Friday, December 09, 2011

That still, small voice inside... That you really wanna smash with a 20lb sledgehammer...

I have a co-worker who just drives me nuts. Not "Boy, is *that* guy annoying," but "I swear if he takes that tone of voice one more time I swear I am gonna turn and tear his face off!" annoying. The kind where when you get home and you're playing a video game and all the bad guys wear *his* face annoying. This guy makes me wanna cuss. Violently. 

And even better, another co-worker, whom I respect as a person and for the quality of their work, is even MORE annoyed by this guy, so at this point I'm sorta feeling justified. I mean, lets face it, he avoids work, he gives loud sighs to let us know he isn't happy about the work he was just assigned or the call he now has to answer instead of watching movies on youtube, he likes to get into arguments just to argue, and REFUSES to accept the slightest evidence against his position, and to top it all off, accused *ME* of always needing to be right. 

... Okay... he had some small point on me there, and that hurt, but I'm not on his level here. I will at least consider the evidence before. I've even been swayed to the other side (or a third side)! By my sister, even! So I am not exactly Al Gore here. 

I guess it wouldn't be so bad if I didn't sit 15 feet from him for most of the day. I mean... OI! 

Another part is the difference in work ethic. I have one, for starters. 

Ok... I'll admit to being a snob. But that isn't strictly a bad thing. I believe that to be considered a good worker you should adhere to a few principles. 

A) Be On Time. I learned from my dad (via example) that if you're early you're on time, if you're on time you're late, and if you're late you're dead. (Or fired. Which is worse, in my opinion. The dead don't have bills to pay.) I was recently late to work by five minutes. Why? I live between two railroad tracks, and have to cross one of them to get to work. I have to cross it twice, and work is on a spur from a oneway street. There are back ways, but they are much longer. I left with 25 minutes to spare (had to get breakfast from McDonald's, dontcha know.) and come to my first intersection... which stayed red. A train was coming, and so it would not let me past until the train was gone. Funny thing... Train never showed up. the bell rang, the lights flashed, other cars started weaving through the guard bars, but no train. I texted my boss, "Might be late, stuck behind train." I got back, "Ok. Drive safe." That's my boss, awesome guy. I waited. no train. No green light. Finally, I pulled into the right hand lane, made a (legal) right hand turn on a red and went the other way, took the long route, and got to work. I waited a bit too long to make my move, sure, but I had time to burn on this, and I communicated with my boss. I am normally 5-15 minutes early to work. Part of this is self preservation (Gotta start the computer, load timeclock program, clock in, set up my tech programs, etc). A lot of it is my dad refusing to be late even when he had to walk through 3 feet of fresh snow. No joke. And he was on time. Dad's, take note... your sons are watching you... 

B) Communicate with your Boss. See above. Most times if you are constantly clear with your boss about what is going on, how things are going, and provide a history of reputable-ness (did I just invent a word?) they will work with you. My boss knows where I live. He knows my cell number, and he knows I will not bail on him with out good cause. When I called a few weeks ago because I locked my car keys in the car the night before, not only did he say "Be safe," but he called others in an attempt to get me a ride while I walked along the highway. (Again, I intended to leave super early that day. God thing, for sure.) 

C) Do at least one thing you don't want to do for work each day. Towards the end of today I was looking at a call back that I reeeaaallly did not want to do. You know, I have done a lot of those today, I knocked a bunch off the list, I'll let on of the other guys get this one, I thought. I did another call back. Went back to the list. It was staring at me. I did another call back. Got back to the list, was proud of how short I had gotten it... And this one was glaring at me. I didn't wanna, I shouldn't of had to call, someone else should have taken that call just as much as me, and I know I call back more than any other person on my team, I was Justified in not making that call. Except, I wasn't. This was my Job. Not punching the clock, but getting the work done, even if you hate it. Now, I like my work, but as with any job, there are people and tasks you hate, and this one call back meant putting myself into a situation I was not comfortable being in, and might wind up with me getting boss man involved. One of those calls. I picked up the phone, opened the ticket, and made the call. It is immaterial what happened on the call, it is only relevant that I made the call. On my own, no one prompting me but the Spirit accusing my willful disobedience.  Do at least one thing you do not like to do a day. And then, one more. And then one more, and then one more. 

D) Never, ever, lie. If you don't know, admit it. If you think it might be this way, but aren't sure, admit it. Never ever lie. "Thank you for calling (name of Corp here)'s help desk, my name is Eric, how can I help you?" "Eric, this is Snidely Whiplash over at store 666, and I am doing a followup on the horrible disaster of xyz... why isn't my dohicky here yet to fix my watchacallit?" Well... I could blame it on some one else, "Oh, that's for so and so's group to do, who knows how long THAT is gonna take!" I could make it sound much more complicated (note... sometimes this is the truth!) "Well, the freighter carrying the dohickies sank... " I could appease him, "It's in the mail, sir. Just have to wait on the mail system!" In this case I said "Well, Whiplash, when we get defective parts, we send them out to get refurbished. We usually have a supply of Dohickies on hand for situations like this, but want to say I saw a note that we were plum out. I don't see a note on this ticket in particular, and I could be wrong, but you are on the list to get this part, and I know our team tries to expedite this. That said, I just don't know when you will get it." Sometimes Whiplash accepts the answer, which was 100% truthful, and sometimes he gets mad, but so what? I spoke the truth and no one can accuse me of doing wrong by speaking the truth. If I lie, more then likely at some point it comes out, and I get hammered by upper management. Never, ever, lie. 

E) This is probably a me thing, and is really only applicable to where you have to deal with the public, but for the love of God and all that is Holy, PLEASE! Answer the phone professionally. If you flub this one thing bad enough ("Hello..." ...aaand? Hello what?) and I get your boss on the phone, I will hammer you. Conversely, if you knock this out of the park, ('Thank you for calling Blahdeebah's, My name is Expendable, How may I help you today?") I will sing your praises to your boss, and sometimes even ask for the boss to do so. You have a chance to set the tone for the rest of my service experience. Amanda at Mattress Firm in Kyle, Texas (268-2333) did this, and when I walked in the door I asked for her. I know they work on commission and by God if I was buying from them (and I did) it would be from her, because I knew she was good. And she was. She went out of her way to suggest a solution that might not have made her the money she would have preferred, but got me in a bed (and her some money instead of none) that I love. Earlier that day I was looking at the local R-A-C. I left knowing I likely wouldn't buy there unless I had no other choice. Why? I was not treated as important in their eyes. You do not have a job with out your customer, and you need to make them feel important. This starts from the second you pick up that phone. Get it right. 

F) Wear your name tag. I went to visit the family over thanksgiving, and that Saturday I visited the local store of the company I work for. The lady who rang me out was not at her register to start with, was not wearing a uniform shirt (possibly new?) and not wearing her name tag. The last is, in my opinion, unforgivable. On a slow day like that she had ample time to go get a new one, and even the fresh newbie has one in five minutes. I know. I used to make them when I worked the stores. A few days later I answer the phone and it's the manager from that store wanting me to change the music station to holiday stuff. I mention the incident. I actually saved the receipt to give him the employee ID number, but lost it in the car somewhere. I describe the person and the incident, and I can here in his voice he is also upset. Our boss, the owner of our company is HUUUGE on this, and we all know it. You can be disciplined for this. When it comes to an evaluation of whether or not to fire you for a big mistake, you don't want that on your record. On the flip side, I have taken note of someones name and hunted down the manager to pass on a praise for that employee. I can't do that if you don't wear your name tag. Yes, I am a snob. You should be too. Strive for excellence. The reward for good work is more work, and sometimes a pay raise. You want that raise? get guys like me on your side telling your boss how great you are.

My annoying co-worker? Usually on time. Physically, if not on the phones yet. Can't speak to communication with the boss, cause I am not the boss. Avoids work unless assigned to him or it's something he likes. Lying... lets say he will make something up that may or may not be true to explain why something is the way it is and can't be changed, when really it can be and he doesn't know it or doesn't want to do it. Or he is right that it can't be changed, but wrong as to why, and it's kind of important. Phone etiquette... ok, it's not just him on this, but he is the worst in my mind. He lets the phone wing until just before it rolls over to another person before he picks up, and then it's "Help Desk, Snidely,". ... C'mon, you can do better than THAT! Sigh. In this case the name tag is irrelevant, but I threw it up top because it's important to me.

So Buddy and I are commiserating over our shared dislike of Idjit, and wishing ill and suggesting ideas... and I realize that I'm wrong. Very very wrong.

Not about my assessment of his work or his person, but in my response. I don't have to like this guy, or support him in his folly, but God calls me to love him. To not bad mouth or mistreat him, but to pray for him, and treat him the same way Christ would.

That's hard. That's realllllly hard. 

I'm not even sure how to do it, but I know I have to at least honestly try or my guilt will grow until I can't take it anymore.

Know I know why Pinocchio threw a mallet at the Talking Cricket: 

The little twit's annoying. 

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