Of Vacations and Work by Bonnie Le Hamilton

 

I don’t know how your week went, but this past week for me wasn't fun.

For starters, my direct supervisor took her first vacation in two years leaving me to do her job. To say the least, I was overwhelmed just at the prospect of being the only one in our office for an entire week, let alone that I can only work twenty hours a week, and my supervisor puts in somewhere between forty and sixty hours a week.

For one thing, I was afraid the phone would be ringing off the hook. Normally I don’t answer the phone. And I felt out of my league the first time I answered the phone, but I managed it. I thought, “Okay, I can do this, just as long as it doesn’t ring off the hook,” and believe me it has.

My supervisor had messages come through while she was on the phone.

Though my week was going okay, I even had one day where I just sat around and knitted waiting for the phone to ring, then I got an urgent call. Dang, what do I do now?

I was panic-stricken and even texted my supervisor for advice.

From that point on, I did the best I could do for the client, except she wasn’t the only one, I got two more clients the next day. And with each call, I panicked. Though to be honest those two were not as urgent as the first. That first one could not wait until my supervisor got back, period.

I must add she left me a list of things she wanted me to do while she was gone, other than dealing with calls, those things were more in line with me really just being a data entry clerk, even if my training included dealing with clients.

She fretted that she didn’t leave me enough to do because I can type so much faster than she can write. I finish entering the data in less time than she takes to write up her notes, and her notes are phrases, abbreviations, and cut-off words, I turn that into full coherent sentences.

The thing is, I was only idle one day, and at the end of that day, I realized I hadn’t worked on one thing on her list. But it wasn’t all that hard. I did finish that list for her, despite dealing with calls.

But I’m also glad that week is over.

Though now we have to do our quarterly reports. I haven’t done those before.

My supervisor thinks I finish in a flash because I’m all caught up with the data entry. She never managed that with the data entry, ever. Her supervisor was in fact glad I started working there simply because she hoped I could keep my supervisor on task better.

From the second I finished inputting one case file my supervisor has fretted that she could keep me busy for a full twenty hours a week. And believe me, she has often said, “Uh, let's see, what else can you do for me?”

But I had all files current within a week of starting, and I even cleared out all her old files that didn’t need to be stored anymore.

I can complete more in five hours, four days a week, than she can manage in eight hours five days a week. Though admittedly she does have to deal with calls, and I don’t when she’s around.

The fact is, I’m just a fast worker.

I do like working there (when I’m not stressed out by taking care of clients). The work is easy otherwise.

The people I work with are great.

And I’m sure Konnie can do the job I have far more efficiently, mainly because, unlike me, she can multitask. I have to do one thing at a time. And she doesn’t have my heart condition, so she can work a forty-hour week.

Then there is also the fact that she types faster. Believe me, my fingers don’t fly as fast over the keyboard as hers does.

She has more work experience than I have too. Not only because she got married four years after I did, but because I was able to be a housewife my whole marriage, she worked on and off during her marriage to help make ends meet.

That and she has a college degree and I don’t.

But from all this, I think I could draft a story where a simple employee had to take over for the supervisor short term. Then again, it reminds me of Dick Francis’s novel “Straight” where the main character has to take over as head of his big brother’s company. Talk about being in over his head!

Anyway, Happy writing everyone!