I haven't done any training, really, since teaching office procedure and register operations when I was working for Food Lion and it's been a long time since I've done instruction with a group. I forgot how hard it was to teach a room and not a subject. The frustrating part is that I have to 'dumb down' a lot of things to people that, by nature of where we are and that they are even there for me to be talking to, I should not need to.
Don't get me wrong, I don't blame them. I'm a geek, I'm an A/V geek at heart. I know most of what I know because I want to, not because I was required to for work. I blame training for not actually teaching these people what they need to understand their job.
It's a process; can't fix it all overnight. Being at the start of change means looking past what is to what can be, no, what will be. My supervisor would be so proud.
Blind leading the blind?
Apparently, the document that the little group I'm in at work was approved as today I and one other member of the group hosted our first refresher training class. Have another tomorrow. There are others scheduled over the next week or two and I'll be acting as instructor in a few of those as well it seems. Some of them are for days I'm not there or scheduled during my lunch break.
The schedule for tomorrow's class was given to me shortly before leaving, as well as the time that I'm allotted to be off the phone. On a plus note, I'm off the phone from the end of my first break until the start of my lunch. yay Also apparently one of the people in tomorrow's class is a lead. I'm not sure how I feel about teaching someone that's supposed to be over me but at the same time, this guy didn't do video support long (if at all) before becoming a lead so I can't fault him for not knowing much about it.
The schedule for tomorrow's class was given to me shortly before leaving, as well as the time that I'm allotted to be off the phone. On a plus note, I'm off the phone from the end of my first break until the start of my lunch. yay Also apparently one of the people in tomorrow's class is a lead. I'm not sure how I feel about teaching someone that's supposed to be over me but at the same time, this guy didn't do video support long (if at all) before becoming a lead so I can't fault him for not knowing much about it.
Towel Day 2008
I'm not sure if I should be worried or not.
I took my towel to work, as one would expect on Towel Day but despite it being rather large and very brightly colored, no one said a word, or even looked at me oddly. I'm not sure if it's a sign that I work with more Douglas Adams fans than I know or if everyone just thinks me so weird as to think nothing of seeing me carry around a really big bright towel for no apparent reason what so ever.
I took my towel to work, as one would expect on Towel Day but despite it being rather large and very brightly colored, no one said a word, or even looked at me oddly. I'm not sure if it's a sign that I work with more Douglas Adams fans than I know or if everyone just thinks me so weird as to think nothing of seeing me carry around a really big bright towel for no apparent reason what so ever.
I'm noticing a pattern here
Second Sunday in a row I've been asked to fill in at the lead desk. One of the leads said they might have me do it every Sunday to cover for the meal breaks of two leads. With the number of people we have on the floor on Sunday night having three leads at any one time is probably a good idea.
Not sure how I got put in this position but it o'kay with me. A little change of pace. Don't really like taking escalation calls but I guess you have to take the bad with the good.
Not sure how I got put in this position but it o'kay with me. A little change of pace. Don't really like taking escalation calls but I guess you have to take the bad with the good.
When it rains it pours and I forgot my slicker
So my old supervisor walks up to me today and says the following all in one breath "So I'm part of a group that will be reviewing the current video training and I recommended you to be part of it. I hope that's o'kay." Then tells me she'll let me know and walks off.
*blink* eh?
About two hours later I get an appointment request via Outlook asking if I'll attend a meeting tomorrow.
*blink* *blink* and again I say, eh?
Now don't get me wrong, I told my current supervisor that I wanted to sit in on a video training class and help rework the process. People coming up to the floor are so lost doing video, something has to change. I just didn't actually expect anyone to take me seriously. Certainly not this fast.
*blink*
*blink* eh?
About two hours later I get an appointment request via Outlook asking if I'll attend a meeting tomorrow.
*blink* *blink* and again I say, eh?
Now don't get me wrong, I told my current supervisor that I wanted to sit in on a video training class and help rework the process. People coming up to the floor are so lost doing video, something has to change. I just didn't actually expect anyone to take me seriously. Certainly not this fast.
*blink*
Assume the position
Last night at work, for the last hour of my shift, I was asked to sit at the lead desk while one of the two leads on duty went on their dinner break.
Not so sure what to think about it, actually. I think perhaps I'm just not used to the idea that some of the people I work with/for look at me as more than just another phone jockey. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it and I was just the most qualified phone jockey available at the moment. :)
Anyway, off today, off tomorrow, back Wednesday to the same ol' same ol'. Weeeee
Not so sure what to think about it, actually. I think perhaps I'm just not used to the idea that some of the people I work with/for look at me as more than just another phone jockey. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it and I was just the most qualified phone jockey available at the moment. :)
Anyway, off today, off tomorrow, back Wednesday to the same ol' same ol'. Weeeee
It's all fun and games until someone gets promoted
Had my first meeting (all be it an informal one) with my new supervisor. His name is Charles, everyone calls him Chilly. I don't. Just seems weird. He's a decent guy from what I can tell. Just recently made supervisor. I think he's qualified.
In this meeting, he kept talking about 'doing things differently' and being a test bed for a new way of running teams. All fine and good, as some things really do need to change. Problem is the manager for my part of the call center is going to be watching him and what he's doing, thus what his team and so what I'm doing. I like being under the radar around there; this is not under the radar.
Now on a positive note, Charles says that he intends to try and make better use of my experience which could help lead me to other positions on the end. For now, though, it really just means more work without more pay, and getting noticed by people that I might not really want to get noticed by.
Such is life, I guess.
In this meeting, he kept talking about 'doing things differently' and being a test bed for a new way of running teams. All fine and good, as some things really do need to change. Problem is the manager for my part of the call center is going to be watching him and what he's doing, thus what his team and so what I'm doing. I like being under the radar around there; this is not under the radar.
Now on a positive note, Charles says that he intends to try and make better use of my experience which could help lead me to other positions on the end. For now, though, it really just means more work without more pay, and getting noticed by people that I might not really want to get noticed by.
Such is life, I guess.
(mis)adventures in networking
To further my quest to see just how much I can make my poor old FreeBSD box do without falling over I have setup (and mostly have working) both PPTP VPN and Samba as a WINS server. Now the end goal is to make it so that connecting clients will be able to browse the shared drives/printers on the network, but so far only direct reference seems to be working. Not sure what I'm doing wrong but then it might just be a limitation of the built-in Mac OS X VPN client.
The only reason I set up Samba, really, was that supposedly having a WINS server would allow the browsing to happen but so far that doesn't seem to be cutting it. Though since I have it up I might try messing with LDAP based login authentication again. *shrug* Had it working once before for the BSD and Windows machines I had on the network but it's a bigger network now and I would be causing a possible issue for people that don't really need that kind of thing, so maybe not.
If anyone has any thoughts on what I might be doing wrong with the VPN and share browsing, do feel free to pipe up.
Also, I want to be able to route IPv6 traffic over the connection but I haven't even gotten rtadvd to send over the VPN connections yet, so that's a project for another day.
Why can't I have a normal hobby, like everyone else? No, wait, most of the people I talk to do networking for a hobby. Never mind. :)
The only reason I set up Samba, really, was that supposedly having a WINS server would allow the browsing to happen but so far that doesn't seem to be cutting it. Though since I have it up I might try messing with LDAP based login authentication again. *shrug* Had it working once before for the BSD and Windows machines I had on the network but it's a bigger network now and I would be causing a possible issue for people that don't really need that kind of thing, so maybe not.
If anyone has any thoughts on what I might be doing wrong with the VPN and share browsing, do feel free to pipe up.
Also, I want to be able to route IPv6 traffic over the connection but I haven't even gotten rtadvd to send over the VPN connections yet, so that's a project for another day.
Why can't I have a normal hobby, like everyone else? No, wait, most of the people I talk to do networking for a hobby. Never mind. :)
A computer by any other IP...
Finished a network renumber tonight. Why? In preparation for another project that I'll be starting soon.
After a few minor hiccups (forgetting to update the default gateway in the dhcpd.conf is minor, right?) everything is back to normal. Actually fixed a few things along the way. Lease file is filling up with new info and all seems to be right with the world again.
After a few minor hiccups (forgetting to update the default gateway in the dhcpd.conf is minor, right?) everything is back to normal. Actually fixed a few things along the way. Lease file is filling up with new info and all seems to be right with the world again.
Bits and pieces, stuff and things
Not sure what I'm writing about, really. Just sitting here, awake and none of the people that I would usually talk to are online so here I am with words and nowhere to put them.
My network has all but settled down to where I want it. Every machine that is IPv6 capable has it working, still need to work out one or two upgrades but a lot of backup needs to be done first, so all in good time. Have some firewall work to do still on server type boxen, but nothing much is even open on them, so not all that worried anyway. Need to find an IPv6 port scanner that I can run from outside of my network (ie: from a website or something) so I can see what my network looks like from the outside.
I'm bored out of my mind most of the time anymore. Not just work but in general. I try to find things to keep me busy/entertained, but no go most of the time. I don't even know what to do about it anymore. I would like to think that it's just me trying to get used to being alone again. I know how to hang out with me, though, so that's not it. Maybe it's just being lonely more than alone. *shrug* That is something I never could get used to no matter how hard I tried.
Trying to get back in touch with people I haven't talked to in a long time. Found a few, re-established more frequent communications with others. Also working at making friends with someone I've only recently got to meet. Still feel lonely... guess maybe it's just how I'm looking at it, but then that's what matters isn't it?
I think I should get some sleep now; nothing good can come from this mood being allowed to stay awake, especially with a keyboard in front of me.
My network has all but settled down to where I want it. Every machine that is IPv6 capable has it working, still need to work out one or two upgrades but a lot of backup needs to be done first, so all in good time. Have some firewall work to do still on server type boxen, but nothing much is even open on them, so not all that worried anyway. Need to find an IPv6 port scanner that I can run from outside of my network (ie: from a website or something) so I can see what my network looks like from the outside.
I'm bored out of my mind most of the time anymore. Not just work but in general. I try to find things to keep me busy/entertained, but no go most of the time. I don't even know what to do about it anymore. I would like to think that it's just me trying to get used to being alone again. I know how to hang out with me, though, so that's not it. Maybe it's just being lonely more than alone. *shrug* That is something I never could get used to no matter how hard I tried.
Trying to get back in touch with people I haven't talked to in a long time. Found a few, re-established more frequent communications with others. Also working at making friends with someone I've only recently got to meet. Still feel lonely... guess maybe it's just how I'm looking at it, but then that's what matters isn't it?
I think I should get some sleep now; nothing good can come from this mood being allowed to stay awake, especially with a keyboard in front of me.
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