The Vow

No, this isn’t a post about the Rachel McAdams movie.  This is about a vow of another type.

The last couple weeks have been….trying, to say the least.  But it just so happened that I was reading the right book at the right time.  The Art of the Sale by Phillip Broughton.  Not a book I would normally read, but I picked it up on a whim because selling is one of my weakest skills and I figured it couldn’t hurt to at least gain some more academic knowledge of the subject, even if I’m unlikely to put most of it to the test.  One of the reoccurring themes was optimism.  Not surprising if you think about it.  A salesperson might get 199 rejections for every 1 sale.  You can’t be a pessimist and survive that.

Thursday was a particularly bad day. The stress was getting to the boiling point.  So, before I went in to work, I made myself mentally make a list of all the pros and cons in my life, to remind myself that the pros far, far, far outweigh the cons, and that this latest and greatest con would only be short-lived.  That was the day I ended up making amends with Shelley.

I was going to blog about my pros and cons list, but first I wanted to look over my old Thanksgiving “what I’m Thankful for” posts to make sure I hadn’t missed anything.  So I simply searched my posts for the word ‘thankful.’  Turns out the second hit was a post from January 2011 about the Marc drama.  I started re-reading my posts from the first half of 2011.  Damn.  I didn’t realize how bad it was.

It’s quite possible that my blog is skewed- it is an outlet, after all, and I’m more likely to blog about a crappy day than a normal, fairly pleasant one – but there was so much bitterness, I couldn’t believe it.  I even had a couple posts about how frustrated and angry I was with my parents- re-reading those posts makes me cringe with embarrassment at how immature they sound.  But, it also puts the current month into perspective.

Yes, the first half of May 2012 has, on the whole, sucked.  Especially (actually, only) on the job front.  But I CANNOT let that drag me down.  I don’t want to be bitter.  I don’t want to be angry.  I don’t want to have regrets.  I want to enjoy my life as much as I can and keep looking up during the down periods.  The rest of May looks pretty good (Rangers are still in the playoffs, I’m having a much-needed happy hour with Kim on Tuesday, and I’m going to see my family  5 times in the next 10 days, which is practically unprecedented), and that’s what I need to focus on.  Forget Shelley, forget the stupid catastrophe claims, forget all the negativity from some coworkers.  I just have to deal with it the best I can and keep my eye on the big picture.  My life is good, and it’s only going to get better

Back to normal

I’m happy to report that work is now more or less back to normal.  Not because of anything my boss did, mind you.  She actually tried with all of her heart to make the atmosphere as tense and awkward as possible.  As in giving me and Brian the silent treatment, refusing to acknowledge us if we passed in the hallway (unless it was to cast a contemptuous glance our way), and often sending us away if we had a question because she was “too busy” and then five minutes later having a half hour conversation with Katie about tanning….  I know, tres juvenile of her.  But that’s just who she is.  For the first time in my life I literally dreaded the thought of going to work every morning and having to deal with her bs.  So, on Thursday I decided to be the bigger person.  Me.  Not my 40+ year old manager.  Me.

 

First thing in the morning I went into her office, noted that it had been very tense, and apologized if she had thought I was “challenging” her  or trying to stir up trouble the week before.  Even though I don’t think I have anything to apologize for (not my fault she’s incapable of having a serious discussion with an employee about their concerns and instead takes everything personally and then lashes out and holds a grudge….) but I’m not stupid.  I have to work with this woman for who knows how many more months (until I leave next spring in all likelihood) and I need her to write me a positive recommendation letter in October.  The simpler solution would have been to find another job, but as previously noted I have a 2 week trip already booked in November and am planning on moving next spring/early summer, so the cost of leaving is just not worth it. Better to make the best of it.  And though I do think that she absolutely should have been the one to initiate the conversation, I’ve accepted that that’s not her managerial style.  She’s one who needs her ego stroked constantly and is insecure enough that she can’t handle even indirect criticism.  She did grudgingly admit that “a lot of things have gone on that she hasn’t liked, but she is trying to change her attitude.”  She looked like she’d rather be sucking a lemon than saying those words, so I take a little comfort in the fact that our other manager apparently has stood up for us in meetings with their boss and it seems like he’s told her to chill out.

 

My timing couldn’t have been better because later that day she was going around and figuring out the schedule (she can’t really justify overtime anymore) and told me I could have my regular days off this weekend rather than working half a day each day as had been previously agreed.  The people who had yet to make amends are, needless to say, not as lucky as I.  Sometimes you just have to swallow your pride and make the boss happy in order to survive with your sanity intact, as distasteful as it may be.

Avengers

I saw the Avengers this afternoon and it was AMAZING.  The only Avengers-related film I’d seen before this was Captain America which I thought was good, but not great.  Avengers was witty, entertaining, and had just the right mix of storyline and action. I’m usually constantly checking the time in the theater (I hate to sit still for hours at a time, no matter how much I’m enjoying the movie) but not during this film. I can’t wait until the sequel comes out, though who knows when that will be.  Luckily, Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and Captain America 2 are all due out within the next two years to tide me over.  Now I just have to catch up on Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and Thor (not so interested in the Hulk).  Guess I know what I’ll be doing next time I have a day off

Rebel

If it seems like my blog is being taken over by work, that’s because this blog tends to be a reflection of my life, and work has certainly taken that over.  I’m being rebellious today and not working (and the director of claims closed the entire office tomorrow, so I’m getting 2 days off in a row! Woo-hoo!).  The week leading up to this, however, has been far from smooth sailing.

Let me start off by saying that this isn’t about the extra work or the extra hours.  Cats happen, you have to buckle down and get the job done.  It’s part of claims.  I get that.  What I don’t get is how Shelley expects us to step up to the plate when she can’t even treat us like human beings.  Every single one of us has the same complaints.  Every.  Single.  One.  Yet she refuses to listen to any of them and just blames us for anything that goes wrong while simultaneously threatening us if we express our concerns.  So for any would-be catastrophe managers, here’s a list of common complaints and tips on how to avoid them:

1.  Lack of communication.  Be absolutely clear about expectations from the start.  This is especially important if the cat team is full of adjusters who have never worked a cat before and who therefore don’t know the exact logistics of what it entails.  It doesn’t matter that you’ve worked in claims for 15 years and willingly volunteered for so many cats that it’s second nature to you.  It matters that your team understands.

2.  Mixed messages.  Once you’ve very clearly spelled out the expectations, enforce them uniformly.  If you go on vacation during the first week of the cat and people take one or both of their normal days off and no one in management (or even non-management for that matter) says anything to them, it’s not fair to punish and yell at them for doing the same thing the next week.  How are they supposed to know that it’s not okay if you don’t tell them before they do it?

3.  Shutting out complaints.  When multiple people come to you with their concerns about the lack of clear communication, don’t turn it around and blame them for not asking you questions, and don’t question their loyalty and accuse them of hiding behind vague wording as an excuse to be slackers. Seriously, that’s not going to win you anyone’s support.  And it’s going to make people stop opening up to you because they know you won’t listen.

4.  Because I told you so syndrome.  The wrong way to garner support for a cat is to tell people that they are now on the cat team and this is what we’re doing, and if you don’t like it, there’s the door.  The right way is to present it in a manner such as this:  ”Hey guys, there was a catastrophe and we are in the perfect position to help since we already have 7 days-a-week coverage and most of you are young and single.  We need people to step up and work the next few weeks basically without days off, though we’re open to negotiation if you have prior plans.  This would really help the company and the members and would showcase what we can do.  So, who’s in?”  I guarantee you every single one of us would have stepped up.

Ugh, I really need to stop ranting about work, but this blog has definitely become an outlet.  They’re lucky my Japan trip is booked for November, because I’m not going to find another job that’ll let me take 2 weeks off in a row within the first six months, but after that, all bets are off.  I don’t know, I guess I just don’t appreciate being told that wanting a day off makes me a disappointment and will hurt my career,  It makes me wonder if I really want to work for a company that will punish me for taking 2 days off in 14, nevermind that I’m working extra hours on the days I am there.  Ah well, such is life and I guess I’ll just have to deal with it until November….. only 6 months and 2 days until my trip is over….

Not exactly what I signed up for….

The past week or so at work has been….interesting, to say the least.  As previously noted, our first anniversary was last Wednesday, April 25th.  That Friday at about 4:30pm, Shelley dropped the bomb on me that she had decided not to put in for the promotion she promised me, because my customer service scores had dramatically gone down over the past month.  Apparently it doesn’t matter that the only reason that happened is that the only claims they gave me were hail catastrophe claims from Texas which brought everyone’s scores down….the difference being that everyone else had plenty of “normal” claims to help balance their scores while I did not.  Oh and the people who gave bad scores gave bad scores because of nothing that had to do with me (like unhappiness with the tow they set up on their own before they even called in the claim…) To say I was pissed would be the understatement of the century.  Normally if I get ticked at work I can shake it off within an hour of being home.  Not this time.  I was literally ticked all weekend.  I couldn’t even forget about work because she texted me on Saturday night and Sunday morning begging me to come in an help with the hail catastrophe claims that had just happened in St. Louis.  Needless to say, I ignored her.

Then comes Monday, when I go in and learn that we are no longer the weekend unit, we are the catastrophe (aka cat) team and are expected to work 10-12 hours days and come in 7 days a week.  And unlike normal cat teams, we’re expected to keep working on the pending claims we had before the storm.  Not a big deal for me who, as a relief adjuster, had less than two dozen open, but everyone else’s work managers are blowing up.  I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday returning the voicemails for all seven of my team members.  It. Was. F-ing. Insane.   I worked long hours (luckily we do get overtime, so that’s something) and couldn’t leave my desk even for a 10 minute water break, let alone a lunch break, because if I did I would come back to literally 20+ voicemails.  I finally got Shelley to have someone else help me before I snapped, but their expectations are still insane. They want us to be on the phones answering incoming calls while making outgoing calls while paying estimates.  Not sure how they figure that’s going to work….  I refused to go in yesterday and I’m only going in for a couple of hours today.  Maybe I’ll go in next Saturday, but Mother’s Day is a no-go.  They’re just gonna have to deal with it.  They can’t force me to work an 80 hour week.  I think 55-60ish is way more than enough….

None of us are happy about being volunteered for this hellish work (yes, Shelley and Cynthia volunteered us). I know personally that I’ve never hated my job before, but I hate it now. Cat claims are mindless, never-ending drudgery.  Every claim is basically the same.  Same damage, same complaints, same angry people yelling at you.  4000+ times. It’s odd – I could work 12 hour days at LJB during busy season if I needed to.  Filing applications is also mindless drudgery, but for me it was better because you could tangibly see the results of your work, there was a specific date when it would all be over, and you didn’t have to call some angry person on every single file that you touched. You just buckled down, got in the zone, and got it done. Seriously, I can’t understand people who do cat claims for a living.  It’s only been a week and I’m ready to gouge my eyes out so I don’t have to deal with it anymore!  I can only hope that we aren’t the default cat team for all the rest of the storms that are going to happen this summer, but I know better than that…  is it next spring yet?  I’m ready to be out of here.

Curiouser and curiouser…

Mini-me’s birthday is in exactly one month, so while I was at Walmart today I browsed the toy aisles to see if anything caught my eye.  Several things did, but for all the wrong reasons.  What happened to good ol’ wholesome Polly Pocket and Tamagotchi pets?

The button eyes on the La-La-Loopsie dolls make me think of the undead...

A potty training babydoll is weird enough, but the uber-concentrated and not-so-cute look on his/her face makes it even more awkward...

Barbies are so 1990s. Gothic, creepy, scantily-clad yet totally fashion conscious monsters are where it's at.

Don't forget the matching outfit for your little ghoulish princess

I was actually pleasantly surprised by the Bratz. This one had the least clothes of all and she was still way more covered up than I thought she would be given the reputation...

Safe to say I don't have "Bieber Fever," and I'm not looking to encourage that raging illness in my sister....ever. Let's stick with Ken.

 

 

Perk

Yesterday was our one year anniversary at work, and it was certainly one of the more fun (and fattening) days I’ve had.

First, Cynthia (one of the managers) brought in hash browns from McDonalds and a fruit tray for breakfast.  Then we went to O’Charlies for a free lunch.  And when we got back in the office there was cake.  But THE highlight of the day had to be when Brian and I drove the SmartCar to and from lunch.  AAA has two SmartCars.  A perk of employment is that they are at your disposal any time you want

The first question you will ask after you turn the ignition is: “Wait…is it on? Are you sure?”  The complete, absolute silence is eerie.  But yes, it is on, and assuming your seatbelt is fastened, it will begin to move after you apply significant pressure to the gas.  It feels a little like driving a golf cart, though all the buttons and switches and weird eyeball looking things on the dash accompanied with a high pitched squeal as you accelerate make it seem more like a spaceship.

When you try to brake, you will learn that it doesn’t quite stop on a dime.  Upon entering the highway, you will notice that, while it can accelerate at almost the same pace as a regular car, it tops out at 65 downhill – 55 up.  The pedal will literally be to the metal and you’ll still have people zooming by in vehicles that probably weigh at least 3 times as much as yours.  You will also make another discovery when changing lanes – there is no blind spot, because there is no second half of the car.  Seriously.  If you have to make a sharp turn, you will automatically wonder how fast you can take a corner before the whole thing just rolls over.  And then you wonder how you’d survive if you were in any kind of accident- then you realize that you probably wouldn’t, so you should be extra careful.  SmartCar vs Pickup does not look good for the SmartCar…..

Every car you pass (well, I should say every car that passes you) will turn their head and stare.  What, haven’t they ever seen a bright blue and neon green Smart Car decked out in AAA gear before?  If you put the windows down and blare Michael Jackson, you may even get an enthusiastic AAA member rolling down their window specifically to wave at you with a giant grin on their face.  Some people might be embarrassed by all the attention, but those who have had the privilege of driving this space-age piece of equipment know that everyone else is just jealous that they are not even half as cool as you are

 

PS: In keeping with the car theme, I saw this car the other day – hard to tell in the pics, but this is the first time I’ve seen a legit European import car, complete with the steering wheel on the right side!

Happy Anniversaries

April 7 was the one year anniversary of when I got my very first car with the title in my name.  Yay car payments and insurance…..

April 11th was the one year anniversary of the last real conversation I had with Marc according to gmail (September trip not included because that was a forced (by him) conversation which consisted mostly of me telling him to stay out of my life)

April 14th was the 3rd anniversary of EK’s blog and the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  Coincidence that she chose that date to start her blog?

April 25th will be my one year anniversary with AAA.  With any luck, if I make it to two, it’ll be just barely  Nothing against the company, because it’s a great place to work in terms of benefits and health care, but I have other plans.

And, of course, April 6th was the 23rd anniversary of the birth of one of my bffs, Kim, and April 29th will be the 23rd anniversary of Emily

Wow…I never knew April had so many anniversaries

Random Musings

Another one of those “I don’t have enough to say about any one thing to justify multiple posts” post

1. In an effort to bolster my grad school application, I’ve been trying to find a place to volunteer.  Not just any place, though.  I want to volunteer at a place that looks good and can help me develop some good skills and/or connections.  So instead of the Humane Society, I decided to try the USO.  Turns out they only need people to work the midnight-6am shift.  Sigh.  Back to the drawing board….. Looks like it might be the Humane Society after all.

2. The Rangers are on the edge of elimination. If they don’t win the next two games, they’re out of the playoffs.  It’s only the first round, and this is the team that finished second overall in the NHL!  They’ve lived on the edge all season with their lack of offense and now it’s catching up to them.  Not saying they can’t win the next two games, but the stars need to come to work – something they haven’t really done since game one.   This is a Stanley Cup Playoff series, guys, not some throw-away game in October…. (what makes this even worse is that the STL Blues just advanced to round 2, so all around me I have to listen to chatter about how great the Blues are…)

3. I miss the no-lease renting situation I had in NYC.  True, I disliked having roommates, but it was nice that I could literally bail with a day’s notice.  It’s time for my lease renewal here, and not only did my rent increase (along with them deciding not to include water, sewer, and trash anymore), but I have to sign for a 12 month term, which would run through the end of next June.  If I get into grad school this year (which I should know by November or December), then I would start looking for jobs in February or March and be looking to move as soon as I landed one.  The cost for breaking my lease is approximately 2.5 month’s rent.  Ouch.  But if I wait until it runs its course I would have to time my relocation perfectly, and I’m not sure I have that kind of power in this kind of economy.  I would try to relocate now, but I don’t think a new employer would look too kindly on my 2 week Japan trip in November…. Oh well, what’s a little money in the long run?  Sigh.

4.  Speaking of what I miss in NYC, the # 2 thing (#1 is EK, of course ) is Central Park.  Forest Park’s grown on me, but only because there is no real alternative.  But trust me, every time I’m physically walking there, I’m mentally walking through Central Park.

5.  I still don’t get Emily and Zach.  I talked to her last Sunday and she said that she thinks she’s getting closer to convincing him to leave his job and move in with her.  At the same time, she’s been taking free tango lessons and hanging out with the single guys in the class on her down time.  And apparently Zach’s totally okay with this. Smh.  They have an odd dynamic going on.  I know better than to give her advice (and, to be fair, if I were in her position I would want other people to butt out too) but I’m not sure if she’s really thought through the financials of supporting someone else with her part-time gig.

6.  I’m officially giving up on the online dating thing, at least for the foreseeable future.  For one thing, I’d rather meet someone in person.  For another, most people online have issues. I don’t mean issues like mine – where I’m on there because I’m just not into the bar/club scene and there’s really nowhere else to meet people around here – but real issues.  Sorry, but I don’t do drama and I don’t do 100 pounds of baggage…..

7.  1/2 cup oatmeal made with milk + 1 egg white + 1tsp olive oil = amazing facial that leaves your skin feeling silky soft and smooth the next morning

Another Day in Paradise…

Thursday and Friday were sooo mentally draining this week.  I try really hard not to bash work too often on this blog, so today I’m going to try to keep it more of a “factual observation” post.

As a relief adjuster, my job is basically to put out fires on the days when everyone else (except for one other relief adjuster) is off.  Since I’m on a six month shift and the other adjuster rotates monthly, I usually take responsibility for the adjusters whose work I know is going to be a mess, since the other relief adjuster still has some of their own claims to work (with the hail storm in Texas, so do I, but I’m faster than most others).  Some weeks it’s easy.  Some, like this past week, every third voicemail takes you into a claim that hasn’t been touched in over a month and has MAJOR work that needs to be done.  I bring the really bad ones to the attention of my manager as kind of an “FYI, heads up, you might want to look at this” thing, but try to avoid bad-mouthing the other adjusters.  We all know who they are because the problems are hardly new, and talking bad isn’t going to solve anything. At least, that’s my position.  My manager seems to have a slightly different one….

The other relief adjuster this month is Katie.  She’s the 23 year old ultimate sorority chick who still lives at home and has her parents pay for everything and probably couldn’t fend for herself if her life depended on it.  One of her main skills is throwing other people under the bus (even for her own mistakes).  She’s constantly in Shelley’s office slamming other people for messing up or not doing things exactly the way she would do them – and she even slams them to the CUSTOMER while on the phone with them.  Nothing boosts customer satisfaction like telling them their main adjuster is incompetent and pointing out how much better you think you are….

We all know Katie does this and pretty much universally detest her for it, but Shelley doesn’t see it because Katie is her BFF and can do no wrong.  Look Shelley, I know you moved her from California and have almost no friends here, but you’re a grown woman and our manager – gossiping with your subordinates all the time does not exactly strike me as appropriate.  But whatever, we’ve all accepted the blatant favoritism towards Katie and Jill (Katie’s BFF and another stay-at-home sorority girl who can’t manage her workload but who never gets yelled at, unlike some of the guys on the team).  But now Shelley’s trying to draw me into it.  She’ll call me over to go over claims where she clearly already knows what wasn’t done or what was messed up and tries to bait me into slamming the main adjusters.  Sorry, that’s going to be Katie’s job alone.

My job is to fix the fires immediately and let you know they’re there if I think they’re going to blow up further or if something was really screwed up.  Your job is to talk with/mentor the adjusters making the mistakes and fix it permanently. Gossiping about how badly Ryan and Jason and Jim handle their claims and workload (but mysteriously not Jill….) isn’t fixing anything, so please, grow up, stop the favoritism, and actually try managing in a helpful manner. It’s not easy, but that’s why you get paid the big bucks. As opposed to me, who gets paid less than Ryan and Jim and yet is constantly expected to fix their messes while you do absolutely nothing productive about it….

 

But hey, I can’t be too negative.  I have a job that pays the rent and allows me to travel when and where I want, with managers who recognize that I’m very good at what I do (both my direct manager and the people above her), so I have good prospects for the next year or so until I (hopefully) move on for grad school.