I've been working how long?!! (part 2)

When I tell people I have worked at Wycliffe for 35 years, often they gasp or their eyes bug out. Not many people today want to be in a job that long. I heard or read somewhere that people stay at a job for 2 years at most now days. Why are they changing jobs so often and where do they find all these jobs? I don't know, but I would hate to switch jobs so often. It takes about 3 mos to really train a person for the job I do and at least a year for them to really learn it well. I would hate to train a person who is only planning on sticking around for 2 years. They'd just getting started in this job.

One of the really sad things about telling people what I do is they assume you don't have to be very bright to do this job, that just about anyone with a pulse could do it. Well I'll tell you what, if you think that, you come spend a day doing what I do, and then tell me what you think. The people I work with are all very bright, sharp people and the brighter they are the better the job they do and the greater asset they are to the dept. If they just had a pulse and warmed a desk chair, there would be great frustration, we'd be buried in work, and I'd be real unhappy.

Meet Teresa. She is one of our bright, dedicated workers. Teresa has been here 12 years. She is in before 6am every day and I mean every day. The boss has to make her take time off (something the boss has never had to worry about with me) and she is rarely sick. When the work comes in, it is checked to be sure only coupons get opened and scanned first, lots of other mail gets in with the coupon mail and has to be sorted out. Teresa is always one of the first to begin that process. She is also our champion opener. She is hard working, sweet as can be, and truly loves the Lord. She is best buddies with our other Theresa. It can get rather confusing when talking about  or calling them. We often say, "the Little Theresa," to distinguish them, but they are both so little, that's not a big help. Teresa is a great worker and good friend.

Debbie relating a story or giving a cheer.

Meet Debbie, she is the assistant boss in my dept. She is fun, cheerful, a cheerleader, and very talented. She is also one of our bakers. When she says, "I brought goodies!" We pay attention. It is always somethings scrumptious and never lasts long. Debbie can knit, croquet, quilt, sew, paint, you name it she can do it. She has made me 2 beautiful afghans. Yes Debbie is a good person to know and work with. She is also giving and kind. Something that is always an asset in any dept. Debbie 1 husband, 2 grown children and 3 cats.

Meet The Boss Connie. This is what life has been like lately in our Dept. Makes you want to cry. We just got a new system and it has been rough. We have been so behind, nothing going right, lots of mistakes. But in May with the help of another dept. who graciously gave their time to help, we got caught up and have stay that way. So now things are much better and there are many more smiles. Connie is the best boss ever. She is caring, encouraging, she does anything and everything to help out. She works long hour for no pay as she doesn't get over time. She is a friend to all her employees, and she has only fallen down once while at work, well she has fallen down the stairs a few times, but only once in our dept.



Me, taking my work seriously



And then there's me. You already know me so I won't say much. I don't really think I'm as hard a worker as the other girls. After 30 some years in here, I kind of know how things go and I don't panic much over the work anymore. I'm kind of laid back about it. I'm also not as speedy as they are. I never used a mouse until we started a new system shortly after moving to FL. (we've had many, many, many new systems since ) In CA we just had terminals, no mouse required. So I'm very clumsy with the mouse. If one of the young whipper snappers are asking me to look up something on my PC, they usually get rather frustrated with me and grab the mouse and do it themselves. But that's okay. I often say, "Erica, I can't find this." real whiny like and she'll come over and say, "Just let me do it!" after seeing how slow I am. It works out real well for me.





The Crew, however several are no longer in our dept. The young man kneeling (Kevin) has moved on as well as the young lady (Ginger)  in the back row to the right of me. They were fun to work with too.



So there you have it. A top notch crew, working together like a well oiled machine, and having lots of fun together. I love my little co-workers. They're the best.