Wednesday, April 11, 2012

The Week That Was... And Still Is

I work in a department that is broken down into five channels. The channel I belong to does not consistently have work coming in. It's basically feast or famine, depending on when kit builds take place.

This week is FEAST - we're on the last part of a really intense kit build. But wait - that's not all - a "new" person had the bad timing of being assigned to our channel during the kit build.

Okay, first off - she's not "new" - she was in another department, until those jobs were moved overseas. Then for some odd reason, she was pawned off on us.

I don't understand the logic how - out of five teams - we were one of three that ended up with a T1 (which means, entry level, must be trained, etc, etc). We do not have enough work to keep the three of us busy as it is - now we have another person to try to keep busy.

I'm supposed to move my book of work over to her - a move which I'm very resentful of. This is my work - if it moves, what the hell will I be doing with my day? I know - I'm supposed to be working on the two major kit builds from now on - but again, those happen only four times a year - the other work, while sporadic, was at least consistent.

Then there's the little problem of her personality. I met her once, about a year ago. A guy I worked alongside of invited me to go to the morning "bwalk" - short for breakfast walk. A lot of the team members go to the cafe in the building next door. As a vendor, we get free drinks there, so we often just went to get our morning cup of Starbucks or stock up on sodas or "fancy fizzy water." Sometimes we splurge and get a breakfast - the food is all organic and eco-farmed - and inexpensive.

On this particular day, my new coworker was there, too. I was introduced to her, and as we were the only girls in the group that day, I struck up a convo with her. She answered my questions, she seemed friendly - but then, whenever I'd see her in the hallway and say "hi," she'd ignore me.

And now this is the girl I am supposed to be training. The word resentful doesn't quite cover the range of emotion I'm feeling right now.

Enter this week: probably the most intense week of milestones regarding the kit build. My cube-mate is gone - she is on vacation. So anything "Ess" submits to the queue, I have to audit and validate - as well as anything my other co-worker does. However, it isn't as simple as auditing and validating - nope, there is also training involved.

To her credit, she seems eager to work - but it is driving me FUCKING insane. Yes. I used the eff-word. I am in major overload here.

My experienced and newly promoted co-worker keeps saying, "Girl, you gotta give her some work! Train her!" I say, "Holy crap, dude, I have no time!" He says, "Just give it to her! She isn't doing anything! She has to work!" I say, "I was here three whole weeks before any of you gave me any work! Why should it be any different for Ess?"

And so it goes...

Today I flat out refused to validate or audit any of her work. I said, "I'm too busy and I cannot take the time out for training. So sorry you got dealt the short straw this week, Ess. The work requests are Normal Priority, so we can put them off for a day or two."

In talking with a friend who also works at the same company, I realized that part of my resistance, reluctance and resentment stems from the fact that for months she gave me what we call "stank face." In fact, my friend says she's not sure how I'm doing it - she isn't sure she could be cordial under the same circumstances.

But she could be - and I'm learning how to be as well. Yet at the same time, I will admit that I do not want to train her. I do not want her taking my book of work. And most of all, I do not want her on my team. At all. Admittedly I might not feel so strongly, had I not gotten so much attitude and rudeness from her before she was assigned to our team.

It's true - I was not happy to hear we'd be getting a T1 to train. I still don't know why she didn't go to another team, unless the others were more vocal about not needing someone. We weren't asked - however, we also don't have weekly meetings like the other teams do. So, I'm sure the other teams knew well ahead of time about the influx of these three homeless workers, and put in their bids for nay or yay - I wish we had the same opportunity.

My newly promoted co-worker told me that he would like me to take tomorrow off from the kit build and focus on Ess. I told him I'd rather do the kit build work. But... short straw, since my other co-worker is out. He's the most senior, and so I suppose I'll have to train her.

I'll be hating every minute of it. I wish I could call in sick tomorrow, but as we're a company with no sick time, no PTO, and a policy that says you have to have a doctor's excuse if you're sick - you can best believe I'll be there... even though I'd rather be almost anywhere else.

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Contest Entry

NHS (Nevada Humane Society) is holding a contest in support of their current "Less-Adoptable, But Still Lovable" promotion. Below is my entry - wish me good luck!
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I love cats. I have cats. I know that makes me – a single woman of a “certain” age - a walking cliché. I was determined to break the cliché and get myself a dog for my birthday. This required many visits to the Nevada Humane Society – about two a week – to check out the dogs. So imagine my surprise when it was a cat that caught my eye.

His name was Buster, and he was one of the Virginia City rescues. I first saw him on Facebook: he was the only one of the bunch who didn’t look scared or cautious. Below his picture were no less than 15 posts all stating that he was a lovely boy, along with an expressed interest in adopting him. I was quite surprised to find him at NHS, as there had been so much online interest in him.

He communicated with me, so I spent time with him. He was bony, and had something wrong with his left eye. Despite his physical challenges, he was friendly and playful. But I was there to get a dog, so I left to check them out.

The next time I went to NHS, he was still there. What? So many people were interested in him. Why was he still there? Was it because of his eye? It actually looked worse. Was it his lack of teeth? I had no answers.

A week later, Buster was still there. He’d had eye surgery, and his eye area was shaved and he almost looked worse than when he had a growth over his eye. Still, he was glad to see me and pushed his paw out, beckoning me to come closer. I did. I talked to him a while, petted him, and then told him I was going to go visit with the dogs. However, when I left it wasn’t a dog on my mind – it was Buster.

Finally, I couldn’t fight it any more – Buster, gross eye and all, was going to be my next pet.

He required medication for his eye – and it was not easy to put on. I decided I could do it, filled out the paperwork. I was told he’d need a special diet and of course his eye would need to be looked after. However, at that point I could not be dissuaded – it was obvious he was going to be my “dog.”

His eye still doesn’t look right, and although he was supposed to be on a special diet of “pate,” he decided he likes dry food better, and gums it on down. I’m still not quite sure how he does it –it is kind of fascinating to watch.

Don’t tell the other cats I told you so, but he’s my favorite. He is the easiest cat to have around and he’s affectionate, in an easy, undemanding way. He greets me at the door, and he follows me around the house. You know, kind of like a dog, only without the bark.