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« November 2007 | Main | January 2008 » December 28, 2007And That's MY Fault HOW?Every morning I walk past a coworker on my way to fill up my water bottle who just HAS to start asking me work questions. I haven't even had my coffee and already she's found SOMETHING wrong that she has to bitch about. That SOMETHING is also somehow my responsibility to fix. G-d forbid she actually look for directions or click on something to see if it's fixable. She's one of those helpless people who doesn't know a lick of Excel but uses it anyway... and expects me to correct any errors she manages to create (and she ALWAYS does). This morning it was about the date. She said she typed January 08 and it went back to January 07. No matter how many times she tried (my guess is two) she couldn't get the date to be 08. Usually (meaning every fucking day) I go over there and magically fix whatever issue she has. This morning I'm tired. I'm cranky. I haven't had my coffee... AND I'm PMSing. Her: It won't change to 08 Then she gives me attitude because I don't fly over there to save the day. Again. Besides it NOT being my job to be her secretary, I REALLY didn't appreciate her 'so you do it' attitude. She's been on my nerve all week with the 'Oh woe is me, I work so hard' while I pick up her slack (and the rest of the groups). I don't bitch about it. I don't whine to them. I just do it. So yeah... I got a tad annoyed when she once again expected me to fix something without asking how SHE could do it. Is this day over yet?
[keywords: Work coworkers lazy] December 27, 2007The Joys of Holiday ParkingWorking in a building that has a public parking lot blocks away from the airport SERIOUSLY sucks ass. I had to work the three days between Christmas holiday and New Years holiday. I wouldn't gripe except for the fact that three fourths of UCLA was closed so we got all the 'you mean they're not open' calls after people called said department and got 'We're Closed' messages. Idiots...
Later on I wrote a LONG letter about my ordeal to the management (with my boss' blessing). They wrote back about how terrible it was, how they were going to fix everything and all would be better tomorrow. Meanwhile I don't see anyone coming back from vacation until AFTER the New Years so I don't know how they're going to promise that. Morons...
[keywords: Work] December 21, 2007It Puts the Lotion on it's Skin... And Orders TeaLast week :jake: and I went out to eat with Cat and Mark. We sat at the table and our waiter, a large creepy guy, asked what we wanted to drink. It wasn't his creepiness that wigged me and cat out. It was... his voice. We both sat silently until he left and I leaned over and said, "It puts the lotion on it's skin". She practically jumped out of her seat yelling "YES!" We were both trying to think of why that voice sounded sooo creepy... and sooo familiar. The worst part? He totally looked like the guy. So the whole night we had Buffalo Bill serving us, each time he left we made jokes and gave each other glances. I kept thinking, "What if this guy has a girlfriend and the movie came out." You can't help but notice how similar they were. No way would I be able to 'do it' with someone who sounds like a psycho killer. Grumpy cowboy? Yeah. Psycho killer who wants to wear a woman skin suit? *runs*
[keywords: Friends creepy-people] December 20, 2007Spin-Cat... Or Poo-Cat:jake: started chuckling this morning (a rarity at this hour) and mentioned that Dorian was chasing his tail. I looked over for a sec and noticed he was spinning oddly. Me: I think he has something on his tail At this point I figured Jake would have taken him over to the kitchen and turned on the light to see what said sticky thing was. Instead he picked Dorian up and ran his hand down the tail... then stopped. Jake: Oh G-d! And with that we ended up spending twenty minutes cleaning poo from Dorian's tail. He made such a fuss... Meanwhile I'm late and calling my work with the 'my cat had poo on it's tail' excuse doesn't sound like it's going to fly.
[keywords: Cats boyfriend jake Dorian] December 19, 2007Get Away From Thee, Demon!Demon = food. Lots of it. Everywhere. GAH! I've been munching on finger sandwiches, cookies, baked goods and everything else they've set down for us to eat all day long. It started innocently enough. we had a Tea Party to raise more money for the needy and (semi) needy families we are adopting this year. I say 'semi' because I can't call a family that's Christmas wish is for a Wii and a 19 - 20 inch TV needy. The other family has so many needs. A family of seven (Mom and dad with five children), two children severely retarded with severe medical conditions and one of those is wheelchair bound. They live in a horrible part of town and barely get by. Their requests for a ham on Christmas and a jacket for one of the boys broke my heart. They weren't asking for much... just a few necessities and a nice dinner for the holiday. Back to that later.... First, the food. Oh yes, the evil evil food. home baked goods, little sandwiches made by coworkers and freshly brewed tea was too much for me to handle. I ate. and ate. And... took a little breather, then ate again. Each portion just enough to satisfy my hunger, but more portions than I care to mention. Oy... To make matters worse (for my tummy and waistline) they brought all the extras and placed them RIGHT... BY.... MY... DESK. Kill me now. Okay, back to why I'm so miffed about this fucking adopt a family shit. The one family truly needed our help in every sense of the word. They needed the kindness that only seems to come around this time of year. Wallets open a little more, people listen a little longer and kindness is spread a little thicker. Except when driving. Those bastards are all getting coal in their stockings. So when one family was unable to be reached our building took on a coworker who was in a bad accident and needed several surgeries. Needless to say, their Christmas wouldn't be great. I have no problem with helping out people in need. But when the wish list consisted of the Wii game console and a 19' - 20' television (for a nine year old) I balked. I grumbled. I raised hell. We went above and beyond the amount that was expected only to be told they were going to buy them the game console. WTF!?! I don't care if the kid wanted it... you don't buy a 'needy' family a $300 - $500 gift. Food, gift certificates yes. But a game console that needs games which run about $30 - $50 each? I don't fucking think so. If you can afford that, you aren't that needy. The coup de grace was finding out that not only did the second floor people buy the kid the Wii AND the television, but instead of joining us and donating the rest of the excess money to other families who weren't adopted they opted to 'take care of their own' and buy other things for their coworker. Merry Fucking Christmas...
[keywords: Work holidays coworkers greedy-bastards] December 18, 2007Gift Wrapping? HAH!Not in this household. The only wrapping we usually see is the plastic wrap around the gift. As much as I love to unwrap presents it ends up being more of a pain in the end. ribbons and bits of paper flying through the air with cats hot on their trail... making the mess twice as big and twice as hard to clean up. Considering most of our presents have been from wish lists or direct links (here, buy me this) the desire to wrap it up just isn't there. I'd rather save the money spent on gaudy holiday wrapping paper that ends up shoved in the closet only to fall on me through out the year and just do the 'close your eyes and hold out your hands' routine. Yeah, we're hardcore holiday like that.
[keywords: holidays presents] December 17, 2007It's (not) Just Food!Please... go away. Seriously... just GO AWAY. On Friday I had to endure four people trying to shove their samplings of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' food in my face. Each time I VERY politely declined... even after the last person almost made it a threat. To that I smiled and pleaded 'please just respect my wishes'. This morning a coworker (who's usually REALLY good at these things) came by to tell me the food was ready. I smiled and said no thank you. She slapped her head and said "I totally forgot'. Then added. 'come on... it's FOOD!' I repeated my no thank you and simmered quietly. If it were Good Friday or Lent and I offered the wrong food they'd decline. If I pushed it they'd insist on declining. If I said 'It's just FOOD' they'd be offended. So why is it so fucking different when I say it? My religion says not to celebrate other religious holidays. I try so hard to follow the rules. It is so fucking hard to just accept that and move on? I don't make comments. I don't thumb my nose to their celebrations. It has nothing to do with me being anti Christmas. Hell, I love to look at the decorations (on other peoples' homes) and love the Christmas music. I always support my coworkers enjoying themselves to the fullest. Apparently sitting and doing my job is too much of a distraction for them to handle. *grumbles*
[keywords: Work holidays religion] December 14, 2007Oh, OkayMy weird coworker says this over and over and over again. Thirty three times. Thirty three times for ONE call. By the end I wanted to slit my wrists.... or her throat. She also loves to say "Hi. hi. Hi. Hi. Hiii." My other coworker almost kissed my boss' feet when she was moved across the office (and out of WC's range). She loves to repeat. It's worse then Valley Girl chat. Over and over... and I have about five more hours of trying NOT to strangle her. Anyone want a human parrot?
[keywords: Work coworkers] December 13, 2007Another Year... Another SantaThis year I managed to ditch that annoying Santa fucker at work. While he ho ho ho'd around all the employees that cared I hid in the kitchen with another anti-santa person and bitched about him. We also bitched about fearing Clowns too... which was cool. I felt like he was a kindred spirit until he mentioned fearing antiques. Then it just got weird. Yeah, bah humbug to you too. Now I have all the people around me laughing about how I ditched Santa. A few said they were on the look out to warn me. It's said when it gets to the point where you have to hide just to not get into an altercation with some moron who throws on a costume and suddenly thinks he's all that. Next year I'm going to line up mini GI Joes with Santa targets around my desk.
[keywords: Work holidays coworkers santa] December 12, 2007Food... EVERYWHEREEvery year our building adopts needy families and holds different types of sales and raffles to make money so that they can buy gifts to them. This year we hit the jackpot. Every day has been filled with all sorts of food that I shouldn't be eating but do anyway. 'Hey, it's for a good cause' has become our floor's official logo. Each department has it's own bake sale, luncheon or snack time treat and everyone else is happy to fork over the three to six bucks and munch on someone else's cooking. I swear I'm going to go into a cookie coma if they keep this up. *looks at fresh salad* Riiiight.
[keywords: Health Work holidays] December 11, 2007*Sings* Silent... WorkdayGee... Christmas is early this year. My boss, fresh from our fight yesterday has decided to avoid me like the plague today. Either that or she's giving me the silent treatment. It's a win win situation. Mind you, I literally sit right in front of her office. I turn my head and there she is. She had a meeting with a few of the workers and had them ask me a question rather than her call me on the intercom. She's emailed me five times rather than call me, meet with me or just intercom me. It's silly, childish and a cross over between a good day and an annoying day. Good, because it's less that I have to deal with. Annoying, because we're both adults and she's acting like a two year old.
[keywords: Work boss] December 10, 2007Yay for Monday TearsAnyone want a boss? More than slightly jaded, unpredictable and horrible memory. Prone to snippy remarks and the blame game. Price: FREE. I walked into the refrigerator I call my cubicle and managed to crack a smile without cracking my face. The temp is in the low 60s now (was in the fifties) and there's NO heat coming out of the vents. Needless to say no one was in a great mood. My boss caught an issue that we've had with the report for OVER a year and she made the decision to keep before. It seems that the coldness cracked her skull and she NOW decided that it's something to fix. One problem: There's no easy fix outside of not counting it. Cue the drama. I get to try and explain to her the issue and get attitude back. I toss it at her and we're on the road to a bitch-fest. She decides that MY description isn't good enough and pulls the nurse in. After making me explain to the nurse the issue she starts throwing random decisions out, none of which are easy and ALL of which she stopped doing before because of the errors. Then she tells me she doesn't like my tone. MY tone. She's being a total bitch and basically saying I'm not good enough to explain a simple issue... and I have the attitude problem. Yeah, so I stormed out of the office and haven't said shit to her. I spent a few minutes on the phone with Jake, trying not to cry (and failing). This is going to be SUCH a shitty day.
[keywords: Work stress boss ranty] December 07, 2007So... How Much NOW?Every time I see this one woman at work she asks me how much weight I've lost. At first it made me feel good to tell someone. After a while it got... annoying. I don't even talk to this woman outside of 'hello, how are you?' and now I add 'even more!' or 'not weighing myself'. Still... she still asks. Personally I think it's kind of rude, but it's my fault for answering her original question. it's gotten to the point to where I just walk by and don't make eye contact. I don't WANT to share how much I've lost. I don't WANT to bring a scale in to satisfy her nosy desire to watch my butt shrink. Isn't there some sort of human etiquette on what you should and should NOT ask total strangers? I think I buy her a book on How Not to be Rude* for the holiday. That or just tell her to fuck off. Hmmm.... The latter IS cheaper.
[keywords: Health Work coworkers rudeness] December 06, 2007I Want to Speak to.......the young caucasion girl. That's the first thing a woman who works at UCLA snapped at one of the nurses. It was also the start of a thirty minute tyrade that left two woman (both UBER nice) shaking and me steaming mad. The reason for her flipping out? A woman who called us excessively when she didn't get any call backs was also calling this bitch. So my coworker called to check if she got the paperwork. When she never got a callback my coworker called two more times to see if everything was okay, etc... So yeah... it's over this woman feeling like we're trying to make her DO HER JOB. The next day when I learned of it I went directly to our boss' office and told her of the incident. It took me forty minutes to convince the woman who got the brunt of the verbal abuse to agree to make a complaint. By the way, she's not caucasion and a few years shy of forty. Luckily the employee's boss is on good terms with us and VERY customer service conscious. We rehashed the event via phone and managed to get quite a few gasps and shocked expressions before it was done. My boss was NOT pleased. I even used my 'we're not working in a pencil factory ya know... we're working with patients and need to be more considerate' lecture. Sure... it was preaching to the choir, but it felt good to add it. I'm always amazed at how nasty people can be. Especially those who will tear anyone apart if they think the person is too nice to stand up for themself. Throughout the tirade this woman whined about being the only one as if she were at the helm of the Titanic and narrowly missing icebergs daily. I wish I could tell her that the person she screamed at is dealing with a mother dying of cancer. A grandfather dying of old age. A grandmother walking the halls with Alzheimers. Two jobs to try and support them all... and STILL manages to smile and be pleasant. I DID tell the manager that later on. Luckily she knows her and is sympathetic to the situation. What happens remains to be seen. Bottom line: The cow needs to be slapped. *sigh*
[keywords: Work coworkers ranty] December 05, 2007Community MRSA and YouYesterday I was speaking to a friend who has MRSA (I have Community MRSA). Besides feeling frustrated with the healthcare system in general he was also angry about how our country reacts to it and the horrible news stories that gloss over it. I wrote this to him and figured I'd share it with you: I can relate to so much that you are going through. Working in the medical field has given me an inside look at what happens. Having Community MRSA has given me a way too close look at what happens to those who slip through the cracks. Once you have it it's no longer about cures or even combating it. It's about containment. It's the same with MRSA itself. The news stories don't jockey around the health condition, it's causes and possible cures. Instead they feed off of the publics fear and insatiable desire for sensationalism. Cue the thunder, cue the lightning, a flash of truth and the rest is bullshit. And Joe Public seems to eat every word, not wanting to know if there's more out there and not interested in if it's the truth. On September 11, 2001 I had my fill of television. What started with the OJ trial ended with the WTC. I had finally had enough. After that I sought for my news online. Carefully, using foreign news sources and becoming more globally aware. News that was kept from American homes ran front page in other countries. I peeked in on what we were watching and it was pure garbage. 'Hard hitting' news shows were soft punching propaganda. Health stories were no more than gossip. And gossip pushed down real news to third or forth story. I no longer look to our nightly news for resources... and I can understand how exasperated you are. A few years ago one of our doctors was in the very beginning phase of a link to brain tumors and a *possible* cure. It was a theory. No tests had been run. She published a paper touting the possibility so that tests could be run. The media had a slow news day and flipped through the New England Journal of Medicine and found her paper. Imagine our surprise (and her despair) that they were saying UCLA had a possible cure for brain cancer. My office fielded hundreds of calls a day. I spoke with dying patients, begging to be a test subject. I had to tell them no trials were even set up and it would be years before she would have any. I went home crying every night... still hearing the echoes of weeping patients and loved ones whose hopes were lifted... and then dashed all because some bastard couldn't find a real news story. MRSA is a bitch. I just got over yet another cold and a staph infection in my nose. Yeah... I felt real sexy. Every day I fear someone will bring a cold into work. A 24 hour crud for them is a week (or more) of misery for me... all the while hoping it won't go into pneumonia again. *hugs again tighter* I'm here for you.
[keywords: Health Friends mrsa] December 04, 2007The Holidays Are Upon UsYeppers... it's that time of the year. Time to dig out the holiday decorations, search for that special gift and count the days til you have some time to relax. No matter what your religion this can be a very stressful/hard time of the year. Hard financially... stressful emotionally. Every year I meet someone who mourns for lost friends/relatives. It's not even that they died at this time. It's the advertisements, the television storylines and ultimately the chatter amongst coworkers and strangers. Seemingly innocent questions are a jab in the side, and all you can do is smile. To all those who hate this time of the year *almost* as much as Valentines, here's my wishing you strength and courage to get past the hellish commercialism and enjoy time with those you have. Cheers.
[keywords: holidays] December 03, 2007You Know How it Is....The drama that is my cubicle neighbor happened to get into the elevator at the same time as me today. After the initial greetings we moved on to the weekend. I kept my answer short (it was nice) while she went on about working for extra money, trying to keep the house, telling her husband he needs to step up and do some work while watching the kids, etc... She added 'You know how it is'. I wanted so bad to say, 'Actually, I don't'. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone's gone through the phase where they spent money like there was no tomorrow and then flipped out after getting the bills. I'm sure most people fought their way out of debt that they should have kept in control. Hell... I went to the Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) after spending when I shouldn't have and putting rent/tires/oil changes/etc... on my credit card. I cut up those cards and slowly paid off every dime. In the end it felt liberating. I was in my early twenties... the age of discovering reason. This woman, on the other hand, is in her thirties with children to take care of. Three to be exact. Three kids and a husband who doesn't want to help with the kids, can't seem to keep a job and generally causes that woman grief. Grief that she talks about daily. Hourly. To anyone and everyone within earshot. I'd love to give this woman advice. It would be so easy for me to just say 'dump his ass'. Easy for me because I wouldn't have to deal with children. I wouldn't have to deal with lawyers. When Jake and I were going through tough times I sat down and looked at our home and made a mental tally of his VS mine. The hardest part would be the cats. Hard for him, that is... because they stay with me. :p Meanwhile the woman who sits by me is stuck in a situation that there's no easy answer for. So instead of answering I give her a consoling look and slight smile... as to say 'I understand'. What I'm *really* saying is 'Dear G-d... are we at our floor yet?'.
[keywords: Work drama coworkers] |
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