KathySRW

Pass the chips.

Thursday, October 30, 2003

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!

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