Life Improvement Tips For The Wise Few

The only way to actually be the boss is when it’s your turn to show your leadership skills and this week was my turn. My boss and my colleague went off Island for three days, and left me in charge. All I can say is being boss is no fun, and then again I have to admit that if you can prove your worth, this is the best chance you get in life.

When they left I assumed everything would go smooth and no problems would arise, but no one prepared me for the most drowsed in worked days that would follow.

Everything that could have gone wrong took place, my phone was like a hot line, anyone working there at that moment would have sworn it was a five star restaurant with many take out orders. And to top that off, one of the CSR’s (Customer Service Reps) took ill, so I was filling his spot also.

You name it, and I did it for those couple of days.

Then when I thought it would get better, I got a couple of calls from some Government officials complaining that there systems went down. I have never created a bridged network before and was wondering how in Gods name will I pull that off. Was shown briefly how to do it.

I stayed calm, and tried to focus, began going through some reading material, they called just around nine that morning, and I did not say I didn’t know what to do. I just told them to have a little patience with me and that I was working alone. A little later I called them up and told them that I needed to rebuild all the bridge connections and I will try and get it done A.S.A.P.

I was really multi-tasking, doing customer outages and reading up on how to rebuild those bridges. I just started creating the bridges on the computer and was trying to figure this out while doing that. At that moment I had no one to turn to, no one to call, it was all up to me, if it had to be.

The only thought that ran through my mind was; So you want to be boss then, well prove it.

The worse part came, when one customer was bombarding one CSR with slander, he called me and asked if I could assist him. When I got there, I shook the gentleman hand and he let me have it. I listened and stayed calm, very calm, I was even amazed at how well I handled the situation. Then I told him what I would do, and he left. I again promised the world.

I got that guy shifted on to a new system, got the field techs to assist, must give thanks to the only female tech we have, she really helped me out. We had this guy strapped and moved in under an hour. I called him and he came and got the new box, he went home and his system was up and running. Later that afternoon I called him. he said all was working.

You know what was so amazing, to see that… no thanks was returned. In life we are eager to condemn, but seldom are we prepared to praise.

I was crunched for time, but I wanted to get this done as soon as possible, those guys kept calling me, and I kept telling them that I was busy repairing the network, not quite true, I was busy learning how to do the impossible. In the mean time I was helping everyone out, no complaints, everyone was getting what they wanted except the Government officials.

The Intern who is training with us was laughing and wondering how I would pull it off, I just went and deleted all the bridges, that left me no choice, and started to recreate them, I finished just 5 minutes shy of twelve.

That was a great feeling, the phone calls didn’t slow down, more problems were being reported, and as they came in I was getting them completed.

I must admit, that for all the years working with this company, these couple of days made me feel I like I worked for a lifetime. I was actually busy for the first time in my life for 8 hours each day.

What did I learn from this experience?

1. To always stay calm, and test your limits, you will be surprised what you can do when you don’t have anyone around to help you out.
2. Being the boss takes responsibilities to another level, you have to make decisions and make them fast.
3. I honestly learned how to motivate and get people to do the impossible, and how to believe in you.
4. The best compliment I got is when one of the field techs was working on a problem, he called me and briefly discussed the problem. I went to work and called him back and said you can leave now, it’s up and running. He laughed loudly and said, I told the gentleman I gave it to the best, he will make it work for you.
5. To be the boss, doesn’t mean you have to be a “snob”
6. Together we can get more done, and I have seen this, when one colleague who had requested to take the afternoon off, insisted that he would stay on to help. It really moved me. It won’t go unforgotten.
7. Many of the things that employees do go unnoticed

Point seven is my closing point and that is the one I would like to address, because nothing you do goes unnoticed. And when your doing something, do it from your heart, because what you give is what you will get. I know now, that I do give my all and that the people I work with respect that.

I will send an email of gratitude to all who assisted me in getting through these couple of days.

Thanks, I owe you all a bunch…

Before I close I would like to leave you with this: “Our fatigue is often not caused by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment.”