Recovery and some thoughts about working on a holiday
Last Saturday's jam was loads of fun, but it came with a price. Unlike the other guys in the band, I got up early and put in a nine hour day at work before heading over to Club Spit East. But I had so much fun that 2:30 AM had arrived with me having no clue we had been at it so long or that I had been up for 21 hours. Fortunately I was off Sunday, but I had volunteered to work Monday (my normal day off) and well, Monday's are a real bitch at work and almost as bad as Saturdays. And I had no idea there was going to be a big schedule switch up this week that would leave us short-staffed in the mornings for the whole week. Let's just say it was a very long three days before my next day off on Thursday, today. So today I took it easy, did some of the stuff that couldn't wait (i.e., laundry) but kept that to a minimum. My back's been killing me all week, reminding me that I exceeded my limits, but hey - I don't regret it one bit. That kind of fun is worth it and I'd do it again even if it does take me a week to recover from it.

Rob's off tomorrow for the long holiday weekend that most folks get here in the USA, but I'm working both tomorrow and Saturday, as usual - there are no holidays at ye old call center. Holiday weekends are a nightmare for my position since people will invariably request a supervisor when told that the department they need is closed. Why the hell they think a supervisor in Technical Support is going to be able to help them with a Customer Service or Line Repair issue is beyond me, but it happens constantly. During the week I *might* be able to get them over to someone that can help them (and that's a very big *might*), but on a holiday weekend - hahahahaha. Dream on, customer, dream on. And when these people hit me as a complete dead end they usually get even more furious and ask to speak to MY supervisor, but guess what, my supervisor is OFF FOR THE HOLIDAY WEEKEND YOU DUMBSHIT! Feel free to call back on Monday.

Now don't get me wrong here, I'm still invested in providing the best customer service possible and I know it sucks to be without the Internet over a holiday weekend when you have some extra free time to enjoy all the wonders of the world wide web, but I'm growing very weary of this 24/7 on-demand society that expects everything to be done immediately. Maybe it's just because I'm old and remember when you had to wait for things. Stores weren't open 24/7, produce could only be had in season and if you needed cash you had to drive to the bank on a weekday between 9 am and 2pm. Sidewalks rolled up at 6 pm and if you didn't plan ahead and ran out of something on a Sunday then you were just shit out of luck. Few people worked on the weekends and you could count on everyone being at the family get-together except for the cousin that was a firefighter, the uncle that was a policeman, the aunt that was a nurse and the other cousin that was a lineman and damn, they were heroes sacrificing their weekends to just keep us safe, alive and with electricity and phone service.

Now does anyone these days think that the Wal-Mart employee staffing the store on a Saturday night is a hero, sacrificing their weekend so you can go buy a new pair of houseshoes? No? Well, if you happen to run across anyone working this holiday weekend, maybe just take a moment to thank them for being there and providing you with the convenience you've come to expect these days. They may not be heroes, but they are making your life just a little bit easier.