Book of Jamez

55 y/o malcontent, something of a writer

Tag: office life

  • Promoting Change

    A few years back I worked for a small firm and, like always, I was looking to improve processes and make things run better than they currently were.

    The whole staff had company Blackberries that got their email and calls, yet they still hand wrote phone messages and had staff stop at the front desk to get them. I thought this was a rather odd way to do things given the available technology.

    At the monthly meeting I brought up the notion of sending emails and calls to the folks Blackberries directly so they could respond sooner. You would have thought I asked if we could try communicating telepathicaly or something… they were aghast.  (more…)

  • Purpose

    I wasn’t always a good worker. I was young and stupid once upon a time.

    One of my first jobs, at Arby’s I was insulted that they didn’t recognize how important I was in my own head. At my break they told me to hurry back as we were getting a rush. I was so offended they didn’t know how hard I had worked already that I never went back.

    Factory work was the next step for me – assembly plants, plastic injection molding, silk-screen printing and furniture (fabricated wood mostly and working with glazes for sweet finishes). That was more to my liking – everyone seemed to be a drinker (like me) and I was introduced to some other fun things not to be mentioned.

    I just showed up to collect the paycheck and see friends and then I’d head to the bar or home and complain, to who ever would listen, how awful my job was. Many a job was lost because I called in sick a lot, fell asleep on the job or just didn’t care.

    I somehow found myself working in an office overnights at a half-way house. The secretary would ask me if I could do tasks for her and I said sure… having no idea how to actually do what she wanted. I taught myself how to use Microsoft Windows back in 1994.. amazing as that was. I found that I was actually not to bad at figuring out how to use computers for that type of thing.  (more…)