ClassicRosie the Riveter
I had a conversation with the booty-queen a week ago and I couldn’t think of anything about myself I could appreciate. I’m not saying good qualities don’t exist in me, however caveats are a favored survival instinct of mine . Needless to say, until today I was not going to fulfill my assignment. Instead like I always did in school with homework I’d pass the pile to the front of the class missing a sheet of my ever dog-eared looseleaf paper. Already thinking if the teacher asked me later I would exclaim in wonderment and confusion “It’s not? I know I put it in there. Are you sure you didn’t lose it?”
Three years ago I worked in the home health field and had a client with a major medical emergency. At the time I was in the house but not on the clock. The staff working were at a loss as to how to take care of the emergency. I jumped into the fray and got the client into an ambulance and off to the hospital. I held his hand through the poking and prodding of the examination and the incredibly painful multiple x-rays he needed. I sat with him and made him smile when the nurse with the pain medication seemed like she’d been lost in the Sahara. I spent nine hours in that hospital and didn’t leave until he was sleeping soundly in a morphine cocoon of painlessness.
To sum it up what I like about myself with no caveats is I can hold myself together like an Army Major when I’m in the midst of a crisis. Of course when the adrenaline dissipates and the fatigue takes over I turn into limp, weepy pile of rags. But in the thick of it I reign supreme.
I’m the first in a situation to take charge and I think it’s that part of me which makes me a good sales person. I can and do project confidence when I speak. As every ordinary child I’ve had my share of arguments with my parents, however the majority of the successes I’ve accomplished had less to do with outright warfare and more with carefully crafted phrases determinedly rationalizing with them till they could swear they thought of it first. It’s not deceptive it’s working well under pressure.
I had an occasion today where I had to give a firm set down to another agent’s staff about ethics within the corporation. I was pleasant but firm, leaving no room for “yeah-but’s” or misinterpretation. By the end of the conversation I had used all the skills in my arsenal to smooth things over. Even if I didn’t succeed in shifting her focus to more ethical business dealings the conversation wasn’t for nought. I said what needed to be and sometimes honesty must be blunt.
My palms may sweat afterwards, my body may shake, and I may even cry eventually, but in those high pressure moments where the steps you take are crucial to eventual success or failure. Every time, I will come through.
Posted by classicrose
2007-01-16
go back | random brainstorm | go forth
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