green lights; or thoughts on how I ended up here, writing this post

Sipping lukewarm Biggby hazelnut coffee with the ever essential hazelnut creamer and sugar in it - I never drink coffee black - between calls. This is significant because on the rare occasion that I drink coffee, the coffee available to me is either straight from the work coffee pot or from the 60 cent cups in the vending machine next to the coffee pot (my favorite flavor is the chocolate mocha raspberry...)

It's lukewarm because Wednesdays are my "late shift" day. Work starts for me at 10:00 am, as opposed to 8:30 am. This morning, the Renewal Services team hosted an appreciation breakfast for everyone in Customer Care and Retention (the internal name for our department). I missed the initial warmth of the coffee because I was having breakfast with my friend Steve at Panera on North Campus.

Breakfast with Steve is significant also because I think the last time we saw each other was probably this time last year. We met through mutual friends as seniors in high school. Steve played in a jazz quartet with some friends of mine, and I was a regular at their gigs. At their last gig before we all left for college, I finally introduced myself to Steve because I found out through the grapevine that we would both be attending the University of Michigan that fall. Found out that he would be in the Engineering School, and that he'd be living on the Hill Campus. I was a liberal arts kid living on the Central Campus, so I figured we'd never see each other once we got to school - was I ever wrong!

My first Sunday as a student at Michigan, I slept in and woke up close to noon that day. I was horrified about the prospect of missing church - a part of my Sunday mornings since the day I was born. Fortunately, some people from New Life Church defied the solicitation policy in the dorms and put an invitation to attend their church service on my door. I threw some clothes on and rushed to the Modern Languages Building (MLB) to catch the service at 12:02 pm. After the service, I watched the lecture hall go from a sea of unfamiliar faces to just a few unfamiliar faces - except for one.

I knew the face behind the glasses under a mop of curly, dirty blonde hair. We ended up talking about church and played ultimate frisbee at a welcoming lunch after that. I didn't think I'd see him again, but when I walked into my Musicology 341 lecture the next day in the MLB, I saw Steve sitting in one of the rows towards the back of the auditorium. We decided to "church search" together that week, and spend the rest of the semester counting the "um's" and "uai's" uttered by our lecturer (who was a very learned man! But I think we counted about 125 in one lecture, which means at the very least that we were paying attention...)

One day, Steve said to me at class, "So, there's this church I think you would really like..." I asked him to describe it to me, and I realized that it sounded very similar to a church that some of my international student friends had told me about. "What's it called?" I asked him. "Harvest," he replied. Upon hearing about this particular church body initially, I recoiled at the thought of attending a church that was predominantly Asian demographically. But here was this this non-Asian friend of mine offering to check out the church with me on Sunday, and should he meet me in front of my dorm? Sure.

Ironically, I was the one who ended up staying with the church called "Harvest" and Steve ended up becoming very involved with the Campus Crusade for Christ ministry. After our class together, we barely saw each other due to studying different disciplines, boyfriend/girlfriend relationships, and our various scholastic and church-related commitments. Despite the never-seeing-each-other that I had anticipated prior to our college days, we managed to pick up where we left off each time we saw one another.

I mention all of that because I found out last week that Steve had remained in Ann Arbor after graduation, was working in a lab, and got engaged last July - so I made him have breakfast with me this morning before I went into work. We still couldn't be more different from one another, other than the fact that we are both living in Ann Arbor post-graduation. I'm not engaged, and I'm planning to move to Indonesia in July.

Steve mentioned this verse in his prayer over our breakfast: "Help us to 'Trust in the Lord with all of [our] heart[s], to not lean on our own understanding; in all of our ways, acknowledge [You] and [You] will make our paths straight.'" (Proverbs 3:5-6) After that, he said it was his prayer for this season in his life. I guess one other thing that we have in common is the fact that, though trials and difficulties come up (a lot of things are up in the air for this move to Jakarta; Steve is wedding planning with his fiance while job searching), I see how God has sovereignly directed our paths, however they differ from one another. And He still is.

When I dropped Steve off at his home after breakfast on my way to work, he said that sometimes when he drives down State Street (my route to work), he gets all green lights and the trip goes by really fast. That has never happened for me before, but today it did! I am not saying it's because Steve said it - and perhaps it is; regardless, I saw it as God knowing that I needed the time to get to work on time (which I did, with time to spare). It was a reminder to me that God really does care about the little details in my life - and if you're reading this, He cares about the details in your life, too.

contentment

I have to be at work in about 7 hours and I am writing at this ridiculous hour of the night because....

my heart and tummy are full (after a weekend which started with The Problem of Pain, by C.S. Lewis, discussing the idea of suffering, breaking fast with community, learning more about Indonesia and Islam, chatting with friends on the other side of the world, two Superbowl parties, and an hour-long episode of The Office!)

my mind is racing at a million miles an hour thinking of everything to do, and how little time I have left here (but soon I'll have to learn how to convert that to kilometers - and also account for the traffic in Jakarta...)

my body will likely be tired once I set foot on the Thomson Reuters "Kinesis" logo rug immediately after the two sets of double glass doors of 880 Technology Drive, Suite B

but "while outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day."

And if this is all confusing to you just know that I have learned how to be content with my circumstances, and am trying to learn how to be content in all circumstances - whatever may come. (And if this is confusing, it's probably because I have neglected to post on recent significant developments in my life, which I guess means subsequent posts to come!)

Late shift and random thoughts on our Facebook society

One new thing in my work schedule in this new year is working the late shift every Wednesday. On these days I start work at 10:30 am instead of 8:30 am. (And for the past three Wednesdays I have been auditing my friend Dr. Matt's 9:00 am class on the Holocaust at Washtenaw Community College. First experience in the community college setting, so I'd like to write about that in another post and will probably do so eventually).

As soon as 5:00 pm hits, my partner in crime Katie and I hit the phones as "Service Reception - how may I direct your call?" We're still in the thick of busy season but there are less calls in the queues once the clock strikes 6:00 pm. The Customer Service queues have significantly less people calling as well - which makes for lots of time for the late-nighters to gab about things they divined from their fortune cookies (for example: tonight, we ordered Oriental Express and one person got a fortune that said, "You have 365 days in a year; may all of your 365 dreams come true!" She thought it was a terrible fortune and wanted to return it. Mine said something like, "Service to many leads to greatness" - which, depending on how you read your fortunes, is nice for a person working in Customer Service currently). (Yes, they also talked about end taglines for fortune cookies - but we won't get into that right now...)

We also started discussing the Opportunities Weekly e-mails sent from Human Resources with internal job listings because apparently one person who left a vacancy got escorted from the building. Two of the late-nighters, Linda and Trent, were discussing the events surrounding the dismissal. Trent eventually ended up walking over to Linda's cube - which is diagonal from mine on my right-hand side - and I heard him say, "Do you have Facebook up?" almost in disbelief. I figured right then that she was caught in the act (I should explain that Trent, a young twenty-something, is a senior representative, and Linda - while considerably a few years Trent's senior - is a product lead but has only been with Thomson for one year. Generally, Facebook is blocked and marked as a "restricted access" page).

"No-ooo," she replied haltingly.
"Okay - can you log in for me?" I heard him say over my cube wall.
Lots of murmuring in hushed tones and then Linda said, "oh, I thought you were going to have me log in because he posted details about leaving Thomson on his Facebook."
"Oh no," said Trent. "I just wanted to see if you were able to see some pictures that my girlfriend tagged of me...but I guess you can't." Trent's voice started to sound more distant - I gathered that he had walked away from Linda's desk. "I guess it's because you're not friends with her. No - you are not her friend."

Any bystander not understanding that the two had just logged into Facebook would think that Trent was a heartless soul, coldly stating that his girlfriend was not Linda's friend. The thought of how Facebook has transformed our culture into referring to electronic connections through a social networking website as "friends on facebook" or just "friends" made me laugh out loud literally. Linda understood this immediately and let out a big "wahhhhhh."
"No Linda, that's not what I meant!" was the belabored response.

Between calls, I heard Linda telling me, "My sister just posted on my son's wall...so-and-so just joined the group 'I love guts...'" All the while, I was "thomcom-ing" (Thomson's instant messenger) Katie about how funny it was to listen to these people - who four years ago didn't have access to Facebook when it was just Facebook for college kids - and their fascination with status updates and notes posted.

Our conversation looked something like this:
imm [at 7:25 pm]: Isn't this hilarious?
kcm (Katie) [at 7:25 pm]: I wonder what technology will be like for us in about 20 years

So do I...

license transfers

I haven't posted in a while, mainly due to the fact that the holidays involved a lot of driving - over 1000 miles in about two weeks time (more on that in another post). I also haven't posted in a while because we're in the throes of busy season here at the Tax & Accounting Business of Thomson Reuters. These days, I am either sitting at my desk on a call - or up and running getting more information.

My work post-holidays involves our cash cow, UltraTax, and making sure that users who are new to the program are happy with their investment. In any case, this liberal arts kid is learning more about the world of tax. This morning, I ended up eavesdropping on a conversation that had nothing to do with everything I've been eating, sleeping, and breathing during my eight hours at work every day...

"We would need his signature to relinquish his rights to the software..."

The conversation took place between one of the Seniors here at work and a user about a software license. When our users purchase our software, "we license individuals and not firms" (a common phrase thrown around the department). The individual who agrees to sign the license agreement is legally bound to the software as its owner. The license transfer takes place when the licensee - or software owner - is no longer with the firm but the software is. The most common reasons for a licensee leaving a firm include retirement, firm splits, and death. If the software remains at the firm without the licensee, a license transfer is necessary in order for the firm to stay current on their software through renewals. In other words, the licensee relinquishes ownership rights and responsibilities to the software and transfers them to someone else over which to preside.

Eavesdropping on that conversation a few feet away made me think about how beginning and living a life founded on Christ is much like a license transfer. Upon agreement to abandon one's life to Christ, the individual relinquishes it in their heart by transferring it to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Of course, the individual is still in charge of natural faculties - but they have surrendered the desires of their hearts and their lives to something greater than themselves; to One familiar with surrender, who willingly laid down His own sinless life to take away the sins of the world.

Often I encounter people in this life who state that of course they would go to heaven because they are a good person, they go to church on Sundays, they believe in God...but often "Western Christianity", and those who commit to it verbally, is soured unfortunately by the lack of demonstration of a life abandonned to Christ. Inevitably, Christians are not perfect - but when I think about those who say but don't live, it makes me wonder if they have truly engaged in a license transfer: resolving in ones heart to sign over one's life in order to "take hold of the life that is truly life" in Christ (1 Timothy 6:19).

If you do not share in my beliefs, please do not interpret this as something I would try to force upon you. Why would anyone want to relinquish the rights to their own life to the lordship of some amorphous entity? I would venture to suggest that it would be signing off from the futilty and purposelessness of life in order to sign onto something greater - life and love everlasting. This is something that I am learning about everyday, and it's difficult to describe without getting emotional/technical/verbose.

Here's the license transfer concept in a sentence: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16

No more words - I hope you can experience a license transfer for yourself.

Office Chronicles: Nacho Libre Day, hosted by the Activities Committee

I'm on what we call "Service Reception" right now, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. Basically, I route calls throughout the Tax and Accounting Divison - which are the two offices here in Ann Arbor and Dexter. I'm the voice who says, "Good morning, Service Reception. How may I direct your call?" (I've been doing a lot of that this morning - the users are calling in like crazy!) In the meantime, between calls I have time to write about Nacho Libre Day and our Activities Committee.

This is the image that I received in an e-mail on Tuesday, December 9 - subject line: "December Nacho Liebere Event!"
Here in Customer Service, we have our own version of The Office's Party Planning Committee - the Activities Committee, or "AcCom." Pretty self-explanatory. The commitee members plan activities. Today's activity was a red-eye viewing of "Nacho Libre," which was slated to begin at 7:25 am but officially started at 7:45 am (due to technical difficulties). Four were present this morning for the viewing: Jay (our boss, the big cheese), Max (most helpful during intern training - he would always say at the end of each session, "any questions, concerns, confessions?" He also has the whole Pistons team on his desk - in the form of bobble heads), Jason (AcCom member), and me. Jason ended up having to leave due to an emergency, but the viewing continued as planned.

AcCom coordinates monthly birthday celebrations held on one morning meeting of each month. Since I started working here, I have experienced two such celebrations: October was the game Spoons with donuts to eat, and November was the game Balderdash - with fruit to celebrate. December's celebration is next week Wednesday, with another round of Spoons on the agenda. AcCom also coordinated our Thanksgiving potluck, held the week before turkey break, as well as the White Elephant Christmas Party after work last Friday.

In September during my interview for this job, I asked about the social interactions outside of work. Brian, my interviewer and present team leader, told me that the department was great about spending time with one another outside of work. Sandy, another colleague who interviewed me, said that there is always laughter heard throughout the department. And now that I'm here, I'm happy to say that both of them weren't lying. The reason that I wanted to write about our Activities Committee is because I love how it really does cultivate a sense of community within the department.

The event will continue at lunch, with a nacho bar. I can actually smell the seasoned ground beef and venison (yes, venison - our team leader Brian is a bow hunter) marinating in crockpots in our meeting area, located at the back of our department.

(I wrote the above paragraph sometime earlier this morning. And now that it is 12:00 pm, after routing a million calls throughout the Tax & Accounting Division of Thomson Reuters, I am off to lunch!)

a case of the Mondays (or lack thereof)

Last night I fell asleep to "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." I was watching it with my dear friend Esther, who has informed me that I snore. She ended up leaving shortly before midnight, which is when I finally climbed into bed - pretty late for a girl who has to be at work by 8:30 am. When I go to bed late, I usually end up with a case of the Mondays. I find it necessary to mention that today is an exception.

This morning, I was making my usual round of UltraTax renewal calls. Spoke with one user who definitely wanted to renew his software, but told me that he would have to wait to speak with his wife about it first. He shared with me that she recently had surgery to remove a cancerous mass, but that she was home today and cancer-free - not the purpose of my call, but I was thrilled to hear the news. Ended up getting thrown on incoming calls shortly after that call, and decided at 11:58 am - two minutes before my lunch - to pick up a call from the UltraTax cue. I figured I could wrap the call up in about 2-3 minutes.

Two and one-half hours later, I had walked the user through updating his yahoo account password so he could check his e-mail for the password to our website so that he could renew and download his software. He also said that I had an accent, which I explained was the Michigan "e-yac-cent." (I also wanted to say, "Same to you!" because he was from New York). He said that he felt bad for making me skip my lunch, and that I could charge a sandwich to the credit card that he had given me during our conversation. I let him know that it wasn't necessary because Jimmy John's came today with free samples, and I had gotten a sandwich already. He said that they didn't have Jimmy John's in New York, but they called sprinkles - like the kind with which to top ice cream - "jimmies." That inspired me to share with him about how here in the Midwest, we affectionatly call carbonated beverages "pop" - and the user thought that that was "old-fashioned," compared to East Coast "soda." This led to another nice tangential conversation about sociolinguistics: he said that it was easy to tell the people from the Bronx because while saying "soda," it comes out sounding like "soder." And yes, we really did go over everything. While helping him to download the licenses for his software, I told him to go to the "help" menu, but he said that it should say "call Iris" there, which was sweet.

When I finally took my lunch break, my boss asked me to step into his office for a project for me to think about, since I was so "creative." And the way that came about was from spearheading the effort to decorate the department for our Harvest Fest (I don't think I ended up writing about that on this blog - we turned our department into CandyLand a couple of months ago...) In any case, the new project at hand has to do with designing labels for custom keyboard shortcuts - so I have something new to think about.

After that, I sat and ate lunch next to my co-worker Katie's cube. We ended up having a conversation about what we do. Both of us agreed that our initial impressions of working in customer service were very different from what we actually do. Almost everyday, we have to transfer licenses from software license holders who are deceased to living individuals at the firm. But the point of the conversation was that what we do isn't just monthly billing and software renewals - it really is listening to the bits and pieces of what go on in people's everyday lives, and seeing how change is ever constant. For example, the user that I was on the phone with for two hours changed his e-mail address because his wife had passed away and he had been using her e-mail address. And the answer to his secret question to reset his password was his pet, "Jade," who incidentally was also deceased. The user said, "as you can see, a lot has changed in my life."

After all of that, I still don't have a case of the Mondays - despite the exposure to extremes (celebrating over free Jimmy John's/empathizing with users in their personal losses). I find it extremely exhilarating to hang up the phone and know that I have helped someone to resolve their issue, in a relatively efficient manner. And now that I have said all of that...on to more phone calls!

Office Chronicles: chaos in the call center

The phones are ringing at the Tax and Accounting Divison of Thomson Reuters.

On any other day, that statement would not be out of the ordinary. But on Thursday, December 4, the call center went down - over and over again. When you work in a department where most, if not all, business is conducted on the phone, the call center going down is not a good thing.

If I had been as productive as I should have been, making phone calls on our cash cow UltraTax, then I don't think I could have appreciated the situation for its worth. (I was chatting with Lauren in Hong Kong instead...)

All of a sudden, all around me I hear, "Hello? Hello?" "Are you there?" "Can you hear me?" multiplied by the 24 other people in the department, and then exclamations of "oh!" and groans of "ohh no..."

We have a tiny window called "Q-View" on our desktops where we can see how many people are in each phone cue. When the phones were down, the cues started filling up. One representative exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, these people are stuck in phone cue hell!"

I was fortunate to wrap up each of my calls and miss the first few times that the phones went down - but the last call I made a few moments ago cut out while I was wrapping up a conversation with a user.

On our office instant messenger, someone sent out a message saying that she had chocolate in her cube. Subsequently, I heard footsteps rushing in her direction and "chocolate? I think we need some vallium here..."

My co-worker Katie says that we should write to The Office writers and tell them about today as an episode idea. I also wish I could write today as funny as it all happened, so here was my attempt. and I'm sure the phones will probably go down again once I finish this post and call another client.

Random fact of the day: Ann Arbor is home of the cubicle. (Said by my co-worker Linda while we were waiting for the phones to go back up again)

Shout out to Lauren Milewski because it's her 23rd year on this earth today, Hong Kong time.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
*update* this just in, at 1:50 pm in my inbox from my boss, the big cheese:

"FYI… the phone issue turned out to be due to a combination of a bad cable and a failed “fail-save” backup device. The cable was responsible for the up and down nature of the problem earlier today. The backup device failure was the culprit for the last couple of hours of down time.

The expected/needed behavior, of course, would have been for the fail-over to make the whole issue invisible. That didn’t happen and will result in some investigation and reconfiguring.

Anyway… unlike past fixes today this one is the real deal. So, proceed confidently. Thanks for your patience. We haven’t had this much excitement in Call Center in years."

(In years! An exciting day indeed!)