Catching My Breath Before The Next Wave
Rodney, we have decided to postpone the ribbon cutting for Louisville.
Till when?
January 14th.
I got about 45 minutes. That’s how long my travel calendar was free. This job was already turning into one of the most traveled in my career. (Five Percent Travel)
Louisville was our final call center opening for the year. We had squeezed the project schedule down to just over 2 months. And the team, my phenomenal team, pulled it off. We were all fairly burned out. My desktop engineer had literally passed out multiple times by pushing himself so hard.
The Fall is birthday season at my house. We had to carefully schedule birthday celebrations for the few days per month I would be home.
And it all wrapped up November 12 when our agents took their first call. Originally the schedule called for starting on Tuesday November 11th. But, that’s Veterans Day and we chose to honor the day by waiting. (And it didn’t hurt that it added an extra day to my schedule.)
But, the rest of the year was completely clear. I have a personal trip scheduled in December to fly “home” to Olympia, WA and be the best man as two old high school friends get married. . .to each other.
I wasn’t even done with my last trip when the Account Manager told me that we were coming back in January for the formal opening. Okay, but that’s just one trip. I’m sure that now that the site is up and running my schedule will settle down.
I got this letter in the mail.
You might be able to see the signature, but it’s signed by Matthew B. Durrant, Chief Justice, Utah Supreme Court.
Jury Duty.
Don’t get me wrong. I think jury duty is not just a duty but a privilege. My employer, like many employers gives me the time off. But, I had a problem. The summons was for next year. They said I might get called any time from Jan 2nd to March 31, and did I have any potential conflicts during that time?
Well, I knew I had one, but I was pretty sure there were going to be more. I went back to Scott, the Account Manager.
Do you know when we are planning to release the new lines of business next year?
I should.
What does that mean?
It means, I know we have 4 new product lines being released between January 20th and the end of February. I’m still a little fuzzy on the exact dates.
I’ll just say last two weeks of January and the first three weeks of February. . .
Don’t forget we have a trip to Texas for the Quarterly Business Review with the client in February.
. . .all of February.
I never imagined that 3 months out was not enough time to get something on my calendar. We are also opening another call center next year. That will be another month of travel.
Maybe I’ll get picked for a jury trial? Hopefully a really LONG jury trial. . .with a sequestered jury.
(Actually, I’m just thrilled to be working at a job where I get to solve interesting problems every day.Having a job is much better than no having a job.)
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday at 7:00 AM Mountain Time. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and one grandchild.
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