Friday, January 18, 2008

Happy Trails

Friday, January 18, 2008. 1830. Train from Penn Station, en route to Union Station. Dark, chilly, but not overly cold.

This is me leaving the client site. This is me wondering if I'll be sent back to the same project in the future.

***

As we were wrapping up this afternoon, R.S. and A.G. asked me where I was going after this project, then asked me on what I would be training the new client. I told them I was actually going down for requirements gathering and design documentation. This surprised them a little. My best guess is they'd assumed I was a dedicated freelance trainer at T.S. In a way, this bodes well, in that I must have performed my training well. Well enough, at least, to have fooled them into thinking I knew what I was doing.

It's also kind of strange, when I asked S.G. how long he'd been on the project, he told me two weeks, the about the same amount of time I've been on the project. He said he was part time, and wasn't ready to train, and didn't know anything about the system. Boy, howdy, did that show when he took over a training session this afternoon. I forgot to tell him about this, but the one thing I hoped he wouldn't say to the session, the one thing that would completely undermine him as a trainer, he said within the first five minutes. "Bear with me, this is my first time doing this."

You never admit you've never taught this class before. They'll pick up on it, especially if they know that training hasn't been going on for too long. You just bite your tongue and go with it. Muddle through, make your mistakes, do it without excuses.

F.G. wasn't much better. Hell, in a way, it was worse, because he'd been on the project for much longer, and tore through it as if it were a hambone and he were a ravenous dog. He finished every slide in a maximum of thirty seconds. Then, today, to show how much he knew, at one point, when a question was asked, he chimed in with an irrelevant point. Useful, yes, covered by the training materials, no, but he threw it in there just to show how smart he was.

Of course, there was also the moment when F.G. gave an answer, L.D. (the project manager) looked up from his book and shook his head no, and F.G. gave a different answer. This answer was even more incorrect, and L.D. was shaking his head wildly.

I'm not worried all that much about R.S. and A.G. They're competent, knowledgeable about the system, and will do fine. It's when S.G. and F.G. are alone (or, even worse, paired together) that things will go downhill quickly.

***

We had some incredible responses and quotes. One guy swore to me that a certain section of the system would never work because it ran counter to all of human evolution. Human beings had been conditioned to accept paper, and thus, would never accept an electronic system. I like to think of him as full of shit.

One kindly gentleman raised his hand at 0930 and told us that they normally took a coffee break at 0940. I only found out later that his coffee break was supposed to be 1000-1015 due to his union contract. It didn't matter for the union guys, they all took their sweet time and came back whenever they felt like it.

I was personally helping a man who was about to celebrate his fiftieth year at the company. He did not use computers at all, and told me that he signed stuff when they gave it to him, and he would send emails every so often. I kept working with him on the system, showing him what and where to go, and he finally asked if he could have me as an assistant over his shoulder to help him use the system. Nice old man, with the hair so white it looked canary yellow, I wish I could help you. You were one of the nicest gentlemen there, even if you'd never really be able to use the system.

One person berated L.D. for not living in the real world, and not knowing how the employees did their work. L.D. took most furious offense at this, but kept his mouth shut. After all, his wife just had a baby, and he needs to be able to help support his family. Still, L.D. got real pissed at that point.

You had your normal assortment of doubters and ne'er-do-wells criticizing the system. Some of them actually had legitimate comments, and I appreciate full well their help in getting this system to where they will ultimately need it to be. Some of them were just making shit up to be difficult (I swear). And some just had no clue about the system whatsoever. One gentleman would disregard my comments, then ask me the question just after I talked about them.

I just fell asleep for ten minutes and woke up to two pages of semi-coherent gibberish. How am I already falling asleep at 1900?

***

I had White Castle, but it wasn't good. No, it was out and out great. 4 burgers, fries and onion rings, plus a large drink, for less than nine dollars. Is it any wonder this trip will make me a giant fat ass?

***

This week has basically compressed itself into a two day period. I trained for most of the week, twice a day, saying the same damned thing over and over, then concluded by commenting and critiquing on other presenters.

It's not a stretch to say that over these past two weeks, I simultaneously said both more and less than I have over the past three months. Many many more words left my mouth; indeed, that was probably the wordiest I have ever been, or ever will be. At the same time, did I say anything of substance? Well, maybe. D.I. expressed surprise/pride that I was able to learn some of the client's business processes after coming in with no knowledge of the project whatsoever. Then again, will it actually make a difference? God only knows. At least I've given them the opportunity to try to learn their system, if they even cared.

There's part of me wondering why the lady next to me is reading this. Yes, lady, this means you.

***

This morning, as I was waiting in the lobby for someone to pick me up, I saw the people coming into the building. About one in twenty, I recognized. Not a clue about their names, but I knew their faces. That's kind of scary. I probably directly trained about one hundred people, and was in the room for one hundred and sixty total. That's kind of horrifying, don't you think?

The question, has this turned me off from teaching? Not at all. It was kind of cool, in a perverted way. Plus, teaching, I'd be able to different things every day. It wouldn't be the same damned thing over and over.

***

I feel like reading for a while. Next up: Tennessee.

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