Thursday Day IV

Last week when our manager announced that we would be celebrating Customer Service week "next week" but that there wasn't much of a budget for it and it would have to go for more people than usual, I said, in front of everyone, "So , in other words, its just a big pot-luck, is what you're saying." She laughed out loud and didn't stop for a long time.

I felt sorry for her on Monday when they passed around the pot luck sign-up sheet.

Today was the pot-luck. I ducked out just before lunch and bought Chinese fried rice and it seemed to go over pretty well.

Earlier to day, we all set out our jack-o-lanterns. Doris's boyfriend substituted his own personal good pumpkin for the smaller, misshapen one the company sent Doris home with. He even shaved jagged eyebrows in to it, it is so cool. And unlike the others, it does not look like it came from a stencil. During our pot luck lunch, the company receptionist had all the jack o lanterns all over the lobby, and they were lit, and she had dimmed her lights. It looked and smelled really great. When we were given our pumpkins I could SWEAR Dan M said don't include the name of your tribe anywhere on it, so everyone could vote impartially . Of course everyone just voted for the one they knew was their own tribes'; plus some tribes DID carve the name of their product right in to the pumpkin. The Tribal Council (managers) will vote as tie breakers if the votes are too close.

This afternoon I was handed our team's scavenger hunt list:
1) Compass/Sundial
2) Chap Stik
3) Magnifying Glass
4) A Survivor Manual
5) A Bar of Soap
6) Binoculars
7) Duct Tape
8) Sun Screen /Tanning oil
9) 10 Feet of Rope
10)Wooden Matches
11) Bandages
12) Flotation Device
13) Safety Pin
14) Flashlight
15) Fishing Device
16) Antacids
17) Bug Spray
18) Antibiotic Ointment
19) Asprin
20) Canteen

As of now, between everone on my tribe, we have all but the Compass, Binoculars, Matches, Bugspray.
But I've heard other teams say they have EVERYTHING already. The locker room in our basement had an unusual amount of ladies in it as I raided all the unlocked lockers, looking for a bar of soap to "borrow", but it was worth it because I got a bar of irish spring, still in the box!

Also, as I write this, out in the hall by the elevator, they're holding a coctail weenie eating contest. Each tribe was supposed to send two eaters, but only one of us was willing to go. The rest of us don't like coctail weenies and don't want to get sick.

Dan M sent me the "Email Tag" email today. Each I sent it to one member of my tribe, with my designated trivia fact about the Advantage product, and I think we did a great job of notifying each other as the email passed from one person to the next. Amy C even had to go to Kevin G's computer and receive, and then send his, as if it were from him, because he was away, in a meeting.

That afternoon , Dan M, the main person pulling Customer Service week together, very timidly asked me if I thought people were really enjoying the activities. He's such a cute little guy, how could I say no this sucks? So I said yes I thought everyone was. I left out the part where I ridiculed it several times a day, on my web log , from my desk at work.

Friday Day V

Email from Dan M:

"The Medallion has been found by Tribe Member - Travis Dye of the EDI Tribe. Congratulations EDI.

The VitalWorks Fright Walk is taking place today in the front lobby at 10:00am. You may vote for the best costume, the voting box will be placed in the break room. We are going to add an addition 100 Pts to the Tribe Member with the best costume. In addition, each Tribe will receive 10 Pts for each employee who is wearing a costume. Voting will be closed at Noon.

The Touching/Feeling test will take place on B1 starting at 10:30-11:30. 20 Pts for each item you guess correctly. You do not have to attend unless you want the points.

The Ice Cream Social will take place at 2:00pm in the break room. At this time, we will announce the winning Tribe and distribute prizes. All Tribes will receive prizes, so please plan on attending.

The Tribe Counsel has a great time planning all of the challenges for the week. We appreciate everyone who participated and we hope you all enjoyed yourself during our Survivor - VitalWorks Employee Appreciation Week.

LAST CLUE (Just for fun.)
Friday’s Clue

Have you figured out all the clues? They all point to the same place on 4th floor.

1. Survival Substance

2. An object to simplify a task

3. A place to get CAKE.

Now, within that space find this item. It will lead you directly to the prize!"

We had a costume contest that day. I dressed as Hermione from Harry Potter, because I have the hair for it, and bought a Hogwarts robe from Target last year. We had plenty of animals and pirates. One tribe all got under one blanket and walked around single file, claiming to be a "caterpillar." The best costume was rigged by Tom K, also on another tribe, who rigged one of those costumes to make it look like he was riding on the back of a midget. My personal favorite was the guy who just wrapped some tin foil around his head and put a sign around his neck that read "stop reading my thoughts."

At lunch, we had that pot luck I had made a smart-ass comment about the week before. And our front desk receptionist, the kindly old lady she is, dimmed the lights in the reception area and lit all the jack o lanterns, which we all know is against the fire code, but we did it anyway. It smelled great in there. Even though there was a rule stating you can't display your tribe's name next to your jack-o-lantern, some people carved their tribe's name right in to it! Doug V. , leader of his tribe, went so far as to stand in front of the display, wearing a button that read "Vote Early Vote Often" and canvassed very professionally for votes for his tribe's jack o lantern. I have no idea who won but it sure wasn't us.

That morning the "medallian" was found...by my boss's boss's boss! The Director of Client Services Travis D found the medallian and gained numerous points for his tribe..
It turned out that the "mediallian" was a xeroxed picture of a medallion, and was located in a picture frame hanging in our break room, sandwitched in between the picture and the back-matting of the frame! One of our receptionists told me later that she didn't appreciate the valdalism inherent in the medallion search, what with people tearing apart office equipment in there, rummageing through storeage, opening unopened boxes, and finally having the medallion be in a place that required further vandalism to get to it.

My team came in 2nd-to-last, over all, for customer service week, in spite of all our effort.

The Tribal Coucil gave every tribe leader an envelope with several lottery tickets, to share with the whole tribe. Some tribes just considered it one big pot of lottery tickets and scratched them all off together. But I divided mine up among everone, because it was too hard to get everyone together. I got extra lottery tickets for sending so many email compliments, but I just passed most of them back out to my tribe, so that the math would work out to every member getting 2 lottery tickets.

My last email out:

Advantage Tribe,

One last email from me.
"Sorry all my excellent leadership ranked us 7th of 8, but we all got lottery
tickets out of it.
Everyone got 2.
Most people,I have handed 2 lottery tickets to you, or put them in a desk
drawer of yours, or on your desk, but Tawny A, Sharon G, and
Vonda D, please come to me as I don't know where you are & I want to
give you your tickets.

You are all the greatest team mates I could have, and I can't wait to see
the "pie" pictures.

Kathy W"

And one last one from Amy C:
"I'm not one for 'dorky office stuff' but I do have to say this week was
pretty fun. Kathy was a GREAT leader, and an even better sport when we
were all throwing pies at her.

Thanks for being my team."


In case you didn't notice , I secretly got way way in to it as we went along. I really liked coming in to so much contact with employees of this company that I don't work with closely on a daily basis, and in many cases I had never met before!

Wednesday Day III

The company actually sprung for bagels this morning!

Tribe Advantage is in the middle of the pack today, as far as points accumulated!
We won some points yesterday when Dan M collected all the tribe leader necklaces, he said it showed creatvitity that I tied knots in teh twine for several of my beads. I did not point out that I had to do that becase I was running out of beads and I needed to spread them out.
We're supposed to send emails to compliment other people in the office. If you send an email "employee appreciation" comment to someone and CC it to Dan M, then your tribe gets 5 points and that person 's tribe gets 5 points. Of course if you do it within your own tribe, you get 10 points, so we should really get cracking.
Now I'm being called in to a tribe leader meeting even though once again it is my lunch hour.

OK I'm back from the "meeting."
Dan M handed each of us our teams' pumpkins, one each, and then explained "the company would appreciate it if you didn't carve it here." Which is to say for this office-related contest, worth 50 points to our tribe, the company would prefer we risk injury at home, rather than risk injuring ourselves at work.

The most recent email:

"Hello Survivor Members, we hope you are enjoying the competition.

Thank you to all who participated in the Pie Throwing Contest, some of you really got "creamed."

Updates:

Your Tribal Leaders have been given pumpkins for the carving contest. Your Tribe has 24 hours to complete the challenge. The pumpkin challenge is a HOMEWORK challenge, please do not do the carving during company time. All Members of the office will vote on the best carved pumpkins, which will be displayed throughout the office tomorrow. A voting box will be in the employee break room. Only one vote per employee PLEASE!

The Quiz and the Brain Teaser challenges will take place tomorrow. Sorry for the scheduling error.

The E-Mail Tag game has not been started for any Tribe at this time. This challenge could take place at anytime. This encourages you to stay at your desk. For all of the Tribe Members who are NOT in the office, points will NOT be deducted for their absence.

Tomorrow is the Pot Luck, we encourage you all to participate, the sign up sheet is located in the break room. Don't forget about VitalsWorks first ever - Mini Weenie Eating Contest. Tribes, pick your best eaters.

Clue #3

Your objective lives within sight of yesterday's lead; however here is another piece of data you might need.
It makes your task less complex, single sided or duplex, in this area you'll want to search next.

DanM"
I just tore apart both copy machines in our office, both of which happen to also be near coffee stations, but I saw nothing unusual. Now I can see everyone else has the same idea as me. Now they're all dismantling and looking around both copy machines too.

Yesterday afternoon we got an email clue about the location about a hidden "medallion." It read:
"This stimulating elixir, made in a number of places on our floor, is a daily survivor need for most of us. Find the right source for it, and you will be close to where your prize is hidden."
We all headed for all the coffee stations and looked in, on , around, and under everything in those areas, but so far no one found any medallion.
At about 2:30 some of our tribe and some of another tribe went downstairs to the loading dock that also doubles as most people's smoking lounge. First the other tribe leader, my closest co worker, Chima O, stood behind a tarp hung from the ceiling, with a bullseye target painted on it, and a hole cut in the middle, for his face. Next I did the same. Our senior manager made "pies" by spraying Redi-Whip whipped cream in to paper bowls or paper plates, and three members or our tribes took turns throwing 3 pies each , trying to hit us in the face. Mine had a tendancy to hit my head rather than my face, or hit the target just above my head so that it fell from there on my head. I was disappointed this morning to come in and see the results. We were still beat by two other teams!
Oh, someone in my department just called me on her cell phone to say she'll have to be late today, because on her way here, she remembered she forgot her necklace!

VWorks Customer Service Week Oct 27 – Oct 31, 2003

Theme: Survivor

Traditionally I look forward to Customer Service week. The company usually caters some breakfasts, lunches, and snacks for our department that week. It usually gives out small souvenirs, such as cups or pens with the company logo or some official customer service slogan on them, and arranges a few games for us to play that can be dropped in on at any time during breaks. The call center I work in is always busy, and it’s not realistic for any of us to be expected to leave their desk at some designated time.

This company now has about 150 employees. It has both grown and had a tremendous amount of turn-over in the course of the last year or so. This year a new administrator decided that it wouldn’t be fair to limit customer service week to just the customer service department, and that the entire company should be included this time. A team of 10 people, mostly managers, met to discuss how the small “customer service week” budget could be used to cover all employees. They apparently decided that it would somehow increase morale and cooperation, if we adapted the them of the tv reality show “Survivor,”. Having never actually watched Survivor, isn’t it about people who alienate and sabotage each other.? We were randomly divided in to 8 “tribes” of about 12 people each. Each Tribe is named after one of the software products that our larger corporation sells and supports.

A paragraph from the original memo reads:
“The Senior Executive team along with the planning Committee that has been assembled, has determined that we will recognize this event as “VWorks Employee Appreciation Week” because of the significant contributions of all of our employees…”

Monday Day 1

12 of us were called away from our desks for 30 minutes, during an appointed time that happened to be during ½ of my lunch hour. I recognized 4 of them, .including one I knew from a previous office but had just been hired here last week.
The manager of my own department, and a woman I had never seen before, but later turned out to be a new manager in another department addressed us. The stranger never introduced herself to us, I only found out who she was, later. They both handed us a brown paper bag with one bag of chips, a juice box, a bite-sized Snickers bar, a small packet of cookies, and a Halloween toy, mine was a plastic pumpkin ring. That was the “treat” advertised in the email telling us what time to meet.
The stranger handed out string, plastic beads, and a small box of dry ring-o-noodles. We were told that all the other tribes were being given the same kind of beads, but different kind of macaroni shells. All week, our tribe MUST WEAR the necklaces we were making. And if at any time a member of this planning committee saw any of us not wearing our necklace from the beginning of our scheduled start-time to the time we’re scheduled to leave, then our tribe would loose 5 points. Even if it during our break or lunch. Even if we leave the building during lunch and they see us there.

The mostly-managerial organizers of the event are wearing elaborate necklaces made of twine and real sea-shells.

The managers told us we have to choose a tribal leader. She did not say what function the tribal leader would serve, just that we had to select one. Few of us there knew each other at all. One lady there who knew only two people in the room, suggested one of them, and she declined. Then she suggested me, and I agreed. I assure you I agreed out of a sense of sick fascination.
The stranger then turned the page on our agenda to page 2 and announced that one day this week will include a pie-throwing contest, I quote from the agenda:
“Your tribe has now determined a Tribal Leader, its time to show your appreciation. Your Tribe Leader will be placed as a human target; three members of your Tribe will be give (sic) three pies. The goal –RIGHT IN THE FACE. Closer you get to the Target, the more pts are given.”
The lady who suggested me apologized to me as soon as the stranger read us this part.
Earlier that morning, a co-worker and I had noticed that the refrigerator in the break room is full of cans of Redi-Whip. We remarked on it, and hoped that meant we were going to have an ice cream social some time this week, but now we know why all those cans of whipped cream were in there. I knew immediately that me getting a pie in the face because I volunteered to take on a mystery project, and our company is broke, yet still in need of amusement is both fitting and symbolic. I intend to get pictures of it, to motivate me in my future job search.


I should probably add, at this point, that the reason our company doesn’t have money for things like employee events, significant raises, or even product development, is because last summer our board of directors voted to give executive bonuses to the executives anyway, even though as a company we only met 80% of our sales goals. Most of the board of directors is made up of executives of our company. So essentially they voted themselves raises. One of the recipients of that bonus informed us during an all employee meeting at that time, that we had to compensate those executives, to keep their salaries competitive so we don’t loose them. When asked at that same meeting, why non-executive wages were not determined that same way, he explained that that’s why all those dot-coms went out of business, and all those people got laid off, that’s why.

My first E-mail to the tribe, as Tribal Leader:
Good Morning All,

This email includes the names & email addresses of all the members of our Customer service week Advantage Tribe. Saving this email will allow us to "reply - all" & email everyone at once, at any time.

My name is Kathy W and I was named Tribal leader at this meeting. I have worked for VWorks for over 6 years, in the client support department, and had 8 years of medical business office experience before that.

We met at 11:30 in training room 118, absent were Jean H and Kevin G. I have delivered necklce-makings to Jean & talked to her in person, but have had to leave those items for Kevin G on his desk as he is not in the office.

Linda M and Chris B handed us all some string , and some plastic beads and small macaroni shells with which to make necklaces. Once half way through making these necklaces, Chris B informed us that we must also somehow incorporate the name of our tribe "ADVANTAGE" in to this necklace, but that we would be allowed to add some outside element to the necklaces to do so, as long as we were consistant. I have at my desk some blue cards with the word "ADVANTAGE" on them, and some paper clips. Some of us have already added our name-cards to our necklaces. If you haven't, please stop by my desk in client-support and I will give you one of these cards to add to your necklace.

Chris B informed us all that if she or Linda M or any other of the organizers of this event see us at any location during our regularly scheduled hours , without this necklace on, the team looses 5 points, so please create and wear your tribe necklace by tomorrow morning, as that is the start-time of the necklace-wearing event.

Kathy W

Another “game” coming up is going to be called “email tag.”
Description: A time has been designated for your Tribe by the Tribe Counsel Host. An email will be sent to your Tribe Leader, this will indicate the start of the game. It is the responsibility of the Tribe Leader to send an email out to one member of the Tribe; in turn that member must send an email out to a different member of the Tribe. The goal is to get all members of the Tribe to respond in the fastest timely manner. Once you have “collected” as many members of the Tribe as possible, it will be the responsibility of the last member to send an email off (sic) the Tribe Leader. The Tribe Leader than will email Dan M This will indicate your Tribe has completed the challenge.
BONUS- When distributing your emails amongst your Tribe, if you include a sentence that indicates a fact about your Product/Service, your Tribe will receive an additional 3 bonus Pts.

My second email to the Tribe:

Good Afternoon All,

Amy C has suggested a good strategy to plan ahead of time.
When it comes time for E-mail tag, lets create a list of in which order each of us should forward the email!

So it'll start with me
When I get it, I'll send it to Tawny A
Tawny sends it to Chris B
Chris sends it to Amy C
Amy sends it to Michelle D
Michelle sends it to Sharon G
Sharon sends it to Jean H
Jean sends it to Sharon J
Sharon sends it to Paul K
Paul sends it to Pat S
Pat sends it to Vonda D
Vonda sends it to Kevin G
Kevin sends it to Doris H
Doris you send it to Kathy W (me)
and I'll send it to Dan M

Here are some things to keep in mind, check the settings on your email to see how often your mail "receives" and displays new messages, because traditionally mine is set = 10 minutes. I'll alter it to 1 minute for the duration of the week and you should all do the same.

We should phone-call or instant message the next person before you send them your email to verify they're even at their desk. If not, then send it to the next person on the list instead because the rules state the winning tribe will be the one with "as many members of the tribe as possible" so it's still possible to win without all of us.

Also I just read that we get 3 bonus points when including a fact about the Advantage product in our email. So far here is the only fact I know about Advantage: ADVANAGE IS A VERY POORLY DOCUMENTED PRODUCT! I may very well put that..but if I come up with any other actual facts I'll include them. Does any one else have any information about Advantage that would be helpful? Does it run on AS400 or unix ? Is it written in cobol? Is there anything unique or interesting about it?

Kathy W

I spent most of Monday afternoon, after our 30 minute meeting, doing the below, instead of taking calls from customers and answering their questions, thus providing actual customer service:

Sending and receiving emails from my “Tribe” memebers.
Passing out beads, string, and macaroni noodles to those who were not able to make it to the meeting.
Passing out blue file-folder-labels and paper clips.
Explaining how to set ones email settings to send-and-receive every 1 minute.

Email from
Day 2

I receive this email from our HR director, who is in my Tribe:

Good Plan, Amy.
There is one team with 60 points- and four of us tied for second place with 55 points. Go Team Go!
Advantage Product: Company purchased was named POLCI. Advantage product runson AS400. They used to be an ASP model like BOS where customers could call
in and use software that was stored on-site in Saginaw. Programming language is Synon.
Another worthless trivia tidbit: the furniture in Executive Director Tom H office came from the POLCI office. jh

Jean H

That email reminded me that the product our team was named after is no longer being sold, and there is only one person in the whole company that still knows enough about it to take phone calls from users, and she does not work in our office. The reason their old furniture is now in our executive director’s office is because our larger corporation bought them, laid off their staff, and is now retiring their product.



At 8:15 am I received this email
Dear Tribal Leaders –

Please bring your ‘Tribal Necklace’ to Dan M before 9:00 a.m. this morning. Dan will return your necklace after the Tribal Council voting has been completed. During the time from 8:30 – 10:00; Tribal Leaders will have ‘immunity’ and cannot lose points for not wearing their necklace.

Thank you,


Jen B

No one has told me about any kind of judging, but I just had to ask my own manager who is Dan M and where does he sit (I’ve never met him) and handed him my plastic bead and macaroni necklace.

I’m hearing a lot of complaining, as I walk around, that the coarse necklace strings are scratching up the backs of peoples’ necks. One of my closest co-workers has put tape along the back of his to protect his neck from the twine. I just heard some other appointed Tribe leader ask my manager, who is Dan M and where does he sit?

Sandy C just returned all our Tribe Leader necklaces. My 2 closest co workers are also the leaders of their respective tribes. When Sandy returned out necklaces I asked her what they were collected for in the first place. She said they were judged for creativity. I told her no one told us our plastic-bead-and-macaroni-shell necklaces were going to be judged for points. She didn’t care.


Email at noon:
Today’s Activities:


1:00 – Popcorn and Cider will be available in the Breakroom
1:00 – 2:00 Bean Bag Throwing Contest
2:30 – Whip Cream Pie Throwing Contest

I can't keep up with the volume of calls, here at work, half the dept has been called out to be temporary members of some other emergency team, and our call volume seems to have nearly doubled as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountablity Act October 16, 2003 deadline approaches. So I've come in to work on a Sunday to go through some of my backlog of questions called in to me by clients, that I have not yet researched or resolved. Been here for a few hours and now taking a break, away from my call volume, away from my family & kids for a few minutes.
Going back and forth on my radio dial between Top-40, Hard-Rock & Metal, and National Public Radio.
Checked in on my Neopet Marco55112 and found its status was "dying" because I hadn't maintained it at all since I applied for the account a long time ago, so I figured out how to "feed" it until its staus was "not hungry".
My 4 year old son was invited to a birthday party for the first time, and I drove him to it yesterday. I got lost while driving and had to call them for further directions in a restaurant I pulled in to. Last night I dreamed about driving and driving and driving, and woke up very worried.
That's so weird about "Roy" of "Sigfried and Roy" getting mauled by one of his own tigers! Adds to the freak-show appeal they already had.
Found the email address of ex-Soul Coughing bassist Sebastian Stienberg this week! Still too chicken to email him!
My new favorite video is OutKast's "Oh Yeah" video, in which the same guy plays the part of all the musicians in the band. It looked ridiculous back in the early 80's when Paul and Linda McCartney tried the same thing in a video for "Coming Up," but the technology has improved and OutKast looked great!! I love the video and the song, its very pop-y and catchy!
Still receiving too many penis-enlargement, weight-loss, debt-relief and singles ads in my email.
Trillian instant messenger still hasn't resolved its Yahoo Instant Messenger connectivity problem for those of us with the free version, so I haven't had yahoo IM for about a week now. I keep triallian on at my desk all the time, and put it on on those occasional evenings I can get on the internet at night.
My husband scheduled a church class for himself on Tuesday nights, so I had to move my volunteer job tutoring English as a Second Language at a drop-in center in our neighborhood, from my usual Tuesday night, to Thursday nights, so I can watch the kids while he's at church. Thursday is more inconvenient for me, because I enjoyed being the one to take our daughter to Girl Scouts every other Thursday, now he has to do it without me.
I've been enjoying emailing and Instant messaging a few old high school classmates since the reunion, and we have a 'myfamily.com' page for photos I've been enjoying.
The big news here in Minneapolis to me, is that the First Avenue Club, where the best non-arena touring bands play, is very nearly bankrupt and may close soon. I will be officially old, if that happens. Its where I used to spend Saturday nights so often, in collge. Its where I saw Soul Coughing and Rollins band so many times. It's a local fixture of freak-dom and we'll be deminished without it!
I might have to sneak a camera in with me if I go see any bands any time soon, as my friend Debi wants, to get a picture of me in there, before it's gone!!
Song on the radio at the moment: Lil Jon and the East Side Boys: Get Low. I'm liking it!!
I have so many passwords to so many different web sites and softwares we use here at work, I need to keep a written list of them somewhere, I'd use the same one everywhere, but its getting more commeon for each site or software to insist on a specific format.
I just pulled out my well-worn copy of Alvin Toffler's "Future Shock" looking for my favorite passage about how the children of "today" (written in 1970) are at risk of growing up to be short-attention-span novelty-junkies, because the very same brain functions that have to take place in order to learn something new, which it is dangerous to have to over-use due to the neurochemical process it goes though, maintains an expected usage-level of some kind. Will quote it if I find it.