Drowning in Life
I keep meaning to post a status update lately, but I've been downing in Life.
Not Offline Issues. Just.
Life.
Same company, but I AM NO LONGER IN THE CONTACT CENTER. \0/ I work in (one of) the processing department as of August 10th. It's both easier and harder to do than I expected. My contact center experience definitely helped, but there's a lot of things I thought I understood from up there that turned out to be wrong. x.x So it's definitely a learning process.
Due to the nature of what we do, everything has a due date that the department HAS to have it finished by. The goal is to be four days ahead, but right now we have nowhere near the amount of people we need to handle the workload. And you can't go home for the day until everything that's assigned to you has been finished. Overtime isn't required exactly, but anyone who volunteers to stay late and help out the people who haven't finished theirs yet is appreciated. Also often fed, depending on which supervisor is on duty for the night. (They fed us A LOT for staying late at first, but it hasn't been happening as much the last couple of weeks.) I started volunteering as soon as I was allowed, because well, overtime pay! And then I would hear the girl behind me on her phone asking her kids if they'd had dinner and telling them to share the computer, or see the girl who got married just last month still at work after 9:00, when she's there before I get in at 8:30. So I started staying because I felt bad for them, because they have families to go home to.
I like my new department. I like the people I work with, and I enjoy the job. (I also enjoy the overtime paychecks!) There's a lot of stress to get things done, but you don't feel it so much, because there's no one actively asking about your assignments. They know we're all working, and that we work hard. It's a lot more rewarding than I expected, even with all the stress.
I need to keep reminding myself of that, I think.
They've been trying to figure out new ways to handle how we do our processing, because we're overworked and understaffed, and it's not working out for anyone. So as of 'next Tuesday', they decided to change up how we operate. Originally, each person had a set of the type of assignments they're trained for, and they worked all of them from start to finish for the day. Now instead we have everyone split into separate teams, and each team gets its own task: Data Entry, Processing, Phone Calls, ect. Because I learn fast and I stayed late to help out, I was processing more than most of my training class, I was put on the processing team that handles the bigger, more complicated stuff.
It's technically a good thing. As the Team Lead for my new team pointed out, it means they know I can do this. It can also lead to other positions down the road, like Special Handling or even Team Lead. Which I've come to realize are things I'm interested in, down the road. Because I like this department. I like the people I work with, and I like what we do. I like knowing how important what we do is to the company, even if it doesn't always feel like it.
What's been stressing me out about this new transition is that I JUST started doing one of the types of new, more complicated assignments. And they were supposed to 'transition' into the new assignments next week, but someone screwed up and started flooding me with my new assignments this week instead. So I have the type that I just learned, and the type they just taught me on Wednesday. And they're still giving me a lot of assignments even though I'm still in training, because that's the numbers I'm set for. So I'm trying to learn/process/take on lots of assignments all at once, and it's overwhelming. And they keep trying to shift things around to make sure the new process works, so all of our Team Leads that are supposed to be there to help me are off in meetings when I need them. >.< Which means I'm overworked and stressed out and stuck late, because I'm confused or something is wrong with my assignment and I don't know why or no one was available to answer my questions for like half an hour so I had to skip what I was working on and come back to it.
Suffice to say, it's been a really bad week. I'm trying to decompress for the weekend (hence the ranty post), but it's not happening as easily I need it to be. >.<
So. Moving on to happier things.
Thing the Second: I moved! I was finally able to move into a bigger apartment! I HAVE MY OWN ROOM. MY OWN BATHROOM. THINGS THAT ARE MINE AND SPACE THAT IS MINE AND I DO NOT HAVE TO SHARE IT. -Flails forever- My room looks like a storage unit right now because all I have is a bed and a lot of boxes but OMG MY ROOM!!!! \0/ Also a bigger kitchen and living room, and a balcony. Downside is that we have a flight of stairs now, but considering it's now only 10-15 minutes to work AND there's a bus I can take if I need to? NEW APARTMENT IS AWESOME. ♥
Thing the Third: I has new laptop!
Size Comparison: That's Kim next to my Kindle Fire7.
She is the tinest, pinkest laptop I have ever owned, hence the name. Her hard drive space is also ridiculously tiny, but she lets me write things and use the internet, which is what I needed most. (She was also just under $200, which is part of what sold me on her.) She's actually really quick for speed, and super light, so I end up carrying her all over the place. And her battery life is awesome. She's not quite what I wanted, because I can't use her for gaming, but I'm pretty fond of her. ^_^
I still have my powerhouse laptop, Zack (Named for FFVIII Zack, not PR Zack.), but his case is cracked on the bottom and his plug is loose, so every time shift or re-cross my legs he turns off. >.< I think once I can manage to buy a desk, he'll be okay, but he's definitely on his last legs. I'm not getting rid of him though, because GAMING. *_*
Other news ... Uh. I'm attempting NaNo this year, as always. I really don't know how it's going to work out with massive amounts of overtime, but I'm going to give it try. I think having my Kindle this year is actually going to help a lot, because I write on that on my lunch breaks sometimes. My goal is to write what I can during the weekdays, even if it's just a couple hundred words, and then OD on Code Red and ice cream to catch up on the weekends. I think even though NaNo is well, NaNo, and November is The Month of Doom, I really need to make the effort to write more for awhile. I'm a lot less stressed out after I write.
On which note, I am off to attempt to do some writing! Because Writing Therapy. It's important. ♥
Not Offline Issues. Just.
Life.
Same company, but I AM NO LONGER IN THE CONTACT CENTER. \0/ I work in (one of) the processing department as of August 10th. It's both easier and harder to do than I expected. My contact center experience definitely helped, but there's a lot of things I thought I understood from up there that turned out to be wrong. x.x So it's definitely a learning process.
Due to the nature of what we do, everything has a due date that the department HAS to have it finished by. The goal is to be four days ahead, but right now we have nowhere near the amount of people we need to handle the workload. And you can't go home for the day until everything that's assigned to you has been finished. Overtime isn't required exactly, but anyone who volunteers to stay late and help out the people who haven't finished theirs yet is appreciated. Also often fed, depending on which supervisor is on duty for the night. (They fed us A LOT for staying late at first, but it hasn't been happening as much the last couple of weeks.) I started volunteering as soon as I was allowed, because well, overtime pay! And then I would hear the girl behind me on her phone asking her kids if they'd had dinner and telling them to share the computer, or see the girl who got married just last month still at work after 9:00, when she's there before I get in at 8:30. So I started staying because I felt bad for them, because they have families to go home to.
I like my new department. I like the people I work with, and I enjoy the job. (I also enjoy the overtime paychecks!) There's a lot of stress to get things done, but you don't feel it so much, because there's no one actively asking about your assignments. They know we're all working, and that we work hard. It's a lot more rewarding than I expected, even with all the stress.
I need to keep reminding myself of that, I think.
They've been trying to figure out new ways to handle how we do our processing, because we're overworked and understaffed, and it's not working out for anyone. So as of 'next Tuesday', they decided to change up how we operate. Originally, each person had a set of the type of assignments they're trained for, and they worked all of them from start to finish for the day. Now instead we have everyone split into separate teams, and each team gets its own task: Data Entry, Processing, Phone Calls, ect. Because I learn fast and I stayed late to help out, I was processing more than most of my training class, I was put on the processing team that handles the bigger, more complicated stuff.
It's technically a good thing. As the Team Lead for my new team pointed out, it means they know I can do this. It can also lead to other positions down the road, like Special Handling or even Team Lead. Which I've come to realize are things I'm interested in, down the road. Because I like this department. I like the people I work with, and I like what we do. I like knowing how important what we do is to the company, even if it doesn't always feel like it.
What's been stressing me out about this new transition is that I JUST started doing one of the types of new, more complicated assignments. And they were supposed to 'transition' into the new assignments next week, but someone screwed up and started flooding me with my new assignments this week instead. So I have the type that I just learned, and the type they just taught me on Wednesday. And they're still giving me a lot of assignments even though I'm still in training, because that's the numbers I'm set for. So I'm trying to learn/process/take on lots of assignments all at once, and it's overwhelming. And they keep trying to shift things around to make sure the new process works, so all of our Team Leads that are supposed to be there to help me are off in meetings when I need them. >.< Which means I'm overworked and stressed out and stuck late, because I'm confused or something is wrong with my assignment and I don't know why or no one was available to answer my questions for like half an hour so I had to skip what I was working on and come back to it.
Suffice to say, it's been a really bad week. I'm trying to decompress for the weekend (hence the ranty post), but it's not happening as easily I need it to be. >.<
So. Moving on to happier things.
Thing the Second: I moved! I was finally able to move into a bigger apartment! I HAVE MY OWN ROOM. MY OWN BATHROOM. THINGS THAT ARE MINE AND SPACE THAT IS MINE AND I DO NOT HAVE TO SHARE IT. -Flails forever- My room looks like a storage unit right now because all I have is a bed and a lot of boxes but OMG MY ROOM!!!! \0/ Also a bigger kitchen and living room, and a balcony. Downside is that we have a flight of stairs now, but considering it's now only 10-15 minutes to work AND there's a bus I can take if I need to? NEW APARTMENT IS AWESOME. ♥
Thing the Third: I has new laptop!
Size Comparison: That's Kim next to my Kindle Fire7.
She is the tinest, pinkest laptop I have ever owned, hence the name. Her hard drive space is also ridiculously tiny, but she lets me write things and use the internet, which is what I needed most. (She was also just under $200, which is part of what sold me on her.) She's actually really quick for speed, and super light, so I end up carrying her all over the place. And her battery life is awesome. She's not quite what I wanted, because I can't use her for gaming, but I'm pretty fond of her. ^_^
I still have my powerhouse laptop, Zack (Named for FFVIII Zack, not PR Zack.), but his case is cracked on the bottom and his plug is loose, so every time shift or re-cross my legs he turns off. >.< I think once I can manage to buy a desk, he'll be okay, but he's definitely on his last legs. I'm not getting rid of him though, because GAMING. *_*
Other news ... Uh. I'm attempting NaNo this year, as always. I really don't know how it's going to work out with massive amounts of overtime, but I'm going to give it try. I think having my Kindle this year is actually going to help a lot, because I write on that on my lunch breaks sometimes. My goal is to write what I can during the weekdays, even if it's just a couple hundred words, and then OD on Code Red and ice cream to catch up on the weekends. I think even though NaNo is well, NaNo, and November is The Month of Doom, I really need to make the effort to write more for awhile. I'm a lot less stressed out after I write.
On which note, I am off to attempt to do some writing! Because Writing Therapy. It's important. ♥