while the ice storm was happening, business as usual

[derien]

The class was kind of fun, though I know I came across as the surly kid in the back of the class a lot of times. I asked CeeJay and he said yeah, actually, I did. I can't seem to help my body language when I feel as though the class work has been stretched out with lots of feel-good fuzzy crap and pro-gov propaganda. Buck (coworker who took the class earlier on) said he thought the content could have been presented in a half hour, but he and everyone agrees it's more fun to go sit in a hotel room and play some party games than to go to work. And we got paid for it and had an hour off for lunch, so how bad can it be?

I was trying to help them out - because I like them both and I'm going to be the one on the spot teaching classes, soon - by responding to the discussion topics. For some reason my particular class was like pulling teeth to get them to talk. Pheobe said that with most of the classes the problem has been to get them to shut up; she had no idea what concatenation of personalities caused this class to be so quiet. But at the point where CeeJay actually used the phrase "educate the public" my buttons felt pushed, and I blurted out rather forcefully, "You do NOT educate the public." I've worked with the public for how many years? - eleven directly with and another couple more behind the scenes - and I have never once seen any attempt to 'educate the public' make a drop of difference. Unless you want to spend the money on an advertising blitze, because I suspect the Crying Indian ads from the '70s were at least somewhat effective in making people aware of littering.

I suppose the point of stretching it out was to give us more time to think about the message that we need to be more kind toward the public. Thing is, I'm personally trying. It's hard for me to help my natural tone of voice sounding like I'm brushing people off and my eyebrows being shaped like I'm angry. I'm not feeling near as pissed off as I was before my month off, so burnout is a factor. And our little installation consistently gets compliments on how professional and friendly we are. So if they're looking to improve the image just by improving the customer service aspect of the actual experience I think they should be concentrating their efforts on the busier places where people are getting burned out because they don't get breaks, or are frustrated because they're barely noticed and treated like cattle. When you're treated like cattle it's hard not to pass on that treatment. Do something to actually change this situation, don't just give them a bunch of fuzzy platitudes and two days off playing games in a classroom. Bargaining rights, maybe? Just a thought.

The first day of class, after our first break, CeeJay came in and rather uncomfortably announced, "My wife brought coffee and doughnuts for everyone." Maybe he was uncomfortable because he's not used to referring to ElvenGirl as his wife, or possibly because he was afraid she was going to be hanging around to talk to people about the possibility of a Union, which was why she had the coffee - she was with the Union reps upstairs, hoping people would come talk with them. She had discreetly disappeared, though.

I felt badly about looking like the surly kid in the back of the class when people I like were trying to teach it, so I hung around and had a drink with them each day after class to try to remind them that indeed I do like them both a lot. (I also had a glass of water and waited a half hour longer before driving home on the ridiculously icy roads.)

Comments

[tronella.livejournal.com]

My default expression is apparently somewhere between bored and angry, so people constantly ask me if I'm okay. But pretending not to be bored or angry is even worse! I cannot do it at all.

[derien.livejournal.com]

Hee! We are expression twins. :)