Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Inchala
I'm finally getting used to what I call the "inchala" lifestyle. "Inchala," in Arabic, literally means "god willing." However, in practice, it works less like its English translation "as soon as possible" and more like the English phrases "in due time," "sooner or later" or "eventually."
And practically every request is answered with an "inchala."
"I will look over your sponsorship packages tomorrow inchala."
"I will get you some three-ring binders inchala."
"You will have your own computer tomorrow inchala."
Yes, I admit I am a person who likes to be in control and is professionally extremely anal about delivering an high level of customer service. But I should be, I deal with potential high-dollar donors all day!
But it doesn't matter what I do, I too must adjust to the way of "inchala."
Yesterday, I made my first step towards acceptance of this new, painfully uncertain and slow way of working. I received my first $15,000 commitment from a company that I ironically started a school-wide boycott against in first grade. I have nothing against them now, but that is another story...
Anyhow, like any good fundraiser would, I wanted to get them the contract as soon as humanly possible. I knew I could have it done in two hours tops, but I gave myself an "inchala" buffer until the next day at 4pm to write it and get it approved... I felt horrible about telling them I wouldn't have it until the next afternoon.
It's 6pm now and I'm still waiting for it to be approved......
No, it's not that bad. These folks work really hard and have a lot on their plates, and admittedly Americans are unbalanced workaholics. Okay, it's 6:10. I just got the contract approved and have to send it out to the company. I hope they sign it inchala!
I'm going to chill out and get into this inchala thing. Maybe tomorrow I'll even take a lunch break.
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And practically every request is answered with an "inchala."
"I will look over your sponsorship packages tomorrow inchala."
"I will get you some three-ring binders inchala."
"You will have your own computer tomorrow inchala."
Yes, I admit I am a person who likes to be in control and is professionally extremely anal about delivering an high level of customer service. But I should be, I deal with potential high-dollar donors all day!
But it doesn't matter what I do, I too must adjust to the way of "inchala."
Yesterday, I made my first step towards acceptance of this new, painfully uncertain and slow way of working. I received my first $15,000 commitment from a company that I ironically started a school-wide boycott against in first grade. I have nothing against them now, but that is another story...
Anyhow, like any good fundraiser would, I wanted to get them the contract as soon as humanly possible. I knew I could have it done in two hours tops, but I gave myself an "inchala" buffer until the next day at 4pm to write it and get it approved... I felt horrible about telling them I wouldn't have it until the next afternoon.
It's 6pm now and I'm still waiting for it to be approved......
No, it's not that bad. These folks work really hard and have a lot on their plates, and admittedly Americans are unbalanced workaholics. Okay, it's 6:10. I just got the contract approved and have to send it out to the company. I hope they sign it inchala!
I'm going to chill out and get into this inchala thing. Maybe tomorrow I'll even take a lunch break.
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