Monday, May 26, 2008
these are not the dykes you are looking for
Hey there. I haven't really pondered today's entry so here are a few general basic generic things... First, I'm sitting here at the computer because my wife is at a Mariners game with some coworkers. In her place is her older sister, who has been couch-surfing here lately. Apparently it was either us or her mother, and Mom is already shouldering another sister and dyke-in-law and their daughter who suddenly decided, "hey, let's move out of our house and... uh, eventually move into a new house." 
Not enough room in that inn for comfort. I'm happy that David Cook won American Idol and have no predictions or faves as yet for Last Comic Standing. Work is okay when people aren't waving their superior positions around. That would be today's stupidity. Today being Memorial Day I was making double-time-and-a-half, so the Sandisk Sansa Clip 4gb MP3 player I bought during my lunch break was already paid for. I may have mentioned earlier that I bought a new CPU for this computer on eBay on May 3, and following the seller's feedback it should have arrived around May 16... well, no, I got email from him saying that since he was out of town and his wife didn't mail anything in his absence, it went out the 16th. So I'm still waiting, and I noticed yesterday that the six most recent feedbacks from his sales (posted in the last few days), for sales which happened in late April to May 3, are negative so I'm not the only one who was affected. They all got their stuff, but as for whether it was timely or if his return policy was still honored that is another matter. [5/28: eBay alerted me that the user was deleted today and has "cancelled" the auction -- an interesting thought since he says it was sent 5/16 and I paid on 5/3 -- and I'm still waiting, so if it doesn't materialize in a couple days I'll follow eBay's procedures. And here I was going to leave him positive feedback, now I can't.] That's not the only thing that I'd be doing in spare moments or over weekends if I just had the thing which someone is sending me, so the past two weekends have been spent doing nothing I intended to do. That's where my sis-in-law comes in, she likes yardwork since right now she doesn't have a yard. And there's your token entry for the day. Good to see you moblogging, Illiterate. (Are there distinctions between a Crackberry user and a PocketPC user beside hardware and that vacant look in a Crackberry user's eyes verses the ire of a PocketPC user whose toy just crashed or autowiped?)
Not enough room in that inn for comfort. I'm happy that David Cook won American Idol and have no predictions or faves as yet for Last Comic Standing. Work is okay when people aren't waving their superior positions around. That would be today's stupidity. Today being Memorial Day I was making double-time-and-a-half, so the Sandisk Sansa Clip 4gb MP3 player I bought during my lunch break was already paid for. I may have mentioned earlier that I bought a new CPU for this computer on eBay on May 3, and following the seller's feedback it should have arrived around May 16... well, no, I got email from him saying that since he was out of town and his wife didn't mail anything in his absence, it went out the 16th. So I'm still waiting, and I noticed yesterday that the six most recent feedbacks from his sales (posted in the last few days), for sales which happened in late April to May 3, are negative so I'm not the only one who was affected. They all got their stuff, but as for whether it was timely or if his return policy was still honored that is another matter. [5/28: eBay alerted me that the user was deleted today and has "cancelled" the auction -- an interesting thought since he says it was sent 5/16 and I paid on 5/3 -- and I'm still waiting, so if it doesn't materialize in a couple days I'll follow eBay's procedures. And here I was going to leave him positive feedback, now I can't.] That's not the only thing that I'd be doing in spare moments or over weekends if I just had the thing which someone is sending me, so the past two weekends have been spent doing nothing I intended to do. That's where my sis-in-law comes in, she likes yardwork since right now she doesn't have a yard. And there's your token entry for the day. Good to see you moblogging, Illiterate. (Are there distinctions between a Crackberry user and a PocketPC user beside hardware and that vacant look in a Crackberry user's eyes verses the ire of a PocketPC user whose toy just crashed or autowiped?)
Sunday, May 18, 2008
it's a good kind of busy
Hello, handful of readers! I've been so busy lately that I haven't taken the time to tell you about it. First, a wee bit of ketchup from the previous entry. Yes, we have the C&B cabinet now, but we haven't put it together because we have nowhere to put it until the kitchen project is done, beside moving it out of where it belongs to who-knows-where every time we do anything to the room. So it's still flat-boxed in the familyroom with the rest of the project elements. Also, I mentioned the phenomenon regarding my wife and jugs of milk... here, see?, she's doing it again. I just took this picture a few minutes ago. As I was closing the fridge she walked in and asked what I was doing, so I told her, "proving that you start a new container of milk before the previous one is done." She just said in a kiddie voice, "That's just my way. I get the good milk, you get the bad milk. Ha ha ha!"Work is an adventure. I say that because I don't know what's around any given corner. My training hasn't been linear, and I usually hear what I'm doing wrong after it's happened rather than during. One amusing note, my trainer messaged me on Friday to say that our supervisor noticed that when I'm not told what to do I tend not to be on task. "That's because I'm the trainee and I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing! He didn't bother to give me direction on [the days the trainer was out sick] and I didn't learn anything from any of my coworkers." So I'm still keeping my mind open because I don't know enough about the work or the office dynamics to make a statement about like or dislike, comfort or discomfort. I do know my innards have been in less-than-happy states, I did something weird to my back a week ago (and my sis-in-law with a nursing degree was couch-surfing here that weekend, so let me know that it was just a pulled muscle and not a kidney problem), and I've already figured out one coworker to whom even saying "hello" to is a risky proposition. Okay, two coworkers, but that's different; the one I fear considers average interaction a form of harassment, and the other just has a bitter distain for the world but is the office hermit so conversation never happens (so it's my life I fear for with that person, not a talking-to by higher-ups). I noticed, in retrospect of the previous two weeks, that whenever anyone gives me a talking-to about something, it's very seldom about how I answered a customer question or handled an issue. Which I take to mean I am doing the publicly visible things right.
This is also serving to be a different experience in how I handle work-related matters. I'm being much more meticulous and confirming that I'm on the right track, or confirming what the right track is, before saying or doing anything for a customer. I think what happened was, at my previous gig whenever I'd get pulled aside by my supervisor and he'd ask why I took whatever course of action I took, his response to my answer would inevitably begin with the words "you're assuming again." I have coworkers who may know the answer, they should be consulted if I am not sure. Thing is at the previous job, I wasn't aware that I wasn't sure and I didn't just pull something out of my ass ("I don't know that I don't know" as I told him)... at this one, it's more clear due to what we do that I either know what the correct answer or procedure is, or I do not, and this time I'm not taking any chances.
Which is a little frustrating at times because I have the tools, I see the information I'm being asked for, and I could very well do what someone is asking me about... but it's oftentimes not my job to do them or share anything. And that gets really annoying when the people who are supposed to be handling the issues are not, which is why the customers are contacting me in the first place. It's an adjustment but one I'm embracing because unlike previous jobs, there are actual laws and bigger rules this company didn't create on how things are handled, not some company policy that if it's sidestepped the only thing that gets harmed is some muckity-muck's ego.I'm sure I have a few stupid notes to make but they're slipping my mind, and usually when I have been missing my blogging appointments I say here's-life stuff then tell what's dumb around me in the next entry. I will conclude on this note which I consider fairly happy: In the recent past in popular culture, the concept of a life-list was proposed -- a list of things you want to do while you're here on earth. I haven't sat down to write down these things and chances are if I did some of them would be unreasonable (partially because they involve either time travel or other people's opinions of me being vastly different, or both). Last Spring I notched one, and then earlier this year I notched another, both of which I'd been vocal online about wanting to resolve because they involved old girlfriends. But I did this afternoon get to check one of the things that's been on my mind for years off. I hesitate to say what it is because it's not something the general public would consider a wise investment of time and effort, but everyone has their priorities, and no parties or property involved were harmed in the fulfillment of this dream. Heck, I like to believe my day wasn't the only one that was made. So with that one checked off, I need to figure out a new attainable-with-effort goal. In the meantime, the front yard needs to be mowed...
