rhubarb
2410037 Curiosities served
Was I Wazeer? I Wazzn't!
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The kind of job I have is very seasonal in the workload. During January and February, it is relatively quiet, answering questions, preparing standard reports, reviewing the current situation with a view towards improvement the following year.
The summer, quite the other way, is the busiest time of the year, starting in May and going right through the first week of October. My responsibilities involve decisions which impact over 400 employees and the people they, in turn, serve, who number in the thousands.
My sense of the number of people relying on my vigilance and care gives me a lot of stress. Not all stress is bad and in this case it's the kind of stress that keeps me going. I know my job is important. I know that what I do will affect the jobs and lives of many people, for good or for ill. This knowledge pushes me to do my best, in spite of the long hours and occasionally tedious tasks.
It helps to have collegial coworkers and a boss who appreciates my efforts and backs me up on decisions. The negative stress arises when some backbiting micromanager interferes and causes chaos and ill-will. I try hard to praise, encourage and coach the people who work with me, because I know the kind of management person who inspires me and I in turn do my best to inspire and support others.
The hardest part of my job is the "accounting" part. Not that I'm an accountant, but there are numbers that have to balance and there is equipment to be accounted for, and at the end of the day what was allocated out has to come back in reports as utilized properly.
I am not by nature a detail person; I love the big picture, the sweeping vistas, the philosophical concepts. I have had to discipline myself for years to pay attention to every single, little, nit-picking detail, until finally it has become second nature. I emphasize the "second" part. It's deeply satisfying when everything is organized and balanced and accounted for; but why me? I'd be happy to delegate it and then sit back and admire. But it's mine to do and I do it with a will.
Some day I will not have to do it. And that will be good, too.
The summer, quite the other way, is the busiest time of the year, starting in May and going right through the first week of October. My responsibilities involve decisions which impact over 400 employees and the people they, in turn, serve, who number in the thousands.
My sense of the number of people relying on my vigilance and care gives me a lot of stress. Not all stress is bad and in this case it's the kind of stress that keeps me going. I know my job is important. I know that what I do will affect the jobs and lives of many people, for good or for ill. This knowledge pushes me to do my best, in spite of the long hours and occasionally tedious tasks.
It helps to have collegial coworkers and a boss who appreciates my efforts and backs me up on decisions. The negative stress arises when some backbiting micromanager interferes and causes chaos and ill-will. I try hard to praise, encourage and coach the people who work with me, because I know the kind of management person who inspires me and I in turn do my best to inspire and support others.
The hardest part of my job is the "accounting" part. Not that I'm an accountant, but there are numbers that have to balance and there is equipment to be accounted for, and at the end of the day what was allocated out has to come back in reports as utilized properly.
I am not by nature a detail person; I love the big picture, the sweeping vistas, the philosophical concepts. I have had to discipline myself for years to pay attention to every single, little, nit-picking detail, until finally it has become second nature. I emphasize the "second" part. It's deeply satisfying when everything is organized and balanced and accounted for; but why me? I'd be happy to delegate it and then sit back and admire. But it's mine to do and I do it with a will.
Some day I will not have to do it. And that will be good, too.
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