In The Mood

There was a silly dl (E-mail distribution list) at work called "Vents and Denouncements." It was a play on the "Events and Announcements" which I'd guess a majority of the company subscribes to. One of the common vents was about people who send ridiculous items to hundreds of people on the "Events and Announcements" dl, things like anyone have an empty cardboard box?

For the Vents dl, everyone agreed that it was private and posts would go no further. Some people bitched about corporate issues, some about the silly ridiculous company wide E-mails mentioned above, and some about current events or personal experiences. Some people broke their promise (something I consider dishonest in the extreme), and hr started monitoring. I compared the Freedom Tower to a teaching aid for AIDS awareness, and my manager had to talk to me (many months ago). He had trouble taking the issue seriously, because he thought my send up was pretty funny, if dark and insensitive.

We now have a new Vents discussion, but not through work assets. Last weekend I saw a vent from someone who became acquainted with a person that had a bad experience with Expedia. I wrote a longish reply, mentioning this is the best place I've ever worked, and recommending he burn up the internal phone lines making sure the right people know about it and ensuring it was addressed. In my response I included the following:

One thing I've learned over the years is that how we respond when things are messed up is the most critical. In the Navy we used to say, "One 'Ah shit!' cancels out a thousand 'Attaboys!'" On the other hand, if you handle a crisis well, that cancels out as many 'Ah shits!' I found this out the hard way, and was a golden boy in my squadron after such a fowl up, and in a few jobs since then.

I basically suggested giving Expedia that chance, as I have great faith in Expedia, and including the attempt in his next evaluation. I was worried I would upset the original poster or sound pompous. I got a lot of personal responses thanking me for my response including the poster. Not even one bit of unfavorable feedback posted or sent to me. Expedia is still a great place to work, and even us that bitches and vents are great assets for the company.

I'm done with the end of quarter show for ETI (a full-time one year professional acting conservatory program for those you who just joined us), and I did okay even Friday and Saturday when I had a bad food reaction which caused me to miss work on Saturday, and was worried I'd soil myself. It added some interesting personal stakes to the scene. I even had a line of verse in my head if the worst happened, "And thus have my bowels become as water." Sunday was great. I felt I did quite well, though I would have liked to do a hundred times better. It was my first time performing Shakespeare (since my first scene class with Rachel), and I was quite intimidated at first. I loved it, even when I felt bad. Sunday's performance was a great way to end our second term.

So classes went well, and the discussion thread at work reminded me of how much I love working at Expedia. With class done for a couple weeks, I only have one full time commitment. I'm in great spirits right now. Here's wishing some of it somehow rubs off on you. Cheers.