Passion

krsitnee · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 7:58 am Post subject: Passion

This is a rant from a day when I realized what I was missing.

--

Passion.

Without it- what are we?

I am a very passionate person. I am passionate about my work, and I am passionate about my personal life. Today was a day full of crap. I work in a technical support field, and I spent the majority of my 10 hour day today apologizing for things that my team and my support teams lied to our customers about. I have no doubt that the lies were not intentional. I have no doubt that everyone believed they would follow through. Yet- 10 hours later, and the most common phrase I have said is “I’m sorry.” That isn’t a good day. I cringed when a customer actually told me they would not be purchasing any of our services in the future- because our service level is awful. That hurts me- because that service level is what I work so hard to maintain...but I can't maintain it alone.

I am going to sound pretty self-righteous when I say this- but if you aren’t going to give something 100%, I would rather you just didn't do it. I realize we all make mistakes. We do not live in a perfect world. There is no reason at all though that we shouldn’t be pushing ourselves to do the best job we can in everything we decide to do.

If I can’t believe in it- then what is the point in doing it?

I told myself I will never get into a sales position, because I can’t find any product that I believe in enough to sell it at any expense. When I found this job where I am now, I didn’t know what to make of our products. I didn’t have any idea what I was getting involved with, but I needed a job.

The more familiar I became with the company, the more I realized how much wonderful potential we have. 7 years ago, we didn’t exist. Now we are a well known name in our industry. We got that way because of some superior service that was provided from day 1. I look around now (just one year after I joined them) and I cringe at the apathy. So many of the people I work with take no pride in what they do. They tell me “don’t take it so personally.” I don’t want to work in a job that I can’t take personally. My name is tied to this company- even in the peon position that I hold. My reputation IS at steak. When I get on the phone with a customer, I do everything I can to make the experience a positive one for both of us. I found passion in making things right. How can I not be personal about that?

I have days where I don’t want to work. I have days that I feel like everything I touch goes to shit. I also have days that I shine. I need those days- not always the ones that I have been recognized, but the days where I know I did something positive. I impacted our customers in a positive way. I took something they needed done and I did it better than they expected.

Shouldn’t we all strive for those days? Where is the passion? Where is the pride?

I have a goal right now- and that goal is to work my magic and make this position everything I can. I want to be wonderful. I want to be linked to an organization that screams customer service and support. I want to be proud of my team...they have so much potential and so little drive to make us great.