One Positive Touching Day

I have not been an employee long for Acusis.maybe about a year. You would think in that short a period of time, it would be easy to single out one day, one event, that touched my life positively. But it turned out not to be as simple as it would seem, and it's taken me a lot longer than I thought it would to pinpoint one incident where Acusis put a smile on my face.

I have spent the last week running through all my "positive" Acusis moments. Each one had to be looked at in terms of its positive impact, how well I remembered it, and whether talking about it could stretch into two pages. After all, I was trying to write a $100 story, so not just any giddy moment would do.

That meant the day I got hired was out. It was a little too cliche anyway. Besides, I thought it would be most appropriate to try to write about an incident that was positive for both Acusis and me. Something tells me that the day they hired me isn't quite as positive for the company as it is for me, but I'm like Randy Quaid in the National Lampoon Christmas Vacation movie -- family, and they're stuck with me now.

I know some of you think I'm kidding myself. After all, Acusis is a big MTSO and we all "know" what they're like; we've been told enough times on every transcription bulletin board out there. But I have seen the other side of them. For the last year, my life has been something of a Lifetime made-for-TV movie with a soundtrack by Tammy Wynette set in a small town with a population of around 50, featuring a Bad Cowboy, his group of wheat-stalk-chewing ne'er-do-wells, and me (in my head portrayed realistically by Jennifer Aniston). Running down my positive Acusis moments includes the many times when Acusis figuratively held my hand. When I finally told my supervisor about the things I was dealing with, there were no recriminations. In fact, she emailed me the name of a couple different places where I could find help or support with what I was going through. A few months later, when I ran away to home, my home, and my satellite internet was out because winds had knocked it off track, Acusis let me adjust my schedule while I worked from another location until Hughes got my dish back on line. Even more recently, there was more fallout from the Bad Cowboy, and my supervisor has been there for me, helping me arrange my schedule when necessary, cheerleading, and even going so far as to let me cry a couple of times.

So here I sat, trying to settle on one positive Acusis moment. Compassion has been an ongoing thing, not one single moment. Understanding for the sometimes lonely existence of a home-based transcriptionist here in one of the country's most rural areas is consistently there. An empathy for the way life sometimes batters us shows itself regularly. What could one single positive Acusis moment? What one specific single instance had made my life brighter?

I sat at my desk, just staring into space, willing my mind to think. I absently swatted at one of the seemingly million flies that seemed to be buzzing me constantly. It's late spring here in the midwest and I have a horse, so I have flies. And at that moment, my eyes swam into focus. Sitting at my desk was my new Acusis coffee mug, complete with a lid. And I knew I had my "incident." No more dumping out a cup of coffee because a half dozen flies had decided to take a swim in it. No more putting envelopes, saucers, peanut butter jar lids or any other impromptu cap on my cup (which invariably would get knocked off or knocked in my coffee. I smile every time my Acusis mug makes its way into my coffee-cup rotation because for that day, no matter what else happens, I know that Acusis is keeping my coffee safe for me. And some days, just having that fly-free cup o' joe, reminds me to smile, and when the place you work can give you that, it helps put everything else in perspective.