Boy, I Had It Easier Than I Thought
This humorous gem from Sean Kernan had me counting my blessings that I have not experienced similar things in any jobs. In some past workplaces, perilous situations or chaotic circumstances resulted in my eventual departure. But wow, we hear other peoples’ stories and realize how much our own wisdom and experience is hardly scraping from the surface of things.
Kernan tells about his adventures in company smart devices management. Securing new devices for employees, he had an inside look into colleagues’ revealing poses they snuck onto their work smartphones. Crazily, if the colleagues came back with embarrassed apologies and made-up explanations, eavesdropping team members were quick to want to join in the scandal.
We all have experienced crazy things in our jobs. Now as a permanent work from home employee (rerouted to my home’s spare bedroom since the start of the pandemic), I understand that even working from home can bring crazy experiences. Imagine an inbound telephone financial services representative having to tell his supervisor why he was unavailable for 25 minutes to assist a service person with installing new fire detectors or having to tend to a sick pet. (I cannot imagine what it is like if you have kids working with you). Sure, working from home may take away some of the crazy parts of the job like commutes in winter weather, growly coworkers, or inter-office cold and flu transmissions. But you miss the rapport, budding colleague friendships, and special team meetings and celebratory events. Also, working from home so easily throws the whole work-life balance off-kilter.
Whether working from home or in office, each one of us will certainly gather a whole slew of crazy experiences. Many of my most crazy experiences happened working for a grocery store chain over three years — both in part-time and full-time roles and in three different store locations all together. One of the weirdest experiences ever was when a rat visited the store and dashed through the aisles. The little guy managed to chew through the holes of quite a few cereal boxes and bags of sweets. Customers were a little surprised, to say the least. Eventually, a pest control team was able to fully resolve the problem. Animals in grocery or retail environments are actually more common than you may think.
