Work, in review
Update on the exciting world that is my work.
One of the most frustrating things for me is working with people who do not want to be there or who do not care about their work. If you don't want to actually do the job, WTF ARE YOU WORKING THERE!?!? LET SOMEONE ELSE HAVE YOUR SPOT!!!
Honestly.
Its so draining to be enthusiastic about something and having to remind yourself that its alright, and even a really good thing to enjoy your work, as geeky as that work may be. Every so often I would catch myself reigning it in, and then realizing that no, it is my job to get people excited about the activities I'm helping with and material I'm delivering. The way to do that is most definitely NOT to sit and be sour about it, and try to get people to go away once they're here.
This holiday the museum was gem and mineral themed, to go with the new diamond exhibit and geology and mineral galleries. And I freakin loved it. I like teaching about rocks. They're beautiful and really quite amazing in a lot of ways. Even if you aren't the biggest fan of rocks in the world, or a minerological expert, PRETEND TO BE EXCITED. IT IS YOUR JOB. >:P
Especially when you're working with kids. The whole point is to get them excited and interested in the world around them, and its not particularly difficult. All it takes it to slap on a smile and get out there and talk about the awesome stuff you have in your pockets.
I spent the majority of my time this holidays walking around in the diamonds exhibit with a safari vest loaded down with different rocks and crystals. There was no information about them, but I came up with mini-lessons for different sets of specimens and tied them into the gallery. That way even if you didn't know anything about rocks, there was some material there to give you a little bit of info if you just pick up the sheet and read it. Thats all it takes to be able to do something with them. Not everyone is going to be able to pick up a vial of sand and a grey rock and get 30 people to gather around to listen to you talk about your grey rock and how its really cool because its the only kind of rock diamonds are found in, but at least you'll be able to talk to one or two kids and keep them amused for a bit in line.
Too many people have the job because it pays and because they get to socialize with friends they've made. Not nearly enough people have the job because they actually want to be there to do the job, and I personally find that it really drags down the quality of service that we provide. Helping with a gold panning activity is more than handing out a smock and a pan and saying 'go to it'. Then if a supervisor comes along and literally tells you to stop sitting and propping your head up with your arm and talk to the people, go over and say 'find any gold yet?'. No. That is not good enough. They're having trouble panning, help them! What does gold panning have to do with anything? Why does it work? Make connections with the public so that the experience is more meaningful than planning in water and sand. It's not a playground, its a museum. Finding gold is a lot cooler when it means something, when you see that wow this is how people really find gold. Cool! the sand is lighter than the gold, that's why the water doesn't carry it away.
If you don't know any of this stuff, ASK!!! That's why I'm there!! Gah!
If you don't do anything, of course you're going to be bored. And if you are bored, at the very very least don't look like you are. Slap on that smile and hand out those smocks.
I wish I had spent less time entertaining the lines, even though I really enjoyed doing it, so that I could have given the other stations more support and background. Even though that was not my job this holidays. This time around I was just an assistant, meaning I facilitated the activities, the content was supposed to be given by higher up positions who have training in the material. But in order to do the job well, and not be caught off guard by someone with a question about what I'm doing, I went home and researched things. And rather than keeping it to myself I made info sheets so that other people wouldn't have to re-invent the wheel. That's a part of what I find it takes to do the job really well. Not just coast by, but actually do the job well and impress the public so that they want to come back. The other stations really needed help with extending their content and making it better for not just the public, but also the staff. I really regret not being there to provide those extensions. Not my job, and was not asked to. But needed, very muchly so.
Boourns.
But at least I liked the work that I did. And now I now far more about rocks. woot.
One of the most frustrating things for me is working with people who do not want to be there or who do not care about their work. If you don't want to actually do the job, WTF ARE YOU WORKING THERE!?!? LET SOMEONE ELSE HAVE YOUR SPOT!!!
Honestly.
Its so draining to be enthusiastic about something and having to remind yourself that its alright, and even a really good thing to enjoy your work, as geeky as that work may be. Every so often I would catch myself reigning it in, and then realizing that no, it is my job to get people excited about the activities I'm helping with and material I'm delivering. The way to do that is most definitely NOT to sit and be sour about it, and try to get people to go away once they're here.
This holiday the museum was gem and mineral themed, to go with the new diamond exhibit and geology and mineral galleries. And I freakin loved it. I like teaching about rocks. They're beautiful and really quite amazing in a lot of ways. Even if you aren't the biggest fan of rocks in the world, or a minerological expert, PRETEND TO BE EXCITED. IT IS YOUR JOB. >:P
Especially when you're working with kids. The whole point is to get them excited and interested in the world around them, and its not particularly difficult. All it takes it to slap on a smile and get out there and talk about the awesome stuff you have in your pockets.
I spent the majority of my time this holidays walking around in the diamonds exhibit with a safari vest loaded down with different rocks and crystals. There was no information about them, but I came up with mini-lessons for different sets of specimens and tied them into the gallery. That way even if you didn't know anything about rocks, there was some material there to give you a little bit of info if you just pick up the sheet and read it. Thats all it takes to be able to do something with them. Not everyone is going to be able to pick up a vial of sand and a grey rock and get 30 people to gather around to listen to you talk about your grey rock and how its really cool because its the only kind of rock diamonds are found in, but at least you'll be able to talk to one or two kids and keep them amused for a bit in line.
Too many people have the job because it pays and because they get to socialize with friends they've made. Not nearly enough people have the job because they actually want to be there to do the job, and I personally find that it really drags down the quality of service that we provide. Helping with a gold panning activity is more than handing out a smock and a pan and saying 'go to it'. Then if a supervisor comes along and literally tells you to stop sitting and propping your head up with your arm and talk to the people, go over and say 'find any gold yet?'. No. That is not good enough. They're having trouble panning, help them! What does gold panning have to do with anything? Why does it work? Make connections with the public so that the experience is more meaningful than planning in water and sand. It's not a playground, its a museum. Finding gold is a lot cooler when it means something, when you see that wow this is how people really find gold. Cool! the sand is lighter than the gold, that's why the water doesn't carry it away.
If you don't know any of this stuff, ASK!!! That's why I'm there!! Gah!
If you don't do anything, of course you're going to be bored. And if you are bored, at the very very least don't look like you are. Slap on that smile and hand out those smocks.
I wish I had spent less time entertaining the lines, even though I really enjoyed doing it, so that I could have given the other stations more support and background. Even though that was not my job this holidays. This time around I was just an assistant, meaning I facilitated the activities, the content was supposed to be given by higher up positions who have training in the material. But in order to do the job well, and not be caught off guard by someone with a question about what I'm doing, I went home and researched things. And rather than keeping it to myself I made info sheets so that other people wouldn't have to re-invent the wheel. That's a part of what I find it takes to do the job really well. Not just coast by, but actually do the job well and impress the public so that they want to come back. The other stations really needed help with extending their content and making it better for not just the public, but also the staff. I really regret not being there to provide those extensions. Not my job, and was not asked to. But needed, very muchly so.
Boourns.
But at least I liked the work that I did. And now I now far more about rocks. woot.