At work today, in the training class

[Beth_C]

I was being trained, or re-trained in the 1-Touch class for work. 1-Touch is where we learn how to respond better to customer's calls. Each call has to be answered like it was to be the only call of the day. It was the second day of the two day training and the most boring day. Well, not totally boring, as I did get to be off the phone from 1-5pm.

Anyway, I didn't get much sleep last night as I was up watching the Lord of the Rings DVD. I'm so stuck on Legolas. Hot elf.. yeah.

Now all day yesterday, I was wondering, as I usually do when I meet someone new, just how do they react when someone around them sneezes? I'm always watching people to see who is a blesser and who is not.

Well, the Trainer or Teacher is a new guy, and my Mom's Manager. (Yeah I work in the same building with my mother) Rodney R. He's a very nice guy, very funny to be around. He's balding on the top, with just the remnamnts of hair on the side and he's got nice eyes. He's thin, and tall. He speaks with a kind of accent I can't place, but his words tend to run together and he draws out the sssssss sound. He's been in his postion as Trainer for less than a month, so he tells us that we actually know more about the incoming customer service calls than he does. It's a funny thing when you know more than the teacher, but he does know how to train people.

Our class is made up of about 20 people, with 2 of them being managers, Mariselli and Joan. The rest is just co-workers with the majority being women. Other than Rodney, there were only 2 other men in the class.

Well, anyway, as I always do, my mind got to wandering, is Rodney a blesser or not? No one in class sneezed yesterday, and I was disappointed.

Today, we had some sneezes, both by me and one other girl in the room, she is a manager named Mariselli and she replaced my manager at the time- Jordan. Mariselli is a young woman - no more than 28 at the most, looks like she just came from college. She has long shining straight brown hair and brown eyes. She is also bilingual. Cute and perky.

Well, she was the first person to sneeze, very quietly, and into her hands, she did a double. Almost soundless, with a small 'isshh' sound. She had turned away from the table we were seated around and bent over a bit. Her hair drifted towards her face and when she was done she straightened up and fixed her hair with a small smile, a blush and an excuse me, silently whispered.

Rodney either didn't hear her, or chose not to say anything. We went back to working on learning our new Customer Service skills.

The next person to sneeze in the class was me. Unfortunately it was when the class was busy talking about one of our new skills, and Rodney was not facing me, he was busy answering another girl's question.

Now my sneezes aren't quiet, but they are singles, and it was a quick 'Eh-ketchhh!' that I covered with one hand. Hell the room was freezing, so I shivered a bit afterwards. I caught Mariselli's eyes on me from across the table. She mouthed a quick 'bless you' that I didn't have time to respond to as Rodney was asking another question for the group to answer.

We took a break then and when we came back, I was totally bored. I had been in this class before, as I was one of the ones in the 'pilot program' that tested to see if the program would work before rolling it out to the whole customer service area.

The only reason I was even in the class was a refresher course, as some things had been changed since the last time I took it. An hour droned on, and I was both cold and sleepy.

So I let my mind wander, as I watched the class go about the motions of listening to the instructions we were given. It was about an hour after we got back from break that I realized that I was going to sneeze again. Rodney was up at the front of the room, working on turning the pages in the manual when I sneezed. This time it was a bit louder (not by choice!) and stronger. Sorta like - Ah-EckTSSSHH!! Again I covered my nose and mouth with one hand.

This time I did get what I had been wondering about. Rodney turned and said "Bless you" to me at the same time Mariselli did as well. I blushed a bit as I wiped my hand on my jeans and said "thank you" and he said very politely while looking at me with a small smile - "You're Welcome"

That was about it for the day. I didn't sneeze anymore and neither did anyone else. But at least I got my question answered.

~Beth C