I once ate at a great Chinese Restaurant in Dillon Colorado where I learned a valuable lesson. I had ordered a dish that was advertized as spicy about a week earlier and had returned with about a dozen friends and ordered that same dish. This time I asked the waitress if I could get it "A little spicy, because the last time it wasn't that spicy." MISTAKE! The dish that came out of the kitchen could be used in the NASA space program to launch shuttles into space. My face had the tint of Carrot Top's hair. I ate every morsel even though the poor waitress had to upgrade me from a glass of water to a pitcher.
I tell that story to tell you this one. Some lessons learned have more than one application.
Recently I found myself in a Job Transplant situation not unlike our friend Hap but without the relocation and Praise God, in a much shorter timeline. *Hap. Much love and respect for surviving that and making the relo decision. It was a hard choice, and probably harder than anyone will ever know.*
I currently find myself in a class of intelligent people who even with multiple holidays, and inclement weather closing us down for a day, somehow find ourselves ahead of the learning schedule. The speed at which we have learned the information I attribute to the skills of our instructors. Those instructors recently asked for feedback. Someone *not naming names ME* suggested a variety of real-life scenarios instead of the typical ideal lesson-reinforcement scenario. Just so we do not get caught blindsided when we see one. For some reason the Chinese Restaurant lesson did not seem to be applicable in this instance. BOY WAS I WRONG.
About 3 PM today my brain came to a screeching halt. I had a total cranial meltdown. The scenario we encountered was not just one realistic situation but five all wrapped up into one with a twist. I could not believe how many mistakes I made. I still don't know how this one got ironed out in real life. *Yeah someone actually went there.*
Everyone needed help. It was ugly.
No more pride. No more asking for the advanced stuff.
That was real smooth of me and tomorrow is the first, and biggest, of the make-it-or-break-it drills. Where did my confidence go? Oh yeah it is sitting in the back seat with my pride. I think I will do okay but one thing is for certain: I have tons of respect for my peers who have gone before me.
2 comments:
Ronny, Ronny, Ronny - this is one of the classic ways that teachers will separate the 'boys from the men' as they say. Though the comment might have been taken into consideration, it is my belief that this was 'in the works' and a way to show you all that, yes you're awesome and smart and great BUT...don't get cocky! The minute you think you know it all - the minute you ask for the hard stuff - it all comes down at once. :)
Go confidently into the test, you will be fine. Remember to breathe, remember that sometimes the answer is that you don't know the answer, and the instructors really do want you to succeed.
~Wisdom from Boot Camp
Over and out
Silver
Hey Silver. True. All True. I think that they certainly turned up the heat. I hadn't thought of the fact that they may have had that plan up their sleeve in the first place. My first warning should have come at the end of week 3 when they asked the class smokers not to try and quit smoking in the next two weeks. I should have seen it coming.
I did take your advice and went confidently into the test. It was a common theme among my advisors. Also they admire those that ask questions. It is a good thing. I even ask them to check my thinking to make sure I got it right in my head too. Cocky is one thing that I am not. I even publically turn down and deflect many peer accolades. I have shown that I am not perfect. Many of my mistakes have become class lessons. But it was done in a way that was not insulting at all. And yes the Instructors want us to succeed. I caught the look on one of their faces and I called him out on it. I told him: "I see that glint in your eye and a hint of a smirk and I sence an 'I told ya so' coming on. Kinda like that of a proud father seeing his kids grow up." He said yeah it happens every class.
Silver I'm telling you. This place is the employment answer to your prediciment. Training isn't easy but I know you can get through it with shining colors.
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