Thursday, August 22, 2013

Hijacked online.


I twisted my arm yesterday at the gym doing aerobics but the pain is not that severe. It was a first time experience and I enjoyed it, regardless that it was my second time at the gym  my body is handling it well.

The gym is not far from Alberton City, Yes I moved to the east side of Joburg and I kinda like it. I never thought that I will relocate to this side of town; I always found the east-rand to be quite and boring, little did I know, that is exactly what I needed – away from the “fast life” and fast food. I only needed a place to chill and evaluate certain things about my life.

I secured a very exciting job that requires me to work from home or be “On-line”, all I need is a laptop and Internet connection– I can be anywhere any-day as long as I'm connected. Sound very nice but the thought of being in the house 24/7 is self energy draining, that’s why I decided to get two golf fish so that there will be three(3) living souls in the house. Yes, Sounds like someone who is lonesome but with this kind of work I'm clued up to the laptop most of the times and in the evening its gym time or outing with friend(s) – sometimes I get visitors.

Now that I got that “Peace of mind” there is still one thing that I cant get used to and it bothers me day and night. I tried several method to deal with it but never won, it always knocks me down. During my several attempts some people found me to be rude and antisocial or think that I don't care enough.

Now here is the thing: I have whatsapp, twitter, facebook and bbm etc. I don't seem to have time to chat every hour like a school people who can spend 2 to 3 hours clued to the small phone screen chatting to 15 people at the same time. I value time and I don't believe in spending 30 minutes chatting about weather or what you are going to wear on Saturday for a funeral. Not to be impolite its a personal thing and your are welcome to establish yours.

Appearing to be online doesn't mean that one is ready to talk to you at any given time, Being online means that I'm busy chatting to someone or busy doing something – now let me educate you a bit; there are so many things that one can do on social networks; but I'll list the common one that you can relate to:
  1. Group meetings (BBM, whatsapp -family etc)
  2. Sell products and give customer feedback (facebook, bbm and whatsapp)
  3. Check contacts and profile for certain companies and people (Facebook)
Now all this three(3) items requires an undivided attention, meaning you cant reply to every “Hi” and “Sure” that pops up while you are busy making decisions. The least you can do is to put a sign that says “busy” but people still seem to ignore it and talk to you still and then you try to quick type “Busy chat later” then you seem to be rude – cause person X doesn't understand how can you say you are busy while you are still online.

Now I gave it a thought and I concluded that I will be off-line from this chatting systems but wait! Why? What about my clients and friends who really do business online does that mean I`m letting them go because some people don't understand the “Busy” sign!

No-ways I'm going to continue to be online and be like them since they ignore the “busy” sign I'll ignore the “Hi” and “Sure” until they understand the meaning of  "busy". Now I've knocked down the problem.
Quick tips:
  • Before you chat, check the status of that person.
  • If the person says “I'm busy” it means that he/she is busy.
  • Don't check every 10 seconds if the person is still busy – you'll end up irritating the person and you will be Blocked.
  • Know when to end the conversation.

With Love:
Jason M