11. October 2007 by Tara.

Well, it happened. But not because a plant closed down or a huge corporation moved their operation to Mexico. No, my husband was “laid off” from his job a couple weeks ago merely because of nasty office politics. He won’t be called back, but who would want to work with such dishonest, ruthless people? Anyway, due to the lack of manufacturing jobs here in Michigan, he’s hard-pressed to find something else. Fortunately, the unemployment will kick in and he will have time to weigh his options. By the way, if anyone knows of a company that needs a talented, experienced, seasoned tool maker, let me know!

Having this happen makes me appreciate what I do so much more. I have the Internet as an almost endless source of contacts and clients from all over the United States and also from different countries like the U.K. This new era of virtual assistance and digital products opens up so many opportunities for someone with an online business! Granted, I work hard for my pay and I’m not a millionaire, but it’s fulfilling work and I’ve learned a lot from it.

So now I’m trying to get my husband to remember his 8th grade typing class well enough to pitch in and help with some projects. He gave it a try…finished about 3 minutes of a 60-minute audio! I think it took him a good part of an hour to do that, so maybe everyone isn’t cut out to transcribe, but now he knows that for sure!

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19. September 2007 by Tara.

Did you ever have a really good day, only to find out that a friend had a really bad day that very same day? How do you react to their plight? It’s probably not very nice to gloat. Hopefully I showed enough compassion today when that happened with me and my cousin, who happens to work with me. She accidentally lost a transcript with 42 minutes’ worth of audio information on it. That’s 3 hours’ worth of actual work time–all lost in a second. I felt really bad and tried to help her and see if the Auto Recovery had done its job. No success. Not so good.

The good news was that our client said that we could turn the files in next week! He didn’t know about what happened, and now he never will know…unless he reads this post! We would have worked feverishly to have it done this week, but now with the extra time, we can relax and focus on what really needs to be done this week.

One of my clients asked me to call him on the phone. “Uh-oh!” I thought to myself, “What did I do wrong??” Nothing, come to find out. We were able to blame it on someone else! Ahh…what a good feeling. Turns out he was on location so it was easier for him to figure things out over the phone rather than with scattered email messages sent from his handheld. From the beginning, I thought he was such a nice guy and today solidified my resolve that he really is. He said we were doing great work and were making things easier on their end. What a great compliment! Good! Very good.

So another day in the life of me. It just so happened that today was one of the good ones on my end, even though it wasn’t so good for my cousin. I hope it’s gotten better for her since the kids returned home from school and her husband came home from work. Sometimes I feel guilty when I savor a good day. Why? Sometimes they’re few and far between, so I’ll take the good so I can remember it when the not so good comes again.

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30. August 2007 by Tara.

Lately I’ve needed help from various companies and services since I’m doing a lot to promote my website. Do you know what I’ve found? It’s easier and less stressful to just find the answer yourself from the “Help” section or by Googling the problem. My wait times have been over 20 minutes each…by contacting three places, I’m waiting for an hour! Then when I finally talk to or chat with a human person, either they can’t find the answer or they direct me to a website where I had been looking already and couldn’t find it, and that’s why I needed to talk to a live person.

It’s as if my question is the first one they’ve ever heard of the sort and I’m way out in left field with my request. Do these people actually solve any problems or answer any questions? Maybe they’re only there for idiots who ask questions that have obvious answers. But when it comes to anything “too complicated” for them, something that may require some research on their part–no way!

I feel as if I’m dumber just from corresponding with some of these people. Granted, there are some smart ones out there, but what are the chances of finding them with 10,000 other people in queue wanting help too? If they are smart, they’re not going to last long on the job because they’ll have bigger and better things to do with life. They’re like the competent folks who work at McDonald’s…either they’ll end up managing the place or they’ll move on faster than they can reheat a cheeseburger in the microwave.

Am I done wasting my time, holding for the next available agent? Probably not. I mean, sometimes I just need to be directed to the right place so I can find my own answer. The good thing is that while I’m waiting, I usually get a lot of work done.

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