Another Day from Hell at Work

Today was uneventful. Yesterday, though, was a Day from Hell! It started off with only one call-off. That should have been my first clue.

The afternoon shift is the best bunch in the world. Except for yesterday. Antonio, my Hispanic worker, was on time. (Actually, he was early because he had a wreck over a month ago, and can't get his police report so he can turn it in to the insurance company. I appear to be his secretary AND interpreter, and I don't understand nor speak Spanish! I make his calls for him.) And Nikolay, my Russian worker, was on time. Cho, my Chinese guy, called off. His girlfriend........ or his fiance'...... I get them mixed up.... had to go to the hospital. Vinny, my Kentucky guy ( I consider that another country, therefore an alien) called off because his sister was mugged in Meijer parking lot and they were calling credit cards, changing locks, getting keys made, etc. That left me, Nikolay and Antonio.

While I was helping get the event rooms set up, they called housekeeping on the radio. (I want to blow up all radios) Apparently there was water leaking down from the ceiling in the ladies locker room. Now, a guy can't go in there. So, I got to play repairman. I knew the leak had to be the a/c unit and caused from condensation. Well, it was partly that. But mostly, it was because our HVAC company was clearing the block in the a/c unit over the Pilates Studio which is next to the locker room. He blew the water out, which ran over to the locker room and found a place to escape.

Our maintenance man told me what to do. I listened. He said get a wheeled barrel. Get a chair. Climb up on it, tilt the tiles and let the excess water run out into the barrel. Sounded simple. So I did it. First one went smooth. I pushed up from the center to pop the ends. Water cascaded down into the barrel. I moved the barrel and the chair, and smugly attacked the second tile. Evidently the water had gathered to the BACK of that tile. When I pushed up from the center, the back popped up, and all that water cascaded all over me! Head, back, down to my feet! Water moves fast!

I did manage to empty the tile of water though. Then I had the ladies wait while the HVAC guy came in and tried to remedy the problem. When its humid, the pipes sweat. When there is no outside outlet, its gonna go somewhere... usually down! Andy climbed up, used his CO2 tank and blew the water back toward where he blew it from. Two of the old women came in and watched. I think they got a thrill out of seeing a man young enough to climb a ladder. He Is cute. Too bad he's young, bald and married. lol

After the "fix", I came home and changed clothes. Then I went back and told my boss I was resigning from female areas maintenance. The area can sink for all I care.

And you thought I had a hum-drum job! One of the teachers kept saying, I'm soooo sorry! She asked me later, Do you drink a lot? I told her no, but I was seriously thinking of remedying that!

I Love My Job, I Love My Job, I Love My Job......... click, click.

I'm still here. How come it worked for Dorothy?????

Projects

I am working on a project! One of the thousands that I have already started, you ask? Uh, no. I am making a Spring/Summer spread for my bed.

(I looked at all the projects I have started, said, Naah, I don't wanna do that this evening, so I started something new. I took the comforter off that I use during the cooler months. I had a white chenille spread on the bed, but I didn't like it after I got my furniture moved. Go figure.)

I had some (duh, I have a LOT!!) material that I had no idea what I was saving it for. Turns out, I was saving it to make a spread for the bed!! I have been cutting and pinning, and cutting and pinning. Tomorrow I may sew it all together. Or maybe the next day. When (not IF) it is done, it will be neat. Sort of bronze shimmery stuff. I like it because I can make pillow shams of all different colors!

I have a million pillows on my bed. I use two. Three at the most. The others are just to make it look even, I guess. Anyhow, I figure I can use all those scraps of material that are mainly blues, whites, grays and shades of red, and make some really neat colorful shams. Should make my room really colorful............ for the couple hours a day I get to spend here.

My youngest daughter and her fiance (for 6 years now!) bought property. They have busted their asses getting a basement built. They both worked two jobs the last few years to do this. They bought a double wide trailer to put on it. Custom built. And it arrived last week. She is waiting for me to do a painting for a house warming gift. I haven't started. I asked her what she wanted. She said, the carpet is burgandy. Boy, what a CLUE!

(That last was to explain why I am making a spread for ME instead of a painting for HER!)

Anyway, I AM working on my crafts!

A Little Bit About My Job

I get ticked off. Easy.

I have never minded working my butt off if that is my job.

Yesterday, we had a Bluegrass Festival, in addition to our usual grueling job. We had to rush to get it set up after the monsters....... uh, i mean Summer Camp crew.......... left for the day. We had no extra help; just my normal crew.

No problem. We had almost an hour to tear the pavilion down, put out trash, put up two tents, 5 tables, and run Do Not Enter tape, so nobody could sneak in.......... (mind you, this place is open.)

In the course of the day, someone forget to mention that there was an event in the Auditorium. A movie. Funny thing, this movie occurs every 3rd Wednesday. I happened to have to run past my office, and there was the gentleman who runs it... looking for me. The auditorium hadn't been set up, the sound booth wasn't open, and no tables were out in the hall for his movie sales..... not to mention the Federation Tower doors weren't open for the guests.

My guys, who were sweating as much as I was, whipped in there, cleaned the area up, set up chairs, set the tables out. In the meantime, I ran up, opened up the sound room and dropped the screen. Not a snag. We were done long before anyone arrived to notice the event had been forgotten. AND, we had the outside pavilion perfect! (We weren't the ones who forgot it!)

Why is it that, no matter where you work, the "little guy" (in this instance my workers, getting barely above minimun wage) never is applauded? If they were to go on strike, my company would collapse! They have NO clue what they ask for.

Years ago, I worked in a Nursing Home. Everyone was at each other's throat. So and so did so much more than so and so. Our Director of Nursing (one of the best women AND managers I ever met) decided that we should all learn what each person and each department Really had to do. We came up with " Walk a Mile in Their Shoes". The gist of the idea was, every department would participate, and find out what the other department had to do in a day.

She started the ball rolling by assigning the Nursing Supervisor to one of our Housekeeping staff. After one day, the nurse "had something important to do", and disappeared. However, that was the last time they tried that. And, they quit bothering the housekeeping staff about stupid stuff.

I find that I relate more to the laborer than the administrative personell. After all that, my boss told me today that I did a great job, and I could leave work early today. I'm wondering what I can do for my guys, who did, AND have done AND always do, such awesome work.

If i hit the lottery, I am starting a business. I am hiring all my best workers away from the company. I will appreciate them!

In the Beginning......... I was stupid.... and haven't changed!

All right. You don't want to know how many times I have tried this. God gave me blond hair. He made it darker as I got older, but I changed it back so I would have an excuse. I hate being dumb!

I came to the computer at a later age than most. That is to say, I was still writing with a pad and pencil when a lot of you were getting your first computer. And, sad to say, I have not improved much. Oh, I can still fake a lot. (If people get into a discussion about programs, servers, etc., I have found that you can nod your head, look pensive, and they think you are a pro!) However, I still love to write. With a pencil. Pens don't excite me, but I have one hell of a collection of pencils. My guys at work understand my fetish and collect pencils for me. Some of them have even learned that, to be a "special pencil", the lead has to leave a soft dark mark. Now they check the mark. Then they give me the pencil.

I started this blog because my (this is going to be questioned later, but I still swear it is the truth!) "daughter" Em has one, and I read it every chance I get. After only a couple years, I have come to the conclusion that this is as good as any therapy a person can get. Not to mention the fact that it is the ONLY kind of therapy that I can afford!

As is my usual, I am starting in the middle. I will fill in as I go....

Tonight, I decided to get organized.... in my home. I know I start too many projects and finish too few. I thought I would change that.

I took a pad and one of my "special pencils" and began..... Things to Put Away. and Things to Keep.

Then I spent an hour going through all of them. In the process, I finished two storage boxes, which I could now scratch off my list. Oh Gawd, they weren't even ON THERE.

I started the cleansing process because my bedroom is a shambles. My livingroom is great. I am never in there. I aimed to make my bedroom match my livingroom.

I drug out stuff I had started. Found a box to put lamp shades, lamp pieces and globes in. One down!

I got out my material that I had planned on using to make slipcovers for my sofa and chairs...........

Three hours later, my bedroom DOES look like my livingroom. The material is laying all over the sofa and chairs. I have pieces I think would make great accent pillows scattered on the floor. I moved some glass I intend to paint on to one shelf. And here I sit. I'm way too tired to continue tonight!

My pencil is still sharp and my list of Things to Put Away and Things to Keep is still empty. I wonder if I can start all over tomorrow?

Next time, maybe I'll get around to explaining Me. Or the time after next. Or.................