Projects and presents
For much of the year, I've been working on a special project at my job. We had teamed up with a local service organization in gathering supplies for the hometown of one of the members, who is from another country that is known for its poverty. Without going into it, it was directly related to what we do, so we were well-suited for this purpose, but that meant keeping track of lots of things for lots of months--items donated, who donated what, how to make some of the items useful, what the costs involved would be, and storage, among other things. It was quite the task, and I ended up being the point person for it all. This is where my natural anal-retentiveness comes into play, because I'm able to keep things organized and keep track of it all. And there was a lot to deal with in total. I think, all told, this started back in February, but really got going in April and May. The items collected are of various sizes, with some items being pretty large. At one point, maybe a month or so ago, they came to our back building and put together crates to pack everything in, and one of their point people (male) kept coming and asking me for pointers on packing everything, since I have a better familiarity with the items involved than he does. Well, it's not like I do a ton of shipping, but here are my thoughts, and you can go from there. The main point person was a woman, so she and the guy and a few others had what they termed a packing party this past Saturday. Much of my work is now over with, and now it's time to arrange for payment and get the stuff out of here. There might be a second shipment in the spring, related to a similar group that does a similar fundraiser, but we'll see. It depends if we still get anything coming in. It's funny, you tell people, hey, X business is collecting Y items, and you get all sorts of items and then some.
They have been busy documenting everything as well in terms of pictures and videos, so that last week, when they discussed with me some ideas for packing--and we were in the other building by the crates, so I could point out stuff regarding the donated items--they got pictures of me with one of them and the crates. Great. Okay. At that point, the woman was saying she wanted to stop by this week to potentially show me pictures and that sort of thing, and okay, that's fine. So she and the guy walk in today, and he's carrying a gift bag. Oh, dear, what is this? They'd gotten me a gift to say thank you for all my hard work over all these months. Oh, you're welcome; the gift wasn't necessary, but thank you. And then they had to take pictures of me receiving the gift. First with the guy, then with the woman, then with the guy again on his camera since they were using the woman's phone for the first two. Heh. So, I sort of wished I'd known they were going to take my picture, because perhaps I'd have worn nicer clothes or perhaps done my hair. As it was, it was in a simple ponytail with some shorter pieces hanging around my face--not terrible, but not exactly how I want to be remembered. Oh well. It was nice to be recognized, and it was nice to help out with a good deed, and hopefully the recipients will be appreciative of what's been done on their behalf.
They have been busy documenting everything as well in terms of pictures and videos, so that last week, when they discussed with me some ideas for packing--and we were in the other building by the crates, so I could point out stuff regarding the donated items--they got pictures of me with one of them and the crates. Great. Okay. At that point, the woman was saying she wanted to stop by this week to potentially show me pictures and that sort of thing, and okay, that's fine. So she and the guy walk in today, and he's carrying a gift bag. Oh, dear, what is this? They'd gotten me a gift to say thank you for all my hard work over all these months. Oh, you're welcome; the gift wasn't necessary, but thank you. And then they had to take pictures of me receiving the gift. First with the guy, then with the woman, then with the guy again on his camera since they were using the woman's phone for the first two. Heh. So, I sort of wished I'd known they were going to take my picture, because perhaps I'd have worn nicer clothes or perhaps done my hair. As it was, it was in a simple ponytail with some shorter pieces hanging around my face--not terrible, but not exactly how I want to be remembered. Oh well. It was nice to be recognized, and it was nice to help out with a good deed, and hopefully the recipients will be appreciative of what's been done on their behalf.