Posts Tagged ‘efficient’
I cribbed the title from a worthwhile essay in a similar vein, so credit there where due.
It’s Picture Day, and you’re a teacher. Chances are, things aren’t going well. All those photographers, and Picture Day is half of an hour behind schedule. As tempting as it may be, don’t get peeved at the camera guy. He’s just doing his job, as best he can.
If his car broke on the way to your school, or his equipment at it, remember that he doesn’t like either any more than you do. To fix his car means that he might not be able to pay the rent this month, and to fix his equipment means 45 minutes of patient explanation to students, staff, faculty and your school’s highest hierarchy. If he had any control over the situation, there wouldn’t be a situation to worry about.
Once he gets there, it’s an even shot that all the plans he knows have been changed. He may or may not find out that Picture Day has been moved to another, smaller room, or that your Picture Day coordinator has some wild ideas she’d like to try out that he can’t at all implement. While his boss and yours play early morning phone tag, he may or may not discover that he has to clear a class set of chairs and tables before he can even start setting up.
Camera Guy makes no real decisions, though he is the face of the company. Camera Guy is merely in charge of the camera, and that is where his authority ends. If your Picture Day is running slower than expected, it more-often-than-not isn’t going to be the fault of Camera Guy.
Just know that if you must complain to his superiors about his efficiency or the clogged lines at his camera, have the courtesy to first inquire with him politely. He’ll be very receptive. For Camera Guy, politeness can be such a novelty.
I had half an hour to pick up a replacement social security card. There was no way I had enough time, so I went straight to office and confronted my boss.
There’s one right by the airport, nearby. I’ll go during lunch.
Thanks for offering.
I almost wish I hadn’t. As soon as the words slipped out of my mouth, I remembered that this particular office is notorious for long lines and slow service, even among social security administration offices. It’s practically at the level of an inner-city DMV. At the fastest, requesting a card is a 45-minute chore of a errand mostly made up of time spent reading your book and turning off your cellphone.
The last time I lost my card, I went to a dingy office in a San Jose strip mall, complete with 1973-quality interior decorating. It lasted a lot more than the 45 minutes the guard said it would, and I just knew I’d get the same uncomfortable chairs and wasted hour of my life this time around.
Imagine my disappointment that I was in and out just as soon as the social security card lady got back from her lunch. The blandly disinterested clerk from my last visit at the other office had been replaced at this office by an attentive clerk who, if I remember correctly, even smiled at me. More than once.
She didn’t disappear behind the counter for minutes at a time as she asked around her superiors about exactly how she was supposed to fill out the paperwork, and she wasn’t the 20-something answering my questions while busily texting her boyfriend. She started doing what she needed to do, and without blinking.
As I told her just before I turned to leave:
Whatever people usually say about the Social Security Administration, I had a very positive experience today. Please: Keep it up.
If only consistency weren’t completely out of the question.
