Best job ever

Well, I already told most of you these events, but since my blog is the only written documentation of things that happen in my life, I must enter this all into my blog as well, if not only for the sake of record keeping:

Rewards: So last week we had our annual company meeting during which we talked about our net worth, how many products we have produced, how much we have grown, and we set goals for next year. Noel (our CEO) then got up and congratulated the 3 people who hit their ten year mark with the company this year, then gave them each a blank check and told them to fill it in for $300, then he sat back down. At the end of the meeting, however, he stood back up and noted that only a couple of us had brought a pad and pen and had been taking notes during the meeting, so he said that that showed that we cared about more than just our jobs, but the company as a whole and we would be rewarded for our dedication. The next morning at work, I was surprised by a $300 bonus check from Noel. I was completely shocked. I quickly gave my pad and pen a hug and thanked them for coming with me to the meeting. Moral of the story: some bosses REALLY like it if you do little things like taking notes during their meetings.

Parties and Bonuses: Thursday night, we had our Christmas party at the Roof restaurant on the top story of the Joseph Smith Memorial building. It is such a beautiful restaurant- the windows are facing the top levels of the Salt Lake Temple, and we could look down on temple square lit up below. Sam had obligations with the Isys program for Intex week, so he couldn’t come with me to the party, so I invited Cindy instead and we had a great time. I was already so thrilled about my $300 acquisition from that morning, I didn’t even think of the possibility of further bonuses. But it turns out that we get Christmas bonuses here at test out. So in one day, I got nearly a full pay check worth of unexpected bonuses. For real, that just rocked. After that we got to see the stage production of “Savior of the World” and it was a really great show. I usually find church productions to be cheesy and lame, but this far exceeded my expectations- it was just amazing.

Happy Reviews: I got my first review today. I have worked here for almost six months and in that time, I have heard very little from my boss. He isn’t the most cuddly of people and he rarely goes out of his way to give compliments or praise- but I have heard him get mad at people before, so I just figured that as long as I wasn’t hearing bad things, that things must be pretty good. For my review today, I was pleasantly surprised. Apparently, things have been more than good. Don (my boss) started out by saying that he feels many of our employees at testout are fair and serve their purpose well, but he felt that I was exceptional and go above and beyond what is required of me. To that end, he feels that even though they don’t usually give raises until someone has completed a full year, he has convinced the CEO to make an exception and give me a 9% raise. He said I was initially paid for my job title, but he feels that my capabilities are much higher. He is also going to push for me to keep my full time exempt over the summer, and work remotely. He feels that I am ready to not only write the content of courses, but architect them from scratch as well. So big things on the horizon for me. I will not find out for sure about this summer until February when Don brings it up to the CEO and whatnot, but things are looking very hopeful.

So, in closing, Testout is the best place to work ever. I can’t believe what a blessing this job has been for us.