-folding activity, having people stand and sit as names are called out – and the Nerf Ball flying overhead. Yup, I can teach for 90-minutes with no preparation time – and wrap it up with a summary that ties it all together neatly and makes it feel planned and rehearsed. WHEW!

   Because sometimes you just have to “wing it”. Sometimes in life you don’t have time to prepare – and you just have to go with what you know. And once in a while, when you get asked to step-up, saying “No” just isn’t an option. I just hope I can always get my hands on pens, a ream of paper, and a Nerf Ball.

DAY 66 - GETTING PAID FOR WATCHING VIDEOS

Sometimes being a Contractor is a tough job. For the past year it required me to travel hundreds of thousands of miles and live out of a suitcase – sometimes not even making it home for the weekend. It’s usually high pressure. There are often crazy deadlines and very late nights.

   Today was not one of those days. I spent the entire day watching videos on YouTube. Stuff like Seinfeld and Dilbert. And, yes – it was all work related. I’ve been hired to “liven” up some of their Customer Service Trainings – and when I recommended a few video clips I got a great response from my client. Tomorrow will likely involve tennis balls, popsicle sticks, and bubbles (the kind you blow with little kids at the beach).

   Admittedly, my ideas are “out of the box” – sometimes wayyyyy outside that box – but that’s one of the reasons I love my job. I get to be creative. I get to play. I get to help other people get better at doing their jobs. And sometimes I get to watch cartoons and blow bubbles.

   I do consider myself very fortunate that I have had a career that I have truly enjoyed. And for the most part I have had jobs with companies that I truly believed in, doing jobs that usually didn’t feel so much like work. I worked for 4 years in the Family History Dept of the LDS Church and was the last step before names went to the temple.  I worked for the interior design company that did Primary Children’s Hospital when it was built.  I spent 7 years at Franklin Covey which really gave me a tremendous foundation for this career that I now have.

   And as I continue with my current Job Hunt, that is a priority for me – finding a job at a company that I love. It’s not always that easy, but I’ve known too many people that weren’t happy doing their jobs to want to be in that situation. My ex just looked at his jobs as a necessary evil – and never stayed at any of them very long. The one (out of the 10 while we were married) that he did like, he was with for almost 4 years. Most of the rest were maybe a year or two, tops.

   As a manager, there have been times that I told employees that they should start looking for something new. Not that I was kicking them out, but that I could tell that their heart wasn’t in it anymore. One in particular is still a really good friend – and is in a much better job, one that has turned into a great career for her.

   I may not always get to watch cartoons and blow bubbles, but when you love your job it doesn't matter so much quite what you are doing – because you are just enjoying the doing of it.