3-22-13 Friday (Great Job! Oh, Nevermind.)

I’ve never only shared the good stuff that has happened to me.  I’ve often shared the bad stuff and poked fun at myself.  Even when the bad is embarrassing in ways.

Thursday at work, I received a really huge compliment and an hour later it was shattered.  So let me explain.  You know I’m a home equity loan underwriter, which I’m very new to doing.   An underwriter reviews loan applications, assesses risk by reviewing income, liabilities (credit report), value of the home, and all sorts of other facts to form an opinion about whether or not this is a good or bad risk for the bank.  Right now, I have no “lending authority”.  That means that when I make a decision on a file, it is reviewed by someone else and they agree/disagree with my decision and point out errors I’ve made. 

So what happened?  Well, I trained for 6 weeks.  No previous experience.  I have officially underwritten for only 13 days.  On the 14th morning, I was approached that I needed to sign a paper and I was most likely going to receive my authority.  Wow!  Already?  I had underwritten a lot of files.  I’d be the first in my class of 15.  I’m competitive so that’s a really big plus for me.  BUT it’s not final till it gets approved by some big wig which will take 24 hours to 1 week.  Wow, lending authority means no big brother looking at every file.  Only random files will get pulled as spot checks.  I pat myself on my back and gloat.  Damn I’m good. 

No, we don’t use stamps.

An hour after I’m all excited, I receive a fail.  I’m told that my authority has been put on hold and that I have to get some more “pass” files.  I’m bummed.  At the end of the day I receive another fail.  I’m devastated.  

I’m over it now.  I made a list of pros and cons of what getting lending authority would mean to me personally.  It’s really better for me and the bank if it goes slower.  Catch the mistakes now before they impact my job later. BUT I really wanted (I might still be) to be the first.  It’s that status. 

On Friday morning, at work I was mopey.  A few hours into the day I realized that the most important thing in all of this is that I love my job. I’m not in sales anymore.  No more customer service.  I talk to maybe one customer a week.  My work space is deafeningly quiet.  I like that.  I take a break when I want to.  I take lunch when I want to.  Every file is unique and interesting.  The people I work for are awesome.  What more could I want?   Oh yeah, to be first.