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.