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Kitsune · 03-01-2004, 01:47 PM

that would drive me insane...are you still working there? and if so, what has helped you to overcome the anxiety?

First, I stopped taking the job so seriously. I realized that if a server was down or something wasn't operating correctly that people were not dieing and the world was not ending, despite the way in which some of the directors would hype up the problem on the call.

Another change I made was to find something to do during the times I wasn't on pager duty, at work, or when I wasn't on a problem call. Once I found something to do that allowed for quiet time, I stopped becoming so freaked out when the pager did go off. Photography and sketching became very enjoyable ways to pass the "dead time", even during the strangest hours of the morning. Campus police came to know me and would check up on me as I roamed around with my tripod. The first stop was for suspicious activity, after they found out what I was doing with a camera at 2:30am, they would just wave or drop by to see what images I had collected over the night. Some of them even gave suggestions for good subjects and ideas.

The third thing was to not grab the phone the moment the pager went off. Pager beeping again? No rush -- finish some more of the sketch or shoot, then join the problem call when an opportunity came along.

Lastly, and the most important item, was that I learned to laugh at problems at work, even when they were my screw-ups. To this day, anything that seriously blows up or becomes a huge issue I treat as a funny story to tell others in the future. What if the problem was one I caused and got in trouble for? That makes for an even better story. I quickly found that if you treated a problem as you would if you were looking back on it, the problem became insignificant.

And that is the way they should all be.

03-01-2004, 01:47 PM	#7
Kitsune still eats dirt Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 3,031	that would drive me insane...are you still working there? and if so, what has helped you to overcome the anxiety? First, I stopped taking the job so seriously. I realized that if a server was down or something wasn't operating correctly that people were not dieing and the world was not ending, despite the way in which some of the directors would hype up the problem on the call. Another change I made was to find something to do during the times I wasn't on pager duty, at work, or when I wasn't on a problem call. Once I found something to do that allowed for quiet time, I stopped becoming so freaked out when the pager did go off. Photography and sketching became very enjoyable ways to pass the "dead time", even during the strangest hours of the morning. Campus police came to know me and would check up on me as I roamed around with my tripod. The first stop was for suspicious activity, after they found out what I was doing with a camera at 2:30am, they would just wave or drop by to see what images I had collected over the night. Some of them even gave suggestions for good subjects and ideas. The third thing was to not grab the phone the moment the pager went off. Pager beeping again? No rush -- finish some more of the sketch or shoot, then join the problem call when an opportunity came along. Lastly, and the most important item, was that I learned to laugh at problems at work, even when they were my screw-ups. To this day, anything that seriously blows up or becomes a huge issue I treat as a funny story to tell others in the future. What if the problem was one I caused and got in trouble for? That makes for an even better story. I quickly found that if you treated a problem as you would if you were looking back on it, the problem became insignificant. And that is the way they should all be.