Canes, Trains, and Literacy - June 25-6
A horrible commute, a fresh start, and a bunch of customer calls...read on, and thanks!
I had a wonderfully busy weekend seeing friends from college and high school (apparently I'm not the only summer California transplant) and relatives. While covering customer service today, I heard from people in Pennsylvania, New York, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Indiana and Arizona. I figured out a more efficient way to take down orders so I can keep them straight and remember to ask all necessary questions. I attended a team meeting, and though I played less of a part in this one, I enjoyed observing it nevertheless. The banana bread someone brought to it didn't hurt either.
Monday afternoon's commute was horrible, because not only did I cross a street so badly that I ended up on the corner opposite to the one I was aiming for, but who thought it necessary to steer me around something grabbed me and my cane without warning. To top it off, someone walking toward me exclaimed to their friend in a voice plenty loud enough for me to hear: "Look, she's blind." Thanks, I'm already aware of that. The buildup of frustration caused me to shed a few tears when I got back to my room, which is something I rarely do. It was actually a great relief of stress, and allowed me to kind of start afresh the next day.
On Tuesday, I covered the phones for almost the whole day. This was because Jason had to go up and put orders together for shipping. He printed out 61 pages of labels (six labels per page) that he would distribute, which takes about all day. Before he left, he asked me to read him a braille letter that had been sent by a customer. Usually one of the blind proofreaders does this, but since I was there... It was so cool to see that the Press actually does get testimonials. I've seen people quoted in the grant-writing templates, but didn't really believe it. But it's true, our publications do prompt actual positive feedback. This woman said our women's magazine entitled "Our Special" is great to have for visually impaired women, and that she likes reading it for herself. I took a bunch of calls, and couldn't finish entering them into my orders spreadsheet before the end of the day.