A Little Frisky Tonight

As of this writing, Sean is ok. As far as I can know - he's not exactly sitting in front of me where I can be absolutely certain. And even then.....


Remind me. If I ever write about a worry or anxiety again, I must make it a rule to post as soon as I find out. I unburden myself, then selfishly forget others care.


Sean finally answered the phone, at about 12:30 pm. I'm not sure what all he said about where he was or what he was doing. I nearly fainted with relief when he picked up the phone. He said something about going to a BBQ at a friend's house. The thing is, I don't always listen because he lies so what he says becomes irrelevent. It's a shame, I know, but it is what it is. For that moment while he was on the other end of the line, he was okay.


In other news -


I found a black hair on my chin today. Sort of shocked me. I know other women who have problems whith hairs on their chins, but up until now I've been fortunate in that area. Wonder if it is the first of a crowd to come.


Right now I'm on my second little bag of M&M's, dammit. Had two yesterday, too. I hardly ever eat candy of any kind. Whats up with me?


My big boss, the one who is my boss's boss, asked me yesterday to give H a hand in the office. I was the one who hired H as a temp, and championed her for a permanent position. She and the other woman in the office, S, made very good friends with each other, often forgetting that I existed, except when they were bored and chose me as a topic of conversation. Like the team Xmas party last year - we are a small group, so it is very feasible, and yes, COURTIOUS, to include all members of the team in planning the celebration. But I was simply TOLD it was going to be on such and such a day, everyone must bring in food, and we are going to play such and such a game. oooooookkkkaaaaayyyy. Love the Xmas spirit around here and SO worth celebrating. Like I'm celebrating working with people who value me enough to ask my input on something we are all expected to participate in??? Who of the 5 team members planned this?


Sounds like I'm really hanging on to that one, eh? But that is an example of how things go in my office. Just one small example.


ANYWAY, I digress. I haven't been in the office too much for most of the last two weeks, so don't know if anything has changed, but, when H came on board she asked me if she could only take a half hour lunch break instead of an hour, and leave a half hour early. Being a single mom a few times, I sympathized and said certainly. Predictably, since everybody else takes an hour, I can tell you, she takes an hour. And that is on a good day - sometimes she leaves for an hour and then comes back with her lunch. Alrighty then. And unless anything has changed in the last two weeks, she doesn't come in until after 8:15, each morning. Mostly VERY close to 8:30. But let me tell you what happens at 4:30 - out the door faster than the eye can see. That is if she makes it to 4:30. She's been out twice this week...emergencies. Not completely out, just had to come in very very late, and leave very very early.


So I figured that on a good day she puts in 7 hours of work, loosely defined. The company pays her for 8, and if you add that up, thats 3 weeks of time in a year that she is paid for that she is not working - like a bonus three week vacation.


She has a lot of emergencies, actually. Or appointments and such. And personal calls. Lots and lots of personal calls, and lots of personal business being conducted on company time. Lots. She must have spent 20 minutes or more one time having a loud and angry fight with an ex husband over the phone. I don't know how long after 20 minutes, because I could hear it from down the hall, and it didn't take long for my tolerance level to be reached and I left.


This person is NOT correct for this position. We should have gotten a qualified and competent person in and kept H right where she was. She handled that stuff okay, and if she was out on an "emergency", or can only work 6 and some hours a day so she can make softball practice on time, well, the project won't suffer. But corporate took the easy way out. Since S only gave two weeks notice, there was no time to find someone, and then train them. So they put H in there. Thats going to backfire.


So now I have to help because she is behind.


So now I have to help because she is a behind.


Why do I care? Well, it injures my sense of fairness. I only get 3 weeks paid vacation - she gets 6. And when I am asked to help out because she is a little behind, until her old position is filled, I know what the front office work entails. One competent person could do everything within a 40 hour a week time frame. It would make sense to have a part time admin assistant to help, especially because it would be silly not to have a back up for the one competent person. But really, it is a one man show in that office. Don't give me "H is behind because she is doing two jobs". Uh uh. H is behind because she doesn't work full days or weeks, spends a lot of time at lunch or on the phone and isn't qualified to fill that postition. Period.


Anyway, fact is I don't mind. I told H I'll go to the front office and help, but I'm not going to be totally silent about my feelings of unfairness - I'm going to fart up a storm.







Peace