Theater of the Bored

Not a bad day when you get to bottle feed a wolf puppy. (at Big...

Sat, 11 May 2013 15:49:48 -0500

Not a bad day when you get to bottle feed a wolf puppy. (at Big Run Wolf Ranch)

Ghost Dog! Well half a ghost dog at least

Sat, 04 May 2013 17:13:59 -0500

Ghost Dog! Well half a ghost dog at least

You’d think she had such a tough life.

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:14:40 -0500

You’d think she had such a tough life.

#C2E2 #revbrew This is called a Mad Cow stout. I call it...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 20:22:15 -0500

#C2E2 #revbrew This is called a Mad Cow stout. I call it delicious (and possibly a mistake come tomorrow morning) (at Revolution Brewing - Kedzie Brewery & Tap Room)

Madison on her Throne of Fur. Best $30 dog bed/love seat...

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 23:25:45 -0500

Madison on her Throne of Fur. Best $30 dog bed/love seat we’ve ever bought.

Got our #C2E2 badges in the mail today! I think that’s a...

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 18:04:44 -0500

Got our #C2E2 badges in the mail today! I think that’s a sign that spring is here right?

Success! Got the last two Game of Thrones beers in the area. Now...

Sat, 23 Mar 2013 15:11:07 -0500

Success! Got the last two Game of Thrones beers in the area. Now to wait for the premier to crack it open.

I can drink like an adult now, with the proper glassware and...

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 18:12:21 -0500

I can drink like an adult now, with the proper glassware and everything! Cc @PeterDaEater

Yep that’s a lava lamp inside a floor lamp. Dan’s...

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 21:20:47 -0500

Yep that’s a lava lamp inside a floor lamp. Dan’s Dad brings home the weirdest things. (at Alsip, Illinois)

Cracked this nut last night finally - but wanted to re run the...

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 12:35:13 -0500

Cracked this nut last night finally - but wanted to re run the scans to make sure. Success! (at Alsip, Illinois)

McHale-Meyer Computer Repair: For when your husband goes looking...

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 13:59:37 -0600

McHale-Meyer Computer Repair: For when your husband goes looking for porn in all the wrong places. (at Alsip, Illinois)

I hate to do the ‘reblog funny pic’ thing, but my...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 16:37:39 -0600

I hate to do the ‘reblog funny pic’ thing, but my god — this had me in tears!

This can’t be a good sign. (at Tallgrass)

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:04:49 -0600

This can’t be a good sign. (at Tallgrass)

Tomorrow’s drive home is going to SUCK. But at least this...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 20:59:46 -0600

Tomorrow’s drive home is going to SUCK. But at least this storm has a bitching name. (at Alsip, Illinois)

Lazy Sunday = Wolf pajamas (at Alsip, Illinois)

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 12:23:03 -0600

Lazy Sunday = Wolf pajamas (at Alsip, Illinois)

Next In Line

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:16:00 -0600

Normally, a trip to the DMV that takes less than 20 minutes from parking to pulling away would be considered an unqualified success. I would agree, but there is the usual caveat of a trip to the DMV. The attitudes of those working there remain uniformly terrible. Actually, I should clarify that - the woman who actually processed my vehicle registration renewal was perfectly reasonable and even friendly by DMV standards. It was the “greeter” who lived up the bad reputation DMV employees have.

I had all the necessary paperwork, I knew what I was there for, and I still got a derisive comment when I mentioned that I’d never received my renewal form in the mail. She snidely commented that it was because I hadn’t updated my address when I moved. “You only have ten days to update your information from the day you move. I’m going to guess it’s been longer than 10 days since you moved?” she pointedly asked me.

Slightly annoyed, I told her I had updated my driver’s license and had incorrectly assumed that this also updated the other necessary information related to my car/my ability to drive. She again reiterated that this was not true, that I need to update both my driver’s license AND my vehicle registration separately and that I only had 10 days to do so. The fact that I didn’t receive my renewal notice in the mail was proof I had not done what I was supposed to.

At this point, I wasn’t sure if she was going to let me renew my registration, and got a little panicked. Instead, she gave me a ticket with a number to wait on to be called and gestured to the rows of chairs behind her to wait. Nothing further was said. I sat down and thought to myself that certain stereotypes definitely start from a place of truth.

Thankfully, as I mentioned earlier, the rest of my DMV experience was painless and quick. I was called almost as soon as I sat down. When I preemptively explained that I didn’t know updating my driver’s license address didn’t carry over to my vehicle registration - this second employee chuckled and explained that she wasn’t aware of that either till she started working there.

I headed off to work, happy that the trip had been quick and relatively painless. But that first woman stuck in my head like a thorn. It had been so close to being a perfect trip. I couldn’t have been the only one who made that mistake, and I had made every effort to be friendly even in the face of her active hostility. Doesn’t she know what people think of DMV employees? Why wouldn’t she work towards dispelling that stereotype?

Fighting against an expected stereotype is something that I feel I have to actively work towards in my job. Working in a call center, people expect a certain kind of uniformly bad experience when they talk to me. The unhelpful, foreign, antagonistic operator is a cliche so well known, you are probably already thinking of a particularly bad experience you had matching that exact description.

I like to think I do a good job at surpassing that cliche. Of course, I’ve got a leg up already - not being foreign, not that that should even be a handicap in the first place. I honestly try my best to help the people who I talk to, and even in the face of people repeatedly telling me “I’m not good with computers” (despite it being part of their job) - I try and keep a smile in my voice. There are few things more rewarding in my line of work than feeling like you’ve actually helped someone, and I try with each call to get to that place. It doesn’t always go that way though…

Take for example this nurse who calls with 20 minutes left in my shift. We were already having an abnormal rush for so late in the day, and I could tell as soon as I answered that this was not going to go well. She didn’t know what she was trying to log into, just that she couldn’t log in. She wasn’t working at the hospital, but from a physician’s office. The cherry on top was that she wasn’t even logging in with her own ID, and was instead using her physician’s ID.

It’s frowned upon, highly discouraged - the sharing of the physician’s ID. It happens though, and the staff always acts like we are some kind of monster for trying to explain this fact. Knowing there is a loophole, if the physician signs off on this person using their ID and can pass our security check verify that I am in fact speaking to the physician - I can help the nurse. So we jump through those hoops, and thankfully this usually drawn out process goes remarkably quick. It’s too late for me though. I’m annoyed.

First off, the nurse is not supposed to be doing this. They are supposed to have their own ID to use - so we know who is doing what in the system. The fact that the nurse can’t log in is most likely because of this too. She was told a password - but not if a certain letter was upper case or some other special requirement. So she locks the account from trying too many times to log in. I have to then unlock the account, verify the physician is OK with this, and then reset the password - walking the nurse through setting up a new password and hoping she tells the physician she’s changed it. This whole problem, the whole fact that they are calling is because they can’t follow the rules. The physician simply thinks they are above the rules, and deserve special treatment.

The nurse quickly picks up on the lack of sincerity in my voice. Her tone changes to be less expectant and more plaintive. A funny thing happens then - I hear myself on the other end of the line.

“I updated my driver’s license when I moved. I didn’t know it didn’t update the other information as well.”

I suddenly understood the woman from the DMV this morning. Strangely, I don’t sympathize with the woman on the other end who now sounds like me. I sympathize with the DMV employee. It was a simple mistake - but one that was entirely avoidable. If I’d just followed the rules, if I’d just taken two seconds to do the right thing and make sure what I assumed was actually true then this was all avoidable.

I finished helping the nurse, after getting the OK from the doctor, and finished documenting my work. I still want to dispel the stereotype of unhelpful call center workers whenever I can - but I hope the next time I’m on the receiving of that frustrated tone I can remember that DMV worker.

Sometimes, you have to admit you screwed up. Best to just take your lumps, and be grateful someone is there to help you.

The New Addition Basically since they announced the new Samsung...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 20:59:00 -0600

The New Addition

Basically since they announced the new Samsung Chromebook last year - I’ve been kind of enamored with the device. It kind of seemed like it was designed exactly for me. Having recently made the switch from the iPhone to the Android OS - I’d only become more and more impressed with Google’s services. Now that the majority of my information had made the jump to being in the could - a Google based laptop that ties into all of those services seemed like a great fit. The fact that it was simply a network device, and basically useless once removed from the internet, doesn’t really bother me. I’m only without network access when driving, and I (sadly) won’t be using a laptop while driving.

But, that also means I am rarely without access to a desktop machine, or even my smartphone. It seemed like a needless extra device. Gadget lust, nothing more.

Yet… there is something about having a full size physical keyboard - not some touch screen. Something about not being tied to a desk. The form factor of a laptop. The idea of the device not being able to do much else than browse the web and write. Limited distractions. So it stayed in my mind over these last few months.

And here I am. I’d worked some overtime, and January is a 3 paycheck month… it still seems a little silly. But I can’t shake how much I am enjoying the experience of this device already. I wouldn’t dare to say it is the perfect device for everyone - I’m a pretty niche use case. Yet that also means it fills a kind of perfect spot for me.

I’ve only had the thing for a few hours, and I already love how I can sit on the couch - TV on in the background - and just knock out my thoughts without having to retreat to where my desktop is. Something about this just fits for how I think, how I write.

So, welcome the new addition. It might be entirely in my own head, and a completely superfluous purchase - but here I am. Making the first real post to this tumblr in ages.

Not a bad start. Not a bad start at all.

Turns out there is a “five and a half minute”...

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:22:30 -0600

Turns out there is a “five and a half minute” hallway at my work. @katiejstanley will know what I mean.

Stating the new year off with a little Bond… James Bond....

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 11:09:35 -0600

Stating the new year off with a little Bond… James Bond. Maybe a marathon? (at Alsip, Illinois)

Opportunistic on Flickr.Taking advantage of an opportunity in...

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 20:02:38 -0600

Opportunistic on Flickr.

Taking advantage of an opportunity in brushing and bribery for a picture of Madison sitting pretty.