Nerves at Work

Well so far this job has been a nightmare since about yesterday when I took my first two phone calls... I am taking calls feeling like I know nothing at all about how to handle these people. I feel like I am relearning everything we learned in the classroom, because once there's a live customer on the phone, the two weeks of knowledge completely flies from my brain and I am operating on sheer nerves. I put them on hold a lot so I can ask questions and then the customers get frustrated that it's taking so long. They're just all going to have to bear with me I guess. Not much else I can do but just keep doing it until I start to get better and better... but I was almost sick at work today from being so nervous on the phones. I felt like if I ate my little chocolate nugget that we get every day at about 3:30 it would give me problems. I just can't relax until I feel more comfortable. I am going to be hating life until I feel better at this. Still... why did I take a job where I have to answer phones and talk to the public? I should've known from the beginning I've never liked that. Guess I'll just have to get used to it. I'm learning tons of great skills for working in this industry though. If I can conquer this job, I'm a travel PRO.

Brain-Stretching

Sometimes I feel like there's only so much that can fit in my brain. I'm gonna have to make it stretch a bit to fit in everything that I'm learning this week! Well, not like there was really all THAT much in my brain to start out with... ;)

It's kind of satisfying, though, to be learning something this challenging. It only means that soon I'll be good at something that's rather difficult to learn, and looks rather impressive while you're flying through it. :) Today at work I got to shadow one of the people out on the call floor, plugging my headset into his phone so I could listen in. It was interesting to hear these people who call in and to watch how he would handle their questions, and to imagine myself doing that sometime soon. As soon as I get through this whole "I-don't-have-a-clue-what-I'm-doing" part, it'll be all good. I just have to hang on till then.

First Day Report

Me: "I'm the youngest, most inexperienced person in the training class... I look like such an idiot!"
Stephanie: "Well, if they all have 13 years of experience more than you and they're in the SAME JOB AS YOU, I think YOU'RE the one who's coming out ahead here!"

Hee hee. Thanks, Steph. :) Anyways, my first day was ok. Once I entered the building and found my group, everything was pretty much smooth sailing from there. We got a tour of the office (it's like a huge cube maze) and saw the break room (6 microwaves! 5 vending machines!), and we were introduced to several people around the office, though not nearly all, since there's about 100 people who work there. I got lost a couple of times in the office. But hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to find my way around... :)

So for the next three or four weeks, I'll be sitting in a classroom behind a computer, learning Sabre. (Hmm, this is familiar...) There are a bunch of other programs that they want to train us on as well, and we'll also have to do a week or two of on-the-job training (OJT). I won't actually be on the floor for another month at least. It's quite an extensive training program, but I guess they want to make SURE that we know what we're doing before we start working on our own. I can't wait until I am confident enough in this job to work on my own. I don't have a cube yet and I'm sure I won't until I actually start working. So for now, it's hard to feel any sense of belonging, since right now all I have is a seat in a classroom, but it can only get better.

I found myself actually missing my old job at times... :) At least the feeling of belonging to a group and having friends around. It may be awhile before this place feels like that, because of the really long orientation/training period, with people who are all older than me... But for now I should just concentrate on learning this job as best I can, so that later I'll feel more comfortable to socialize and feel more confident in what I do.

Back at it again tomorrow...

Done!

Done with finals! I did pretty well. I'm probably done with school for quite awhile, as summer and fall classes do not seem to be meshing well with my work schedule. Actually, I'm still not sure what my work hours will be once I finish training; they could be something crazy like 11-7, which makes it REALLY difficult to take any classes. But we'll see. Maybe I'll be able to make something work.

But for now, I'm heading off to Columbia to finish out this week of vacation. I'll hang out with my brother in the evenings, and during the day I'll hit the downtown area and do some shopping or something. Maybe just hang out on campus. :) I don't know if they're done with finals yet. Craig and I will probably go see "Hitchhiker's Guide," so I'm excited for that. I've heard mixed things about it.

Well, the next time I post here will probably be about my new job... so stay tuned!! :)

May I Direct Your Attention...

...to the link for the website for Technical Difficulties in my sidebar? There's not much there right now; none of the links are working as of yet, but at least check out Janice's design for the logo. It's kinda pretty.

I start my new job in less than a week. Yikes. I'm getting more nervous as the day draws nearer. Yesterday I stopped in my old office to meet a couple friends for lunch and walked around saying hi to everyone. That was cool. And it was probably my last time in that office for a while... not sure how often I'll be able to do that again. But it was nice to see everyone before I start my new job in a strange new office with all new people... it's kind of a scary thought. And what if I have a lot of trouble learning this new job? I don't know. It's entry-level, so really, how hard can it be... I just get nervous thinking about it.

Well I must get back to studying for my final tonight... then I'm going to return home and study for tomorrow morning's final, which will probably be harder... but I also need to go outside for a little bit and enjoy this weather... maybe I'll take a walk to the front office to deliver the rent check. Anyways, wish me luck on my finals... :)