Friday is Tom's last day at SHM!

Tom, say your goodbyes to whoever you wish.

Kristin, Cassidy, Lex, Dan, Kristin...say your goodbyes to Tom!

(Video blogs preferred).

Have fun!

Yeah sorry this is late, I was pretty swamped all last week. I think I'm a good fit for this job because I can handle a lot of work and have proven to be able to to do so. No matter how busy I am, I never freak out or get insanely stressed. When I first came here, I had the mentality that I wanted to be the best QI assistant to date and set the standards high for the future co-ops that will take on the job. I currently do the past QIA duties as well as a large handful of new projects and I really like that my abilities changed the work load for the QI assistant position altogether.

FiT iN mUcH?

I think that I fit in with this job because I have an outgoing personality that works fairly well with other people. I work in different areas of SHM and most of them deal with our members and helping them. Something that I really like about SHM is the atmosphere in which we work that makes me want to do everything to the best of my ability. I also like that SHM lets you decide what name you want to make for yourself while giving you the ability to try different projects. :)

The atmosphere at SHM is very suitable for me I think. I like the fact that SHM is a evolving society and that I can be a part of helping it grow. I like how laid back everyone is and very welcoming, but is still serious about getting work done. I also like how much responsibility I get. Designing my own ideas and seeing them transformed into real life things is pretty cool. Lastly I like the fact that I can wear jeans to work. It's nice to be able to feel comfortable at work.

Hmmmmmmm, what makes me a good fit? Minus the fact that Ashley and Todd have dubbed me the mini Jacqui... I have a genuine interest in learning how marketing works and I am someone who doesn't respond well to negative pressure. Here everything is positive and it is a great place to learn and make mistakes (hopefully tiny, correctable ones). I feel that I have the initiative to get my work done without someone houding me (though I can forget things time to time, helloooooooo to-do list) and I am positive. I'm also not scared to share my opinion on something if I don't like it or don't understand it, though I am becoming more publically vocal about it only recently. I think that's why it fits, or else I'm just crazy.

My biiiiiiiiiiigest mistake? Quite honestly I've never made a monumental mistake at my past jobs, so I guess I can use the one for this job since we had just realized it yesterday. For those of you who don't know, I get to send out the codes for the MGMA survey and keep a nice little spreadsheet of everyone I sent out the discounts to. All I can say is thank gosh for that spread sheet. For the past month or so I had been sending out the wrong discount code to those asking for it. Whoops. Granted I corrected the codes and we are currently working with MGMA to make sure people get re-imbursed if they over-payed, but still. I'm kinda highly embarassed about it, but ya gotta own your work right?

Biggest mistake???

Well I could probably jump right into this and say the dumbest mistake I've made on the job actually occured here at SHM when I made 3 trips to Staples down in DC for one product. Hey, three times a charm! But I'd say my more embarressing experience on the job was during my first 2 weeks at Anthony's Restaurant. My sister had worked there for about a year before she got me the job. It was my 2nd night working as a busboy and I had yet to meet the owner, Anthony. Right after busing a 6-top, I was on my way back to the kitchen when Anthony called my name. As I turn to say hi to him, the full tray of wine glasses and plates fell off my shoulder and crashed down in front of him...

I dont know what I could've said at that time, but whatever it was I continued to work there for another 2 years after that...

What's one thing that makes you feel like you're a good fit for this job?

I worked at Ritas for my first job and I thought I was so cool because that was the hang out spot in my town. I thought it would be ok to give some of my friends free Ritas. It obviously is not ok to ever do that. I got reprimanded by my boss in front of my friends and learned my lesson; I'm not as cool as I think.

You would think, being that it's my question, that I had some amusing anecdote set up. You would be wrong, I don't make mistakes.


Seriously though, the biggest mistake I made in a previous job was probably during my employment at Staples. It was the first time I worked retail, and the first time I had to interact with customers, so there was always something new for me to mess up on. One big one that springs to mind is a time a customer asked me to grab a printer from the shelving for them. This was actually after closing, so I rushed to grab it as quickly as possible, and ended up grabbing the wrong one. The customer didn't notice until the next day, when they came back, rather angry that their printer didn't do several things I had promised them the model did. This was early in my career there, so I was eager not to have this brought up with my manager. I got them the model they had actually wanted, and offered to pay the price difference out of pocket, for their inconvenience. After carrying it out to the car for the customer, they offered me a tip, consisting of the same bills I had given them to cover the price difference, so it all worked out in the end.

Whoa there. I almost forgot about this.

Um...I'm not saying that I'm perfect, but I haven't really made any HUGE mistakes while working. None that I can remember, at least. I feel like I would remember if it was really serious, though. I've only made small mistakes here or there. For example, At a clinic where I used to volunteer, I once accidentally scheduled a man for a pap smear. It was easily fixable though and the doctors and nurses got a laugh out of it haha. I guess that's what happens when you name your son Kelly.

Oh Customer Service

My biggest mistake while on the job was not my best moment in time...The background story is that last summer I worked at Hershey Park (sometimes the SWEETEST place on earth) in their Guest Services department. On this particular day I had worked a double shift from 8 am to the current time of 11:30 pm at our busiest location of the front gate. During the afternoon it had rained a little and some of our water rides were down and Hershey Park has very strict rain policies with refunding tickets and giving rain tickets. The park had closed at 11 pm and this woman came to the front gate at 11:30 pm to receive rain tickets eventhough she had been in the park since 10 am that morning and stayed past when the park was supposed to be closed. I nicely explained our policy that these tickets were unavailable and so on.

Basically what happened after her yelling at me for a good 5 minutes through my window I accidentially said to her verbatum what my supervisor said, while still on the phone with them, "Ok well instead of continuing to argue with you my supervisor said I should just give you the tickets"...not my best move. I appologized to my supervisor who said that I should learn to filter what I say and that next time I get so frusterated to step away, take a deep breathe, and try again. If need be let them come and handle it.

From this I learned to stick to my guns and not be pushed around by some biddy from New Jersey (no offense if anyone is from New Jersey) as well as to try and stay calm, cool, and collective when presented with an issue. I learned from my mistake and never felt frusterated or had the same problem again. Oh and when she came back with all of her free tickets it did not rain and she spent even more money in the park :) .

Monday Funday

Happy Monday, everyone! I really enjoyed reading your responses to why you think we post in the blog (especially Kristen's).

There isn't one specific answer, but my take on it is that we learn from each other and learn a little more about how to work with one another on a personal and professional level. That is why sometimes I ask more professional questions, and sometimes the posts are just goofy. It's a good place to take a break from your work and just write and reflect on your day or previous experiences.

As for this week, I'm going to post a question, as well as answer it. Enjoy!

What was the biggest mistake you've ever made in a previous job? How did you try to fix it?

When I was on my first co-op at Unisys Corp., out in Malvern, PA, I worked for one heck of a lady. My boss, Tammy, was really awesome and I loved her, but my supervisor, Phyllis, was just awful. I mean, you can't trust anyone named Phyllis. I digress...

My job at Unisys was "Executive Briefing Administrator" which was a fancy title for preparing meeting rooms, completing catering requests, and making name badges for our clients when they visited. There were processes for each of these things, especially when it came to catering. For one meeting, I don't remember exactly what I had messed up, but I placed an order of food for 30 people when it should have been 50 (or something like that). Needless to say, Phyllis was PISSED. There was definitely a miscommunication between what she had told me and what was actual, and I was the one that took the blame for it. I was scared of her, so I just let her yell at me. I definitely went to the bathroom and cried. I don't even think I tried to fix it. I just took the blame and moved on.

I think we write in the blog to give ourselves a form of reflection that is also public so we can share our own improvement and progress to those who choose to read our posts (mainly you, mere). With that being said, I believe that this really is a good way to get us thinking about things we wouldn't of normally and trying to figure out how to describe them to you. Huzzah.

I think the blog gives us a nice little bit of insight into the other co-ops. Oftentimes we don't get the opportunity to chat with each other too much, and the blog answers reveal a good bit about their respective authors. Also, it is nice to have a easy, usually pretty light-hearted last thing to do on a Friday afternoon, even if I do forget to do it on a pretty regular basis.

I think the reason we write in this blog every week is so that all the co-ops can keep in contact with one another and we can all learn from eachother. I've never been apart of a blog before coming to SHM but I feel like one can really get a good grasp of who the other person really is by what he/she writes into a blog. The way they handle themselves with free writing rather than having guidelines like we do on almost every college paper, etc.

I think we write in the blog so that other people can see what wer do at SHM. Also it is a nice to keep an online journal sort of thing. I think for future co-opers, its helpful for them to read some of the posts and to see that we are a fun company to work for.

Hmmm...I'm answering my own question.

Well I don't really know why we have to write in the blog every week. In the beginning, my guess was to loosen us up a little so we wouldn't be so nervous being new here and whatnot. I think it's also here to get our opinions on things, so that you and whoever else reads this gets to know us a little better.

That's my guess. I could be completely wrong, but it's my question so whatever.

Why do you think we write in this blog each week?

Your questions, answered

Kristen asks "Did you ask to come back to SHM when your co-op was done or something? How are you still here, I guess would be a better question."

When I finished my first co-op at SHM (my 2nd all together), I went back to school and was dreading looking for a 3rd co-op in six months. I went on interviews and didn't like anything. I kept comparing everything to the atmosphere and experience I received at SHM. I decided to take a shot in the dark and email Ashley. I ended up meeting Ashley & Kari for lunch to discuss my options, and boom, I was offered a co-op with SHM. After that co-op ended, I went my merry way, for spring term, but decided shortly after that I wanted to come back part-time during my classes..and there you have it. I've been here ever since.

Lexie asks "I know that you worked at some cold and dark place for your first co-op and now SHM for your last two...between all of the work and experiences you have had, do you know what specific kind of job you want to have after graduation and where you would ideally like to work? Basically what does the next 5 years of your life ideally look like?"

Believe it or not, I've said for a couple of years now that I want to do something working with famous people. Whether it's a personal assistant job, a behind-the-camera/scenes job, I just want something where I am interacting with the A-list...and maybe becoming a part of the A-list (watch out, Hollywood!). Realistically, I don't know how that would be possible. So other than working with famous people, I really don't know where I see myself. I definitely like the small company atmosphere as opposed to a large corporation...but I would love to work for Google or Zappos some day. (Dream big, right?). And I eventually want to live in California....so we'll see where my life goes. I'm not making any definite plans any time soon.

Kristin asks "How was your weekend? I hope it was good"

Yes! My weekend was very good! I didn't do anything crazy but everything I did was fun. I hung out at a friends' house, got to see my dad to pick up some boxes to pack up my things at my apartment, laid by the pool with 3 of my best friends from high school, saw Charlie St. Cloud, and I took care of things like donating clothes and grocery shopping.

Tom asks "How'd looking for classes turn out the other day???"

So I figured out what classes I want to take...my only problem is that I want to take a Wine & Spirits class on Wednesdays and you have to be a Senior. I looked on Drexel One today and it says "for registration purposes" my classification is a Junior. WTF MATE. I will be a senior as soon as summer term ends! So I e-mailed my advisor to see what's up.

Dan asks "What's the coolest place you know in Philly that no one else seems to be aware of?"

I don't know many places that other people have no idea about. BUT There is this place in Northern Liberties (NOT the Piazza) where there are cute little restaurants and shops with white lights strung above them that I love. I recommend eating at Homeslice..a really, really good pizza place. (You can call me the Philly Pizza Expert). There are also some cafes, a sushi place, and a candy story. Enjoy!

Cassidy asks "In honor of shark week, if you could be any shark which would it be?"

WHALE SHARK. Enough said.

Questions

1. How do you like to spend your personal time?


2. Do you prefer being given a few, large projects, or several small ones?

3. What's one thing, unrelated to school or previous work experiences, that makes you feel like you're a good fit for this job?

4. What was the biggest mistake you've ever made in a previous job? How did you try to fix it?

For Meridith: What's the coolest place you know in Philly that no one else seems to be aware of?

Dear Meredith,

I see you need our brilliant minds to help you come up with some new questions, especially for the co-ops coming within the next month or so. Huzzah to you, my friend. Huzzah.

After much thinking, I have come up with some questions that will be the equivilant of a Great White Shark, swimming along searching for fish to scare, and possibly nom.

Q: If you could bring the practice of Hospital Medicine to any country, which one would it be and why?
Q: What has been your favorite experience thus far co-oping at SHM?
Q: If you were elected as a member of the presidential party, what would be your leadership role be?
Q: Assuming there are no limits, if there was one problem in the world you could fix, what would it be and why?

Now a question for you my dear Meredith, in honor of shark week. If you could be any shark, which one would you be? Remember to take in climate and your hunting skills.

Duces,

Cassidy

Let see. My four questions would be...

1) What was the coolest thing you've done in the last 30 days?

2) If you had one day to live, what would you do?

3) If you could go anywhere in the world for a month, where would you go?

4) If you could pick one talent to have, what would it be?

Meredith......
How'd looking for classes turn out the other day???

Four questions that I would ask to future MAs are:

1. Where is the coolest place you've eaten in Phildelphia?

2. What were your previous jobs?

3. Was SHM the experience you expected when you interviewed?

4. If there was one thing you could change about SHM, what would it be?

And for you Meredith, how was your weekend? I hope it was good!