Winter's a-coming! Season of Death Mini-Rants

The BBQ Pit
861

The cats have finally won. At the conclusion of our previous episode, I was keeping them off of the couch with an impromptu barricade of boxes and other obstacles. I finally decided to clean up a bit and they resumed their siege in earnest. The male, who refuses to clean himself (as far as anyone can tell) and is a walking fur storm, jumps up on to the couch to my right. The female likes the armrest to my left which is where I keep my keyboard. But using pensive/pouting looks when the space is occupied has trained me to remove the keyboard to make room for her.

Never think you have won any contest involving a cat. Any intermediate victories are just part of the training process.

862

Attention Shoppers of Apparel, when you find a coat or sweater on a hanger in a store, it will be, more than likely, zipped/buttoned up. This is to keep it from falling off the hanger into an unkempt, unsightly puddle on the floor. If you would prefer to NOT have to shop off of the floor, PLEASE, please, oh pretty please, for the love of all things sacred, activate that zipper thing on the front before you put it back! It’s Really. Not. That. Hard.

863

Memo to the gurgly spot in my tummy: Shut. Up.

It’s a quiet office. I forgot to buy broccoli anyway, I didn’t eat a bunch of beans for dinner, there’s no reason I should be gassy, no one else wants to hear it - least of all me - so shut the fuck up already. Seriously? Every three seconds?

Shut up, stupid gurgle.

864
  • gurgle *
865

Feed it! :smiley:

866

(Or fart.)

867

Swing by that coworker’s cube, the one you don’t like? When he’s at lunch. Leave your fart there.

868

Day 2 of new supervisor. He comes around with the payroll form we have to sign. I look at it and see that it doesn’t have the 3 PTO days I retroactively asked for in order to cover my illness. The one I had a sheet from the doctor (not a doctor’s note, but the diagnostic sheet from the visit) which was accepted by the Ops Manager as being a valid excuse for missing 3 days. I ask him about those hours. His response? “If it’s not on there, assume you didn’t get it.” I ask him to check on it. He does not.

Hey, way to tell me that you don’t give a fuck about me.

I forgot to ask the new Ops Manager (my former supervisor who got promoted) by the end of the day, so I stopped by yesterday on my day off and asked him about it. It takes him all of 5 seconds to pull up a document showing that yes, I will be paid for those days. And he’s going to have a chat with my “Drill Sergeant” (as I called him) supervisor about how he addresses issues with his people. As I said “Great impression he’s made on the team in only two days”.

Asshole.

869

I await his being fired with glee, Chimera.

870

I hate to be back here already, but it’s a nice place to vent.
Is there any feeling in the world worse than feeling stupid?

Saturday I had just stepped into the shower when I thought of something so damn important that it just couldn’t wait. “I only just stepped in,” I thought. “My feet aren’t that wet, and besides, I’ll dry 'em off on the bathmat, so I can pop into the kitchen and pull the puff pastry out to thaw while I’m getting washed up.” Great idea! The thawing process will get a whole eight minutes head start!

I was fine on the wood floor. But the minute my stupid, not-so-dry feet hit those kitchen tiles, BAM!!! “Why, hello, floor. What brings you up to the back of my head?” Slid on my bare butt right into the oven door. Now I have two bruises on my arm and a very tender spot on my jawbone, which for some reason shows no mark. Maddening (that much pain, I want something to show for it, dammit!) but also good, since no one at work can start assuming my new husband beats me or something. I’m lucky I didn’t hit my head worse, but jeeeeeesus christ on a cracker do I feel stupid. Especially since I didn’t get around to the pastry till that evening - wound up sticking it into the fridge once it thawed out. Why the fucking hell did I think it was so goddamn important that I had to go hurting myself!?

No more slip’n’slide in the kitchen.

So of course, going to go pick up my co-worker on my way in, I turned one street off and got myself all turned around, thus re-starting the stupid shame spiral I started on Saturday.

I hate feeling stupid.

871

I expect that is sarcasm. Oh, I know he’s not going to get fired for anything short of turning on the Director, since he’s one of the Director’s favorites. Of course, having seen two other of the Director’s Favorites quit in the last month and a half after they fell out of favor, we’ll see how it goes.

872

It’s not. Just because Guns can be a royal bitch doesn’t mean she’s only a royal bitch. :stuck_out_tongue:

873

Nope, I fucking loathe incompetent managers like that. **BT **nailed it pretty well. :smiley:

Ugh. I can’t imagine your Director is too competent, either, if this is the kind of person they prefer.

874

So, it’s not a mini-rant, but man how much better I slept last night now that I have clarity. Face the future is my new mantra.

875

The man lives with blinders on, seeing only the numbers in front of him and not the human element. In June or July, when we were swamped, stressed, demoralized and unhappy, and getting low numbers because of a lot of shit beyond our control, he had the balls to come into our team meeting and tell us all that we didn’t know how to do our jobs and needed to get our shit together. Jackass.

Rather than interview for positions and take people based on qualifications, he chooses his favorites based on their numbers, attitude and their youth (younger and less experienced = easier to bully and less likely to know what is and is not legal or kosher), then puts them in the positions as “acting” whatevers. The once a year he’s actually required to interview so that he can give them the real job title, it is not entirely surprising that the people who get those jobs are the people he’s already placed in them. It also makes it easier for him to replace people if they’re not towing his line and kissing his ass.

When I interviewed for a Supervisor position a year ago, and was told that despite having actual supervisory and other leadership experience that I didn’t know enough about what a supervisor did - so he went with an 18 or 19 year old guy with a GED (who I worked for later in the year and who subsequently quit because he couldn’t hack it) - he mentioned something about having been there two years and still working on getting “his” people in place. I firmly expect that when the economy cycles around again and jobs are more plentiful, the good people will flee this place like the hellhole it is, and the spotlight will be solidly focused on his wonderful people skills as the key reason for everyone’s departures.

Until then, all that matters, like with every other boss good or bad, is the numbers. The higher ups can ignore, excuse or gloss over a lot of bad behavior if you just maintain good numbers in your department.

876

I looked back a couple of pages looking for a sign of what this was about. Didn’t see it.

Maybe I’m shooting in the wrong direction here, but I’ve found one solid fact over the last 10 years that I didn’t know before.

When things are bad, threats are magnified. I’ll leave you. I’ll fire you. I’ll punish you. I’ll do bad things to you. Departure from these situations is frightening and almost never desired.

But departure is freedom.

Like the jackass I have for a boss now. Do this, do that, do as I say! Really? Dude, the worst you can do is fire me. If do you, then sure, you’ll think you’ve won since I’m gone. But it is really win-win for both of us. I win unemployment, and I win not having to put up with your shit anymore. Thus, the guy has no power over me. (The only power people have over you is the power you give them.) He can make all sorts of threats, demands, he can scream and bluster. And I can honestly smile and laugh in his face, because I know the limits of his power and I know the truth of Departure. I no longer fear it.

Divorce was frightening and mega painful. It tore me apart. But now, 7 years on, I recognize it as a huge blessing and boon. I don’t have to put up with her bullshit, her insanity, her destructive behavior.

Every departure is only the opening of a new door. A new job, new people, new friends, new skills, new learning, new opportunities.

And the real reason we fear all of this is simple. We fear the unknown. We fear being powerless. We fear our lack of control over what happens to us after we depart. We fear the losses we may suffer in the process. We fear to leave our comfort. It is the not knowing that scares us.

So we tolerate awful things rather than face that unknown.

877

Consider THAT printed and posted on my bathroom mirror.

878

It’s only the beginning of November and I’m already heartily sick of the low angle of the sun. When I’m out & about, it’s IMPOSSIBLE to avoid getting rays of blinding light stabbing directly into my eyes. Irritating, painful, and dangerous while driving. Sun, get back up in the top of the sky where you fucking belong.

Man, I’m cranky today.

879

You could work an hour or two later every night. Doesn’t that sound like a *delightful *proposal? :smiley:

880

I learned the hard way that freshly lotioned feet and wood floors do not mix. No stove, though. Door frame. Then I did the splits like I hadn’t done in 25 years. Whacked my head on the wall. Now I just live with sandpaper feet.