I Accept!

After visiting The Book Vixen, I was inspired to participate in one of the reading challenges she is hosting, Outdo Yourself. Check out what I'm taking on by visiting my Reading Challenge page.

I'm not one to set goals and don't feel this is one of those moments. Accepting this challenge is more like stating the obvious to myself, because I'll read at least 30 books regardless of whether or not I tell anyone. But this way I get to have fun sharing it with everyone and hopefully make some new friends along the way.

Merry iPad, I Got A Christmas

No, I didn't wake up Christmas morning to an iPad, because that would mean my boss was at my house this morning. I’ll just let that sink in... yes, you have interpreted correctly, my boss bought me an iPad for Christmas.

So why didn’t I blog about it sooner, like when I got it -- three days ago? Hmmm... could it be... I’ve been playing with it? Discovering the new world that has opened up to me? Basking in the glory of no longer being a technologically late bloomer, who only learned to text a year ago, to being someone who can stand up and declare, “I’ve downloaded an app!” Oh, how far I’ve come.

But let’s get back to the fact that my greatest stride came courtesy of my boss. To answer the previously posed question: No, I haven’t been too busy playing with my new iPad to blog. Truth: I’ve been shocked into writer’s block. Because my boss has NEVER in all the years I’ve worked for him EVER bought me a Christmas present.

Believe me when I say I’ve looked long and hard for an app to help me deal with the feels of guilt and remorse one has when one's previously difficult boss suddenly does something shockingly awesome. It doesn’t exist. Oh, but making your employee love you, my boss found out, they do have an app for that.

I Will Stop Fighting With My Boss In The Shower

I haven’t quite come up with a plan on how I’m going to change my attitude. Procrastination is part of my problem. So I guess I better just get started somewhere, otherwise, I might never get going on this attitude change.

The easiest place to start is where no problems actually exist. These are the problems I create in my mind. I just KNOW what my boss is going to say during some scenario I’m SURE will happen at work. It usually doesn’t happen and when it does, it usually doesn’t go down how I thought. Usually. And then sometimes it does. And that once in a while is enough for my mind to further speculate future scenarios.

Now if these scenarios played out at work right before something might or might not happen, it would be one thing. But these scenarios nag at me during my non-work hours - while I’m driving to work, while I’m showering, while I’m trying to fall back asleep after waking up in the middle of the night.

And then I saw this:

“The human brain cannot distinguish between a real event and an imagined event. You will experience this if you think about something in your life, perhaps something happy or sad, with such intensity that you can create all the emotions of the event as if it were actually happening.”
           -- Excerpt from “Be Your Own Life Coach” by Jeff Archer

So, as far as my brain is concerned I’m working during these scenarios - and not getting paid! This has got to stop.

Training For A New Attitude

Now I wouldn’t expect myself to go out and run a marathon without first training for it. Nor would I expect myself to speak a new language without first studying it. So why do I expect myself to change my attitude about where I am in my life, overnight. It doesn’t seem like I’m being fair to myself.

So I’m going to start training for a new attitude by, well, I’m really not clear on the how. I wish I could type in some fabulous bullet points with the steps I’m going to take, but I'll have to get back to you. I'm sure part of training is researching what you have to do to train. If not, just go with me, please!

Anyway... there is no better time than now, not because it’s the present, but because everyone’s temporary good tidings will make it go easier. Believe it or not, even my boss is getting in on it and that will make the good attitude less of a challenge.

I’m going to keep the following quote in mind:

“Life is not about weathering the storm, it about learning to dance in the rain.”

Because it reminds me to stop trying to fight against my situation and learn to enjoy where I am today.

All The Breaks

Last week it felt like the office equipment was banning together to strike, as one by one they stopped working. Okay, so maybe it would have been more of a strike if it would have happened at the same time, but it happened close enough together to make an impression.

It started with our modem. Once we got that fixed, which was done by simply unplugging it, the copier had it’s turn. The quick unplug fix didn’t exactly work on the copier. It required a technician to walk us through reprogramming it to forget there was a jam that, by the way, really wasn’t there in the first place. And once that was fixed, the postage machine was throwing up it’s own error code. Now that fix was back to the basic unplug.

The pattern was clear: none of them were really broken, they only thought something was wrong.

So maybe if I could learn to unplug from my own problems at work, I could come back better too. Because, really, problems aren’t suppose to last forever. We should be able to fix them and, I guess, move onto new problems. I know, it isn’t perfect, but it’s got to be better than holding onto the same jam forever.

Please Don't Drill Us

On Monday two guys walked in with a drill and a bag. No, this isn’t the start of a joke. Although the way the situation was handle, well, you decide.

My boss, my favorite co-worker and I were all up front when the two guys came through the door. They told us they were there for the bottled water system. We don’t have one. So they changed their story to being there for our filtration system. Bingo! We have one of those and said as much, because you give that kind of information when someone is holding a drill like a gun.

I was all ready for them to take it, but it wasn't that type of situation. They explained there was a recall on a part and they needed to replace the part. Now if my boss had been in his office receiving the information, safely away from these intimidating looking guys, he would have ask a million questions like:

What do they want?

Recall? What recall?

What part?

And so on...

But when face-to-face with a drill, my boss didn’t ask a single question. They showed no identification nor did they have any paperwork. They were able to walk freely to our cafeteria and do whatever it was they did, because no one stayed with them to supervise. Then when they were done replacing whatever it was they left.

Needless to say, I didn’t drink any water from the filtration system after that. I’m sure the water was fine, because honestly, our company isn’t a place anyone would want to terrorize. That’s left up to my boss.

Copying With The Enemy

Yesterday when I said my boss wasn’t helpful, well, I forgot about this one instance:

While I was copying a stack of packing slips and bill of ladings, I got called away to tend to another task. I forgot about the copy job and was back at my desk working on another task. Out of nowhere my boss came over with my copies and said, “You left these on the copier. I thought you might need them.”

Holy heart failure, Batman!

Maybe it doesn’t seem like a big deal, until you hear the one about:

Once, while I was in the vicinity of the copy machine, my boss ran out of paper while copying. He popped open the paper tray and walked back to his office (where no paper is kept), leaving the copy job in mid-copy and the tray open for me to fill with paper. He didn’t ask, it was insinuated -- like, obviously, I should do it. The idea of him putting paper in the tray himself, gasp!

In A Single Bound

Today everyone in the office was off work except for me. Well, my boss was there in body, but honestly, I don’t think anyone would be surprised if I don’t count him as helpful.

I only found out I’d be covering the entire office function yesterday. To prepare: I complained, a lot. I also made the following declarations: 

• I won’t enter orders unless they are so hot the customer calls in tears.
• I won’t make the daily deposit.
• I won’t worry about answering every phone call. Hello, voicemail!
• I won't ship out orders that aren't on the have-to schedule.

Oh, there was a whole lot more, but you get the idea. I won’t bore anyone with all my crabbing. Maybe I sound over dramatic. But, to me, it seemed realistic not to expect myself to do everything. I’m not a superwoman who can do all jobs at once.

Or so I thought, because today I kicked some serious paper-pushing butt. Yes, I got it all done and then some!