I did some thinking today........
I've
not kept it secret how frustrated I am with my work lately, and I was
considering the reasons why. It started on my first day when the agency
that got me the job sent me to the wrong building. That was followed by
several weeks of wondering if I was going to become a permanent
employee of the company....I was given vague information, half-true
information, and outright false information about the process of
working there permanently. Having worked in an office environment
before, I was expecting things to be like that so while it was still
very annoying, I could deal with it.
Then I got hired as a
permanent employee. I was SO relieved and happy about it. More money,
better benefits, and a better work schedule. Not that the one that I
was already on was BAD, but the new shift was an earlier start. Just as
I got the regular position, it was announced that I would be doing a
different function...one that I'd had a little bit of exposure to and
liked, so I was pretty happy about that. Unfortunately, I only had a
little over a week to learn the basics of the job before I took it over
full-time. Again, no biggie because I am actually a pretty smart guy
and I learn stuff quickly. All was well until I was told that I'd be
going to a 3 week training class for the position I'd just had plopped
into my lap.
Then the shit hit the fan.
The entire time
that I'm in the training class, I'm getting emails from managers and
field techs as though I'm sitting at my desk. Nevermind that I have the
Outlook "Office Assistant" on...that sends an automatic reply to every
e-mail stating that I'm not doing my normal job for X number of days,
weeks, whatever....So in addition to the auto reply, I'm taking time to
compose ANOTHER reply to each of them that I was not at my desk until
November 5th. Meanwhile, someone else was SUPPOSED to be handling my
area. Several times during the class, I spoke to my manager and the
field managers about the fact that NOTHING was being done in my area
and that they'd better be prepared for late appointments unless they
got someone to fill in for me.
We all know what happened once I got back to my desk.
Almost
two months after the end of this class, I'm just NOW getting caught up,
all the while having to fend off the fingers of blame pointing directly
at ME for something that I had NO control over whatsoever. It's been
entirely MY efforts that have gotten me caught up, and as of 5:30pm
today....two days AHEAD.
Having made this accomplishment all
on my own, it really started to PISS ME OFF that I have sat for these
two months BEGGING for ANY help I could get and even though I was told
repeatedly that I'd get that help, it never happened. Even as recently
as THIS MORNING, I was told "we have someone who is going to come over
and take some of the load off of you for a couple of days to help you
get far enough ahead that you won't get behind anymore....."
Again...that help never materialized.
This afternoon, I almost
snapped. I got an email announcing that there was some computer-based
training stuff that I hadn't completed. Well, that's a story in itself,
but to conserve bandwidth I'll give y'all the Reader's Digest Condensed
version: ever since the infamous "name change" ordeal, I have had a
VERY difficult time logging into most everything on my computer. When I
ask for help, I get the same thing as when I ask for help on my
workload: NOTHING. It's only after MY troubleshooting that I'm able to
solve the problems that OTHER people are paid to do.
Anyway, I
have the same log on problems today. It took five emails before anyone
would even come to my desk and SEE what the problem was. Of course, no
one could come up with a solution, but I was reminded that the training
had to be completed by TOMORROW. So, once AGAIN, it took ME fiddling
around on the network before the problem FINALLY got
solved...temporarily anyway.
I get into these "classes" and
realized this is stuff I'd already done two weeks ago. Of course even
though I printed out the certificates showing I'd completed it, they
were nowhere to be found, so guess what. I had to take the stupid shit
AGAIN. As I finished each 'module', I hand delievered each certificate
to my supervisor's desk...and yes, printed a copy for myself.
Now,
yes...I do realize that these are very trivial things that maybe I
shouldn't be so irritated about....but if there's one thing that ANYONE
(virtual or in real life) who knows me can attest to is that I can't
STAND when people don't use the good sense that God gave them. This
isn't to say that I've always presented myself as the sharpest knife in
the drawer, but damn...!!
Ok...I'm done venting about that now.....
IN OTHER NEWS:
--->
It looks like my aunt from Charleston won't be coming up for Christmas.
Long story short...she ended up having to call the cops on her 12 year
old son today when he got violent with her. She had gone into my
uncle's home office and found him in there and she smelled the sulfur
from where he'd been striking matches. She's got a bionic nose by the
way!
Anyway,
my cousin kept denying it and my aunt finally told him to go to his
room until he could admit what he'd been doing. That led to him
breaking the bannister on the stairway and coming after her. Well
that's when she called the police...they came over and basically just
got him calmed down and told him he should do as his mother says. So he
goes into his bedroom and the cops start to leave. As they're walking
down the sidewalk to their patrol car the cousin starts screaming at
the top of his lungs.....they look at my aunt and then tell her, "good
luck with that kid!" Yes folks...our boys in blue...what heroes, huh?
Wait
though....that isn't the best part of the story. After the cops leave,
my aunt calls my uncle at work and tells him what happened and asks him
if he can come home because she is pretty well shaken up over the
ordeal. What does he tell her? "I don't have time to deal with this
now...I'm just about to go into a staff meeting." Folks, I love my
uncle...and until today, there were a lot of things about him that I
really admired. Note the key words, "until today". Once he finally DID
come home, he and my aunt had a show down that would make Matt Dillon
from Gunsmoke look like a big ol' sissy. Final results: no trip to NC
or PA where they were heading afterwards. Oh...and the kid...well it's
life as usual for him. I'm so disgusted I don't know what to do!!
Well,
I suppose that's enough belly-aching for tonight! I hope you all have a
great rest of the week. Ugh...and send me some good vibes...I need
them!!
