So, anyway, I had a faboosh time at the going away bash last night, and yes, there was a rainbow. There was also a cement mixer, purchased by RobbieBaum, but I know what happens when you mix Baileys with something sour. It curdles, resembles vomit, and makes the recipient unhappy. Drunk as I was, I looked at it, realized I was going to have limey tinged cheese curds appear in my mouth, and didn’t even change my facial expression, causing me to uplevel to a new platform of coolth. Nobody wanted to believe that I wasn’t disgusted. I wasn’t. It’s all about managing expectations, yanno?
Here’s my good-bye email:
11 Commandments for an Enthusiastic Team
1) Help each other be right – not wrong.
2) Look for ways to make new ideas work – not for reasons they can’t.
3) If in doubt – check it out! Don’t make negative assumptions about each other.
4) Help each other win and take pride in each other’s victories.
5) Speak positively about each other and about your team at every opportunity.
6) Maintain a positive mental attitude no matter what the circumstances.
7) Act with initiative and courage as if it all depends on you.
8) Do everything with enthusiasm – it’s contagious
9) Whatever you want – give it away.
10) Don’t lose faith – never give up
11) HAVE FUN!
A long vanished Sales VP gave me that list, and I’ve tried to live by it.
As I survey 12 years of employment at Xantrex, I have a LOT of happy memories…. And not so happy ones…and downright bizarre memories.
The time a customer told me, “Lady, your hold music would make a dog eat her puppies…”
Walking around the office and seeing Valentines I handed out 5 years ago still tacked up over people’s desks….
Sitting around a campfire on Gabriola at the old Statpower company camping trip….
People screaming in delight when it was November and I started baking biscotti again….
Forcing a CEO to buy me beer after I invited myself along for a team building exercise…. (now THAT was satisfying….)
Going through a team building exercise during which all of the people on the team reviewed the ‘challenge’ and then turned as one person to the smartest person on the team and said with one voice, “You do it!” (No it wasn’t me, it was an engineer). It was like being back in high school.
Fires…. Power outages…. Ludicrous, inhuman weather… getting really good help from the first aid people (who rock, incidentally).
Having a coworker come through on an orientation tour with a new HR person, and when asked, “Do you know this person?” saying, truthfully, “Well yeah, I’ve seen him naked.” (Long story, and not anywhere near as dirty as it sounds….)
A lot of really amazing customer interactions… because really, without customers, Xantrex doesn’t exist. And some of customers are very smart, and very nice, and they shared a lot of good information with me.
“When are we doing a product rationalization?”
The time a customer said “Do the fans on your inverters exhaust or intake?” And running to a certain person who is still working at Xantrex for help. And he said, and I quote, “We used to suck, but now we blow.” And I ran back to my desk and told the customer that – he laughed his head off. We weren’t recording Customer Service calls in those days…. Too bad, that would have been a keeper!
Neckrubs!
Taking care of my ‘internal customers’ at Xantrex. Because we’re not in this alone…..
Trying really hard to be a good coworker. For those of you for whom this was not a reality, my abject apologies and a hope that you won’t take my lapses personally. For those of you I didn’t get a chance to get to know…. We were part of the same team. We served together, and that counts for a lot.
I’m taking a year off paid employment to ‘pursue creative interests’. Yeah, I know, it’s lame, but it’s also true. I lost a close family member at the beginning of May, and it made me re-assess my life in a way that I hope none of you have to go through anytime soon. When the year is over, I’ll be back in the work force, hopefully with a lot of items scratched off my ‘bucket list’… as in, things I wanted to do before I die. But not at Xantrex, unless you guys are crazy enough to want me back!
The friendships, the unparalleled learning experience and the opportunity to serve our customers — all this has been humbling and character building. I’ve worked here more than a third of my adult life…. I will never forget Xantrex and you can bet I’ll be by to say hi, and re-acquaint myself with Chris’ cooking in our ‘caf’. Yes, Andy, I paid my tab.
I’d like to thank Tanya, Frozan, Cris, and Andy N (my immediate teammates and boss) for being awesome, and ALL the CS techs whether in Renewable or Mobile for their long-suffering assistance…. You’ve all been great. I’d like to thank the equally long-suffering bunch of folks I’ve eaten lunch with so many times over the last few years (Ryan S, Scott, Trevor, Peter A., John A., Francis K., and Hardeep). Sorry about all those anecdotes that made it impossible for you to finish what you were eating. A special shout out to Patricia O’Connor and Mike McG for their helpfulness.
I’ll be seeing some of you at the Golf Course for beverages later….
My apologies to anybody I missed… it wasn’t deliberate….
I can be reached at allegra.sloman@gmail.com if anybody wants to get hold of me. Goodbye, and take good care of each other and the customers!
All the best,
allegra
