It Has Started....

Things are not going very well at work! As of yesterday they have given us the option of taking a voluntary furlough for a week at a time with the guarantee that you will have your exact job to come back to, which of course needs to be approved by your supervisor. How do they think that any supervisor will be willing to let someone in their department take a week off? They are also determine whether or not we will go on mandatory furlough over the holidays, Christmas and New Years. If that happens that means 2 weeks off from work with holiday pay. I would not be able to use vacation pay, therefor I am pretty much screwed. 2 weeks off, 2 days of pay for each week, what the hell do they think we are going to do??

They have also asked us to give our suggestions for cutting costs. My suggestion, well, suspend turkey's and wine that come in the company promotional bags . Really a 10 dollar turkey and a 3 dollar bottle of wine really will not make or break my holiday season. So as the economy worsens, I may soon find myself without a job. I just hope it happens after the holidays and not before.

We Had A Quiet Week

Zachary had school vacation this past week and he spent it with my parents. I really missed him a lot, he spent it in New Hampshire and we live in Connecticut so it wasn't like I could just hop in the car and go see him. I think he had fun, a little bored at times, but that is what happens when you are away from your friends. I also think it was good for him, he got to spend time with my parents and got away from the hustle of the city.

I also think it was good for my mom, she has been having a tough time lately with work and I hope him being there helped take it off her mind a little. The company she works for has been driven in the ground by the owner and is on the verge of folding. He cut her hours and then cut her pay, so she has been knocked down a few pegs. My dad has been working 50 plus hours a week and I think they are just tired. My mom has been trying to find another job but jobs in northern New Hampshire are hard to find. She was making $18.00 and hour and she will never find that any where else! She did manage to get another part time job, I hope for her it will eventually turn into full time. We'll see, I don't want her to have to resort to selling things like air cleaners door to door...LOL just kidding!!

Waste Of Money

Yesterday I walked into the lunchroom at work only to see the the VP of IT, the maintenance manager and the busy body safety guy in there mounting what looked like a tv to the wall. At first I thought what are they using a plasma tv mount and then I quickly realized it was being hooked up to the kiosk, oh and it wasn't a plasma tv, it is hi-def. So now we can look at the bull crap Daily News on a 52 inch, flat screen, hi def tv! Sounds like a load of crap to me, I get the Daily News on my computer.

Ok, so we have the best year ever at my job and we waste it on stupid crap like a hi-def tv. They promote people who are already high on the food chain to even higher titles because they want more money and us bottom feeders, what do we get? The same 3.5% raise, if we are lucky and no recognition for what WE have accomplished! I guess it is really all about who's ass you have your head up! Quite honestly, I think it is bullshit!

Technology At Work

It absolutely amazes me how people can't seem to change with technology, especially older people.

There are two people who I work with who should probably retire, but choose not to. Seeing as they refuse to come to terms with the idea that technology can be your friend, that should be their number one reason for going.

The first one is a male chauvinistic pig. He a 70 some year old baby who refuses to use a computer. So is my job to help him do his job! Go figure, I have enough of my own crap to do.

The second one is a lady and she really plucked my nerve yesterday. I had a customer who was pissed off because we screwed up their parts and they had to send them back to us for rework. I needed to fax them some paperwork on the repair and this woman would not let me use the fax. She explained that I could only use it when she was done. I brought up the idea that it would be scanned and held in memory for cue and then it would just be sent next. She got all upset and tried to start an argument with me. "NO, you can't use it! You have to wait till my stuff goes through and I am all done!"
OMG you dumbass, get out my way, what part of that didn't you understand, IT IS SCANNED, SAVED IN THE MEMORY AND WILL BE SENT WHEN IT TURN COMES UP!!!! GRRR

The New Boss

So a couple of weeks ago my department got a new boss. Our old boss is still there, he was just given a new position. He was not really boss material. He was more of a friend and never wanted to deal with any "real" problems. All in all a great guy!

There is nothing bad to say about the new boss, as of yet. Friday was the first time he and I actually interacted together. He was asking me what computer programs I knew how to use. I thought it was a little strange and at the end of the day he gave me a flow chart he wanted to add to the Quality Manual and "At my old job I had someone who did all this kind of stuff for me. I will need you to do this and this with the chart. I will need it for Wednesday."

Huh, can we say secretary? One thing I am not, is an administrative assistant. I was never trained as one, I never wanted to be one and the plain truth, I have no desire to become one. If the guy is looking for a secretary to do his dirty work, he had better let Human Resources know so they can hire him one. Another thing I don't do is fetch coffee, go make copies, don't answer emails for anybody else and I most certainly don't clean up after anybody. So if the track lighting in his office is dirty, well he'd best bust out his Swiffer and do it himself! Don't get me wrong, I don't mind helping out but there is a fine line.

So this week is a new week, I will continue to keep myself positive about this, but I will also keep a close eye on what is going on.

What A Day Yesterday

As you all know the first day back to work after vacation is the worst. Usually I am ready to be back, but not this year.

I am getting a new boss, so they rearranged the office to make room for him while I was gone. The 2 people I sat in there with before are have been moved. They brought out my current boss, who I might add, has been given a new position. All the space I had before is now gone. I sit in the middle of the room surrounded by filing cabinets and cubicale dividers. It feels an awful lot like a sardine can more than anything else. I lost my comfort zone.

So I guess it will another adjustment to make. I usually adjust well, so I don't see it being a problem.

Annual Review

I had my annual review on Friday...let's just say...didn't go so well. I did get a raise..averaged out to be just over $900 a year. I should be grateful but for some reason I am not. I can't pin point why, but all I know is that I am NOT!

So this is what I have decided...

I am a salaried exempt (I think exempt or maybe non-exempt) employee so I do not have to punch a clock. What ever the hell I am it allows me to receive overtime. When I work overtime I have to fill out a time sheet and hand it in to my boss.

1. I will fill at time sheet out every day, seeing as the perception is I am late because I am not sitting at my desk for the whole 8 lousy hours I am here. My work hours are 8-5, I will be sure to get here at 7:45 am instead of 7:55 am so that I can quietly walk around the building so everyone knows I have arrived. That way if I am NOT at my desk at 8 am atleast I have been seen.

2. All the overtime have worked and never put in for..won't happen anymore!!!

3. I am "a paradox when it comes to relationships" ??? What the FUCK is that supposed to mean?????? Please move the crazy old bitch who falls asleep at her desk all the time so I don't have to see it. I really don't want to listen to her 20 minutes conversations with a gazillion people, it distracts me from what I am doing..just tell her to SHUT UP!

4. Learn tolerance for those I have little tolerance for.....ummm..there are very few people I have little tolerance for. The ones I don't have tolerance for are usually the ones who pretend like they know more than they do, people who cannot accept responsibility for their mistakes and people who have their heads so far up managements asses that you can truly not tell where the management ends and where the other person begins!!!


Midway through my boss asked"Do you have any comments to add."

I replied with "No"

I guess it didn't settle well with him because he asked a few more times before we were done.

What did he want me to say??? Give my opinion, My thoughts? Hell, those would get me fired!!