It's no secret that I gave up my travel consultant business back in April. I put the "out of business" sign on the door and everything. I'm now happily ensconced with Princess Cruise Lines. Now I can only speak for myself, but to think it's been a transition without hiccups would be amazingly, incredibly wrong.
Oh sweet goodness, starting a real job after nearly 30 years out of the workforce is one helluva transition. I mean, I knew it would be a real change of not just schedule, but lifestyle for me. Remember, knowing something is not the same as experiencing it. I know Alaska is beautiful, but I haven't been there!
Anyway, those first weeks in April were eye-opening to say the least. I mean I had the going into the office thing down pretty well. Professionally dressed and on time, alert and ready to learn. That I nailed. Then they installed my computer.
Shortly thereafter I learned that I wasn't alone in having crying jags after shifts ended. I still cry from time-to-time, but not nearly as often as I had in the beginning. I've gotten a lot more comfortable in my abilities to handle the most common situations with some degree of efficiency.
When taking the calls, they usually come in fast. I mean really fast. You no sooner end one call and another is ringing. It makes the day fly by, that's for sure. There is, quite literally, never a dull moment.
I also think I'm getting life lessons in human nature. Remember, I was a HOUSEwife for 20-some-odd years. In my case that means I rarely left the house at all. Part of it was no transportation for the majority of the time; the other part of it is was I didn't drive regularly since the kids graduated high school, so I became a little less confident behind the wheel than I had been in the past. (And since I have no reason to lie to you, I was never really all that fond of driving since leaving my native New Jersey anyway. But now I want to at least have the option to drive again.) In any event, my line to the outside world on a daily basis was, for the most part, the computer. First AOL, a stint on Cruise Critic then my beloved Facebook. But the point is, for the most part, my social interactions have been mostly through the written word.
I can imagine some reader out there thinking of some reclusive hunch-backed woman leaning over her keyboard -- cause that's what I see in my head when I read that last paragraph to myself, but that's not the case. I avoided the hunch but have the most tremendous ass on earth...and not in a good way. Just W I D E. Some may even say double-wide.
So anyway now I'm dealing voice-to-voice with a wide array of people. I'm convinced now that I will never "see it all". If I have an exceptionally difficult call and speak with someone higher up than I about it, I find them lacking that surprise I had experienced. The reason? They can tell you a story along the same lines but even more surprising.
As usual I digress. The point is, if I have one, which I think I do, is that going back to work has been a roller-coaster ride for me. There are days where I feel great. I feel like I did nearly everything right, and quite often without having to call for help. Not that there's anything wrong with calling for help, actually, it's encouraged if you feel you're stuck, it's better to ask for help now than to risk doing it wrong and making a mess later. But I'm not too dense. If I ask the same question for two months running, I'm bound to catch on eventually. It's a learning curve, and really, does it matter that I'm on the lower end of the curve right now? I mean, for real? Sure it may take me a bit longer to catch on, but when I do, I usually put it into practice well. In the end isn't that the part that really matters?
I have a direct supervisor who I happen to think is one of the best things since sliced bread. I'm not just saying that because she was so understanding when I had bruised my ribs and needed a couple of days to heal a little. I'm saying this because no matter how down on myself I get, and believe me, I am harder on myself than anyone else is on me, she keeps encouraging me. I literally made the exact same mistake on four different calls one right after the other yesterday. Nothing urgent or vital that in any way could have affected anything on a booking, but still, a stupid little button mix-up mistake I had never made before since I started on the phones. And not only did I do it for the first time, I did it like four times in a row. I was angry and disappointed in myself, I still am in a little way, but she was just so calm about it all, reminding me that little mistakes happen, and they're bound to happen often when you're new. The point is to learn to shake it off and just move forward.
But I'm not that kind of woman. I don't shake things off quickly. Let me clarify, I don't shake off MY mistakes quickly. I can get a difficult caller, deal with it as best I can and typically just move forward. But when I make a mistake that I can't fix, like, immediately. I kick myself for every minute that I can't make that fix. One day the mistake I needed to fix immediately could have been rather serious. I caught it and knew it needed to be fixed but I couldn't call the supervisor until after I completed my next call.
By that time my anxiety level was rising quickly and knowing my limitations in repairing the situation didn't help that situation much either. The poor supervisor who got my call... Bless him. By the time he picked up the phone I had worked myself into such a lather that I began to cry - I fought the battle, but lost - as I explained my mistake. Again, it was a potentially serious mistake, but we're taught from the very beginning that there are very few mistakes that cannot be repaired if caught and reported. He worked so hard on calming me down that I honestly think that was the most difficult part of the call for him. If it wasn't so pitiful it would be funny. Well, maybe it's funny already, just not to me yet.
Having an honest to goodness schedule is a bit of an adjustment as well. Remember please, that you're speaking with the Queen of the Waking Obnoxiously Earlies. We're a small tribe, who wake at inhumane hours like 3am and are so awake that we don't even try pretense anymore and just make our way to our living rooms for coffee and TV while the rest of the world sleeps.
No big deal when I was a travel consultant. My phones weren't ringing off the hook anyway so if I needed a little afternoon nap, I could just have at it. Now I have to *make* myself take a snooze sometime during the Today Show with an alarm set so I have an hour or two with Ray, have our big family meal together before we both set off for work. As I understand it, my hours will be more aligned with my early bird hours in the nearish future. That will be good. It's much easier to cope with waking up at 3am if you're not working until 9pm. I just read how old a woman I've become...
Jason is always here and has his sorta-kinda full-time jobs as well. The dogs can be a full-time job in and of themselves, I swear they set secret doggie schedules between them of who will act like they desperately need to go out then walk away from the door and their other little doggie tricks. His other job is taking care of me. Everything from fetching me something if I need it between breaks, to making sure there's something for me to eat after work.
I have come so far and have so far to go. I know I need to relax. I can't allow every negative turn into some monster in my head. There will be calls that don't go well. There will be calls you just don't handle as well as you hoped you had. Mistakes will happen, they're inevitable since while we do work on computers, we are human. Most importantly is that as long as you continue to learn and move forward, the rest will happen less and less.
In the meantime, kicking yourself in your already double-wide ass does not help the situation.
Oh sweet goodness, starting a real job after nearly 30 years out of the workforce is one helluva transition. I mean, I knew it would be a real change of not just schedule, but lifestyle for me. Remember, knowing something is not the same as experiencing it. I know Alaska is beautiful, but I haven't been there!
Anyway, those first weeks in April were eye-opening to say the least. I mean I had the going into the office thing down pretty well. Professionally dressed and on time, alert and ready to learn. That I nailed. Then they installed my computer.
Shortly thereafter I learned that I wasn't alone in having crying jags after shifts ended. I still cry from time-to-time, but not nearly as often as I had in the beginning. I've gotten a lot more comfortable in my abilities to handle the most common situations with some degree of efficiency.
When taking the calls, they usually come in fast. I mean really fast. You no sooner end one call and another is ringing. It makes the day fly by, that's for sure. There is, quite literally, never a dull moment.
I also think I'm getting life lessons in human nature. Remember, I was a HOUSEwife for 20-some-odd years. In my case that means I rarely left the house at all. Part of it was no transportation for the majority of the time; the other part of it is was I didn't drive regularly since the kids graduated high school, so I became a little less confident behind the wheel than I had been in the past. (And since I have no reason to lie to you, I was never really all that fond of driving since leaving my native New Jersey anyway. But now I want to at least have the option to drive again.) In any event, my line to the outside world on a daily basis was, for the most part, the computer. First AOL, a stint on Cruise Critic then my beloved Facebook. But the point is, for the most part, my social interactions have been mostly through the written word.
I can imagine some reader out there thinking of some reclusive hunch-backed woman leaning over her keyboard -- cause that's what I see in my head when I read that last paragraph to myself, but that's not the case. I avoided the hunch but have the most tremendous ass on earth...and not in a good way. Just W I D E. Some may even say double-wide.
So anyway now I'm dealing voice-to-voice with a wide array of people. I'm convinced now that I will never "see it all". If I have an exceptionally difficult call and speak with someone higher up than I about it, I find them lacking that surprise I had experienced. The reason? They can tell you a story along the same lines but even more surprising.
As usual I digress. The point is, if I have one, which I think I do, is that going back to work has been a roller-coaster ride for me. There are days where I feel great. I feel like I did nearly everything right, and quite often without having to call for help. Not that there's anything wrong with calling for help, actually, it's encouraged if you feel you're stuck, it's better to ask for help now than to risk doing it wrong and making a mess later. But I'm not too dense. If I ask the same question for two months running, I'm bound to catch on eventually. It's a learning curve, and really, does it matter that I'm on the lower end of the curve right now? I mean, for real? Sure it may take me a bit longer to catch on, but when I do, I usually put it into practice well. In the end isn't that the part that really matters?
I have a direct supervisor who I happen to think is one of the best things since sliced bread. I'm not just saying that because she was so understanding when I had bruised my ribs and needed a couple of days to heal a little. I'm saying this because no matter how down on myself I get, and believe me, I am harder on myself than anyone else is on me, she keeps encouraging me. I literally made the exact same mistake on four different calls one right after the other yesterday. Nothing urgent or vital that in any way could have affected anything on a booking, but still, a stupid little button mix-up mistake I had never made before since I started on the phones. And not only did I do it for the first time, I did it like four times in a row. I was angry and disappointed in myself, I still am in a little way, but she was just so calm about it all, reminding me that little mistakes happen, and they're bound to happen often when you're new. The point is to learn to shake it off and just move forward.
But I'm not that kind of woman. I don't shake things off quickly. Let me clarify, I don't shake off MY mistakes quickly. I can get a difficult caller, deal with it as best I can and typically just move forward. But when I make a mistake that I can't fix, like, immediately. I kick myself for every minute that I can't make that fix. One day the mistake I needed to fix immediately could have been rather serious. I caught it and knew it needed to be fixed but I couldn't call the supervisor until after I completed my next call.
By that time my anxiety level was rising quickly and knowing my limitations in repairing the situation didn't help that situation much either. The poor supervisor who got my call... Bless him. By the time he picked up the phone I had worked myself into such a lather that I began to cry - I fought the battle, but lost - as I explained my mistake. Again, it was a potentially serious mistake, but we're taught from the very beginning that there are very few mistakes that cannot be repaired if caught and reported. He worked so hard on calming me down that I honestly think that was the most difficult part of the call for him. If it wasn't so pitiful it would be funny. Well, maybe it's funny already, just not to me yet.
Having an honest to goodness schedule is a bit of an adjustment as well. Remember please, that you're speaking with the Queen of the Waking Obnoxiously Earlies. We're a small tribe, who wake at inhumane hours like 3am and are so awake that we don't even try pretense anymore and just make our way to our living rooms for coffee and TV while the rest of the world sleeps.
No big deal when I was a travel consultant. My phones weren't ringing off the hook anyway so if I needed a little afternoon nap, I could just have at it. Now I have to *make* myself take a snooze sometime during the Today Show with an alarm set so I have an hour or two with Ray, have our big family meal together before we both set off for work. As I understand it, my hours will be more aligned with my early bird hours in the nearish future. That will be good. It's much easier to cope with waking up at 3am if you're not working until 9pm. I just read how old a woman I've become...
Jason is always here and has his sorta-kinda full-time jobs as well. The dogs can be a full-time job in and of themselves, I swear they set secret doggie schedules between them of who will act like they desperately need to go out then walk away from the door and their other little doggie tricks. His other job is taking care of me. Everything from fetching me something if I need it between breaks, to making sure there's something for me to eat after work.
I have come so far and have so far to go. I know I need to relax. I can't allow every negative turn into some monster in my head. There will be calls that don't go well. There will be calls you just don't handle as well as you hoped you had. Mistakes will happen, they're inevitable since while we do work on computers, we are human. Most importantly is that as long as you continue to learn and move forward, the rest will happen less and less.
In the meantime, kicking yourself in your already double-wide ass does not help the situation.