First off, I'd like to say, Merry Christmas and Happy New Years everyone! I was going to try to come up with a Christmas themed blog, but I couldn't really think of anything!
Something did happen on Christmas Eve at work though that inspired me to write this blog. At this point I would like to say that by "crazy people" I don't mean people with mental illnesses, or chemical imbalance issues of any kind, because that is not a joking matter (and the PC police would for sure be after me!) But while I was at work, taking/preparing carryout orders, I got very flustered about a situation. Here's what happened...
Some older guy with dyed black hair came up to me and said that he had ordered two pumpkin supreme pies. I told him to hold on for just a few moments while I looked through the future orders report. While I was being extremely professional and said "hmm, looks like you're not on the future order reports.. let me check on the computer" he kept on repeating in a very harsh tone of voice "NO, NO NO! DONT TELL ME THAT! DONT TELL ME THAT! I ORDERED THOSE PIES THE OTHER DAY. I ORDERED THOSE PIES THE OTHER DAY! I ORDERED THOSE PIES THE OTHER DAY!
You get the picture
So, again, very professionally I said "I know sir, I understand. I'm so sorry. I dont know why you're not on here. Let me go ahead and ring you in those pies, I will talk to my KP person, and we'll get those pies out to you quickly okay?"
"THIS IS BULL S***! WHAT KIND OF OPERATION ARE YOU RUNNING HERE HUH? THIS IS BULL-S***!"
As soon as he exhausted himself from complaining the KP person quickly prepared his pies, and two minutes later I was bagging them up for him, while he was still complaining getting me all flustered.
Crazy People. I really don't understand them. First of all it's Christmas Eve, why not be more joyful? Secondly, if he would've just listened to me for a second instead of rant, he would've realized that we had his pies, it was just that the manager who took his order the previous night didn't enter his order in the computer, but just wrote it and put it in the office for future reference. Thirdly, I don't believe that pies is something to get that upset over, even if we did make a huge mistake. My friend worked at a call center for a couple of months, with customers calling in about TV problems. When I say "calling in" I mean "cussing out". And I've never seen my friend so upset and flustered in his life.
It's just food... It's just TV...
For everyone who works in a customer service role, I applaud you. They can suck the happiness right out of you. Even when you are being extremely professional, and doing everything you can, they don't return the favor by being resonable human beings. Please, send me your stories through Facebook or whatever, and we can vent together!
Merry Christmas!
Monday, December 27, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
The Power of Hugs
We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth.
-Virginia Satir
I remember back in 2006, on the eve of "Move In Day" of my Freshman Year of college, I went to Dixie Chilli with my best friend, and my brother. My friend was going off to a different college the next day as well, so we weren't going to see each other for a couple of months. As we said our goodbyes, we stood there for a brief second, realizing that just a simple handshake, or a simple goodbye wasn't going to cut it. We had to do a classic man hug*. And just that one simple gesture described the impact of our friendship.
Before that I didn't really even discover a hug, with exceptions of course to my family. But during the course of college, almost after every semester, there was that week of finals where I'd say goodbye to my new friends. Sure, maybe I didn't hug all the Bobby Jones' who borrowed my notes to copy down for a midterm. But all those classmates-turned-friends who you have an instant connection with, surviving the course together, sometimes having to spend hours in the library for a project, or the accumulation of hours after class talking about how crazy the professor was. You just need to finish out that term with a simple hug.
Less is More
I think that this expression fits the bill when it comes to hugging. A simple hug tells the story of frienship, love, appreciation, affection, dependancy, and sometimes even vulnerability. As a Communication Studies major, my interest was learning about nonverbal communication, body language, and more specifically Haptics, the study of touch. I learned that an astounding 93% of our communication is nonverbal! But with all that being said, I still feel this power, and energy after a hug. I feel an increased sense of connection, and closeness, aside from the physical proximity.
There are, I believe, different types of hugging. There's that really soft, wimpy and polite type of hug, where you think to yourself Oh, they don't like being hugged. I'm invading their personal space. Of course with these hugs, it's alright and everything but you don't feel the power. I'm mainly talking about the real, sincere, firm hugs, in which you feel the connection, and very relationship between the person and yourself. I remember on one of those final exam weeks, I said goodbye to a friend in my class with a hug. In my mind's eye, I was just visualizing her giving me a polite hug. But she gave me a real hug, holding it in place for a few seconds. That made my whole week, and sometimes that's tough during finals week!
I want to finish off this blog by showing you this 'chart' for lack of a better term. These are the levels of touch, according to me. Now I also want to say at this point, I mainly have this in mind with flirting (a whole blog about flirting will come at a later date!), or male/female relationships for example, but this could also be for all you bro's out there. Don't fear the hug!
"Levels of Touch"
1. Point/Tap
2. Highfive, or knuckles
3. Hold Shoulder/Massage Shoulder, etc
4. Highfive Hug (prolonged highfives, where you interlock fingers/hold in place
5. Double Highfive Hug
6. One handed hug/side hug
7. Normal Hug (Polite, quicker, less of a hold)
8. Real Hug w/ hold
---
Unchartered Territory!
*Man Hug* (as defined by Eric) - You go for a normal handshake with your righthand, you proceed to shake hands while you reach back, and pat your friends back two times.
-Virginia Satir
I remember back in 2006, on the eve of "Move In Day" of my Freshman Year of college, I went to Dixie Chilli with my best friend, and my brother. My friend was going off to a different college the next day as well, so we weren't going to see each other for a couple of months. As we said our goodbyes, we stood there for a brief second, realizing that just a simple handshake, or a simple goodbye wasn't going to cut it. We had to do a classic man hug*. And just that one simple gesture described the impact of our friendship.
Before that I didn't really even discover a hug, with exceptions of course to my family. But during the course of college, almost after every semester, there was that week of finals where I'd say goodbye to my new friends. Sure, maybe I didn't hug all the Bobby Jones' who borrowed my notes to copy down for a midterm. But all those classmates-turned-friends who you have an instant connection with, surviving the course together, sometimes having to spend hours in the library for a project, or the accumulation of hours after class talking about how crazy the professor was. You just need to finish out that term with a simple hug.
Less is More
I think that this expression fits the bill when it comes to hugging. A simple hug tells the story of frienship, love, appreciation, affection, dependancy, and sometimes even vulnerability. As a Communication Studies major, my interest was learning about nonverbal communication, body language, and more specifically Haptics, the study of touch. I learned that an astounding 93% of our communication is nonverbal! But with all that being said, I still feel this power, and energy after a hug. I feel an increased sense of connection, and closeness, aside from the physical proximity.
There are, I believe, different types of hugging. There's that really soft, wimpy and polite type of hug, where you think to yourself Oh, they don't like being hugged. I'm invading their personal space. Of course with these hugs, it's alright and everything but you don't feel the power. I'm mainly talking about the real, sincere, firm hugs, in which you feel the connection, and very relationship between the person and yourself. I remember on one of those final exam weeks, I said goodbye to a friend in my class with a hug. In my mind's eye, I was just visualizing her giving me a polite hug. But she gave me a real hug, holding it in place for a few seconds. That made my whole week, and sometimes that's tough during finals week!
I want to finish off this blog by showing you this 'chart' for lack of a better term. These are the levels of touch, according to me. Now I also want to say at this point, I mainly have this in mind with flirting (a whole blog about flirting will come at a later date!), or male/female relationships for example, but this could also be for all you bro's out there. Don't fear the hug!
"Levels of Touch"
1. Point/Tap
2. Highfive, or knuckles
3. Hold Shoulder/Massage Shoulder, etc
4. Highfive Hug (prolonged highfives, where you interlock fingers/hold in place
5. Double Highfive Hug
6. One handed hug/side hug
7. Normal Hug (Polite, quicker, less of a hold)
8. Real Hug w/ hold
---
Unchartered Territory!
*Man Hug* (as defined by Eric) - You go for a normal handshake with your righthand, you proceed to shake hands while you reach back, and pat your friends back two times.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Self Help
Like most 22 year old guys, I went to the library the other week and looked around their "Self Help" section, in search for inspiration (okay, maybe I'm the only guy that would do such a thing!) I rented out two books: One being "the Unofficial Guide to Excel 2003". So far I figured out how to do alot of different things to help me out with the program. Hopefully by the time I'm done I could be "intermediate" with it. The second book I picked up there, had a lady on it with big white teeth with the title "Stand Up For Your Life". And so far it's really helping me out.
While I love the self help section, I also tend to be very skeptical. Some of the books I read over the years just weren't striking the chords, deep from within. They were just okay. Also one of the first thoughts that came across my mind when I picked this one up was, I bet this is very secular, which won't help me all too much.
On the contrary!
Cheryl Richardson, the author of this book "Stand Up for Your Life", uses phrases like "Divine Assignment" (aka your purpose in life), and improving your "spiritual development". While she doesnt come out and say that she's a christian, and preaches chapter by chapter, it's very clear.
The other reason why I love this book so much, is she calls it, and treats it like, a progam. There are multiple sections in a chapter, and each section I feel like she tells me to write something in my journal, or do something that day, or week. The hardest assignment she had me do was narrow down my four essential values, from a list of about 25. Not only did I refine them, and change them numerous times, but I also had to write 10 things I needed to change in my life to mirror my 4 essential values. Deep stuff! I couldn't even read on without first completing this task!
Hopefully near the end I will be able to unlock my hidden potential, build up my confidence, and courage, and just be a force to be reckoned with! I know that there's a better me out there, and with the power of God, I'm going to find him!
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