a New Year's prank

today, we received an email from the Vice President of Operations stating that we would be closing early today, at 4:00. almost everybody in Customer Service responded to his email with something to the effect of, "don't you mean 3:00?"

his response:

"I did not have anything to drink yet. It appears that you all must be hitting the sauce early. I clearly stated 4pm!"


Happy New Year's Eve, you crazy people.

fraud meeting

a couple of weeks ago, we had an anti-fraud meeting. bad enough that it was a meeting, but it was a conference called meeting! one where a whole bunch of different offices were listening to these men speak, and we had to just sit there and listen. i mean, there was a powerpoint-like presentation, but it was dark and i was so tempted to bring my knitting... but maybe that's unprofessional and distracting to the people who can actually see me.

as usual, i took notes. i realize this about myself: i have to be contantly doing something with my hands. i can't just sit. i'm usually typing, writing, or knitting. if i'm not doing something productive like that, i'm picking at my nails. i've tried to break this bad habit by painting my nails and always having knitting or a pen with me... i think it's working. but i digress.

notes from the fruad meeting:

• at least 3 people seemed to be nodding off, and that's just what i could see from where i was sitting.  (it was dark and boring. i don't blame them.)
• interesting word choices:
• stringently
• verbage
• golden nuggets
• counterparts (as in, "my counterparts")
• smoking gun
• remuneration
• frequently used words:
• subsequently - 5 times
• interestingly - 7 times
• interesting quotes:
• "if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, then it probably is a duck."
• "we're not talking about jail here folks. we're talking about actual prison time."

after about an hour, we were kicked out because i got a little antsy and started bouncing in my seat. the second part of the presentation didn't apply to my department at all, and i had had two cups of coffee that morning... a higher-up in the Company said to my manager and i, "you guys can go. this doesn't really appy to you." then she looked at me bouncing in my chair and said in a very annoyed voice, "stop that!" hehehehe. put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

A Christmas Parody

today is our company Christmas party! we get to leave work at 1pm, go to a great pub about 5 minutes away, and enjoy our co-workers as real people.

last year's Christmas party was fun. i wrote a parody of "O Tannenbaum." we had a different receptionist back then, but everything else is still the same...

O ACI, O ACI
How random is your receptionist!
She backs up Eligibility,
ClaimsPPOMailroom... and anything Customer Service-y.
O ACI, O ACI
How random is your receptionist!

O ACI, O ACI,
How patient are your CSRs!
They listen to those angry folks,
Who got something... but they don't know.
O ACI, O ACI,
How patient are your CSRs!

O ACI, O ACI,
How lovely are your Examiners!
They put up with so many things,
Like Customer Service's questionings.
O ACI, O ACI,
How lovely are your Examiners!

O ACI, O ACI,
How manic are your Managers!
They run around, trying to find
That large claim file - It must be signed!
O ACI, O ACI,
how manic are your Managers!

that's as far as I got before our food arrived. this year, i've challenged my manager to a parody-off. we're going to each write a Christmas song parody, and whoever makes up the better song wins. it's on like Donkey Kong.

Christmas countdown: 2 weeks!!!

there is a stinkbug in my ceiling light. and it's buzzing and jumping around in there. i keep feeling like it's going to fall through the ceiling onto my head, even though the light is on the other side of my office (which makes it sound like a big office, but i assure you, it's really not).

so, i realized today that i have 2 weeks until Christmas. that's 2 weeks to make the following gifts:

• 13 hats/scarves for my customer service co-workers (in lieu of doing the Pollyanna, which would have been much easier).
• 6 baskets of homemade raspberry jam (already done and cooling from last night!) and bread (yet to be made) for our extended families (1 per family).
• 5 or so miscellaneous tea cozies (to fit on the mugs i got from the thrift store at 5 cents each! and then some peppermint tea bags and hot chocolate packets from redner's to go with the mugs.)

oi. i mean, the tea cozies take a half-hour each (maybe less), and the hats take about an hour each... i'm not being fussy about the scarves either: simply knit, no extra fancy stuff. (maybe next year?)

finally!

apologies to those who have been waiting almost a month for a new entry! i've been both busy and bored, so there's been no time or topics to write.

while i was away, pregnant girl #1 (out of 4, by the way) had her little baby boy!!! i love love love him. about 2 weeks early, but he was getting too big anyway, so it's good that he came just in time for Thanksgiving.

so, how was everyone's Thanksgiving? mine was fun. thane and i went to my parents wednesday night and left thursday night (to avoid the crazies). wednesday night was fun because my sister's boyfriend was over and we all taught him how to play mah jong. and i really mean all of us: grandmother, mother, sister, and i. at the same time. have you ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding? yeah, it was a little like that, except it would have been really like that if all our crazy Filipino relatives were there, all yelling at the same time. i mean, that's how my sister and i learned. but then thane came to the rescue to let "the American teach the American."

ok, so it's not really an Office-y post, but there's really not much to update on that side. we're all just waiting for Christmas. we all have little stockings, and we put up our Customer Service insta-tree today. :)

countdown to Christmas: 24 days

quote of the day: "you're not customer service! you're customer unservice!"

currently reading: Mossflower by Brian Jacques (listening to the audio book during my 40 minute commute), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (before bed),  and Connecting by Larry Crabb (whenever i feel like it, taking notes in my journal)