Random Access

Yes, it’s another mid-workday entry – they let us leave… and we ran!

There was a good chance that this was going to be a full day – we had a staff meeting scheduled at 5pm. Of course, this meeting was scheduled by the senior managers and none of the supervisors had a clue as to the whys and wherefores. THAT was why we couldn’t leave early – we had to attend. Bessie, one of the full supervisors, told Jess at 4:30 that the meeting was going to be postponed until Monday… and that we could go. Jess relayed the message to me. And then, it was off to the races!

I stopped in one of the back offices to say ‘bye to Gary and to tell him that the meeting was off; no one had told him either. He asked if I knew what was the meeting about. I told him that I didn’t but that it was probably “upper management ego masturbation.” He agreed. Then we laughed. A lot. Loudly.

Left work. Stopped at Ye Olde Shoppe of Comics and picked up my books. Came home.

Now, it looks like we’re off for dinner and a movie. Or something.

More later.

Peace.

Yup. It’s a mid-workday entry.

I left work early. I usually try not to do that unless it’s Friday; Fridays make it alright to want to ditch work (or leave early) just on general principle. But, I figured that since I’m supervising this weekend (higher-level pay AND 8 hours of Sunday premium pay), I can swing taking a few extra hours off.

Pretty quiet day, so far.

• Woke up; and as always, I consider that a good way to start the day.
• Did the daily rituals – I didn’t have to pack a lunch today since Jess (the coolest gf in the world) packed one for me last night from some of the dinner leftovers.
• Got a cup of frozen mocha goodness.
• Stopped at the mall on the way to work for Cinnabons.
• Worked and left early.

And there ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.

I was talking with a friend at work and our discussion drifted into comic books and related media. Imagine that. We got onto the topic of “Who should play Princess Diana in the Wonder Woman movie?” One of the front-runners is Sandra Bullock. I’m not exactly thrilled with that. And it’s not that I don’t like Ms. Bullock; I do. I think that she’s a good actress, but she has a couple of things that I think work against her:

• Diana is an Amazon; Sandra is 5’=7-1/2″
• Diana, when drawn correctly, has a rather exotic look; Sandra looks more like the girl next door.
• Diana, also when drawn correctly, has an athletic build, in fact, you could even say that she’s “buff”; Sandra was a high school cheerleader (okay, that’s athletic), but doesn’t strike me as someone I’d expect to see tossing cars around.
• Diana has one of the most easily recognizable costumes in pop culture; Sandra doesn’t want to wear it.

As you can see, we tend to discuss the really thoughtful questions that affect humanity and the human condition at work.

Anyway, my 2¢ on whom they should cast:

• Gabrielle Reese – She’s tall (6′-3″); athletic (pro volleyball player); and, fortunately, she has some acting experience (“Gattaca,” “Arli$$,” and she’s a former MTV VJ/Sports commentator);
• Catherine Zeta-Jones – The only drawback is her height (5′-8″), but she’s fits just about everything else, I think;
• Terry Farrell – Formerly of TV’s “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and currently on CBS’ “Becker,” she’s got the height (6′) and the acting experience AND she’s fairly athletic.

Like I said: That’s just my opinion. Feel free to comment on who you think might be suited for the role.

And on that note (F#), I’m outta here… for now.

Peace.

A typical workday Wednesday…

• Woke up.
• Did the daily rituals.
• Fixed my lunch.
• Went to work… and was asked to supervise this weekend.
• Came home.
• Cooked dinner (chicken breasts, rice, and mixed vegetables) and ate.
• Started to develop a slight headache. *yay*
• Took a relaxing shower.

And that brings us up to L&O time…

About the only thing that’s left is to try and figure out what to do about the hair on this picture that I’m working on. *sigh* This has to be the slowest part of the whole process.

That wraps it up for now. I think that I may actually try to get to bed at something that resembles a “decent hour,” at for me.

Peace.

Today wasn’t bad, but there was a cloud over it… and, oddly enough, I consider that a “good” thing.

During the course of today’s work conversation, we stumbled onto the topic of some of the things (ass-backwards and otherwise) that members management, including supervisors, do. I was also asked if it was hard for me, as a supervisor, to do my job with some of the stipulations/restrictions/general horseshit put upon us by the senior managers. I was also asked how difficult it was difficult to do things “in good conscience” when we are given certain tasks by our superiors that we wouldn’t necessarily undertake. And, given the previous questions, did I think that it was worthwhile to remain a 204-B? These questions – and their answers – bugged me for about four hours.

I will be the first to admit: We have to put up with a number of things that range from “normal” to “inane” to “full-blown, batshit crazy.” You can look at my rants about the radios, scheduling problems and the whole “who’s the manager now” issues for examples. But, this is endemic to any job – any given person can find SOMETHING (or a number of somethings) within the organization for whom they work. I just tend to be a tad more vocal about mine.

Is it difficult to act in good conscience sometimes? Yes. There have been times that I have been called to do things that I would not have done had I been given the option. I can think of a specific instance that occurred recently – it was one of the days that I had to be “the bad guy.” I also think that due to the circumstances, this could come back to bite management in the ass. In fact, part of me hopes that it does. I think that it was a situation that could have been avoided if one of two things had happened:

1. Someone had made a decision about the potential problem during the hiring process.
2. Someone had consulted another office for advice on how to handle the situation after the person had been hired.

What actually happened? Everyone stuck their heads in the sand… and the problem continued to grow. It grew until, in a sudden moment of clarity, someone decided: “We need to do something about this.” Great. Isn’t it a little late to be wondering where to spray the water after the house has burned down? Yep. Thought so. And what was I left with? I got to be the face that bore the grim tidings from Olympus. *Yay* I wonder if the winged sandals the Mercury wore were not just for flight but also to get him the Hell out of the line of fire after he passed on a particularly distasteful message from Zeus. And what if it does come back to bite us… and more specifically ME? I was executing a task according to the instructions that were given to me by my immediate supervisor. Was it my duty to execute those orders? Yes. Did that make me happy? No.

Do I think that it’s worthwhile to be a 204-B (or possibly a full-time supervisor, should the opportunity arise)? Yes. I may be deluding myself, but I like to think that I am not only doing a good job but that I am also doing right by my employees. If they are doing a good job, I make sure that I let them know. That’s part of my job. If they’re not toeing the line, I tell them. That’s part of my job, too. I try to make those talks “learning moments” and put as much positive reinforcement as possible into them. That’s part of my job, too. In a nutshell: My job is to not only make sure that the DCOs under my supervision are doing their jobs, but also to make sure that they are being as effective as possible at doing that job. That’s what I am held accountable for. And as long as know that I am doing my job to the best of my abilities I can say that it’s worthwhile.

*WHEW*

As I said earlier, these Qs & As nagged at me for quite some time today. A lot of people assumed that I was upset during that time because I was… “less than social.” I wasn’t mad; I was trying to think outside of the box. I could have just spouted off an answer, but to me the questions were worth giving serious consideration. They deserved more attention than a simple “Sure. Yeah. You betcha.” They were ones that I felt deserved a rather in-depth look at my reasons for dealing with everything that comes along with the job title.

And THAT was not easy.

It’s easy to talk about how asinine certain things are. Anyone can do that. It’s not always so easy to look at the reasons that drive you to stay in a position that keeps you face-to-face with those things. We’ve had many people who have dropped from the 204-B program because they didn’t feel that it was worth it. Some have returned; some have not.

There are times when it feels like I am beating my head against a wall. There are times when I feel that the cons outweigh the pros. But for now it feels right. And it feels like I am doing good things. I think I’ll stick with it.

And that’s my 2¢ worth for tonight.

Peace.

Not really a lot to report today (for Monday)…

• Woke up a few minutes before the alarm… and nodded back off until it sounded.
• Did all of the standard morning rituals.
• Went to work… and stayed all day!
• Came home, mulled over what to eat (soup)
• Now, I’m working on a new picture to post on Renderosity.

And that’s about it until now. Actually, I may come back to the “stayed at work all day” thing a little later.

For now, back to the virtual drawing board.

Peace.

Where to begin…? I guess “at the beginning” is as good a place as any, so let’s start there.

Most of my recent posts have used lyrics from Rush as the subject. I’ve been knocking around the “why” of that for the past few days and I think that I have finally come up with a few reasons for it:

• I’m a Rush fan. Ok, that one was easy.
• I enjoy music. This one was pretty simple, too.
• Music is a form of expression, but I think that “definition” can be also applied to include the listener as well as the composer/lyricist…
  • When you’re in a crappy mood and just need something loud and raucous to help exorcise whatever demons are filling the dark corners of your mind…
  • …or when you are happy and just need a good beat to bounce to…
  • …or as Elton John said,”Sad Songs Say So Much.”

The decision to use the lyrics/titles that I have in my subjects has been rather deliberate: They usually have some relation to something that has occurred in the course of the day. Who knows, I may even broaden my scope and intersperse some emmet swimming lyrics and titles… or someone else. Ah, who knows? *shrug*

And now, back to our regularly scheduled LiveJournal programming…

Today has been good. Y’know, this whole “having a good day” trend is becoming a little unnerving. I’m probably going to get complacent about having “good” days that when something “less-than-good” comes along, I’ll consider the day a “catastrophic failure,” as one of our techs at work would say. Okay, that may be a little extreme. I guess that I will enjoy the good days while they last.

• Woke up when Angie called. She wanted to do lunch before her band practice.
• Performed the daily hygiene rituals.
• Checked email and IRC – and was invited to go see “Final Fantasy,” more on that later.
• Got dressed and headed out…
• I went to see FF – Jess went to lunch with Ang and since neither of us are supervising this week, dinner w/ Angie is a fairly open option. The movie was good; the storyline was a little “iffy,” but the animation was top notch. Leaving the theatre, I realized that I was missing $14 that I had when I walked into the movie. *sigh* Maybe it had something to do with seeing it on screen #13. Oh well, it’s not enough to spoil the overall “good day” rating.
• Came home, called a few friends back on the Right Coast, and that brings us up to now.

I’ve been thinking about something over the past couple of days and I think that I’ve finally gotten enough of a handle on it to put it into writing: I love my parents. From some of my previous posts, that may be readily apparent, but why assume?
Something that I think is just as important, if not more so, is the fact that I like my ‘rents, too. That isn’t something that’s so “automatic.”

I’ve been thinking about how my relationship with them has changed over the past 10 – 15 years… and I’m glad to say that it has definitely gotten better with time. This isn’t to say that it had been “bad,” but the dynamic of the relationships has changed as have we. This is a good thing.

One of the most… unique… memories, involving both Mom and Dad, comes from eight or so years ago. I needed a car and was planning a 2-day trip with a friend of mine to visit his uncle’s dealership. Mom wasn’t thrilled about it for some reason, but she wouldn’t say why. She came into the store where I worked one day and we had an “argument” in the middle of the Womens’ Department. I put argument in quotes because no raised voices or epithets or most of the other things that one would expect were used. Instead, we talked using very clipped sentences laced with heavy sarcasm and biting undertones; most onlookers would not have known that we were in the middle of our version of a knock down, drag out fight. A few days later, my father called me; it seems that Mom had called and related her concerns to him. My father, not being one to dance around a subject asked me: “Are you gay?” Okay, that one took me by surprise. But I recovered BEAUTIFULLY: “What?!” He repeated himself and then explained why he asked – THAT had been the basis of my mother’s concern and frustration: Not whether or not I was, but why I hadn’t been able to TALK to her about it if so. Ah, enlightenment. I explained that I wasn’t and that the trip was solely for the sake of trying to find something with four wheels and a low payment. I was a little upset that Mom hadn’t been able to just come out and ask me herself, but I was glad that she was able to find a way to broach the subject… roundabout as it was. Anyway, I went, I looked, I came back carless… but I also came back with a deeper sense of respect for my parents and their concern for my well-being.

Another prime example was when I moved out of the house into my own apartment. I told Mom on a Monday that I was looking for a place of my own; that Wednesday, I told her that I had gotten a call from one of the complexes and would be moving on that Saturday. Being “her baby,” even though I have a younger sister, she didn’t want me to move. *sigh* Saturday came and I went. On the flip side, Dad was supportive of the move; he, again, explained Mom’s perspective from a parent’s p.o.v.: The apartment was only 25 miles from home, but it was not going to be the same as me being at home. Okay, I could accept and even understand that. In the end, I moved and all was good.

The most illustrative example was when I moved to Utah. If moving to the next town gave Mom fits, you can just imagine what moving across country did. This time, Mom was supportive… not “happy” about it, but she was supportive; Dad was, too. I think that they both realized that this was something that I not only “wanted” to do, but that I “had” to do. And I did. And the main reason for me moving fell apart less than a week after I got here. Yay. I called Dad and told him what had happened and the FIRST thing that he said was: “Do you want me to come out there? We can just get your things and be back on the way here.” I told him that on top of everything that had happened that I couldn’t do that; I needed to stay out here. For me. I needed to see whether or not I could make it on my own. He understood; Mom did, too… when I explained it to her. Two years-nine months-one week-eleven days later, I’m still here. This is a good thing on a number of points:

• I’ve learned a lot about myself.
• I’ve adapted to and (mostly) overcome a situation that would have made some people surrender.
• I’ve had opportunities to see and do things that I would not have had I remained on or moved back to the east coast.
• I’ve met a lot of good people… and some “not so good” ones. For the record: Jess = the top of the list of good ones.

I’m sure that there are TONS others that I’m leaving out.

And while I prize all of the above, the thing that stands out is: My parents are proud of me. Yeah, I know that’s really simple, but it’s important to me. And just as important: They accept that I’ve grown up and need to make my own decisions – good or bad. It’s nice to be able to relate to them not only as their offspring, but also adult-to-adult. Mom wants me to move somewhere on the east coast again (2000 miles IS one helluva long way from “home”), but she understands and accepts the whys and wherefores of my being here. And yes, Dad asks too. But that’s a parent’s right. And it shows that while they want me to live my own life and to be happy, I’m still their son. Hell, at times, I’m still their “little boy.”

And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Today’s been pretty lax.

• Woke up around 1:15pm… reading until 6am makes you want to sleep.
• Did the daily rituals… being dirty makes you want to be clean.
• Sat around and perfected the art of being lazy… having a day off affords that opportunity.

We’re heading down to the inlaws’ for a bit.

I think that we may go out later with a couple of friends that we haven’t seen in… oh… about a year or so. Dinner and a movie or something along those lines. It should be fun.

But, right now, it’s time to go play in the sunshine… or something like that. Outside GOOOD. Hmmm. Today might be a good day to try flying my kite. Yes, outside GOOOD.

Peace.

On the whole, today wasn’t bad; I’m beginning to fear that this might become a trend.

And I was also right about something: Karen, our acting manager, was “officially” announced as our permanent manager. I wish her well. Honestly. I just wish that the recent “events” had been handled differently. I did hear that when she was telling the staff about her promotion that she made a couple of comments that could be tabled under the heading of “revisionist history.” But, that’s neither here nor there.

Otherwise, work was pretty run-of-the-mill. And it was my last day to supervise for a while… at least, I think it is. As a 204-B, we can never be quite sure…

Here’s the day’s only blemish that I can recall: I had to deal with ANOTHER episode of someone crossing my personal DEW Line (see my entry from 03 July 2001 @ 2:56pm for details on that). *grrr* I was wearing a baseball cap at work today – one of the benefits of working Fridays/weekends is getting to dress down. Anyway… I was wearing it backwards (sorry, Mom) and had just finished forcing a workgroup to leave, when one of the DCOs felt that he needed to grab and wiggle the brim of my cap and then make a very unnecessary comment. It was all that I could do NOT to snap him off a little something. After he left, I had to excuse myself from the floor. I went and talked to two of our techs; one of them told me that he’d had a similar kind of experience a few years ago. The difference – he went off on the guy; he didn’t touch him, but he scared the bejeezus out of him. *sigh* A few minutes later, I was better. I found Bruce (Ops Manager) and explained the situation to him; he understood. The rest of the night was cake.

The drive home was uneventful other than trying to find SOMETHING on the radio to listen to. It was almost L&O time when I got home, so I watched it, Brimstone, and DS9.

Now… I think that it’s about time to call it a night. I feel a couple of chapters of Hugger Mugger, the next book in the Spenser series, coming on.

Until next time.

Peace.

I slept in today. While this means that I will miss Mallday, the extra sleep was worth it. I remember dreaming, but can’t exactly remember the dream… other than it involved going to a party at someone’s house. *shrug*

Mom just called. She read about “The Curious Case of the Bashed-in Battery” and called to say that I had been paid a visit by the magical “I-Heard-About-What-Happened-And-Put-Some-Extra-Money-In-Your-Bank-Account Fairy.” Have I mentioned that I have the coolest parents in the world? I do.

Today’s my last day of supervising until further notice. Oh, the life of a 204-B. From what Bruce told us last night, we’re supposed to have a meeting sometime this evening to discuss the changes that were outlined in “The Memo.” I also think that this is where they will confirm what most of us have already figured out: Karen, our acting installation manager, was permanently awarded the manager position. Maybe it’s the way I see things, but it just seems a little too “convenient” that the senior managers happened to have a “meeting” at their favorite restaurant Monday night and then we happened to receive “The Memo” on Wednesday. How often does one make sweeping changes in management just before being removed from a position? Note: I’m talking about business and not politics here, although there are many similarites. I’ll try to go into this with as open a mind as possible. It’s kind of odd to think that I am looking forward to keying next week. I AM looking forward to the relative peace that the job affords, though.

But, it’s Friday. There’s another BBQ at Scott’s tonight. I don’t think that I’ll make it there in time for the eats, but I’m there will probably be a movie or two tonight, so I should be there in time for that.

I’d better go shave and get ready to face the world… and find something to eat. Yes, that would be a good thing. I should probably fix something to take for lunch/dinner tonight while I’m at it.

Peace.

I do NOT believe that I am about to say this.

Today was a good day. Period.

I mean it.

There was that little tirade that I posted earlier, but other than that, it was good.

• I talked to Mom, Dad, and Uncle Ronnie before heading out to work.
• I made it to B&B for a frozen mocha.
• Got to work a little early for a three-hour training class on “Reasonable Accommodations” for people with impairments and disabilities.
• No out-of-the-ordinary problems at work.
• Made it home without having to open a can of Road Rage® brand Whoop-Ass. Here on Outpost Colony: Utah, that is a feat in itself, sometimes.
• Had a relaxing night.

But, there’s a part of me that’s still waiting for the other shoe to drop…

Oh, well. I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts!

Peace.

*stretch*

Got home a little after 5:30 this morning – I was the closing supervisor last night. All in all, things went pretty well with operations. Mail volumes were pretty low when I got to work, but things started picking up around 9:30 or 10. We had adequate staffing… actually, we were overstaffed – we were supposed to start processing for Spokane, WA yesterday, but that was postponed until 28 July. *shrug*

Next week’s supervisor schedule was posted last night: I’m not supervising next week. This is something of a mixed blessing: I won’t get the higher-level pay, but I also won’t have to directly deal with some of the horseshit that is heaped upon the supervisors from on high.

Today’s gripe: Our installation manager sent out a memo, dated 06 July, that was just distribute to the supervisors yesterday, 11 July. In it, she talks about some of the changes that will be put into effect beginning this Saturday. Among them:

• One of our Ops Managers is being shifted into the Industrial Engineer position.
• The other Ops Manager’s title is changing to “Administrative Manager,” I think that this means that she will be dealing with all of the issues like discipline, injury compensation and medical, etc. AND SHE WON’T BE DOING THE SUPERVISORS’ SCHEDULE!!!
• Our acting Industrial Engineer will become the “Operations Manager” and deal with the day-to-day issues of Operations and supervisors.

Up to that point, things were fine. Then I read the paragraph about the fact that we are having YET ANOTHER acting supervisor detailed into our facility for two months.

First, let me give you a little background information. Under normal conditions, we have ten (10) supervisor positions at our facility. We currently have five (5) full-time supervisors and eleven (11) acting supervisors (also known as 204-Bs or SEOAs). Of the five full supervisors, two of them are detailed into the Operations Manager positions and one is detailed out of the office for the next year, and one’s position is full-time Attendance Control. This leaves ONE full-time supervisor available for Operations. That’s where the 204-Bs come into play. Being a 204-B means that in addition to your normal position as a DCO (keyer), you can be put into a higher-level position (supervisor, for example), if the need arises. The 204-B assignments can last for up to 16 weeks without putting a person in jeopardy of losing their normal position. If you have ever seen the first couple of seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher” is a prime example of what I am referring to. He got all of the duties of being a member of the crew, but didn’t have ALL of the benefits of a fully commissioned officer in Starfleet. As a 204-B, you can be assigned to fill whatever supervisor position is necessary. Whenever necessary. It can wreak havok with your life, because your schedule is at the whim of whomever is making the weekly supervisor schedule. As a sidenote, most of the supervisors to whom I have referred in previous posts – Jess, Gary, Land, Desiree, Ryan, Lisa, Brooke and myself – are 204-Bs. Ok… end of background info.

No one, outside of the senior managers, seemed to know that John was coming back. That’s fine; it’s their prerogative. But, in the interest of all parties involved – namely the supervisors – it would have been nice to have something of a heads-up on this one. As I mentioned before, Jess was pulled off of the Hell-Shift (8pm – 4:30am) at the last moment last week, to be replaced by Ryan. It seems that RYAN is about to be replaced by John. Along with this change, 3 other SEOAs are getting switched around or changing duties.

Can you say “Clusterfuck,” boys and girls? I knew you could!

Gary called me on the radio last night and asked “Who’s this ‘John’ on the schedule.” I told him. His response,”Why are they bringing him back? Isn’t he working in Provo?” The first thing that came to mind was NOT the first thing that came out of my mouth, fortunately. “No comment” was my reply, to which he responded,”10-4.” And that was the end of the conversation. A little while later, one of our managers, Bruce, came out to the Operations Desk and said “We heard you.” I looked at him and said,”Okaaaaay…..” I expected them to hear it; that’s why my filter kicked in and all that I said was “No comment.” I may be a little irrational at times… I may even be silly or even dense, but my parents did not raise any idiots. Even MORE bizarre: Bruce came back about :30 – :45 later and explained that John was being brought to our facility as a favor. Okay. Fine.

Let me also note that I do like John. He and I worked together for a while before he transferred out of our facility. I enjoyed working with him because: a) he was a decent person; b)he was good at his job; and c) he was pleasant to be around. I’m glad that the managers were able to accommodate his request to work with us, BUT… let’s look at this logically:

• There are 10 supervisor positions.
• There are 2 full-time supervisors on the floor – one at Ops and one at Attendance.
• This leaves 8 positions to be covered.
• There are 11 in-house SEOAs available to cover those positions.
• ::: doing the math :::
• Oh, what the Hell… let’s bring in ANOTHER one and move everyone else around in the process.

Like I said before: “Clusterfuck.”

As the song “War Paint,” by Rush says:
“All puffed up with vanity
We see what we want to see
To the powerful and the wise
The mirror always lies.”

I wonder what they see when the look in the mirror….

I don’t know what made me think that I was going to get out of bed at 10:30 this morning. Wishful thinking, I guess. My rant from earlier this morning may have been listed as “2:58am” but it wasn’t finished until almost 6:30… of course from 3:00-4:00 almost nothing was written – I was too busy watching The Sisko Show. *duh*

I woke up – actually, it was more like “I became nominally coherent” – when Jess left around 10:45. She asked if she wanted me to call around noon. I told her that would be fine. She left and I rolled over and went back to sleep. She called a few minutes before 12:00. I answered the phone… and went back to sleep. Angie called a little later. I answered the phone… and went back to sleep. Okay… there’s a pattern forming here.

ZZzzzZzzzZZZzzzz

I finally managed to drag myself out of bed somewhere around 2pm. Apparently, Monday’s lack of sleep took more out of me than I had thought. I will say that it was nice to be able to sleep in as late as I did and not have to worry about oversleeping for work. Now, I only have 3-1/2 hours to kill before going in. I haven’t closed mid-week in SOME time, so tonight should be fun. Oh well. Mine is not to reason “why,” mine is but to do and bitch about. Today is definitely a day for frozen mocha goodness.

Also, “Hiya and welcome” to Bri and ‘lissa. Welcome to the machine.

Time for me to bounce… I need to decide what’s for breakfast and what I’m going to wear to work. Yay.

Peace.

It’s been an… interesting… couple of days.

Monday:

I had to get up at 6am to pick up Mom and take her to the airport. She was flying standby (one of my stepsisters works for an airline), so we had to get her there early so that she could check in and get on the standby list.
• When we checked her luggage, we had to wait while it was taken to another area for a “random x-ray.” *sigh*
• When that was done, we headed for the security check and had to wait while they waved their magic wand over her for about 3 minutes. *sigh* On to the gate…
• Mom checked in… and we waited.
• The flight that she was “supposed” to get on came, reloaded, and left without her… so, we waited for the next flight (four hours later).
• The fact that I had only gotten two hours of sleep before going to get Mom were beginning to wear on me… and the waiting wasn’t helping.
• We’d called my uncle after Mom missed the first flight. He checked out of the hotel and took a shuttle and met us at the airport a little before Mom’s second abortive attempt to get home. When he got there, he waited with us for the second plane.
• It came, reloaded, and left, too.
• I called another airline and asked about flights heading to Raleigh, about an hour from Mom’s. They had one that would get her there by 10pm EDT. As far as I was concerned, that was perfect. I led Mom and Uncle Ronnie down to the ticket counter and said my goodbyes there – I had Jess’ car and had to get back so she could make it to an appointment… and I WAS TIRED!!!
• I took a rather refreshing two-hour nap when I got home, got up when Jess came in, and got ready for work. I went to my car and turned the key… and nothing happened. *GRRR* So… I took Jess’ car to work.

Work was actually pretty good… for work. Jess had been taken off of the supervisor’s schedule at the last minute to be replaced by Ryan. This is okay – I get to have her here at night. This is good. Ryan has to give training classes this week – some of those classes are during the time when he is supposed to be on Operations.

BRAINCRAMP

This meant that the Ops schedule that I did last week was about to be thrown into a chaotic cesspool whose depths would prove almost unfathomable. We had to adjust everyone around Ryan. I did not consider this “good,” but it was necessary. And it worked, more or less. Around midnight, Bruce – one of our Ops Managers – came out and informed us that Ryan would need to come in early on Tuesday and Wednesday to give the training class to our early-starting workgroups… and asked Desiree and me if we wanted to switch schedules on one or both days with him to accommodate this.

BRAINCRAMP

Des and I decided to split the days: She would close on Tuesday and I’d close Wednesday. I called Jess to let her know about the change – she said that she was amazed that they had caught the snafu so quickly. *sigh* The rest of the worknight was pretty uneventful.

I left, came home, watched DS9, went to bed. I slept VERRA well.

Tuesday:

• Woke up and called Sandi and asked her to jumpstart my car – Jess left for work while I was still in bed.
• Dragged myself into the bathroom, performed the daily rituals, and waited for Sandi to get here. She arrived, we started my car and life was good again.
• I took the car to an auto parts store so that I could get the battery checked. It was bad. *sigh* On a positive note: The alternator checked out fine. So, I bought a new battery. The store didn’t do installations, so I put the battery in the passenger compartment and came home – I figured that I’d get a change of clothes, go to the inlaws’, use their tools and install the battery before work. No problem. I had plenty of time.
• I came home, got the clothes, packed my lunch, and headed south.
• I got to Riverton and changed clothes, got a carpet scrap to put on the ground (my battery compartment is inside one of the wheel wells) and went out to the car. I took out the battery, and got ready to make like Kool Moe Dee and “Go to Work.”
• It started raining just before I got ready to start, so I decided to move the car back a little and get some cover from the garage. I did NOT, however, remember to move the battery before moving the car… and ran over it. When I realized what I had done, I moved the car back to its original spot and then worked the battery free. Something punctured the battery and it started to leak. GREAT. Now, I’m out TWO batteries (old and new), time and money, and I have to get ANOTHER battery.
• Frustrated, I put the battery – on the carpet remnant – on an unused part of the driveway, and went inside to change.

I left and went to work.

There was almost NO mail. Whoopee. We moved people around as best we could and swallow a lot of idle time waiting for the plants to send mail. Then the issue of MORE supervisors’ schedule changes came up. With Ryan doing the classes, he would be unavailable for parts of his shift. We all accepted that. Now, we had to figure out how to compensate for filling in gaps because SOMEONE hadn’t considered what changing my off-days AND taking Jess off the schedule would mean in the long term.

BRAINCRAMP

Long story, short version: Des had been essentially promised Wednesday off by one of our Ops managers… who completely spaced off that conversation and informed Land that he WOULD take Wednesday off, that she would get his shift covered, and that Des would take Friday off. Problem: Des made plans for having Wednesday off.

We’ve gone straight from BRAINCRAMP to CLUSTERFUCK.

When we finally got Des, Land, Lisa (supervisor who’s covering Land and Des’ shifts), Barbara (OUR supervisor/scheduler) together, we FINALLY got all of the scheduling kinks worked out. They were not necessarily “ironed out smoothly,” but we had something workable. Then, I had to revise the Ops schedule to reflect these recent changes. *sigh* Providence smiled upon me: Making the changes was fairly easy.

The rest of my shift was pretty easy to deal with – no problems, a steady supply of mail, and plenty of keyers.

After work, I came home, talked with Jess, had a bowl of cereal, watched DS9, talked to Jess some more, and just chilled.

And that’s how I spent most of the past two days.

And now, it’s time to rant.

Today’s rant is about “change.”

Change can be a good thing. It can bring fresh ideas and new ways of thinking. It can be a great boon in the way that we do things. When properly focused, it can help us to grow, both individually and collectively.

I don’t understand what is SO DIFFICULT to understand about when change is good and when it is unnecessary. There is a very fine line between those two points. I, personally, look at change as a “good” thing. But, I like to think that I can tell when the climate for change or even the reason for wanting the change isn’t kosher.

It seems to me that the concept of “leave well enough alone” is as elusive as quicksilver to far too many people. The case-in-point that comes blazing to mind is our supervisors’ schedule for this week.

If Person A is working Schedule B during Week C and all is going according to plan, DON’T FUCK WITH IT.

That seems simple to me. Elementary, even. But maybe I’m oversimplifying things; I don’t think that I am, though.

If Person A is working Schedule B during Week C AND Person D needs to do Task E, then factor D’s hours into the schedule and budget. This comes under the “Well, no shit” heading to me.

Our hours of operation are from 10:00am until 4:00 am (approximately, this can and often does vary) Mountain Time. This means that in order to process the mail, we must have crews scheduled to work within this timeframe. Simple. Our crew shifts vary in length from 4 to 8 hours, depending on the crew. Again, simple. While the keyers are there, there have to be supervisors there to oversee operations. Fundamental. Going back to the first “equation:” The job gets done… IF you let people do their jobs ACCORDING TO A SCHEDULE THAT WORKS. The schedule, as it was posted last week, worked. Period. Here’s where what I consider “logical, rational thought” goes right out the window:

“Let’s take Person A completely off the schedule and put Person D in that spot. Now, let’s have Person D give training classes during the times when Person A would have been other things to do according to the Operations Schedule. Hey! Let’s even move People F, G, and H around to do this.”

How in the Nine Hells do you expect to run an efficient – and EFFECTIVE – business if you hobble your staff like this?!? As my father would say: “That doesn’t even make good crazy peoples’ sense.” I would love to know what the thought processes were that led to the formation of the thought “Hey, this is a good idea” let alone the pursuant processes that obviously did NOT follow… the ones that would have set off the bells and whistles that would say “Hmmm, if I move these people around like this, I’m not utilizing manpower and resources as effectively as I could.” To me, it’s the SAME kind of lack-of-foresight vision that makes a person say “We have a perfectly good telephone/intercom system AND a fully-operational P.A. system, but what the Hell: Let’s go spend lots of money on brand new radios!!!”

Things like that make me want to go up to people and say: “This is a tree. This is a tree, too. So is that. And that. And that. And all of those. Together, they make up a forest.” Don’t get so wrapped up in ONE TREE that you forget about the ENTIRE FOREST!

Point: Sometimes, people get so wrapped up in the pros – or what they perceive as pros – that they don’t think about the cons.

WORSE point: They may so believe in the pros that they either ignore the cons… or even worse – they ignore the fact that there could even BE cons.

Don’t get me wrong: I know that people are going to make mistakes. I make mistakes… but I try to learn from them. Most of the time, I *do* learn from them. I hate to sound cliché, but the adage “Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.” And too often, it seems that we are stuck in a loop.

In conclusion, let me say that I think that change IS necessary for healthy growth, both in people and in business. But I also think that common sense is just as important. The next best thing isn’t always THE best. It may be bright and shiny, but in the long run is it good for you and is it worth doing/pursuing? Even more simply stated: Do we really need to change A, B, and C to get D and E done… or can we leave them alone and add D afterwards and get as good, if not BETTER, results?

Maybe it’s just me.

I slept in until almost noon today; after yesterday, I needed the sleep and rest.

Went through the daily ritual and now I’m waiting for Sandi to get here – it seems that my car battery has drained. *yay* Since it’s five years old, I think I’ll just replace it.

She’s here, I’d better scoot.

More later.

Peace.

Today has been bizarre.

I would love to go into the details now… but I have to head to work. *gah* I’ll update and elaborate tonight.

Off to the mines…

Peace.