"It's A Happy Day..."

So, I got attitude instead of cake and a request to give up my Saturday mornings to “help out”. Idiot.

But that’s okay. I put up with that for two weeks and now I have my own office with a cute little window that is bright and sunny in the morning (it faces east), a radio in my office, decaf coffee just a few steps down the hallway, and a seemingly amiable group of people to work with.

The President is (aside from his pipe-smoking) rather fun to be around, I am being trained by my sister (or at least someone who acts a lot like her and has her first name, though she spells it wrong, and is just as nice), and did I mention I have a radio in my office?

I have recently loaded my IPod with a ton of classical music and was listening to it (sneakily--having long hair comes in handy here) when I would get too stressed at my previous job (so, yeah, all the time) but now I can hook speakers up to it and play it all I want without hiding it… Hooray!

I got in my car at 5:08 p.m. and pulled in my driveway at 5:14 p.m.. Heath said I didn’t seem too excited, but I think it’s just that I am not about to have a nervous breakdown. I am content. And that makes me happy.

So, it will take a little while to settle in, but the lady training me will be in 3 times a week, and will stay at this office for about two weeks (or until everything gets caught up) before moving to the other office not too far away.

Ahhhhhhhh.

3 hours...

Still waiting for my cake. Though, the ignoring me part is nice. What little dialogue there has been betwee us has been short (and far from sweet). You'd think I just ran over her dog.

But that is okay because I only have 3 more hours....

Oh, wait, it's getting even better...

Seriously? She walked out here with an attitude and ask me when I think I can come in again (on a Saturday...) to help out and at what time? Really?

9 hours 15 minutes

Update #1:

No cake. Barely a hello. Straight into "Where is....?"

I'm okay with not getting a cake, it's more the fact that she did it for one. One who is completely done, whereas she still wants me to help out when I can.

3 days, 18 hours, 18 minutes, and 30 seconds until 5:00 p.m. 4/27/07

Update:

1) Told my boss on Monday that no, I would not stay. Was offered anything/everything: name my own hours, work, pay, etc. Sat through another half hour or so of begging to stay. (I still doubt I am getting a cake)

2) Managed through a week of snide comments, annoying people, stupid people, and general "feeling bad".

3) Resisted the urge to become a "Missing Person" hermit in the woods.

4) Took every break (2 10-minute breaks a day) and every complete (hour-long) lunch for the first time on any regular basis since I have been back.

5) Had conversation with the boss when she finally decided to talk to me consisting of several you're-leaving-and-you-screwed-me comments. Would have preferred she not talked to me.

6) Looked at priority put on my desk at 4:30 Friday with list of 5 documents to be done by 3:00 Monday, shrugged, and continued training PL/Biller.

7) "Worked" on Saturday to train poor PL/Biller on my job.

One more week. I can do this.

I got a new job! I got a new job! I got a new job!

Hooray for me! I technically didn’t even apply. They got a hold of my resume and gave me a call. Anyone looking for a legal position, send your resume to the local bar association. It works.

For those interested in the details:
It’s a Legal Secretary/Bookkeeper position 10 minutes from home. Jeans on Fridays, all major holidays off, and they care enough about their employees’ well-being that sometimes they just give everyone a day off. I will even have my own office. Bookkeeping is the main part of my job, but it should only take approximately 20 hours a week, and the rest of the time I will be doing legal secretary work.

In 2 weeks I will be done with my 50+ hour work-weeks. Overtime is on an as-needed basis, but not the norm.

So, 10 hours less a week plus 40 minutes less driving time a day, I’d be insane not to take it!

Does anyone want to tell that to my current boss? After an hour and forty-five minute discussion Friday in which she tried to convince me to stay, I broke down and told her “I am not going to make a decision right now.”
Gasp and call me an idiot all you want--it's different when you’ve been under that much stress for that long. I’m not completely stupid--I am not staying. Even after the email I received from her this weekend. Unfortunately, I now have to go through the entire thing again on Monday when I tell her no.

Free

I got a new job. And food poisoning. Or the flu. Either way, it was bad.

But I got a new job, and that is good. Now I just have to tell my boss.

I Dream of Sleep

Dennis Leary has an entire skit on NyQuil. The stuff knocks my husband out for hours. Everyone I know raves about the stuff and how wonderful it is when they are sick and can't sleep. They just take 1 dose and off to la-la land it is.

Am I the only person on this planet that the stuff does not work on? I take the normal dose and am lucky to sleep for an hour.

Stupid cold.

Life-styles of Stressed-Out Felines

The devil's greatest trick was convincing the world he didn't exist.

Several of you have at least seen pictures of my cat so I can't say he's convinced you he does not exist, but he has obviously convinced you he is not the evil devil's spawn that he is.


Here is his story.

We got Cheyenne 1 week before our wedding. Short version: Mother and kittens were "dropped off" in a hospital dumpster where they were found and rescued (almost immediately, for those animal lovers out there gasping in sad horror). A week before our wedding we were playing cards with friends who had adopted 2 of the rescued kittens, and, well, who can resist teeny, tiny adorable kittens mewing helplessly at your feet? I picked them both up and they nestled into my hair and it was so adorable and cute and I got all maternal-like and just had to have an adorable-mewing-kitten-who-liked-to-wrap-up-in-my-hair of my own. So that very night we picked up one of the 2 kittens that were left, swung by a store to pick up all the essentials and began our journey as cat owners.

First thing you should know: I tend to be more of a dog person, Golden Retrievers are my favorite, but I like German Shepards, Huskies, etc., but I like (almost) all animals. I was raised in an environment that allowed for several pets (and some chickens) and I loved it (except the chickens--and roosters. Hey, you try getting on a school bus with chickens nearby, or try watering several dogs while running from a rooster, those things are mean.) Second oh-so-important note: We were supposed to be getting a female. They had 1 of each and they wanted to keep the male.

He is not a female.

We got him fixed like most people should unless you are willing to be responsible for the potentially numerous offspring, and declawed.

I'm not sure exactly what went wrong; maybe it was the night we dropped him off in a house with 3 screaming kids so we could go on our honeymoon. We had to pick him up after we received a call saying he was under the table and would not let anyone near him, including his kitty brother and sister whom he had only been separated from for a week. See, he has always been grumpy. It's not like he has abandonment issues.

Let us remember the time I had to get a tetanus shot and take antibiotics because he bit me. And the time he bit my mother-in-law after she had been feeding him all week while we were on vacation. Then there was the time the assistant at the vet almost dropped the cage when he made a cougar-like sound that had us all in stunned silence.

For you Cheyenne fans out there, you will note I have added a link to the "Green" post on the sidebar (now that it has become so popular, I wish I would have given it a better title), since my cat has somehow elicited your empathy. However, before your Cheyenne Crusade goes global, I would like to say that my cat, as annoying as he is, can be adorable and friendly and cuddly. As long as you pet him when he wants and how he wants, all is well.

I write to vent

I'm sick. Fever, throat on fire, everything moving in slow motion, sick. But I'm at work today. Another employee has today off as it is a holy day (see below) so I have to be here. Also, I am still fighting to take the next 2 days off. So, the boss walks in at 8:00 this morning, looks at me, and says "What's wrong with you now, you look like crap."

Nice.

I almost never call in sick. I take days off for vacation or a long weekend here and there, but those are planned in advance, so to me this seemed highly inappropriate. I told her I was sick, that I had what another staff member had when they missed a day and a half of work (which is unheard of for her, also) and what my husband is getting over. She said, with a tone of such frustration and anger I wasn't expecting, "Well then why don't you just go home."

Excuse me? Really?

It took everything I had to not drop the paperwork I was holding and walk out the door.

Random

I made lasagna yesterday. Good things happen when I make lasagna. Usually, it's just that I make my husband happy and that makes me happy, but yesterday it was even better.

I got a call while preparing said lasagna from an attorney. She said she was familiar with the office I work in, and familiar with me. She was familiar with me and she still called, that's a pretty good sign. She asked me some generic questions, asked me what I currently made and then asked me to contact her staff tomorrow (today) to see if we get along. Another good sign. You don't waste your staff's time talking to someone you don't want to hire.

Not the job I was currently after (a corporation across the street from the last corporation I worked for is hiring in the legal department and since I didn't learn my lesson from the last corporation, I went for it), but it's another option.

Yay. It'll help me get through today, anyway.