Pet Peeves

I just realized that despite having plenty to say, I haven't updated this blog in way too long. So I will do so by commenting on something that has become a pet peeve as of late. It really bugs me when I am in a store shopping, you know, just doing my thing, and a sales person comes up behind me and starts talking to me. It isn't that they started talking to me, but the fact that they are talking to my back.

Maybe I am being rude and obnoxious here, but really, you want me to stop looking at what I am checking out, turn around, and respond to you?

I am one of those shoppers that does my own thing, usually I know what I want, or am just seeing what there is to see and if I need help, I will ask for it. If I am busy looking at something, the last thing I want to do is to turn around and respond. I don't mind a sales person being friendly or trying to help, it annoys me when they talk to my backside and want a response.
Yesterday I was at one of the big box stores getting a few things and I heard what sounded like someone yelling at me from behind saying, "How are you today, miss?" Then a, "HOW ARE YOU MISS?" When I stopped and turned around, she realized she had already greeted me and said, "Ha, ha. Hope you are finding things okay," as she ran off. I thought, if you just would have talked to my face instead of my backside, you would have known you already talked to me today!

                 

                                     

Climbing on Roofs?

Today I decided to look at some job postings just to see what is out there. I was looking at one job and noticed the following:

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS
Subject to relocation.
Occasional long, irregular work hours.
Travel, including overnight travel, as required.
Repeated use of PC, telephone, and office machines.
Extended periods of sitting and concentrating.
Regular bending, twisting, crouching, pulling, pushing, and reaching in an office or field environment.
Regular physical activities, including lifting, carrying, and using a 35-pound ladder, as well as climbing on roofs.

I don't know about you, but I don't necessarily consider regular physical activities to include climbing on roofs.

Scraping My Pride Off the Gym Floor

Like many people, with the new year come new resolutions and I am definitely a goal setter. I actually have a hard time wanting to set resolutions, not because I don't think I will accomplish them, but because to me, it makes more sense to make resolutions in the spring or fall. Why?? Because in the spring once winter has begun to thaw, I feel the sense of newness, with all its new beginnings and excitement for the wonderful spring and summer weather with all the adventures that ensue. With fall, I again feel the sense of newness and new beginnings as the air becomes crisp and many go back to school.


What does all this have to do with 'scraping my pride off the gym floor'? Well, each new year, I set goals for different half-marathons and other races I want to run that year. Along with those goals come my renewal of a goal to run at least 1000 miles during the year. I break it down so I know how many miles I need to run each day, week and month to make the goal. Well, tonight I was at my local gym running my heart out and
(hopefully) running those holiday pounds off. I recently downloaded a new app for my iphone that I was excited to use during my run and rather than stop the treadmill and open the app, I just started it up while running.


All the sudden my reflexes kicked in and I was grasping for the handles to help me regain my footing and balance. I caught them, but since the treadmill was still going, it did nothing but prolong the fall. Eventually (and after several attempts to save myself) I ended up on the ground nearly hitting my head on the treadmill. A neighboring runner stopped and asked if I needed any help and I replied that I could get myself and my pride off the gym floor okay.


In an effort to regain some of that lost pride, I got back up on that treadmill and ran the rest of my workout. Because I got up so fast and went right back at it, the pain from the scrapes and bruises were minimal. Now, a couple days after the workout, definitely feel the scrapes and bruises and will for days to come. But at least I scraped my pride off that gym floor.

Waiting

Since the time I became unemployed, I have discovered that I do not like the interview process. It isn't the actual interview, the anticipation or nervousness that comes or even all the time you put into researching the companies that you interview with. For me, it is the complete and utter disrespect and double standard that exists.

If you go to any interview/job help web site, you see that they all say to show up early, even to map the time and distance from where you will be coming from to the place that you will interview to check for possible detours, etc. However, what do they say to the interviewer?

Obviously nothing as the last 2 job interviews I have had, the interviewer has been at least 20 minutes late! 20!! Yeah, it is an employers market right now and employers feel that anyone who gets a job offer should be happy they are even getting an offer, but my word! My time is valuable too! If I wasn't here waiting for you, I could be out there looking for a job at a company that may actually appreciate my skills and talents and might make some money from the effort that I put in to making them more profitable!

The other day I was told that if they 'gave' me the job I was interviewing me for I would have to, and I quote, "work my butt off" for them. Let's think about that for a second. Don't most employees work hard, especially in these days of economic turmoil? I would venture a guess to say that some even work really hard while others do, in fact work their butts off for their employer. I would also venture a guess that those that literally work their butts off are most likely paid fairly for working their butts off. This company was not willing to pay me to work my butt off. And to be honest when they said that, I had little desire to continue to sell myself so I would get the job. Is that bad? I don't feel bad. In that moment, especially after waiting over 20 minutes for the interviewer to show up, I decided the company was not a match for me. I resisted the urge to walk out of the interview out of respect for a friend who works at that company and continued the interview. When they called me a few days later to tell me they decided to promote a current employee into the position, I sighed a breath of relief. They made it so I wouldn't have to tell my friend I didn't want to work for her company and didn't have to feel bad about declining a job in this 'tough economic climate.'

To employers out there, despite this tough economic time, there are a lot of awesome potential employees out there who are willing to work extremely hard for you. They are people who through no fault of their own are unemployed. Maybe their CEO made some bad decisions and the company has suffered. Maybe their goods and/or services are ones that other companies have to cut back on at this time, despite their efforts to keep their companies profitable, things sometimes just happen!

Don't treat them like you are being benevolent and 'giving' them a job and a paycheck. You aren't. You have a need for someone to do something for you. You must pay this person fairly for their efforts. You feel that your time is valuable. So do employees. If you take advantage and pay them less because you feel you can because the economy is bad, watch out! The second the economy is better and they find a better company or a better paying job, they will be out of your company and on to the better one and you will be out the money and time you put into training and have to spend more time and money in training the new person AND you will have to pay the next person more money!

Things I have said and done

I have been shocked and amazed over the years by a variety of things, and I have learned that despite my own best wishes and desires, I am not perfect. I say and do things that I shouldn't and actually make mistakes. I don't realize it in the moment, but fortunately am blessed with friends and family who help me learn from my mistakes. In fact, my grandfather had a gift. When I was young I didn't think of it as a gift, but when my family would visit him, he would observe you and by the end of the trip, he would tell each of us what we needed to do to become a better person. He would usually tell me I was selfish. I didn't really like it when he would tell me this and I would tell him as much. His response was that he loved me and he wanted the best for me and if he could point out these things then I could fix them and avoid struggling later in life. My grandpa was great. I absolutely love him and appreciate everything he ever did for me. I remember him saying that he wished he had someone to tell him how he could be better when he was younger. Despite him telling me my weaknesses, he also told me how great I am, and coming from him, it really meant a lot.

 Despite having someone fabulous telling me how to be better, I still did and still do things that make me cringe. When I was a kid and a new girl moved into my ward, I was so jealous that she had her ears pierced. I desperately wanted mine pierced, but the rule on my family was that you had to be at least 18. I was only 8 and couldn't imagine waiting till 18. When I approached my mom about getting it done(for the millionth time) I tried to structure the argument around the fact that this girl had pierced ears so my parents should let me! Well, it didn't work and in the end, my frustrated mom ended with 'if God would have wanted holes in your ears, he would have put them there!' So sadly one day I walked up to the girl (in a fit of jealousy) and used the same line. Poor girl had no idea why I was saying this to her or what she had done to receive such contempt from an almost stranger. Fortunately I got over it and she did too and we became friends.

I thought I had gotten over doing and saying ridiculous things till a couple of days ago I ran into someone that I haven't seen in years. In chatting she mentioned a friend of ours and how one time the other friend went running with us and not being a runner, couldn't keep her pace up to stay with us. Apparently instead of slowing our pace we just took off and left her!! I thought I had gotten over my selfish need to say or do whatever I felt like doing in the moment. Fortunately freshman year was a LONG time ago. Hopefully since I have become more aware of it, I will do better. Too bad gramps didn't also tell me that in addition to being selfish I need to watch what I say and do...but then again he was a man who told me exactly that he thought regardless of whether I asked for it or not.

Strangers

Because I am currently looking for a job, I have the distinct opportunity to spend literally hours in the public library. It is a choice to be there but who can beat free Internet and silence? If I stay home, I usually turn on the television for background noise but then I sometimes get sucked into random shows and the last thing I
want to do all day it sit in front of it!

So a day or two I was in the library job searching away in this large study room with a couch and overstuffed chairs, various tables and desks. I usually listen to music so I am typically very much am in my own world.
All the sudden I get this weird feeling. I look up from my computer and this older man walks into the room. He has no books or magazines. He didn't look any different from any other man in his late 60's. He
walked directly to the couch in front if me and sat down.I started to get a really bad feeling about this guy, like his intentions were not good. After all, I was the only person in the room, and it was a room that is off on it's own--to be honest, despite having visited the library several times, this is the first time I noticed it.

While I was deciding what to do with the bad feelings and vibes I was getting from this man, my logical brain tried to kick in--'he did come into a study room with nothing to study,' it said. 'he only picked up
that magazine when he realized that he needed a prop. See how fast he is flipping through it? His mind is somewhere else.' While sitting there, I thought a good response would be to gather my things and leave, but the strangest thing happened. I felt a strong,'NO!' to that thought. I stopped gathering my things and
continued yo sit there. Meanwhile my logical brain once again kicked in. 'Which would be a better scenario for this man if he did have bad intentions?' It asked, 'you sitting here in a public place, or you leaving this public place for the parking lot and your empty car?'

The truth was that with me sitting where I was and him being where he was, it would be difficult for him to do anything. I would see him and this overstuffed chair would provide protection. I wanted to let him
know that he made me uncomfortable and for him to know I saw him (and could ID him) so I organized and moved everything closer to my body while looking at him. A couple of minutes later he left.

I do feel bad that I let someone know they made me feel uncomfortable. For all I know, he was just a man in the library. However, I trust my gut.

In this day and age, you can never be too sure. A few years ago I was in San Francisco in an Ikea on a holiday with my sister and her kids. It was crazy crowded. My sister had enough kids that we were
constantly trying to keep track of everyone and make sure someone didn't get left behind or lost. All the sudden I noticed a man walking towards us. He was watching my nephew who had wandered a few feet. I
got the creepiest feeling about this person I have ever had. I made eye contact with him and went over to my nephew and took his hand. As I did so, I said loudly to the man, 'come hold my hand, there are all
kinds of creepy people around.' the man quickly left.

Gosh! Why are there so many crazy, bad people around? If I have to worry about my own safety, what about that of innocent children?!?

Another Matilda Story

> I totally forgot about this Matilda story!! Matilda was my assistant
> at a job I was recently laid off from. I can't believe I haven't
> told this one yet!
>
> It was way back last summer. I had a networking event I was
> scheduled to attend. Since it was at about 8 or 9 am and downtown, I
> told my assistant I would go directly there in the morning.
> Arrangements had been made so someone from another center would be
> at my center so Matilda would not be all alone.
>
> I showed up at the event and found out they had put the wrong date
> on the invite and it was actually the next day. So I proceeded to
> drive from downtown Salt Lake City to Draper to my center.
>
> As I walked up the stairs and looked through the floor to ceiling
> windows, I could see that no one was at the desk. That is rile #1-
> never leave the desk unattended! I could see back into the office
> behind the front desk and there the two girls were. One sitting in
> the office chair while the other was applying fake eyelashes to
> her...wait, what the..?
>
> I walk in and laid down the law. The visiting employee was currently
> on probation and I knew that a report of these shenagans would
> definitely put her over the edge. Both jumped into action cleaning
> up the fake eyelashes, dye and glue that was scattered around the
> room. I asked, 'what if a potential client had walked in?!? What if
> the CEO or VP had walked in?!? What kind of a conversation would you
> be having right now?' In the end I was too nice and told them that
> no one would find out about it as long as I never saw anything like
> it again from either of them.
>
> While I was letting them know this was not acceptable behavior, they
> both were looking at me like I was the crazy one and as if they
> couldn't believe they were getting yelled at! That really just
> killed me! I could not and still can't believe that happened!!
>
> The real kicker was that after all was said and done, Matilda came
> up to me and asked if they could go to an empty office and finish!!
> After all, I was there now and I could watch the phones for
> them...forget that I have my own responsibilities!! I wanted to be
> nice after yelling at them(I really never yell at people) I asked if
> they were both planning on taking lunches that day. They both were.
> Matilda said something about Needing to run some errands. I
> responded by saying that if they wanted to both use the tome they
> would take for lunch and finish, they could. Matilda was not happy
> about that because of her errands, but once she saw that I was not
> going to budge from that answer, they left to finish. The best was
> when she asked if I wanted to get my eyelashes done. Yeah right!
> Then I would be just as bad as you guys (not that I told her that,
> but I sure thought it!)
>
> I am absolutely sure that they talked about how horrible I was to
> them about the whole thing. I wish I could have been a fly on the
> wall in that room! My relationship with the other girl was never
> very good and I think it all goes back to their perception of how
> mean I was to them. Little do they know, I saved Matilda from
> getting put on probation and saved the other girl from getting her
> last strike!
>
> Sent from my iPhone