Today was the busiest FOP has been since I started working there. I tend to do a lot of managing and supervising as I always tell you guys, but what I’m noticing is it’s like second nature now. Normally, my boss will tell me to take over and I do. However, now I kind of just know when my supervision or lead is needed.
Prime example, today was our cooking class from 10:30-12:30 and usually majority of the staff attends the class and the remaining staff has a task. The front desk is usually covered, but today the intern who normally takes care of the front desk duties attended the cooking class. This posed a dilemma because there was actually no one else available and the phones were ringing off the hook! So while I’m trying to figure out how to be in two places at once two of the employees had a verbal disagreement and none of my superiors were there to address it. It became disruptive and immediately I reacted; I asked one of the employees to step outside and we discussed the matter. I didn’t know how receptive they would be to me (considering I’m just me!), but they were cooperative and they even apologized. I was so relieved that it didn’t escalate any further.
After the cooking class ended at 12:30 I had to round up some of the most standout attendees from our cooking class and invite them to another class, well more like a workshop. The workshop was AMAZING! It was a game created by one of U of M’s research groups, which my boss in on the board of called D.E.C.I.D.E.R.S. It’s a web based game called Choosing All Together (CHAT), which evaluates a way to engage minority and undeserved communities, in informed deliberations about health research spending priorities. As incentive, participants were offered $50 visa cards, which I think motivated a lot of people, especially those who were uncomfortable using the Ipad. We were the first group they tried it on and it was a great experience. It really made me think about what healthcare topics are important to me, my family, and my community. There were about 9 of us total who participated, two being staff (myself included) and the remaining were residents from the community.
So let me recap my busy day, from 10:30-12:30 was our Cooking Matters class. 1:00-3:00 was the workshop with U of M. 1:00-2:00 was our children’s cooking class. 1:30-3:00 was our food distribution program. On top of all of these things we had a site inspector visit us to make sure we were conducting our food program properly. There was so much going on and time flew right by me today. I am tired and getting ready for bed now!
Until next time!
