Let me start by thanking Ty for allowing me to contribute to UAP. I enjoy writing beyond 140-character tweets and Facebook blurbs, and hope you enjoy what I attempt to construct here!

I have worked in the field of Business Operations for 25 years now. Don’t let my good looks and relatively young age of 41 fool you. Over those 25 years, I’ve accumulated many life experiences: I’ve had my life threatened. I’ve chased people, and been chased myself. I’ve driven down dirt roads to provide life-saving medication in the dead of night. I’ve driven a small fireproof  box 400 miles overnight to ensure that it was in Denver at 7am local time. Just recently, I put together five offices in two states with 600 employees in a total time frame of five weeks. So having run the gauntlet over these past 25 years, you would think nothing surprises me anymore.

About a month ago, I was in the middle of running a voter canvassing campaign in Chicago. We put together two offices staffed with 200 total canvassers in just one week…pretty impressive, eh? So impressive that we actually had to scale back our operation…we had to reduce the number of people we were sending out to canvass and stop all hiring. I put up the necessary signs and let anyone coming through the doors or calling on the phone know…sorry, we’re no longer hiring! But you can’t stop the ambition of some folks.

Over the next few days, I noticed some names that were unfamiliar to me. As I was responsible for payroll, I knew the names of our employees, if not their faces. I looked in our online HR system…I checked with our field organizers…nobody knew who they were, and we had no information on them. A handful of people decided…to heck with those signs all over the place! We’re gonna work anyway! Impressive…that’s dedication for ya! Of course, we had no record of them, so…I’d like to thank them for volunteering their time with us.

Being constantly surprised and amazed in my line of work is a blessing. It lets me know that I’m not jaded and still easily amused at age 41. I’m sure another new experience is just around the corner…