...is what I wanted to say on Tuesday.

I am a project administrator for a national engineering firm. That means that I do all the administrative stuff dealing with keeping a project running from start to finish.  Generally speaking I love what I do and I love the company I work for, just not the project managers in the construction department and only some times do I like the other engineers in the building.  It's because they are a bunch of big babies, complaining at the easiest of tasks.

Yes, there is a lot of paperwork to fill out.  Yes, it's all your fault that I require it all before helping you out. I have been burned too many times to try and help out.  My job description says I have to find ways of saying "yes".  So Yes, YOU SUCK!

Some of the easy business practices we ask to have in place are, a signed contract BEFORE doing the work. It's not hard. The client (or potential client) calls up and asks, hey can you come out to my project.  You say, Sure, let me send you over to my admin and she will collect the information needed to get you set up. As soon as you fax back the contract I'll schedule some one out.

It's not a new practice, getting the contract.  It's not like I dream these things up to create more work and headache for myself and everyone else. No, it's dictated by our corporate office and the business practices across the country.  Hell, you can't get a cell phone without signing a contract. Even signing up to free websites you have to click the I Agree to your Terms and Conditions (umm, yeah that's a contract - have you ever read it? No, me either).

And if that's not bad enough, if your client is violating the contract by not paying us on time you need to stop working for them until they get caught up. Wow, this is a unique concept I know.  And let's take this one step further, if you client is not paying and we do stop working for them, do start working for them again until you have 1) a contract and 2) payment that they owed us from the past and 3) payment up front for any future work.

Well, I got into a huge argument over this very thing. It's been going on since August. Finally the project manager (if you can even call him that since he doesn't "manage" anything) brought me all the paperwork that I had been requesting for this whole time on Tuesday.  I told him, we're not to do work for these people ever again. He said, we can't make that call.  Like, when does the client have the control over whether we work for them or not - they don't we have the power. He got all pissy and called his boss in to talk to me. I told his boss (who is just as bad) that I wasn't going to talk to him about this because I was not the one who made the decision to not work for the company anymore. He said - I am going to talk to you about this! I told him to get out of my office, but he wouldn't leave. Finally it resulted in a shouting match and me just about walking out. Luckily, my two best buds (one is my boss and the other is my office room-mate) at work heard the shouting (they were in a meeting in the conference room) and came running out as I was grabbing my purse to leave. They talked me into a calmer state and my boss let me take the rest of the day off if I wanted. I had a nice lunch with my husband and went back to work a little later. I couldn't abandon my admin co-workers since we are already short handed.

Yesterday I got to sit down with my boss and her boss to go over what had happened. They both told me that what I said was correct, that they wouldn't have changed anything except to have me know I can walk out on someone that I'm not willing to talk to when I think it will end up as heated as it had. They also told me that they told the two guys that they were to listen to me when I said I wasn't going to talk to them about this and that they would need to immediately stop talking and walk back to their office.  That was nice. I don't mean to be such a basketcase when it comes to my job, but I take my position personally. Now, I'm sure I have a horrid reputation. I have been involved in three of these incidents before this one. That makes four (for those who can't count).
1-Environmental Manager who started shouting at me because I told him the computer program wouldn't just let me set up his project the way he wanted me to and that I would need all sorts of information from him to get it to work.
2-Biller who called HR on me even though I did not yell or say anything to personally attack her. She was pissed because I called her out on doing something completely against company policy (enough that it could have gotten her fired).
3-Biller Supervisor who yelled at me because I had called her employee out (see above) and told me to mind my own business after some choice words.
4-Tag Teamed by CMT Project Managers.

As I walk the building I now feel like everyone is staring at me, wondering if I'll blow up at them. I often seem "unstable" and a little bit crazy but I think I only let the really crazy side of me show around admins and not the rest of the office.

The issue I most hate to deal with is that I am held accountable as if I come up with the policies and rules myself so the anger and hostility is directed to me. My job is to be accountable keeping the policies and rules in place and making sure people follow them. I wouldn't be happy in any other position at this company to keep the heat off myself because I would hold the same high standard of following the procedures. It's just that the higher I go in the company chain the higher the staff level of the people I piss off.  I am called the Nazi and the Gestapo afterall, and it's not completely undeserved. It was Hitler who made the rules and it was the Gestapo who enforced them. My boss says it's just a sign that I'm doing my job right and not backing down to pressure. I guess that's fine, but I don't want anyone else yelling at me (or for them to push me so far that I yell at them first).

Tags: office politics
Current Location: Office Desk
Current Mood: calm
Current Music: 101X, Austin radio station

 Every major religion does it as it grows, takes the local belief system and either converts or adopts it as it's own. I can only say that Christmas is one of the largest celebrations that does not belong to the religion who claims it.

I proclaim myself to be a pagan. The remainder of my family is Christian. One year during Christmas dinner with my family a discussion topic was brought up by my brother-in-law. He said something to the effect, "Those people are trying to take Christmas away from the Christians." I was rather offended, since I was one of those people. I chimed in with you can have your Christ Mass, but everything you think is fun about this holiday is ours. For example:

Christmas Trees - Pagan
Christmas Lights - Pagan (used to be burning of candles to welcome back the sun)
Candy Canes - Pagan mostly (the color red is important to pagan goddess worshipers and we were tending sheep long before christianity came to be)
Carolling - Pagan (used to be called wasailling and the people of the village would bring their mead into the forests and fields, sharing and signing, enticing the earth back to life)
Present exchange and Santa Claus- Pagan, who the hell do you think "Father Christmas" is? It's not baby Jesus!

The fact that it is celebrated during Christmas when you know there would not have been a sensuous performed in the dead of winter. This is when the pagans celebrated the Birth of the Sun God from the Goddess (the ultimate divine virgin). Christians celebrate the Birth of the Son of God.

Now, I'm not like some pagans and I don't mind calling my celebration Christmas.  It doesn't matter what you call it and many non-pagan people have no clue what Yule is anyhow. And how would you do holiday greetings, is it Happy Yule, Merry Yule, Jolly Yule? It's easier to stick with main stream in that case.

I'm not trying to take anything away, but just look into the deeper meaning of the holidays you celebrate. You will find similar instances with most major holidays (St. Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween all fall on major pagan solstices, important times of the year).

Tags: celbration, christmas, pagan
Current Location: Office Desk
Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: None

 My Best Birthday had to be my 21st birthday.  Not for the regular reason many people might think - being able to legally buy alcohol and drink at a bar.  No, this was truly something special.

My birthday lands on Thanksgiving about once every 7 years.  This happened to be one of those years.  My family was gathered at my parents house, the one I grew up in, for Thanksgiving dinner.  My boyfriend was with me too.  After dinner we sat around chatting.  It was time for dessert and I had a slice of "cheesecake brownie" (which happens to be the most deliscious dessert ever!).  I realized I needed something to drink, so my honney went to the kitchen to pour me a glass of apple cider.  Even though I was legal to drink I wasn't comfortable drinking in front of family.  He returned with a crystal flute of the cider when everyone else was drinking out of plastic cups.  I knew something was up.  He handed me the glass, told me not to choke, and went down on one knee asking me to marry him.  He had put the ring in the cider.  My whole family was owwing and ahhing.  Since some of them knew what was about to happen, they had the camera ready.  

I can always remember the day he proposed, plus I got to spend it with my family!  Thanks Sweetheart for truly making my birthday special!

Tags: hpwriting2, unforgettable birthday, what do you have to say?, writer's block
Current Location: Office Desk
Current Mood: ecstatic
Current Music: None