This week's Thank You: Surviving Rush

The textbook industry is pretty cyclical. For the past few months, our department has been climbing the hill of adoptions and estimated enrollments. And August has been the screaming, downhill plunge of student orders and last minute changes. Despite checklists, reminders and careful planning, things don't go quite right. Constant phone calls. Flooded inboxes.

Welcome to rush.

It's hard to keep a smile and a positive attitude when it seems every voice mail starts a new fire. As soon as one problem is resolved, three more are hurtled through the interwebs. And yet, she does. She's been through enough rushes to know this is how it is. That a complaint is a chance to turn a problem into a solution. That it will slow down. Things will work the way they are supposed to or we will figure out a different way. It will get done.

Sometimes it's just as important to thank someone for who they are as it is for things they do. When everyone else is stressed, it's nice to have a calm voice. Someone to encourage. To empathize. To get things done and not assign blame.

Thank you, Rachell, for keeping your smile and your positive attitude, even when the hours are long and the emails come to you already on fire.

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