11:23 p.m. - 2004-03-31
Good Deeds
Breakfast meeting first thing this morning. Myself and my voter registration supervisor with our counterparts from another electoral district. They're both brand new, so they wanted some one-on-one question time to help them do their jobs. Very productive. When one teaches, one usually learns more than the student. Or at least remembers what one forgot - right? Besides that, the people we were working with are truly delightful human beings. It also turned out that my supervisor and the other two had all gone to the same high school in Calgary within a few years of each other, so that created an instant bond. The school they attended is the one that my parents and sons went to as well, so we were all agreed that the school turns out the best people. It was just nice to relax and enjoy pleasant, positive company for a change.
When I returned home, the work we had done at breakfast generated a lot of follow up activity at home. That one meeting helped me think through and sew up some issues that I had been fussing about for a while. I also got a call from my assistant - who was in the midst of moving to a new home - letting me know he had received the e-mail I had cc'd to him about the mistreatment of the one Returning Officer at the storage facility yesterday. He was just letting me know he was fully behind me as far as whatever further action might be necessary. Elections Canada hasn't responded to me, so I don't know whether any follow up is necessary or not. It would be nice just for once if they admitted that ther had been a mix up and just fixed it.
My registration supervisor has been asking about the timing of the election, but I can't give her a definitive answer. She and her spouse want to book a holiday trip to Mexico for May. I've told her to go for it, because there is no point in everyone putting their lives on hold indefinitely while the politics of the country play themselves out.
I am hoping that the writ isn't dropped this weekend though. The gentleman who will supervise the door-to-door registration of electors is in Texas all next week. Some of his sculptures are being displayed there in a gallery that is having a major event and he is committed to being present for that. My trainer and her husband have been called to go to Arizona for an emergent family issue. She called tonight all upset that she might let me down. I told her that her family and personal life are the first priorities as far as I'm concerned.
Staff who are stressed or overwhelmed by personal obligations or responsibilities need to feel in control of that aspect of their lives, if they are to do their best work for me. For all three of the staff mentioned, I already know that they will give me 110% effort, regardless of what else is on their plate while they are working. Shouldn't that kind of commitment be reciprocal on my part? I think so. If the writ is dropped before they get back, I have other staff who can help me hold the fort until the others are able to return. One of the reasons that I prefer hiring people I know, who have had a history of volunteer work, is that I already have seen their abilities as team players in the real sense.
The artificial teams forced together in business settings rarely work, because the commitment to achieving common goals isn't there among participants. That isn't a criticism of the individuals shoved into that situation either. Commitment is driven by internally held values, not external ones decided by someone else. Quite often it is really apparent that the company in question's management doesn't know or care what is important to their staff, the only focus for them being profit often at the expense of their "teams". No reciprocity, only the old "Fear Factor" - do it or get fired/demoted. That's why all the political game playing is rampant in the workplace. It's the adult form of acting out.
Just a follow up on the question I asked yesterday about a link between the raids on possible terrorist cells in Britain, Canada and Southeast Asia. This story confirmed and explained at least a partial network of conspirators Busted. Depressing, but then this incident at my bank today reminded me that most people of any society are decent human beings given the chance. I had gone to the bank to do my monthend banking and also to set up an appointment with their "new accounts" staff so that I can open an Elections Canada account for the duration of the election. We are required to pay some of the staff and services we engage during the election by cash or cheque. That determination is made by the Canadian Treasury Board statutes and regulations. It is very stringently monitored and enforced. (I think I've written about that before somewhere).
Anyway, I went to the ATM first to do my own banking and then went to the customer service desk to make the appointment. I was just finishing up when a teenage male of Asian descent came up beside me. He handed me some cash and said I had forgotten it when I was doing my instabanking. I have NEVER forgotten to retrieve a cash withdrawal before, but I was mulling over all the information I wrote about today and was trying to plan how I would make things work in the interim. That young person could have walked out with my cash without me even realizing it was gone. I would never have been able to prove that they had taken it. I offered him some of it back as a thank you, but he acted really embarrassed and said no, even after I said all I wanted to do was treat him and his companion to coffee. See, dear diary, people are really basically good at heart - right?
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