Work - Week 8 Complete (One More Day To Go)

 Week 8 of training is complete. I do not understand why they set it up like this, but I have ONE MORE DAY of training. One. More. Day! Like, why would they do that? It makes no sense to me, but I do not make the rules or the schedules so I just do what I am told. Monday is Labor Day. We are off that day because the call center is closed. Our last day of training will be Tuesday. 

We STILL do not have our new schedules, our new coach assignments, or our final assessment (call score assessment) scores. All of that was very frustrating to me. I work 12:20PM-9PM so I plan all of my activities in the morning before work. I have a few appointments that are already scheduled that will need to be rescheduled if my schedule is changing. As much notice as possible would be nice, but as it stands, I will have less than 24 hours notice. I will go in Tuesday at my current schedule and will be expected to report Wednesday at my new schedule. Now, I know it will not be later than my current one because we are the last shift that works, but it would be nice to know if it would be earlier. I really like my current schedule. It allows me to spend John's "off hour" with him. It also allows me to have my mornings free for appointments and errands. I will work with whatever shift I get, but I am praying that I get to keep the one I currently have. We were told that the shifts will be chosen in order of assessment scores (so far mine have been pretty good...not sure about others, attendance... I have had almost perfect attendance (more on that in a minute). Hopefully, I will get to keep my current shift.

Life at work has been pretty good. Training has went well. I have been fussed at for a couple things, but all and all I have done well. The other day our trainer was giving the class a lecture about absences. He said that some of us were very close to not graduating. He said that if we missed any more time that we would be fired. We are under a very strict attendance policy while in training. We are not allowed to log into our computers until 12:20. We were told that if we were going to be late to call the attendance line and let them know. Each day, I have had to call the attendance line because it takes more than 10 minutes (Shift starts at 12:30) to get logged in and get everything pulled up, downloaded and signed in.). They know this and know that we will be late, but they are adamant about us not signing in earlier than stated above. Each day I have called in without fail. Any way... So I messaged my trainer and told him that I  thought I had perfect attendance, by my records, but I didn't want to assume that and end up being "5 minutes away from getting fired" thinking I was ok. I told him to take his time getting back to me because I knew he was busy. I went about my day taking calls. He messaged me back and told me I was fine. "You have only been late one time. That was the second week of training. You were late coming back to lunch by 1 (ONE) minute." This was Thursday. Today, as I write this, it is Sunday. I have calmed down considerably, but I was SO MAD! I am not mad at my trainer. I am mad at ME! 60 SECONDS! SIXY STINKING SECONDS stand between me and perfect attendance! I think I would be less upset if I had been an hour late or something. But one minute late because I got distract, apparently. That is insane! I am still mad at myself! One day, I will look back and laugh at this. I am almost there...but not yet! 

Work - Week 7 Completed

 Training is almost over. We started OJT2 on Friday. Our trainer told us Thursday that he'd officially taught us all that he could teach us and that it was time for us to fly. It is bittersweet. I do not do well with change so this transition is going to be a hard one. I have gotten used to sitting in the classroom setting, even though I work from home. 

Friday, we took calls all except about an hour of our day. I did pretty well with it. It is faster paced obviously, but I did well, I think. There were a few hiccups, but that is to be expected. We have one more week of training before we head to "the floor" where we will truly be "on our own." We will still have help chat, but we will be real associates and out of training. For the first time I feel like I am going to make it through training. 

Friday was interesting. I had some firsts. I got my first transfer to the Emergency Que. That was interesting. I stayed calm and so did my customer. I was proud of us both. I was also proud that I didn't have to contact a manager to help me through the call. I did have a couple calls that I DID need help with, but that is to be expected. Our trainer has told us that if he was taking calls, there are some things that even HE would need to get help for so that makes me feel better. 

I have taken the weekend to rest and relax. While I am nervous about this week - we get our final assessment scores (3 calls will be graded to give us this score), we will get our new schedule, we will find out who our coach will be, etc. I am also excited to be able to move on to the next chapter of this stage of life. It is scary not to have the safety net of the training umbrella. Right now if we make a mistake, we have the safety net of being in training so we don't really get blamed for it. Soon, I will be standing on my own two feet and will be completely responsible for myself. That is kind of terrifying, but I just have to trust that I have been taught well and that God is with me. "The will of God won't lead me where the grace of God can't keep me." That is my mantra right now. 

WORK - To Post After OJT2

 https://youtu.be/3CNqhpRycfY

Every time I tried to make it on my own/ Every  time I tried to stand and start to fall/ And  all those lonely roads that I have travelled on/ There was Jesus/ When the life I built came crashing to the ground/ When  the friends I had were nowhere to be found/ I  couldn't see it then but I can see it now/ There was Jesus/ In  the waiting, in the searching/ In the healing and the hurting/ Like a blessing buried in the broken pieces/ Every minute‚ every moment/ Where  I've been and where I'm going/ Even when I didn't know it or couldn't see it/ There was Jesus

This post will be made on FB on 9/4, but I am writing it on Friday 8/28. "Vaguebooking" will end one way or another one week from today. Hopefully, it will end in what I consider a favorable outcome, but either way, I know that God will be working all things for my good and His glory. Some of you may have figured things out by now. If you have, good for you. I am not good at secret keeping when it comes to my own personal info.

I want to start by thanking a few people. I had an "inner circle" through this. They were the ones who got the constant updates and prayer requests. They listened to me complain, fret and worry, and lifted me up through it all. (I am grateful for you guys) I seriously couldn't have made it through without their love, support, and most importantly prayers! John, Stephanie, Lynn, Cindy, and Alice, you guys were truly the most amazing people. I will never be able to thank you guys enough. I have prayed for each of you daily because that is the most appropriate way I could say "thank you" other than with words. I pray God blesses you abundantly for your love and kindness toward me!

In May of this year, God made it very apparent that some things were going to need to change in the structure of our family - financially. John has held two jobs most of the time since Mom passed away. I had went back to work at Walmart temporarily in 2024, but my body just couldn't physically or emotionally hack it. (It hurts to admit that even now, but it is the truth.) I went through a great depression at this point (this year) because I wasn't sure how to fix this. John and I talked about it and made a list of criteria of things my job would include IF I did go back to work. It would be a work from home job, ideally my hours would line up with John's primary job, etc. My mind is drawing a blank on this right now, although somewhere on my blog I have a copy of "the list" I spent the next few weeks putting in an insane amount of applications. I heard back from very few of them. Most of them were insurance companies, but I wasn't willing to do anything that was commission based. I needed to have a consistent income.

If I remember correctly, I had 3 interviews. The first one accepted me. It was a telemarketing company for political fundraising. I accepted the job because I felt I didn't have any other choice. It met the WFH criteria, but the hours were wrong. I figured it would give me some experience and then I could find another job after I got some experience. The job didn't start for a few weeks so I kept searching for jobs and accepting interviews. I had interview with a company that decided to decline. Then I had the interview with this company. This company started out much like the first company. The first interview was a group interview. There were tech issues. The interviewer ended up missing about 20 minutes of the first interview. I almost left the interview, but I just knew if I left that I would end up regretting it. When she finally came back, she said she was going to schedule a second interview with the next interviewer (This was a good thing...it was the next step in the hiring process).

I am going to detour here for a moment and say that I had been given advice from a couple people that told me to pad my resume. I had only had one job out of the home. I had done some babysitting/nannying. Other than that, I had worked one job 20+ years ago. They told me to put my time as a foster parent, my time as a caregiver for my mom, and my time as a "home manager" on my resume to fill the gaps. I tried to explain these to other companies, but I went into this second interview and told the gentleman, "I have very little experience outside the home. I have had one job outside the home. I have taken care of my family, homeschooled my children. I have experience, but not in the ways most people would count." He went on to ask me why I thought I would do well working from home and how I would stay motivated. I told him that I was an introvert who had homeschooled 5 children. I enjoyed being alone and I was a self-starter. He told me that he was also an introvert. I cannot be sure that my honesty is the reason I got the job. In fact, I felt I was giving him a million reasons NOT to hire me, but nothing else I had done had worked. Less than 5 minutes later he told me he wanted to offer me the position!

July 13th, my life changed in so many ways. I re-entered the workforce. I was so scared. I told John that I wasn't making a public post or telling many people until I completed training. Most of my reasonings were self-preservation. I didn't want to face everyone when I fell flat on my face - which I was totally convinced I would. We were told we would have 6 assessments we would have to pass with an 80% or greater in order to pass training. We also had Knowledges Checks, Quizzes, etc. We have had a LOT of exams. Some I have bombed most I have passed, but as I write this, I have passed all of my assessments. The final assessment is that they will score three calls this week and we will get our last score from the average of those calls.

Today is Friday. Our first day of OJT2, we start taking calls today and will take calls until next Friday. It is scary, although we took calls during OJT1 so we do have some experience with this. It is still scary, but our trainer says he has nothing left to teach us. Assuming we pass this next week, we will be released to the "floor" where we will be full associates. That thought is scary and exciting. We will no longer have the safety nets that we have now of being in training. Now if we mess up, we have little chance of getting in trouble because we are "babies" and there is someone there to catch us. While there is help available after training if we need it, the expectation is higher. We will all do great though.

Next week, we will meet our new coach and get our new schedule. I am hoping mine stays the same or close to it because it is perfect for John's main job schedule. It is only 10 minutes earlier than his with the same days off. If you are seeing THIS post, that means I already have the job/schedule and all worked out. I would be writing a different post if I do not pass training.

Work - Week 6 Completed

 Well, that was a doozy! It had it's ups and downs, but this week kicked my butt. This week's training's focus is on billing. I didn't expect it to be so hard, but it is. I am struggling, but that is ok. It is how we learn. I try to take detailed notes. We are allowed to use our notes and any available resources when taking our exams. Friday night, right before we left, we had a Knowledge Check. These are just for our trainer's information. They do not count against us in any way. Yeah, I failed mine. They give us our score in XX/total number of questions then we average our score that way. I tried to use my resources, but I couldn't find the answers, but I made sure I used the answers from the KC to put in my notes so I would have them for future exams and for future use. 

Unfortunately, this affected my mood Friday. It carried into Saturday. I am still not sure that it isn't helping affecting today. There was lots of tears, cranky moods, feelings of desperation, etc. Tomorrow starts a new week and I am determined that it will get better. We will finish classroom training this week. If all goes according to plan, we will start OJT2 toward the end of the week. 

Work - Week 5 Completed

 Week 5 was different. Instead of in class training, we had on-the-job training (OJT1) this week. This was actually days 3-7. We did two days of OJT the previous week. It went well. There were some crazy moments. There was one day where I had a call that went really badly. By the end of the call everything was fine, but I ended up spending my lunch break in the bathroom crying for about 20 minutes. I was FRUSTRATED and ANGRY. I had remained composed on the call, but once I got on lunch all of those emotions just came out. After I cried, I was fine. Our trainer said we all did well this week. We didn't get an assessment score, though. 

This coming week, we will go back to the classroom where we will start studying the billing side of things. That is overwhelming to me, but I know it will be fine. We have been warned that it will be intense, though. There is not as much hands-on stuff to break it up so we have been told it will seem like it is a lot more than what it is. 

All in all work is going well. I give all praise to God for that. I give thanks to my village who prays for me and encourages me when I need it. They are the best. 

August a1c

 I just got a notification from my patient portal from the company that processes my labs. My a1c was 4.6! It has stayed steady for the last 3 months. It is exactly where it was 3 months ago. It is still in the non-diabetic range. I will take it. My calcium levels are very low, but I will see what he says about that. Otherwise, everything else looks good.

Work - Week 4 Completed

 This was an interesting week. I did pretty well this week. While this week held it's challenges, don't they all, it had some really big highs too. I made a 100% on my assessment! We took this one earlier in the week. We started taking live calls on Thursday, I think. Our first two calls our trainer "sat" with us and listened to our calls and would let us know if there was anything he thought we needed to do during the call. While I was waiting on him to get to me for my turn, I found a message from him from the day we took our assessment that I had missed. He had wanted to recognize me for my grade on the assessment! He wouldn't do it without my permission, though. Even though it didn't end up happening, just knowing that he wanted to give me kudos for a job well done  made me feel great! That was almost as good as the entire class knowing I had aced the exam. 

Taking calls - That was an experience. Each day brought a little more confidence while holding it's own challenges. I can't really share my stories about work, but let's just say the first day brought a frustrating, at the time, story that was filled with confusion. By Day 2 of taking calls, I was ready for this customer to return though, because no matter how frustrating he was, it didn't compare to the frustration of Day 2's frustrating customer. I am still new and in some ways I am struggling. They do not want us telling our customers that we are new because they instills a lack of confidence in them, in us, right off the bat. Well, I was struggling with this customer and trying to seek information/help for her. By the time I got the info the customer needed, the customer refused the info and told me they would be contacting corporate about me. Since I am still in training, I am not super worried about it (which is huge for me because I have anxiety about everything) but it was very frustrating none the less. Not just their reaction, but the whole process. I am hoping, and believing, that as time goes on, it will get easier. Hopefully, I get to stick around that long. All in all, most of my customers were understanding when things took time. My trainer was very understanding when I needed extra help so that was reassuring. 

Week 5 (and beyond)- Thus coming week will be more OJT (on the job training - taking calls) before we go back to the class room for addition training for the rest of the systems we need to learn. After that we will have another week or two of OJT. Then we will be out of training. 

I guess that is the update for this week. I am hoping for a good week this week!