It's realizing you can't help everyone...

I work for a small non-profit (though I still think we have a big impact), thus we are constrained by the number of workstations we have to how many volunteers are there any given hour. Thus, we can at max see 5 clients an hour. But stuff comes up, volunteers are working on other projects, walk ins show up, clients come in early. Stuff gets crazy. Manning the front desk this week was particularly hard for that reason. We knew going into this week would be rough and it was. There were so many walk-ins who needed help now and could not go on unless they received it. "I'm sorry we just can't see you now. Can you make an appointment for late next week?" became words I came to despise.

I think one of the hardest realizations to make going into this whole service experience is that you really can't help everyone who walks through the door. The internal optimist in me wishes that wasn't the case, but the organization would overload and not go anywhere if we were always in client meetings - there is the other-side to the non-profit. And yes I cave (maybe more than I should) and stop what I am doing to help someone for 20 minutes or find a way to squeeze them in, it's hard not to do so. However, there was one client that came in looking for a walk in and it was too much to handle, we really couldn't see them. I had to leave the room to "see what I could do" and collect myself the whole situation pushed me over the edge a bit. But I had to face reality, we really could not see the client at that moment and I had to turn them away. All in all it was too much for me to handle at that moment and the reality of it still hasn't really sunk in.

Thankfully, Thursday I got to step out of the office environment and attend a community partnership day at Loyola. I was on my own for the first time and representing my organizations to all these other groups. I was nervous but it was a great learning experience (and chance to practice my LIFT pitch countless times!) and I connected to countless other community partners. Props for that much needed break!