Hmmm... lots of day-loggage today. Must add.
The headaches from
the accident have finally subsided totally; they weren't
killer headaches, just nagging ones that whispered
pain a bit too often for this
softy. Other than that, most other traces of the event have been healed, except for the bruised ribs, which will take a few more weeks apparently to be
whole again.
I gave my
notice to my employers that I would be be either cutting down my hours or quitting completely come
September. I'll be teaching full-time at the
high school, so there's no way I can keep working the hours there, as few as they are. I might stay on for Friday nights, just for the extra pocket money to keep me from plunging any further into
debt.
But what made me decide to day-log today is the realization I came to when typing my notice in
Lotus Notes today. I work for a
blood collection agency. I do some basic computer work -
data entry,
help desk, etc. But the majority of my work here is
telerecruitment. No,
not telemarketing. I'm not trying to sell you anything. I call people and let them know where
blood donor clinics are happening and try and beg them to come out and donate blood.
I get hung up on, cursed, and made fun of. I also get stories about loved ones going into
surgery, and the weeping that follows. Many make
promises of "I will
donate soon." In
Canada we don't pay for blood donations; you get a
cookie and a juice/coffee after you donate, and that's it. So it's tough to get people out to donate blood.
Our
ad campaigns state that when you donate blood, you are offering blood products that can save up to 4
lives. So I did a little
math today. Due to my travel in the
United Kingdom, I can no longer donate blood,
mad cow disease scare and all. But I book, on
average, 30 appointments a night. Apparently I have an 20% no-show rate (which means that people book an appointment, but can't make it for whatever reason), so that puts me at 24 donation appointments sucessfully fulfilled. Multiply that by 4 nights a week. Then again for the 10 months I have been working at
CBS.
960 donations due to my calling, possibly saving 3840 lives in less than a year.
Now I know (as I've been told) that it isn't all about
me. But damn, that makes me feel somewhat better today. It's slightly better than losing the
headaches.
Go donate blood if you can, ASAP.