A blog can really only be as interesting as what is written in it. When nothing is written, it gets pretty boring...and so my blog has gotten boring! I've fallen out of the habit of writing, in general, which tends to be pretty detrimental to my mental health. If there's no writing and no outlet, then things bottle up and explode from the slightest prick.
Let's talk about yesterday. I sent out a holiday e-card to around 840 of our donors here at work. It was a two liner, that despite being so short had edit upon edit heaped on its shoulders by its higher ups (or rather my higher ups) until it cracked.
A bit of background info--our workplace is cursed with old technology. We use MS Office 2003 and instead of Outlook, someone thought it would be a good idea to use some never-been-heard-of piece of sheize software called Groupwise. I can appreciate not wanting to buy into monopolized software but when it works, it works. Don't mess with it. So emailing and scheduling is three steps harder than it ever needed to be. Then we look at our database, which can't report on donations made further back than 2008. Awesome. And totally helpful, let me assure you. It makes me want to pull my hair out!
But back to that email issue--with said Groupwise, there is no easy-to-use, mass mailing function. Instead, we get to use this handy dandy online email system that is clunky as hell and not intuitive. Their help desk is even worse...I've talked to the same gentleman twice and he was unable to even type my password correctly on his first seven attempts. A co-worker sitting next to me, waiting for the troubleshooting to occur (it never did) looked on in disbelief as I reiterated again and again how to spell "Tina". Amazing.
It was with this system (that doesn't let you edit your messages in the system, but in fact makes you edit them separately in a Word document) that yesterday's disaster occurred. In between my editing, re-editing and test sending, the salutation "Ms Ferguson" replaced the merge field for salutation...and each of those 840 people received an email addressed to Ms Ferguson. Ugh! The color disappeared from my face, my heartbeat raced, and the curses ran from the computer to my mouth. Really??? Unbelievable, I had done 7 test sends and amidst all of that an error still slipped in. And not just some small error, a massive one!!! So much for trying to make correspondence personal...
I couldn't hold them back. I had to tell my co-workers so we could come up with a quick response (that naughty elf Ms Ferguson...), and as soon as she looked me in the eye with pity the dam burst and tears poured forth. I didn't want them to, but when I'm upset my body doesn't let me hold it in. It has to get out, no matter what I tell it! So I cried, in front of my co-workers, in front of my boss...damn it. Two gals took me out for a Starbucks run (which is a good 10-minute walk from the office, thank goodness) and luckily it's sunny weather and sunglasses are the best thing for hiding crying eyes.
Felt so embarassed afterward...luckily most people's responses have been lovely and humorous, so I don't feel so badly anymore. In fact, I woke up this morning feeling just plain silly at having spilled tears over a stupid email glitch. It's funny, during events I'm pretty solid--it takes a lot to break my spirit (I'll only cry later at night when I'm by myself after the activity of the day has time to sink in!). But something like this...bah.
It's the second time people at work have seen me cry. The last time was the day of our Foundation dinner (last post) and some lady laid into me about us putting the wrong people at our table and how she was furious that we wouldn't let her son come (as she tried to get him in that day). She's a bit mad. She used to call me all the time for tickets, and now she won't call or email me at all. Hopefully she got a healthy dose of shame...but that's really debatable.
Outside of work, it's xmas time and the present-buying is nearly finished. I've had a helluva time finding certain items that I never would have imagined being difficult things to find. Namely xmas socks and a Harry Connick Jr. xmas CD. It seems my tastes are obscure... My lesson from this year's extravaganza is not to go out looking for something in particular. Just take what you can find. Or get online early and order from the states. :)
If I don't hop on before, happy holidays, happy holidays! Lots of love to you!!
Let's talk about yesterday. I sent out a holiday e-card to around 840 of our donors here at work. It was a two liner, that despite being so short had edit upon edit heaped on its shoulders by its higher ups (or rather my higher ups) until it cracked.
A bit of background info--our workplace is cursed with old technology. We use MS Office 2003 and instead of Outlook, someone thought it would be a good idea to use some never-been-heard-of piece of sheize software called Groupwise. I can appreciate not wanting to buy into monopolized software but when it works, it works. Don't mess with it. So emailing and scheduling is three steps harder than it ever needed to be. Then we look at our database, which can't report on donations made further back than 2008. Awesome. And totally helpful, let me assure you. It makes me want to pull my hair out!
But back to that email issue--with said Groupwise, there is no easy-to-use, mass mailing function. Instead, we get to use this handy dandy online email system that is clunky as hell and not intuitive. Their help desk is even worse...I've talked to the same gentleman twice and he was unable to even type my password correctly on his first seven attempts. A co-worker sitting next to me, waiting for the troubleshooting to occur (it never did) looked on in disbelief as I reiterated again and again how to spell "Tina". Amazing.
It was with this system (that doesn't let you edit your messages in the system, but in fact makes you edit them separately in a Word document) that yesterday's disaster occurred. In between my editing, re-editing and test sending, the salutation "Ms Ferguson" replaced the merge field for salutation...and each of those 840 people received an email addressed to Ms Ferguson. Ugh! The color disappeared from my face, my heartbeat raced, and the curses ran from the computer to my mouth. Really??? Unbelievable, I had done 7 test sends and amidst all of that an error still slipped in. And not just some small error, a massive one!!! So much for trying to make correspondence personal...
I couldn't hold them back. I had to tell my co-workers so we could come up with a quick response (that naughty elf Ms Ferguson...), and as soon as she looked me in the eye with pity the dam burst and tears poured forth. I didn't want them to, but when I'm upset my body doesn't let me hold it in. It has to get out, no matter what I tell it! So I cried, in front of my co-workers, in front of my boss...damn it. Two gals took me out for a Starbucks run (which is a good 10-minute walk from the office, thank goodness) and luckily it's sunny weather and sunglasses are the best thing for hiding crying eyes.
Felt so embarassed afterward...luckily most people's responses have been lovely and humorous, so I don't feel so badly anymore. In fact, I woke up this morning feeling just plain silly at having spilled tears over a stupid email glitch. It's funny, during events I'm pretty solid--it takes a lot to break my spirit (I'll only cry later at night when I'm by myself after the activity of the day has time to sink in!). But something like this...bah.
It's the second time people at work have seen me cry. The last time was the day of our Foundation dinner (last post) and some lady laid into me about us putting the wrong people at our table and how she was furious that we wouldn't let her son come (as she tried to get him in that day). She's a bit mad. She used to call me all the time for tickets, and now she won't call or email me at all. Hopefully she got a healthy dose of shame...but that's really debatable.
Outside of work, it's xmas time and the present-buying is nearly finished. I've had a helluva time finding certain items that I never would have imagined being difficult things to find. Namely xmas socks and a Harry Connick Jr. xmas CD. It seems my tastes are obscure... My lesson from this year's extravaganza is not to go out looking for something in particular. Just take what you can find. Or get online early and order from the states. :)
If I don't hop on before, happy holidays, happy holidays! Lots of love to you!!
Comments