Back in 2001, I used to do telephone technical support for a living. I worked for the company that handled all of the support calls for Gateway computers. To me, it was very rewarding work. I enjoy being able to provide a useful service to others and got great pleasure out of being able to talk people through the process of troubleshooting and when necessary replacing hardware.
The shifts were thirteen hours long and we worked 3.5 days a week. The people working the early part of the week got the early part of the half day and those working the latter half of the week got the second half of the split day. The changeover was often stressful for many because there was really no overlap. One shift ended exactly when the next shift was supposed to start. If the second shift person was late showing up, the first person didn't get to go home on time. We were "required" to show up for our shift fifteen minutes before it started, but very few people ever did.
Even on the other days of the week it was often chaotic, with people showing up at the last possible minute, or worse yet ten or more minutes late. There was nearly always tons of stress and frantic activity with people constantly rushing around. Frequently there were accidents in our parking lot or on the streets within just a couple of blocks of the office.
People that are always in a rush, make more mistakes. They tend to get in more accidents, are more stressed out and generally have a hard time handling many of the simplest things. I don't believe in rushing for anything, unless it is a real and absolute emergency. Things like blood, fire, and birth, those are reasons to rush. Anything else is just not worth the trouble overall.
Does this mean that I was one of those people that was always late, causing stress and chaos for myself and others? On the contrary, I would always show up for my shift one hour early. I am not talking about getting up and getting ready to go to work an hour before I had to be there. And I am not talking about leaving my house and going to pick up my buddy that worked with me an hour before my shift started. I mean I managed my time in such a way that I arrived at my job one hour before my shift started every single day that I worked, like clockwork,
In eighteen months, I was never late once. My partner on the other side of the week was always relieved to see me because whoever it was knew they would get to home on time. My boss was happy because she never had to wonder if I was going to show up on time. The other employees on my team knew they could always count on me to be there and ready to rock when our shift started.
There was always time for me to get my computer set up, open up all the browsers that I needed for all the separate screens of data I needed access to, plenty of time to make sure all our databases were working. I had time to check the stats for our call center to see how busy it had been or was expected to be. There was more than enough time to make sure I had a drink and a snack at my desk for when I got hungry or thirsty during the day. All necessary last minute bathroom functions could be handled.
In short, because of my habit of arriving much earlier than I was required to or absolutely needed to, while others around my were floundering around in a sea of chaos, I was able to remain calm and relaxed and handle things clearly and concisely. You could make up whatever excuses you want to about why getting to work an hour early for your shift doesn't or couldn't work, but who would you rather be more like? Me calm, peaceful and relaxed, or all the other people frantically scrambling and rushing around, nervous and stressed out? It is your choice.
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