i honestly believe that feeling like puking at work is a direct result of workplace induced stress.. it's not the paper work--application forms and folders can't ask questions and don't talk back.
perhaps i need to put some reminders at my desk:
Reminder No. 1 - I am NOT an agent. I DO NOT sell policies, NOR do I fill up application forms. I DO NOT know how to read the SIS in detail (and even if i DO, WHY shld I be teaching you that?), NEITHER do I know everything about pending requirements from U&I--there are always other experienced agents around who would be able to give you excellent advice if you would only ask, only because they have actually experienced such situations?
Reminder No. 2 - My MAIN duties are to PROCESS your applications and ASSIST in facilitation. I also have OTHER duties that DO NOT include keeping tabs on each of your pending policies, of being your human alarm-clock or auto-reminding system, or entertaining questions such as WHY your policies have been counter-offered, or WHY are the underwriters such bitches, or WHY does(insert department name here) process things so slowly, or WHY don't (again, insert department name here) answer their phones, or, and god-forbid, WHY is the intranet down AGAIN?
If I actually KNEW the answers to all the above questions, I wouldn't be here listening to them. I would be a millionaire a thousand times over from selling the answers.
Reminder No. 3 - My desk is crowded enough with policies waiting to be processed, my 3 tiered in-tray, my desktop monitor, my keyboard, my printer, 5 pending files, my stationery trays, my phone, my calendar and myself WITHOUT having agents using MY desk to fill in missing information in their application forms.
There is also this concept of personal space which constitues of
i) NOT peering OVER my shoulder at what I am doing, even if it concerns you, and especially if it DOESN'T concern you, and
ii) of NOT snatching at application forms that I am STILL in the process of looking through to ensure no missing information or pages.
Reminder No. 4 - You are NOT the ONLY agent in the office. Everyone wants their policies processed ASAP. So do I. And UNLESS you are willing to key in/zap/scan/check your policies yourself, kindly note that I only have ONE pair of hands. And UNLESS it is a matter of life and death DO NOT expect me to give you or your policies any preferential treatment. Not even if you wheedle, not even if you beg and especially NOT if you "hope" that I will "understand" your situation. Everything will be done on a best-effort basis.
Reminder No. 5 - I am also human. I need sleep, food and time-off just like you do. I am NOT a 24hr, 7 days a week hotline. Saturdays and Sundays are not called weekends for nothing. Short of you being my boss, the office burning down, being broken into, or things being stolen, I reserve the right to refuse to answer all your calls. You can always msg me and depending on the severity of the request, you KNOW I WILL always reply in due time.
oh.. and just so you know, I really, actually am a very nice person.
grief lies lodged in the belly like a cancer, heavy, weighty.. when we know they won't make it, all i hope for is that they'll go peacefully, painlessly. never again do i want to see any of them suffer the way maisy did, my darling baby. and should they hurt, i wish till desperation i could take ALL their pain if only to allow them to go in peace. they don't deserve to hurt, to suffer.. they who only know how to love wholly, unconditionally, unreservedly, they to whom we are the whole world.
after so many years of living and finding out that the world comes with good and bad, joy and grief.. after having lost so many, it gets harder and harder each time, never easier. and each time we lose another one, the stab to the heart goes a little deeper, the knife twists harder. and yet, ironically, because you grieve more, you also love more, harder, deeper.. and the next little thing is all the more cherished and adored because of the previous loss, which really only hurts all the more when you lose again..