April 19, 2007
Didn't Bother Me
I am a sales manager. I manage not only accounts but people also. My team is spread out all over this country. My customers? The same.
I'm sure you've heard me say a time or two that I travel a bit. It's part and parcel of the position.
I have a cell phone (and I'm not afraid to use it). Hell - I just about live on the damned thing. I have a laptop. It allows me to work from just about anywhere.
I also have a Blackberry. A handy device. We only have ours set up for email and the Internet, since each rep is responsible for their own cell phone.
Can I tell you how much I hate that damned Blackberry?!?! Hate it. H.A.T.E.
Let me explain.
Back in the good ole days when I traveled, if you had a question or needed to get me some information you'd call my cell phone. Now, I am not a dumb girl. If I'm in a meeting or not able to talk I simply do not answer my phone. In fact - at the office my phone is on vibrate and when I pull into the parking lot of a customer I turn the damned thing off. But I have voicemail and I check it most regularly.
If you need to ask/tell me something that isn't urgent you could always send me an email. Remember, I have a laptop. I check my email. I will get back to you.
Works pretty good, at least for me.
Now, with this Blackberry thing, I can get emails immediately. All the time. Any where. I will say, it is kind of nice that I can browse the Internet while sitting someplace, without pulling the laptop out, but honestly? Yeah, not that important to me. I can wait to do that. Nothing on the Internet is THAT urgent for me right now.
And it's made people incredibly rude. Even RUDER than with cell phones. Believe it or not.
I cannot think of the last meeting I was in that did NOT include folks sitting there browsing through their email while they are supposed to be participating. And I can assure you, it's not all new email. They use the time to "clean things up". Hello?! We're in a meeting for a reason. Let's focus people!!!!!!!
And there is no escape. None. You can now be accessed anytime and anywhere. No longer is it acceptable to say "I'm sorry, I'm in a meeting. I'll take care of it later". Immediate response.
I'm sure in some occupations that's important. For me? Not so much. It's not a life or death situation. You don't need an answer from me at 10:00pm or in the middle of a management meeting. I promise, you really won't like what you hear.
So I don't play by the rules. I refuse to.
My cell is on most of the time. I look at the caller ID (unless I'm really preoccupied) and after I get home from the office at 7:00pm if it's work? I don't answer. Period.
My Blackberry is in my purse. The battery needs to be charged. I'll charge it this weekend for my trip on Wednesday. Other than that? I don't use it. Hell, until I started just carrying it with me, I forgot it and the girls had to FedEx it to me several times.
That's why I sorta kinda thought it was funny as hell that the Blackberry "Network" was down and everyone was freaking out. It was one BIG BIG deal!!
For me? Not so much.
Balance people. It's all about the balance. Plus, even with all the responsibility I have at work, I'm really not THAT important. I want my team to make decisions on their own. If I do my job correctly and efficiently, my customers should be alright reaching me the "old fashioned way". You really don't need at access me 24/7. Not for work anyway.
So, while you'll probably see me luggin' around my old laptop, walking around with a headset talkin' on the phone, you WON'T find me scrollin' through some hand held torture device when you're tryin' to talk to me. I'm paying attention. I'm an old fashioned kind of girl.
Posted by Tammi at April 19, 2007 05:15 AM | TrackBack