Try Anything

Sitting on the train for my work commute I dwell on how today is not a good one. Not unusual, it seems every time I work to improve my life something happens to burst my bubble as soon as I feel secure. It is difficult to pick myself up again, I feel like ‘what is the point?’.

Last year was hard. It started great, I had an encouraging boss who helped me with my career, I saved money and had plans for a holiday, amongst other things. Then in the middle of the year the company shut down and I was unemployed until early this year. I had to use my savings and got into debt with credit cards, friends, and family. Despite having a job now my budget is tight so I can pay everyone back quickly. I was feeling good about the debt I had repaid, so I got my car an overdue service yesterday. When I collected it, the mechanic told me I should consider replacing it. The service cost more than what the car is worth, and that was only doing the minimum to keep it safe, there is more work that should be done. I know the best option is to buy another car, but where would I find the money? I do not have savings and loan approval is difficult while I still have so much debt and am on probation at work.

I write down notes, ideas, feelings, and my budget to help process the situation in my small black note book I take everywhere.

‘Next stop Central Station’.

This is my stop and I get up unenthusiastically. I really don’t want to go to work today. Besides having car and money troubles on my mind I do not feel appreciated at work. Most of what I do doesn’t seem to come to anything, which can be hard to take when I put so much effort into my job. As I leave the station, I notice a sign for the lottery, the jackpot is $30,000,000, I remember someone telling me second prize is $20,000. While first prize would be great, $20,000 would be a great help for my car and debt problems. I stop to buy a ticket and kiss it for luck as I put it in my wallet.

I arrive at work, being the new kid in a team of people who have known each other for years I feel like an outsider. Also, because I wanted to pay my friends and family back as soon as possible I have declined a lot of work social activities. Which has some of my colleagues believing I am not a team player. Oh well, I have decided to simply focus on doing a good job. I have put in a lot of extra time reviewing business processes, technology capabilities and budgets to identify opportunities for improvement. Nobody seems to have noticed the effort I have been making, and I wish they would.

The company offers bonus’ to staff who submit money making and saving ideas that are eventually implemented; the bonus is 1% of the profit or savings. Three weeks ago, my hard work came together to submit a proposal replacing seven manual processes with virtual robot technology, fully automating the processes. It would cost around $250,000 to implement but save over $2,000,000 in two years. Staff currently doing the manual processes can keep their jobs by reallocating them to neglected activities which has been costing the company money.

An email from my friend Rachel pops up and I open it.

Hey Sam,

Daniel and I are clearing out his mother’s house prior to it being renovated. The tradesmen start next week, so we only have this weekend. Dan’s mum was a hoarder, so it is a BIG job! Are you available to help?

To make it worth your while if we discover any hidden treasure, we are willing to share it! Dan thinks his father may have hidden some cash and valuables. So that could give us some excitement having a treasure hunt 😊.

Let me know if you have some time. Craig and Jon will be there.

Cheers,

Rachel

Rachel and her husband Dan are good friends, Dan’s mother recently passed from dementia. Despite having that to deal with they have been supportive while I was unemployed, passing on job prospects, lending money, and cheering me up. I feel I should help given all they have done for me. Besides, it is fun spending time with them, Dan’s friends Craig and Jon are fun too. Who knows maybe a treasure hunt will provide us a windfall!

I respond,

Hey Rach,

I have no plans for the weekend and will love to help. I am all yours until the job is done. I look forward to the treasure hunt! 😊

Cheers,

Sam

I feel good about the weekend, having something to look forward to.

‘Excuse me Samantha’, it is my boss.

‘Yes Andrew.’

‘Some of the senior management and I want to discuss that proposal you submitted with you. But none of us are available at the same time until next week’.

‘Okay, can we discuss it briefly now?’ I ask.

‘No this has to be managed within strict corporate guidelines’ He answers. ‘I am only advising you to expect a meeting invitation and if you have other plans at that time please reschedule them. As you know organising senior management for a meeting at the same time can be difficult’.

‘Okay thanks Andrew’. I am freaking out right now. Andrew usually makes the effort to be friendly and open with me, but he was so formal. I wonder if I overreached my position or accessed information I should not have. I spend some time running things through my mind and decide if I were in trouble, or worse sacked, they would not wait until next week. It allays my fears, but not totally, so I decide to focus on the weekend.

I receive the meeting invite with management for Tuesday afternoon next week and accept it.

Saturday 9am I arrive at Dan’s mother’s house. Rachel and Dan have been working for 3 hours already, they are both grateful to take a break with the coffee and donuts I brought.

‘This is something we have been putting off for a while’ Dan says. ‘We had been around regularly, but with the kids and having full time jobs we could really only make sure Mum was safe and eating okay until she went to the home’.

‘I understand, tell me where to start’ I ask.

‘There are piles of magazines in the front room to tie up and load in the recycling. Feel free to take any you want. Mum collected cooking and craft magazines which I know you like.’ Dan suggested.

Craig and Jon arrive, their fun energy is infectious. We spend the day laughing while we empty the house, throwing things in the dumpster or putting them aside for Dan and Rachel to keep or sell. No treasure was discovered, but Dan was right about me finding some of the magazines interesting. By the end of the day, we only cleared the house out.

I arrive back at Dan’ mother’s on Sunday morning feeling sore from the previous day, but keen for the treasure hunt. I think how I don’t care so much if we do find hidden valuables. At least for me, for Dan and Rachel it would be nice. Yesterday was fun and I was happy to help my friends.

‘Right, everyone, Dad was old school not trusting banks, he could also be pretty crafty’ Dan explained. ‘So, we need to go over everything with a fine-tooth comb.’

‘Yes boss!’ we all yell.

We spend the day going over every floorboard, lifting carpet, knocking on walls, looking for false backs and bottoms to cupboards and bookcases. We even unscrewed the power outlets in case they were the fake ones you can hide valuables in. But we did not find anything.

‘I guess Mum and Dad spent it all’ concluded Dan, ‘Good for them, they worked for it.’

‘We don’t have to bother too much with cleaning, the tradesmen do not need it spotless to do their job. How about some beer and pizza for dinner guys, on us?’ Rachel asked.

‘Yes, great!’ Craig, Jon, and I answered.

We spend the next two hours having dinner, doing some final cleaning, and joking around. It was a fun weekend.

Monday, I arrive at work, something feels a little off. It could just be me being overly tired and sore from the weekend, plus anticipation anxiety for the meeting with senior management. I remember the lottery draw is today and I should check my ticket tomorrow.

Arriving at work Tuesday I am a little disappointed, no win from my lottery ticket. I am still worried about what the meeting with management is about. I have not seen any of the senior managers around and my team and other peers tend to not talk to me. So, I have no clues.

At 2pm an executive assistant comes to collect me for the meeting. Butterflies are wreaking havoc with my stomach as I am led to the board room.

‘Mr. Richards Samantha is here’ the assistant informs as she motions for me to enter the room.

I walk in cautiously, even though I am met with big smiles.

‘Thanks for joining us Samantha’ welcomes Mr. Richards, the Chief Information Officer. ‘Samantha, we read your proposal and have been blown away. As you know this company has a history of being slow to adopt new technologies. We need people like you who can see these areas for improvement and are also prepared to call it out.’

‘Thank you.’ I reply, feeling at ease.

Mr. Richards continued ‘As you can see, we have the Division Manager who owns the processes here today, along with our Chief Finance Officer. We have discussed your proposal and sort confirmation of the details from inside the company and externally. We found that it would be an ideal and affordable solution for us to implement. We also ran the numbers on how much money it will save, it appears you may have been conservative with your projections?’

‘Yes, I prefer to under promise and over deliver.’ I replied.

‘Good policy’ said Andrew with a wink.

‘Samantha, we have seen how hard you work, you are clearly someone who wants to make a difference and you seem to have the best understanding about automated processes in this company. We approved your proposal to progress and we would like you manage the project under Andrew’s guidance. We would also like you to work on identifying more processes to automate’ Mr. Richards advised.

I am floored, this is not what I expected, I look at Andrew who winks at me again. ‘Needless to say Samantha you have passed your probation’ he says with a grin.

‘Yes and getting a $20,000 bonus! Also, a pay rise and I am sure more bonus’ will come as these robots are up and running’ Mr. Richards added.

‘They are virtual robots so they cannot actually run’ I joked.

The managers chuckled at my nerdy joke, then we discussed how to progress the project.

Later Andrew took me out for coffee to congratulate me and apologised for not telling me what the meeting was about sooner. ‘It is company policy those types of meetings stay confidential. I was so happy to have such a great proposal out of my team, and by a new team member I recruited too, it was killing me not to be able to tell you!’ He told me.

I go home that evening feeling elated knowing my car and money problems were over, and that hard work and perseverance eventually pay off. The likes of lotteries and treasure hunts are fun to dream about but not to be depended on.