Week Four

This is a little late, but I thought I would go ahead and post it.
Last week I worked for Bekah Peters from the financial office. The state has a survey that is taken every year, and I think the results of the survey are used in some way to determine the funds a school is allotted. Anyway, the survey is taken in two parts: high school seniors take the first part, and the next year the school is supposed to call these students to see where they are at in their plans. Students are asked if they intend to go to college, what their major would be, and if they aren’t going to college, where they intend to work. The follow up portion of this survey is done by phone and is usually administered by the counselor’s office at the high school. However, this year the counselor’s were apparently too “busy” to administer the survey. Bekah had called most of the people already, so I had to call the people she had not gotten in touch with.
I volunteer in the morning, so I was able to catch some of the people before they went to work. Most of the people I talked to had switched the major they had first wanted to pursue. Many had also not gone to college at all. I talked to a few people who were rather grouchy, but most of them were alright. I’m sure the people were grouchy because it was so early. One lady was particularly annoyed with me; she told me she didn’t have time and had to go to work. Another house I called was Hispanic, and they hung up on me. I don’t think they understood what I was trying to ask them. Several of the numbers I called had been disconnected. I only had one person I tried to call with caller id. I had never tried to call someone with caller id before, so it was a new experience for me. The person apparently didn’t want to talk to me. My mom tried calling them as well, but they did not choose to talk to her either. They could have still been asleep.
I was supposed to tell the people I called my name, that I was with the Neosho School District, and I needed to ask them a few questions about their son or daughter. I was supposed to speak to the parent if I could not speak to the actual student. A majority of the people I spoke to were parents or grandparents. It was a little strange for me to be doing this since I was calling people I had graduated with. Honestly I’m not sure if I was supposed to be doing this, but I guess it was alright because I haven’t been arrested yet. I have to talk on the phone where I work, and I think that helped me in being more comfortable calling the people on the list. I still do not enjoy talking on the phone unless it is with someone I know.