Every day is a new day- update

I have happy news about one of the people mentioned in my last posting. The guy who still needed help after weeks of filing unemployment? Well, I am very pleased to report that for the last two weeks he has been able to file his claim without any staff assistance. It's amazing what we can learn when we have to isn't it?

Every day is a new day

I have determined that for some of our customers, every day is a new day. I don't mean this in a good way either. No matter how many times we show them how to do something (download/upload a resume, sign in to one of our systems, etc.), the next time they come in it's like they've never done it before. Perfect example- we have a customer who has been drawing unemployment for two or three months now. He still has issues filing his claim every week. It is a simple system, and it's the same every week. Our policy is we offer help less readily each time you do a process as the goal is for customers to learn to do it themselves. I want to tell people so badly "Didn't you pay attention the last 10 times we've shown you?" and "write it down if you can't remember." I can't fathom living my life where I pay no attention to what I'm doing and never have any retained knowledge from what I've done previously.

I'm not surprised you're unemployed...

One of the unfortunate things about my job is customers often mistakenly assume that I want to hear or care about why they are unemployed or their life story. I don't. What I want to tell many of them after they end their monologue is "I'm not surprised you're unemployed. I'm surprised you were ever employed."

I'm thankful I'm not where I once was

This afternoon about 4 I was at work feeling more bored than usual. I was thinking about how badly I want to get a job where I am challenged again. My mini pity party was swiftly ended after I got home from work. A former coworker called me, and she told me how horribly she is being treated at my former employer. She feels that they are out to get her, and I believe she is right. While I was there I saw people targeted for no real reason, and it appears this is happening to her. I felt so badly for her, and it reminded yet again of one of the many reasons I left. When I compare my job situation now to this time last year, it is night and day. It really put things in perspective for me. If being bored is my biggest problem at my current job, then life is pretty good. I'm so thankful I am not where I once was.

People different from you part #3

I have written before about how we often "know" that not everyone is like us, but that it can still come as a shock when we are confronted with evidence of this. Here are two recent examples.

Example 1- The Amusement Park

We were talking about a local amusement park, and one of my coworkers said there is no way physically that she could spend all day doing that. She is younger than I am. I wanted to tell her that my mom has no problem spending all day riding rides, walking all over the park, etc. I was a bit slack jawed.

Example 2- The Drive Thru

A local radio station promotes a "drive thru difference" every couple of months. On the designated day you are encouraged to pay for the order behind you in the drive through line. I like the concept, but I don't do fast food much, and when I do, I go inside. The last time I went through a drive thru was in August of last year while I was on vacation. On a related note, we are talking about fast food at work recently, and I said how the food from Chain X is overall not good. My coworker stated that yes, it was. I wanted to ask her "Do you know what good food is?"

This should not come as surprise

A customer came into our office seeking assistance accessing and editing his resume that is stored on our site. As I was helping him, I asked what he needed to change. He showed me. He said "Can you believe that one time I didn't get a job because I misspelled tablet?" (The resume read "table"). He seemed shocked by that. I told him I was not surprised at all. I shared that at my last job we marked resumes with typos and those were normally not considered at all. I showed him how to use the spell check function in the program and pointed out several typos that I noticed on his resume at a cursory glance. 

When I told my coworker this story later, she said what really is shocking is that the company actually told him that this is why he wasn't hired. She's right. Normally the resume would just be tossed aside and the candidate would have no idea why. If you or someone you know is job hunting, I cannot overemphasize how important it is to have an typo free resume. If you have typos it implies that 

A. You can't write

B. You don't care enough to proof read

C. You didn't take the time to proof read

or 

D. All of the above

I had a saying at my last job "It's always an interview". Every interaction you have with the company can make or break your chance of getting the job. Proceed with great care.