Blog: tracker's place

Blog City Prompt 5/29/24

Wednesday
May 29, 2024
Wednesday

Whew! Where has this month gone? I looked at my agenda on my last entry on the 19th. (Sorry for neglecting you poor blog tracker's place). I have one item to complete: Finish entry for the Lodestar Contest. I am going to do that as soon as I have finished this entry. I will defer to Blog City's prompt. Kudos to Princess Megan Rose 22 Years . Her prompts are always direct and to the point which are the ones I most often respond to.



Prompt: How are you making the world a better place for those that come after you? Write about this in your Blog entry today.

I have a true story "Great Way to Communicate"  that answers this question. It was a huge eye opener to show me that everything you say or do for a person has an impact on them. Being supportive and positive is the way I roll. I may have opinions on how something could have been done differently. I always gave correct feedback to my employees in a way that was a teaching moment, not an opportunity to put someone down or ridicule them for making a mistake. In everything, I think about what is the impact of what I am saying or action I am taking?

I had another experience I have not written about before. I supervised a team of telephone service representatives whose job was strictly about merchandise my company sold in a catalog. It was over the Christmas holiday. The representatives handled a lot of complaints. To make their interactions easier, I empowered my people to grant credit to resolve issues to a customer's satisfaction. They did not need to get my approval, which gave the customer confidence that the adjustment was done immediately showing we believed in doing what was right.

One of my reps was out ill several times. I had to put him on a plan to improve his performance. He looked at me and said, "Tracker, I am sorry I miss so much work. I have a disorder that means I need blood transfusions which leave me so fatigued I can't work." I recommended the way to protect his job (through the Family Medical Leave Act FMLA).

On an extended sick leave, I called him more than once a week to wish him well. He told me he looked forward to my calls. I told him I cared about how he was doing and looked forward to him being well and back at his desk that was waiting for him.

One morning I received a call from a woman who said she was the sister of my sick employee.

"He died last night," she said.

"How?" I asked.

"I thought you knew," she answered. "Bill had AIDS. I wanted to let you know and thank you."

"No, he did not tell me. What do you want to thank me for?"

"A few days ago, during my visit to Bill in the hospital, he was hallucinating. He was talking and he mentioned your name. He said 'Don't worry. Tracker trusts me and lets me credit up to one hundred dollars. I have her permission. I don't have to ask her every time. I am happy." He had his hands positioned as if he were at a keyboard, moving them like he was typing.'

I took his personal things from his desk and called his sister. Normally we would ask a relative to come to our office to get their belongings. I felt like I needed to deliver them. We agreed on a time. She gave me her address.

When I got there, she invited me in and introduced me to Bill's parents. Immigrants from Mexico, they did not speak English. I said, "Lo siento" which means I am sorry. (Yay for taking beginning Spanish). They smiled.

I had majored in speech in college. I had prepared a few things to tell his sister. I was not aware his parents would be there. I spoke and his sister translated. She had previously asked me on the phone what he did at our company. He had never told his family. He lived alone in an apartment. I knew he was pretty tight-lipped about his personal life. I thought it surprising that his family did not know what he did. I talked about his job and his responsibilities. I explained to them how helpful he was to me because he had worked with merchandise calls for years and I went to him with questions I had as I was new to the team. He had a few recognition certificates in his desk. He also had a file with the monthly feedback handwritten reports I gave him. I gave all of it to them.

That brings me back to my story "Great Way to Communicate." I made a difference in his life, the life of another employee I described in my story. I treat people with dignity and respect. I treat them in the manner I would like to be treated. I am kind. I have been known to passionately share my displeasure of this or that with a trusted friend. Overall, though, I am pretty even tempered and strive to leave things better off than where I found them.