On occasion, I have complained about my job. Don't feel bad for me though, I already know that other people have it worse than me. There are tons of jobs I wouldn't want to do, but today I saw two girls who I think may have the worst job ever!
Being a CPA requires a certain amount of continuing education. Today, I attended a training class called Business Entities. It started at 8:00 this morning and got out at 4:45. I have to go back all day tomorrow as well. While it was very informative, I'm not going to lie, they can be a little boring. I went through four Diet Cokes, a hot chocolate, a pack of Starburst, and a bag of Peanut Butter M&M's. So, in addition to being informative, and boring, it is also going to cause me to gain ten pounds in two days.
I can't even imagine how bored I would be and how much more candy I would eat if I had to sit through two days of training and had no use for the information. There were two girls who were there as sign language interpreters. Now, don't get me wrong, I think this is a noble job to have. You are really helping someone else overcome a disability. But, the guy they were signing to was probably slightly less interested in the material than he could have been.
I'm not judging, I certainly had my moments of paying less than full attention. I even sent a few emails and text messages. But, quite a few times when I looked over at him, he actually had his eyes closed and his head was bobbing...definitely asleep. And then there were the interpreters. Still signing all the words to him, while he was sleeping. Then I glanced over, and he was playing a game on his iPhone. Interpreters...still signing away.
How frustrating! I'm sure those girls were bored out of their minds! The pros and cons of S-Corps vs. Partnerships isn't that exciting for an accountant. And, accounting instructors don't have the funniest jokes or stories. And usually those jokes and stories are centered around accounting principles, so they are very audience specific. And the audience they were signing to was asleep. I think at that point I would just feel silly.
If one of my co-workers was asleep, I would probably discreetly tap them on the shoulder. The only things these girls could do was to just sign more energetically or maybe start signing the wrong words or something. But the whole room could see them, so any action would have had to be pretty discreet. But, they remained professional throughout the day.
I'm sure at some point the interpreters really wanted to smack him, but after watching them today, I think they really could have had more fun with it. He obviously wasn't paying attention, and I know this because I wasn't paying attention because I was watching him. So, instead of paying attention they could have talked about how bored they were. No one would lean over and tell them to be quiet because they wouldn't be making any noise. I guess that could actually be awesome. Being able to talk all the time and not have anyone hear you or get upset. I take back my earlier comment. They might have my dream job!
