Tuesday, October 19, 2010

My first training

I have already attended a few trainings in my new position at Immaculate Conception Church in Cimarron, but tonight I held my first.  I have been so prepared, but did it go off without a hitch?  Not a chance!

Father is only in the office for about four - five hours a week.  He hasn't been in the past two Tuesdays, so I had a heap of questions for him.  We met at two and met for almost two hours.  This did not leave me much time to revise the document for tonight's training for which he provided information, copy it, finish making the "light supper", and make it to mass at 5:30 pm.

Enter telephone from stage right...

The first call I was able to end quickly by scheduling another time to talk.  The second call took nearly an hour of my hour and a half.  It was an important call.  I am still trying to advance our office into the technology age, and while I still have a lot to learn, I do know some things require the assistance of a pro.  So the pro trumped making corn bread, finishing the edits, et al.  Consequently, I didn't go to mass.

I was working against the clock, copying and stirring, baking and typing.  I had about five minutes to go when the printer said it was out of ink and wouldn't copy anymore, at the same time the muffins wanted to come out of the oven, at the same time as the attendees of the training started to arrive.  The printer cartridge was changed, and the pages started spitting forth.  Then another cartridge needed changing, so that the trainees got their papers at the end of the meeting instead of the beginning.  The muffins were great, but the crock-pot evidently blew a fuse or something because the soup was only tepid.  The honey doesn't dissolve quickly in iced tea, so people were drinking their iced tea with spoons.  Father went off on a tangent, as did a few attendees, but nobody could understand him (I only picked out a few words).  Because of all the craziness, I never printed the sign in sheet, though I know who everyone was by name.

Despite these obvious setbacks, I think they enjoyed the meeting because they hung around and talked afterward.  The muffins, from a packaged mix, got rave reviews, and the crock-pot is still completely full of black bean soup.  I had to leave the dishes because we are out of dish soap, but I still didn't leave the office until 8 pm, 12 hours after I arrived. 

I am calling the meeting, my first training, a success.  Next Tuesday I get to make my second attempt.  Not sure if I can freeze the soup for a week and re-serve it?

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