The 8AM Calls
I tweeted how I feel like seven when a client calls at 8AM on the day I sleep in, and obviously I know better than to pick up a call half awake, let alone from a client. When I return their call an hour later with excuses ranging from driving to... it's usually just driving because I'm a responsible driver and I really go out that early... they sound like they sort of know that I was still asleep at 8. Of course, they don't say it, but the polite apology for calling me very early makes me cringe. I’m always soclose to ending the chat with a long explanation of how I usually take calls as early as 5AM, how dedicated I am towards my work, nothing could stop me from delivering the best service, and they shouldn't worry about calling me at any time they like. Something like that.
My second sister manages a lot of things: three kids and a husband, her house, her demanding job, her netball games and swimming, her cooking, her studies, and hundreds of other things in her schedule. She does this without a helper while still making sure the kids go to their sekolah agama, tuition classes, taekwondo, swimming, sempoa and Quran classes, sports tournaments (one of the kids represents the district in running events regularly), and a lot of other classes I'll never understand why kids nowadays go to. I get a taste of this schedule when I occasionally babysit them. It makes me want to cry.
Naturally, my sister sorts her schedule with an Olympic-level speed and precision. For example, if she wants to find out if I could take her kids along to our hometown two weeks from now, she would call me today in the morning, at 9. She'll call twice and leave a voice message twice in the span of 15 minutes. I've grown to learn not to jump in worry seeing two voice messages from her in the morning anymore.
There are things that I think I'd cooperate better in the afternoon.
My second sister manages a lot of things: three kids and a husband, her house, her demanding job, her netball games and swimming, her cooking, her studies, and hundreds of other things in her schedule. She does this without a helper while still making sure the kids go to their sekolah agama, tuition classes, taekwondo, swimming, sempoa and Quran classes, sports tournaments (one of the kids represents the district in running events regularly), and a lot of other classes I'll never understand why kids nowadays go to. I get a taste of this schedule when I occasionally babysit them. It makes me want to cry.
Naturally, my sister sorts her schedule with an Olympic-level speed and precision. For example, if she wants to find out if I could take her kids along to our hometown two weeks from now, she would call me today in the morning, at 9. She'll call twice and leave a voice message twice in the span of 15 minutes. I've grown to learn not to jump in worry seeing two voice messages from her in the morning anymore.
There are things that I think I'd cooperate better in the afternoon.
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