Friday, October 13, 2023

Waiting on Life to Happen.

 The title is a bit misleading, I don't wait for life. I usually go out and get it. This time, I've done all I can do, and now I have to wait. I am not sitting still and waiting, I'm moving around, exercising, working out, walking, praying, eating, and reading, but I can't do more to make the various companies I've applied to do more than what they are doing. I want one in particular to call me today and say they'll hire me next week. That's what I want, but that doesn't happen these days. You have to jump through a few ridiculous hoops first; even after they tell you you're chosen.

    I won't say who they are, but there is a MAJOR claims company that is interviewing me, and we've gone past the 2nd interview stage. They had a writing sample requirement, and I did that yesterday. They sent me the information, the estimate, the photos, and the mock inspection. I had to fill in two portions of the written document. I had to give a general synopsis and then write up what I think happened using the photos and information given. There's really no wrong answer, but they want to see how you write, what you think is pertinent, and so forth.

    I really think I did a good job; I reread what I wrote before sending it. I did make one small error and I was upset about it, but then today they wrote to me and said they couldn't open their own Google Doc and wanted to know if I could send it back to them using Word. OK!!! I made the change of course, but I did tell them I made the change. You know, it could have been a test to see if I can change Google Docs into Word attachments. I wanted them to know I do know how to do that, and I made a change.  I meant to say "detach" and I said "detect", but you know, if you are capable of detecting a toilet it's a good thing!!

    Now, all I can do is wait. I'm the only person (they said) in the state of Oklahoma who will do what I do for their company. That's a lot of responsibility, but I love it. I am up for the challenges and the rewards. I don't have to be pushed, I'll push myself. I always do. I am the motivator in my life. I can't imagine not being able to kick my own butt when I need to. I have friends and acquaintances who just simply can't get up off their own ass to save themselves. They watch life pass them, I can't do that. I have never been able to do that. I make things happen.

    So, while I wait, I also apply for other jobs. You can't expect one to work out and then wait too long hoping. I put six weeks into waiting on a great claims company who swore they wanted me; but hey, if you want me...hire me. Six weeks and just yesterday they wrote to say they don't have any openings. Well, good thing I didn't put all my hopes in them; I applied at 11 other companies. I've interviewed with two. I am not going to wait for people to fulfill my needs. I have God for that. Prayer is real, and it does work.

    The same thing goes with my publisher. I have eight books with them, and still can't get the last two processed. It's always one thing after another. One mistake on each book was my fault, I admit that, but neither mistake could have or should have taken four weeks to process. THEY, the publisher, had my books (both of them) page count as -1.  NO WAY I'm writing that my book has -1 pages. One has 361 and the other has 398. The one that is 361 had to be an even number, and THEY didn't tell me that. It sat there in their waiting queue for four stupid weeks because they couldn't do their job and write to me to say it needed to be changed, but I couldn't change it. They have to release it so I can. THEY screwed up. I did need to upload the interior of my book again, but I can't do that until they release the process, and it took four weeks. 

    By the time they got one finished, I had another book waiting to be published. They did the same thing with that book, and I  nailed them. I wrote to them every single day until something happened. I wasn't willing to wait for them to get back to me. I flooded their supervisor's email until he/she wrote to me and said they would take care of it. You can't wait on people; people will let you wait. MAKE life happen. Get in there and nudge them if they need nudging. We have too many face-to-phone younger generational people working in the job market who are too busy keeping up with their social media to do their jobs. FORCE IT when you need to. Wake someone up and help them do their job if you need them to. Let them hang someone else's time, but not yours.

    I know that attitude isn't always popular, but I'm a leader, and I get in there with my people. I don't expect them to do anything I wouldn't do. The waiting game is something I can't control, but I can be productive during it.


Photo Credit: The Conversation

    

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