final blog

It has been a very busy semester with full time work and school. I did not have the opportunity to do an internship due to my job restrictions, but I did have the opportunity to blog about my job at the City of Phoenix. I'm glad this semester is over, and I get a small break at least until next semester. Thank you to all who commented on my blog, I appreciate your insights. I'm still deciding whether to take nine or six credits next semester. As tired as I feel now, and because I work full time, I think I might make it six!

Mission Accomplished!

Today I managed to complete all that work that had piled on my desk. I originally had given myself until  the end of the week to get caught up, but I finished early. I anticipate that this will be short lived, and I once again will fall behind. For the next two weeks our section will have several staff members off on vacation for the holidays, two or three employees off each day. Our section definitely will be busy. In addition, we will need to be prepare for the time off people will take during the holidays, and I anticipate that a high number of employees will be calling in sick. We usually have one or two employees call in sick each week, and I expect it to be more during the holidays. In addition, the supervisor will be out as well the week of new years. The other lead and I will need to be prepared to help the staff get the customers moving.

I met with Hortencia Gutierrez today, at Career Services for ASU. This is a great place for ASU students to get help with career guidance and preparation. She reviewed my resume and made suggestions to improve it. She also provided me with sample resumes of others who had been successful in their job or promotion searches. She shared with me a list showing how employers rate the importance of candidate skills and qualities, which will help me interview better by highlighting the qualities employers want. She provided me with information about ASU Sundevil Careerlink, a website where employers advertise job openings to ASU students. I'm hoping to get a promotion at work or to get an internship, and iI want to do everything I can to be prepared.

busy monday

I was going to do the things I mentioned in my last blog, but in fact, I only got about 40% of it done today.  My mornings are always booked up doing the daily deposit, so I had planned to get caught up in the afternoon. But in the afternoon, I got sidetracked by a rush of customers, and I had to see customers at a window. That took away 40 minutes of my day. When I returned to my desk, my work was interrupted by questions from staff members, who I had to help with various problems. That always happens, but I hadn't accounted for it. Then some mail payments were brought to me, rather than to the other lead because she was tied up with another project. That took up another hour that I hadn't planed for. In the future, I have to plan for the unplanned things that come up, and budget my time accordingly and realistically.

The week ahead

I'm expecting a long week ahead. I'll be working ten hour days four out of the next five days. I'll be the only lead on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. My plans for the coming week are to finish the cross training, get caught up with my desk, and train the back up lead closing our section.

The trainees have only one more task to learn; for the most part they are now on their own handling cash, customers, and any tasks assigned to them for the day.

My desk has been falling behind with non-critical statistical work, due to shortage of staff throughout past two weeks. I had to perform back up duties for the missing staff. My goal is to be up to date by weeks end.

The back up lead is doing an excellent job, but she has not had the chance to perform the close out of our section. So I have schedule her to work the late shift two days of the coming week.

Trainees

My trainees are moving right along with their cross training, and they're in the final stages. They are finally on their own and handling cash. They had small mistakes with payments, but I assure them that everyone in our section, including those with the most experience, makes mistakes. I told them both that what's important is what have they learned from their mistakes and what steps will they take to avoid making the mistake again. Over all the trainees tell me that this has been a positive experience, and they're glad they were given a chance to learn our procedures.

Today I was asked if I could stay late and close our section. I agreed, closing our section is not a difficult task with a few exceptions. Today was one of those exceptions. Each night the cashiers count out the money they took throughout the course of the day. They enter their amounts into the computer to run a close out report. If their totals don't match those of the computer they won't be able to run a close out report. So when the totals don't match, the supervisor or a lead is called to figure out the problem and help the cashier close. Well, today I had to help a cashier close out and found out that the cashier had made a critical cash error, one that is going to need immediate attention first thing in the morning. This will involve calling the customer of the account for which the mistake was made. The accounting department will also need to be contacted to make the necessary adjustments. We will also need to deal with the cashier to decide the course of action to prevent future incidents. It is safe to say that I will have an interesting morning to start my day at work tomorrow.

Chaos at the court house

Friday was a crazy day at the courthouse. We were missing six staff members, and Fridays are usually busier than other weekdays. First thing in the morning, we had to reassign the duties of the absent employees. In addition one of our leads was scheduled off, so the supervisor and I had our hands full. I'm proud of the staff who were present, as usual they performed above and beyond their duties. Im especially proud of Veronica, at the present time  the back up lead, who showed that she is ready to become a lead full time if needed. I had to open a window to help move the customers waiting in the lobby. Overall, the day went as well as one can hope, considering how short staff we were.

The calm after the storm

Monday was a very busy day at the courthouse; as it was expected, we served well over 1200 customers. On average we serve between 500 and 700 customers a day. Although we were busy on Monday, things ran as smoothly as we had hoped. The entire staff in our section was present and eager to get the day started. Within the first hour and half we had served 200 customers; that was the good indicator of what was stored for us. So working 11 hours on the Wednesday before the holiday in preparation for Monday was well worth it. This allowed for the supervisor, one of the leads and myself to be available if any critical issues arose. Fortunately for us, we were not called up on for any critical issues. All in all, Monday was a good day. Our preparation the week before paid off.

team building

I used to think that having potlucks were just for fun yet kind of a a waste of time. But all that changed once I started working at the city with a large group. Today I see a potluck as a chance to build the team in our section.

We as a team decide what the theme will be, and we always chose the food by its ethnic origin, trying to represent the backgrounds of the team members.  Then each person signs up for what dish they'd like to bring. Last time, it was challenging because we chose Korean food, and I signed up to make Pad Thai (a type of noodles in peanut sauce) for the first time. Making the dish helped me to learn something about a coworker's culture, which helped me to understand and appreciate her.

In addition to the food, each person is asked to bring questions or concerns regarding our section. Whether we talk about work or anything else, as we gather together to eat, we bond. Communication flows between us and the team is reinforced. When the team is stronger, we work better together. I think that's really what the potluck is about.

Long day

The courthouse closed for the long holiday weekend, so on Wednesday I had to work 11 hours to prepare for what is usually the busiest day of the year: the Monday after Thanksgiving. In the morning, we normally do the deposit of the money the court took in on the day before. But because Thursday and Friday were holidays, we did the deposit of Wednesday's money at the end of the day on Wednesday. The deposit usually takes between 2 to 3 hours, and that's why I worked an 11 hour day. By doing the deposit the same day it will allow me to be posted at a customer service window on busy Monday morning, when the we'll have a huge number of customers waiting in the lobby. We also asked the the employees in our section if the would like to start their shift early and others to stay late if needed. This past Wednesday was very busy, the busiest we have been in the past 6 months, so we got and taste of what's to come Monday. But I admired how my supervisor really thought the situation through and did everything possible to plan for the crush. I think the employees appreciated that he was doing his best to keep them and the customers calm, and they were willing to do their part to help.

Soccer

I was born in Mexico and grew up playing and watching soccer or football as it known around the world. After all, this football is played with your feet! This summer was a great summer for me, thanks to the 

World Cup in South Africa, the biggest sporting event in the world. I was happy that the continent of Africa was hosting their first world cup. For a whole month the channels broadcasting the event were running side stories about positive and not so positive impact of the event on South Africa. Many of the positive stories were about how the event was was to bring unity to the country and the possible financial gains. On the other hand, the not so positive stories were about the cost of hosting the event. South Africa spent 5 billion US dollars on the infrastructure and the building of new stadiums for the event. Another negative story was the displacement of some of poor South African citizens to build the stadiums. Today ESPN broadcasted the game between the USA and South Africa in South Africa. ESPN ran a story about the aftermath of the world cup and whether spending 5 billion to host the event was worth it. Many of the new stadiums now sit empty and are not generating any revenue. The citizens who were promised basic needs like running water after the event were still with out running water and are living in shanty town shacks, just as they were prior to the World Cup coming to Africa. It appears so far that hosting the biggest sports event in the world did not help South Africa's development. 

Cross training

At work I’m currently cross training two employees, a back up lead in and I have to performing my daily duties. In addition I help the staff with complex issues regarding cases or with difficult customers. So far this week the training is going as planned, but it is consuming a great portion of my time. The trainees are at different stages of their training and are being introduced to different tasks, so I’m having a hard time keeping up with my duties. On the other hand my plan for speeding up the training is working. The two trainees are about two weeks ahead of all previous trainees. Soon the trainees will be on their own, and I’ll be relieved to go back to handling my duties in a timely manner. 

DownTown Phoenix

I live in downtown Phoenix, and Saturday night downtown was happening.  I was impressed by the volume of people out on the streets, the type of crowd normally seen during a sporting event. The main reason for this phenomenon was the weekend long festivities at the new City Scape with free concerts and activities for the entire family. I have to admit that I was a bit excited at the sight of what could become the new hangout in the valley just blocks a way from my home, not to mention the beneficial effect on my property value. But I'm also skeptical about its success, as other projects downtown have failed to create a major buzz. The Mercado never created a buzz because tenants never moved in. The Arizona Center originally had the Gap and Foot Locker, but those stores closed down because nobody shopped downtown. The restaurants, movie theater, and Hooters survived, but it was never a very interesting place. City Scape has a Gold's Gym, art gallery, clothing stores, an upscale hotel, the bowling alley lounge, and it will soon have a branch of La Grand Orange, famous in Arcadia for becoming the local hangout. I would love to see the project take off, but I'm dubious. It's certainly an improvement over Patriots' Park, which was an sad, ugly brick monument to homelessness (It was supposed to be a park, but it failed, too.)

End of month stats

At the end of every month all departments in in the Courthouse have to submit their reports to management. The types of reports in our area vary from how many disabled customers we help to the amount of of revenue collected from fines for the month. So, for the first two days of each month, things get a little hectic. Not only do we need to complete our stats in a timely manner, we also need to do our daily duties, some of which critical and must be performed daily. In addition, I, as a lead, need to help the staff with complex problems or difficult customers. With everything I have to do as a lead at the beginning of the month, it's hard to keep up with my own daily duties as a clerk. I also feel the crush in keeping up with my schoolwork during the beginning of the month. As my "internship" is actually my full-time job, keeping up with the job and classes is a challenge.

We were short-staffed again today, and we were busy, as we always are on Mondays.  We were also missing one of our two leads, which means I was the only lead there. I was trying to catch up on work that was not covered for me while I was out on vacation last week. I continued to train the new employee, who is learning and improving, but feeling overwhelmed. She pushes herself very hard and pressures herself to do everything right the first time. I have told her to take her time, that she is doing a great job, and I try to keep her confidence up. I check in on her frequently to let her know that I'm available to answer questions or help her if she is too overwhelmed.

I had planned to speed up the training process, and this is the first employee I have worked with on my accelerated training plan. She learned to do the mail in two and a half weeks as opposed to the usual four weeks. The mail duties didn't cause her any stress, and she liked doing this less challenging task. But she is now taking mail in payments, and she has moved on to more complicated tasks, like reducing and dismissing fines, and entering the payment information in the appropriate way. No one could understand this process in just a few days, but this trainee wants to. She is doing a fine job, she is very motivated, and she's progressing fast. I'm hoping she will master taking mail-in payments in three weeks. Then I'll move her the most difficult phase of training: taking payments from walk in customers.

By training this new employee, I've learned to break down the steps of a duty into very small tasks. I take my time to explain how to do each task, and I also stand by while the trainee performs the duty for the first few times. I give them the freedom to learn in a hands-on way, allowing them to do it themselves, rather than lecture for a long time and make them watch me do the task. Then I step away, but I check in often to see if they have any questions or need any help. I encourage them to ask questions about why we need to do things a certain way, or whether there are different ways of doing things. If they can come up with a better way of doing things, I encourage them to explain their ideas to me. I try to give them the confidence to do their best.

Portland

I've been away from work for a week, visiting Portland, Oregon for the first time. The purpose for the visit was to assess if Portland is a place for future relocation. I had narrowed it down to three cities: San Francisco, New York, and Portland. Portland's major advantage over the two other cities is that the real estate market is considerably cheaper, making Portland a real contender for relocation. I have heard many great things about Portland, many of which I consider to be true after my visit to the city. Portland has a great public transportation system, making it easy to get around the city without the need of a vehicle. For example, I took just one train directly from the airport to the city center. Public transportation is free within the city center. Portland is very walkable, and many of it's inhabitants commute by bicycle as there are may bike paths throughout the city. Portland is a vibrant city with many restaurants, bars, micro breweries, art galleries, and shopping. There's also wonderful public space, like Washington park and the riverfront. People pride themselves on being green and progressive. Portland remains a possibility for me.

first week of training

This week I trained an employee from another department. As with all new trainees at the court, I started her out sorting mail and sending it on to the right departments. Usually, a new trainee would be paired up with an experienced worker, and would spend two weeks just opening and sorting mail. The trainees I've seen have mastered the mail sorting after about three days, so I want to move the training along faster.

I planned to accelerate the training process by moving trainees on from sorting mail to taking mailed in payments after three days. So the trainee would have started taking payments on Friday. However, the challenge that I didn't expect was that we were too shorthanded to have her perform a new function slowly. We had so much mail to sort, so many mailed in payments to process, and not enough employees to do the work. I had to see customers at a window and didn't have the time to explain the payment taking process to the trainee. We just couldn't afford to have her taking payments without supervision because it would take time to correct her mistakes.

I have a new plan for Monday. Training is the priority, so no matter how busy we are, I'll make sure the trainee learns to take mail payments. This means I have to take a few hours in the morning to teach and watch her perform the task. My other duties will just have to wait, and I can stay late to accomplish them. As it is, my supervisor is out, so I'm covering for him, and I'll probably have to work overtime anyway.

It has occurred to me that the training may have originally been scheduled to take such a long time to account for unexpected delays, like being shorthanded. Maybe my plan to speed it up is not practical, considering the limited time I have to supervise new trainees and still accomplish my own duties. I'm not going to give up on my goal of speeding up the training, but I am open to the idea that training is scheduled a certain way because the people who set up the training learned from their experience. Now I'm learning from my experience, too.

At our court, we cross train employees. They are sent to another section of the court to learn a different job in order to be prepared for emergency coverage needs, to increase the employees' understanding of the whole process, and to increase mobility and promotions. Last week, I learned that I'd be in charge of training employees from other departments to learn the duties of customer service. The training lasts three months per employee. The training used to be done by two leads, but now it will all be my responsibility. I am pleased that this responsibility has been given to me, and that my supervisor regards me as a good trainer. I already have plans to make certain changes, based on my observations and participation in past trainings. I'm looking forward to this opportunity to show that I'm capable of sharing my knowledge with others and assisting them to broaden their horizons.

busy week with new challenges

Last week at work was exceptionally busy, but I also got a chance to demonstrate my leadership skills.  I work in customer service at the Municipal Court of Phoenix. We have one supervisor and two leads. I was recently promoted to be one of the leads.

I supervise seventeen clerks who work at the customer service windows. The clerks are important because they interface directly with the customers, so they are the "front line," representing the city to the public in a positive and helpful light, and diffusing anger and frustration sometimes felt by members of the public who owe money or have been charged with a crime. The clerks answer questions for customers, and they send customers to the correct courtroom. They also take payments in person and by mail for tickets, fines, and restitution, and they are responsible for handling money that comes in.

As lead, I'm not assigned to a customer service window. I help clerks deal with particularly difficult customers and issues. I also audit the daily deposit. I begin by running a report, which adds up all the money taken that day by all the clerks.  Each clerk also has a cash deposit sheet, which describes how many bills of each denomination were taken by the clerk. If there is a discrepancy in the cash deposit sheet, I look at the videotape of the day to see if the clerk made a mistake in handling the cash. Ultimately, I make sure that the total amount of cash that is reported to have come matches the amount of cash actually taken in by the clerks.

Last week, the other lead, who is more experienced than me, was unexpectedly out for the whole week. At the same time, several clerks were also unexpectedly out. The most understaffed day was Monday, when we had four clerks and a lead out. As a result, I had to do the job of a clerk, processing mailed in payments. On one day, I took 80 mailed in payments, a job usually done in one day by four clerks. I also had to deal with double my usual duties as lead - taking complaints, dealing with difficult issues and customers, all in addition to auditing the daily report.

I worked overtime the whole week in order to get things done. I learned that I can handle difficult situations, and I'm able to pick up the slack at work when others are out. I was proud of myself for rising to the occasion.

My first post

My name is Arturo Mendoza, and I'm a student in the Urban and Metropolitan Studies School at ASU in downtown Phoenix where will hope to complete my degree no later than 2011. I'm originally from Guadalajara, Mexico. As a kid, I took public transportation to school, and I traveled all over the city on my own. I made money taking lunch orders from executives and delivering lunches to their offices. It was a very different upbringing than what is typical for most of my classmates at ASU.

I've lived in downtown Phoenix for the past 25 years. I can walk to work at the Phoenix Municipal Court, where I've been for just over two and half years. I'm an assistant supervisor in the customer service department. I'm using my current job as my internship due to the fact that I'm a full time employee and thus not able to intern for a different agency. I really like my job, and I want to continue at this city or one that is more pedestrian friendly and cosmopolitan, like San Francisco or New York, which I visit frequently.