This one is just the most recent and so one that I’m obsessing about. I have donated my time and talents to my church (which is also a K-8 school) with no recognition. I wanted to do something to give back to the Church that has been so good to me. They didn’t ask me to help; I kept pushing them to do something. I kept asking if there was anything I could do to fix the situation. I just wanted to give back something because they had given so much. But, in reality, I did it because I was absolutely aghast about the fact that they did not have any formal IT support and I felt it was my duty to fix that. Now whether or not they wanted it, it was going to happen. So I went to a few companies, got some idea of what kind of support they would provide and then put a business case together for the recommendation to hire a certain company for on-going support. This took a lot of my personal time to do (not to mention several hours of my work day to interview them) but it was something that I felt needed to happen. The church doesn’t know any better; or even what the hell they have or need.
But they had a burning need. The “IT guy” they were using occasionally had gone shitty and wasn’t working appropriately with them. So they fired him and then the servers went down. A friend of a friend of a friend, etc…was called and he was able to get the server back up but he’s a server guy, not a printer guy or desktop support, so they were not working at optimal level.
So I did a walk through with the company (who are TechGuys in Overland Park; click HERE for their website) and I knew more about what the Church had then anyone that had been with that Church for years. And before we were even done, the Pastor was asking when they could start. They have since come out and did a scan of the issues; even fixing some without an official agreement with the Church; working in good faith that the Church will at least sign them up for some services.
I know one of the teachers at the school and she says that they were able to fix a problem that she has had for months. I think the teachers and office help are ecstatic because TechGuys are professional but also able to interpret the “geek speak” to the teachers and office people; helping them understand what it is they are doing or needing.
I did that…me….and I’ve been trying to stay content in the knowledge that I don’t have to be thanked for something that I should have given without the need to be recognized. And I don’t expect for the Church to hold up banners or even interrupt the service to have me come up and accept an award. I don’t think that they should single me out.
But I totally want them to single me out. I want a little paragraph in the newsletter, telling people what I did. I would like to at least get a Thank You when I go up to the Pastors after the service. It’d be great if they had me come to all the services and had me stand up in the middle of the service; to recognize my efforts. I want all of that…but I won’t get it and that is going to have to be OK because I’m supposed to do those things. That’s part of being in a Church family; just like in your personal family. You do things that you may not get recognition for. I have a friend that says he tries to do one thing a day that is going to help someone else and not get any recognition for it. I’m not that good…I’m pretty selfish I guess.
This all sounds really petty actually. Guess this is something I’m going to have to work on.
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