It has been a really long time since I worked a shift like this and now I remember why I didn't like it. My average day goes somethng like this: get up around 8am, read scriptures, throw on clothes and go to breakfast. After breakfast I come back to my room for a few minutes, check emails, look over training materials for the day and then go work out. After working out I come back to the room, watch a little tv or surf the net while I cool down enough to shower. Then I shower and dress and gather stuff for work. I leave for work at 1:45 for a 2:30 start. I try to take something with me to eat at work since our breaks are at 4:15 and 7:00 with dinner break at 9:30.More on that later. We finish up at 1030 and have to wait for all the trainers to be ready and Charu, who is the local training specialist, before we can start the 20-30 minute return trip. When I get home it's really too late to do anything so I will watch some tv or read until I am wond down enough to sleep. Boring huh. There are usually several CO/UA people in the restaurant for breakfast so we talk and have fun and it probably takes alot longer than necessary to have breakfast, but it's good.
Yes dinner is at 930 and we are off at 1030. The thing is most of the students are used to working more of an overnight shift and the cafeteria is set up around that schedule. So, if we take dinner at 6:30 or 7:00 there is no food there for them to eat. They do have microwaves, but no fridge and more agents at this office buy dinner than brown bag it. Dinner in the's cafeteria starts at 930 when he food arrive so that is when we take dinner. I don't like to eat that late though so I usually just bring fruit or crackers or a sandwich from the hotel that I can have on the 7:00 break. Most days this week I have had breakfast around 9am and a very light meal at 7pm.
Friday night at work was interesting. They don't celebrate profit sharing here because they are not actually UA badged employees and don't get a share. But once a quarter they have a Rewards and Recognition night and let me tell you it is a PARTY. All of the IGT people regardless of which contractor they work for attend, they have lots of music and after the awards ceremony they have dancing. The music is loud and they really get into the dancing. The interesting part was that all of this was happening on the other side of the wall to the classroom I was teaching in...the very non soundproof wall. It felt like we were trying to teach in a nightclub, I think the walls were vibrating and I know my head was pounding. They had the music going for quite a while early in the day and then they stopped for a while. Charu warned us that they had stopped for a while but it was only a postponement and they would be starting up again for the dancing at 9:00p. When they started it again it was twice as loud and was impossible to teach over. So when they went to dinner I just told them I would see them tomorrow because I couldn't keep up the competition. Yes, I did have Charu's permission, she had told me it may be necessary and boy was she right.
Saturday was much better, no music and we were able to get through everything we needed to cover and had few technical issues for once. I enjoyed this class but they are so much quieter than the classes I worked with at the other office. The DEH kids had lots of questions and the DXR people who are older and more experieced had hardly any. I really don't know how much of it is because of age, company culture, personalities, and how much is because they don't feel that they actually need to know what we are there to teach. The class last week at DEH- the IBM office was made up of International sales agents and this weeks class at DXR- the IGT office had a mix of Queues, Rates,and Ticketing agents. No one at DXR takes inbound phone calls, so they can't see any purpose in learning to build reservations, and it is a struggle to come up with any possible way to make the training applicable. I found myself saying several times, "I'm not sure that you will use this, but you never really know what else a customer will ask you about when you call them for a schedule change." There is a special module for them on working queues, but just the basics, no specifics.
All in all it has been an interesting week even if each day felt a little boring in and of itself. I am looking forward to the weekend, even if it will be a busy one showing my Mom the sites.
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