OK Wilson,
Am heartily sick of this place. People are babies.
Do not know how the previous admin could have
coddled them so much, but clearly bad habits have
been instilled which I must break. Some examples:
Kristina (author of the hideous cruise-themed
department party) wants to take a class. I do the
necessary research and email her the link to the
class calendar and sign-up process. She has the
nerve to email me back asking if I am going to sign
her up or if she needs to do it herself. She would
prefer to email me the information which I will then
email the sign-up people, but this does not reduce
her work or time spent at all, while it increases
mine significantly, and causes potential confusion
for the people signing her up. Also, she's not in a
position to ask the department admin to do this kind
of shit for her. Only the managers have earned that
right. Am infuriated.
Example 2: Lucy has been
having much trouble clocking in and out on the
timekeeping system. I did the research and gave her
a number to call. I myself cannot deal with this
particular help desk because I'M A TEMP and have no
employee ID. I explained to Lucy that they will not
deal with me and she is going to have to handle it
herself. So she has "limited" her disruption of my
time to constant, detailed play-by-plays of the
ordeal: "Yeah, so they are going to change my
password, so I left a message for Jennifer this
morning, but she hasn't called me back yet.... "
This has been going on since November. I have
adopted the technique of staring at her blankly,
saying something noncommittal and soothing, then
turning back to my computer until she leaves my
cube. This morning she came over and said very
dramatically, "So, I tried to log in today and THIS
is what I got!!" (shoves printout in front of me.) I
look at it for a moment. I don't know what the hell
she is going on about. "What's the problem, Lucy?"
"Look at these hours! These aren't correct! And look
- it says January 10 was a Monday!" This is because
she has printed hours for January of 2005!!! I point
this out. She leaves but I fear not for long.
Example 3: Synthia corners me in the kitchen (foul
#1) and says, "Long and I have this meeting with
Person X and I don't know where it is."I tell her I
can look it up on Long’s calendar if she knows the date
and time. "Oh, I've looked it up on his calendar and
it says it's in Person X's office but not what
floor." I tell her I can call Person X and ask what
floor he is on. She rolls her eyes and says, "Oh, is that all? I can do that myself."
I stare at her and say, "Yeah, I think that's best.
There's no secret admin method that I know of."
Fucking uppity lower echelon employee. good god! I should start a general policy of handing out pacifiers instead of answering these questions.
Hate these people. I wear my grown-up clothing for
them. WHY????
Gruner
OK Gruner,
Doood! I feel your pain. I have the EXACT same shit
going on here. I give them information on something
and they come to my desk and repeat back to me the
exact contents of the email, adding question marks
where, previously, there were periods. This, too, can
go on for months on a single topic. I just "finished"
dealing with our maintenance guy who was instructed by
me to remove a company plaque from one wall and
relocate it to another wall. Gave him plenty of
detail. He proceeded to contact me via phone and
email for the next MONTH, saying things like: "I was
here at 6AM and was ready to move the plaque, but you
weren't here. Let me know when a good time might be."
or "I just need to know if you are going to be around
tomorrow afternoon in case I can stop by and move the
plaque." What the hell??!! I had already shown him
where it was and where it was going and how it was to
be affixed. Why does he need me to stand and watch
him? I finally got him to understand that he could do
it on his own and then got a call from him the next
day saying, "I'm really sorry, but when I
tried to remove the plaque, it bent in the middle and
now we need to order a new one." ????!!!!!! I swear
he did it just to piss me off!! I HATE these people!!
Same with the guy who frames and hangs artwork here.
I email him a list with diagrams of art telling him
what to remove and what to hang in its place, and he
still insists I come and meet him here at 6AM to make
sure he has it right. One time I wasn't here and he
called me like 9 times to verify what I had already
told him. I wish I had someone I could just make sit
next to me day in and day out while I work in case I
might need moral support or maybe advice. FUCK!!!
Why??!! Why are we constantly working with idiots?
Does God want us to suffer? Maybe we should write our
autobiographies and address this. Maybe that should
be the title of our autobiographies/self-help book for
smart people working with and for stupid people.
"Does God Want Us to Suffer?: Apparently He Does."
No. Neither of us should be wearing our adult
clothes. We should be wearing whatever the hell we
actually like to wear. Christ!
Am bleeding more than I should be for my period and
feeling faint. Am thinking it may have to do with IUD
I recently had inserted. Good times. That's all I
need. More hemorraging. Will keep you posted. Maybe
I should just contact you every 30 minutes via email
so you know I'm alive. Lord knows, my co-workers
would probably just move my body aside so they could
use my computer for internet access.
Over and Out
Wilson
OK Wilson,
Am concerned about your hemorraghing!! (sp??) I also think I might hemorrrahge if I have to keep in the maniacal laughter that squirts out of my nose when I read your email. Not the part about you hermohrraging, but you know. Am going batty today because one of the managers has spent around four hours standing over my neighbor's cube, effectively preventing me from my normal screwing around with personal projects. Also, my neighbor has this verbal habit of saying "Do you understand" several times each sentence when she is nervous. Apparently the manager was making her nervous. So for around four hours I was subjected to 1. no personal projects and 2. constant conversation along the lines of "So Dan, do you understand, the code James sent in does not match the requirements, do you understand....” (repeat for around four hours and you will see why my last nerve is a sorry, frayed affair....)
Seriously Wilson, I hope you don't bleed to death. Please seek medical help!!!! Not at Kaiser.
Gruner
No names have been changed. I hate these people.