Work Drama

I don't usually post about work here because two of my co-workers are also MySpace friends and I link to my blog on my MySpace, but they already know about this and if anyone else finds it, they can go screw. Our company is being bought out by another, much richer company. It has been described by myself and other equally cynical co-workers as a sugar daddy situation where we're spreading our legs and taking it.

Last Friday, before I went to Rusty's, I received an e-mail that said, "Please note attached memo regarding weekly time sheets and the attached time study form that you are to utilize starting on Monday, April 28th. Thanks for you assistance in this matter."

At first I ignored it because I thought it had to do with people who submit time sheets to get paid. Then I read it more closely and read the attachments. One was this (partly paraphrased): "We totally fucked up in our last merger; therefore, we find it necessary to continue to assess various administrative needs within the agency along with the skill set of specifically identified staff members. This is being done in an effort to ensure smooth and affective [sic] operations in each program area. With this in mind, we have identified a number of staff who will be expected to complete a weekly time sheet of daily activities starting on April 28, 2008 until further notice.

Since you personally received this email, please assume that you have been selected to complete the attached time sheet. The time sheet must be thoroughly completed every week and submitted to X by 12:00 every Monday. The sheets will be reviewed by management on a weekly basis to get a better sense of what functions are occurring effectively and efficiently and what areas of concern have surfaced that need to be appropriately addressed. Questions that might arise through the weekly reviews will be addressed with you personally. If you have any specific questions/concerns, please feel free to direct them to our attention. [this will be important later] We want to thank you in advance for helping us complete this assessment which we feel will serve to strengthen our ongoing operations."

By the way, my supervisor didn't even know about this till I forwarded it to her with a WTF?! message attached.

Also attached was an Excel spreadsheet with days of the week across the top and half-hour increments on the side; the squares are approximately 2 square inches each.

This e-mail came from one of our VPs who is not directly over me and who, when I left the York office to go to Harrisburg, called me into her office and said, "Don't start slacking because you're leaving York." You all don't know me, but I am extremely diligent, precise, and hard-working. I've never gotten bad grades or bad performance reviews at work. I did have some shortcomings at my position in the York office; however, many of them were beyond my control.

On several occasions I have brought my concerns to management and my co-workers have made it known to them that I'm extremely underutilized. Apparently management felt the need to treat us like children instead of giving us the opportunity to assess the "various administrative needs" of our position ourselves or discussing with management what we believe to be our "skill set." Here's another great idea. Maybe if we actually got the performance reviews that we're supposed to receive, those could be assessed to determine our fucking skill sets.

One of the other mental health agencies in our area recently closed, so now we're pretty much it, which means not only are we getting all of their clients, we're getting all the clients who would have gone to the other agency. In the first 9 days of April I had done 80 intakes; before this agency closed I usually averaged about 2-3 a day. So, since my workload is so high right now and since I was off for three days last week and since our computer system will be down from noon Monday until possibly Wednesday and since I do a job that was previously done by myself and another full-time employees and since this is the beginning of the month, which is when I have to do the billing, I e-mailed this VP and asked if I could hand my time study in late due to the fact that I felt it was a more effective use of my time to do work that requires use of the MIS while it's working rather than to fill our a time study.

No dice. But she doesn't respond to me directly, she tells the director of the program for which I work, who is also not directly above me, that I can hand it in on Friday (this past Friday) if I can't do it by Monday. WTF?!?!?!?! If I don't have time to fill out the time study by noon Monday, how is it helpful to allow me to hand it in three days earlier!? Apparently logic isn't in this woman's "skill set." God, I hate that phrase. The poor director got an earful and I had a meltdown. Luckily, the upside is that those are more accepted in a counseling agency than they would be in say, a law office (the downside is that everything you do or say is over-analyzed and you're given a diagnosis).

So, being the slacking employee that I am, I spend 4 hours this weekend doing work to play catch-up. And you better believe I made it known on my time study sheet (I made up my own instead of the shitty one they supplied, thank you very much.)

File this one under it's time to look for a new job. At least my resume is updated.

In the News

There is a lot of ridiculousness going on lately. Two things from the paper today:

"New Haven, Conn.--Contraband candy has led to big trouble for an eighth-grade honors student in Connecticut.

Michael Sheridan was stripped of his title as class vice president, barred from attending an honors student dinner and suspended for a day after buying a bag of Skittles from a classmate.

School spokeswoman Catherine Sullivan-DeCarlo says the New Haven school system banned candy sales in 2003 as part of a districtwide school wellness policy."

Boys Tossed from Overpass.

It's things like this that make the future librarian in me want to cry.

Weekend Update

I hope my American readers had a good Thanksgiving and my international readers had a good time working while we were over-indulging...it's the American way! On Thursday I stopped in at Chris's family's house to say hi and then ate with my parents and my grandma (extended family drama, remember?). On Friday I cleaned; made a pumpkin roll; did laundry; did some other boring, productive things; watched part 2 of Planet Earth; and then went out to Red Lobster with my parents. I don't remember doing much on Saturday, so that must have been the day I spent hours playing Sims 2 *hangs head in shame*. I did, however, make Thanksgiving dinner for me and Chris--Cornish game hens, mashed potatoes, stuffing, brussels sprouts, and the 1 square inch that was left of the pumpkin roll that I made the day before.

On Sunday I went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant and then to IKEA with my mom. I got a bookshelf, a lamp to replace the one that broke, and some other odds and ends. I took Monday off work, so I put the bookshelf together and did some other productive things around the house, then I had class at night.

Which brings us to Tuesday. I went back to work and it was busy as hell. On my way home I got a phone call from Chris. My letter was in the morning paper and someone called our house and threatened to kill me. He said something to the effect of when I die it will be at the hands of a Jewish man. Apparently sarcasm is not taught in the Torah. It's ironic because I am totally fascinated by Judaism and the only group I love more than the Jews are the gays. There was an article in the paper tonight about Hanukkah cooking. I told Chris I was going to write to the paper and register my disgust about it...he didn't find that humorous. Anyway, Chris *69'd the guy and called the cops, but I wasn't part of any of this because Tuesday was Chris's 25th birthday and I was running all over East York trying to find the Futurama movie for him. The officer said we have to decide if we want to file charges or not. I don't; Chris does. I say the guy's a pussy, and if he really wanted to kill me, he would have done it. I called the station and the receptionist said the officer contacted the phone company and that number is disconnected and unavailable and he's supposed to call me when he comes on duty this afternoon. There's never a dull moment. Well, that's not true; there are plenty of dull moments, but the non-dull moments are massive clusterfucks.

So for now, I'm refusing to be afraid in my own home, standing up for the First Amendment, and looking forward to going to the Bears game on Sunday when I get to see my boyfriend Louis Robitaille punch some people.

It's Letter to the Editor Time

I read both of York's newspapers every day (I only subscribe to the AM paper, but I don't think the evening newspaper delivery guy realizes that) and I frequently read articles that piss me off, partly because I'm a pissy, irritable bitch, and partly because a lot of stupid things go on in York on a daily basis. I frequently consider writing letters to the editor, but I have only done so once...until today. York is my home and I love it, but it's a hotbed of ignorance and bigotry that I have to overlook in order to love it. If you have access to "Dueling Banjos," I would recommend playing it while you read this article.

The article (edited for length; full text can be found here):

Eastern York School District's board meeting was standing-room only Thursday night after more than two dozen people turned out to protest a diversity assembly held last week at the high school.

Kathy Freeland, who has a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old in the district, said she received no notification of such an assembly and was "disturbed" to learn that her children were addressed by a "gay man, an African-American woman and a Jew."

"I send my children to school to be taught academics," said Freeland. "I'll handle the morals."

*SNIP*

Offended by speaker: Many at the Thursday's board meeting said they were personally offended by the fact that the homosexual man who spoke stated that he was "born gay and did not choose to be gay."

Laurie Lehman, who has a 10th-grade student, said, "This is not what I'm teaching my children. We have a biblical-based belief system" and said she felt that proper notification should have been given to parents about the assembly and the follow-up meeting. "I want to be notified if a speaker is highly controversial."

*SNIP*

The Smiths said they felt that both sides of the story should have been represented. "Why not also include someone who used to be gay but now no longer is, or a Jewish person who has since converted to Christianity?" Laurie Lehman asked.

Trying for dialogue: Cathy Bollinger, diversity director at the York County Jewish Community Center and a facilitator of the assembly, also addressed the board.

"The goal of this assembly was to break down walls and hold a dialogue," said Bollinger. "It was never intended to hurt anyone. Yes, a York College man said he was born gay. He believes this to be true, that doesn't mean you have to believe it."

*SNIP*

Assistant superintendent Rita Becker said the intent of the assembly was to "erase bias and bigotry among our students and to teach that all humans are worthy of value."

*SNIP*

Becker also said the district would be failing if it didn't prepare its students for a diverse and ever-changing world.

"Personal bias can lead to hatred," she said. "We need to create an environment where all students feel safe and welcome."

My letter:

I read the article in Friday's newspaper about the uproar over the diversity assembly at Eastern York High School and I was appalled—appalled, I say!--by the fact that Eastern would have the audacity to teach its students about tolerance. I can think of nothing worse than forcing innocent teenagers to be “addressed by a 'gay man, an African-American woman and a Jew.'” What's next; teaching our children that it is acceptable to speak to a Muslim or a Latino? Not only that, but apparently the homosexual man said he did not choose to be homosexual. Who is he fooling? We all know how easy life is for homosexuals in an open-minded area like York.

I do not have children, but I would be absolutely livid if I spent 15 years trying to teach my child to hate others based on their race, religion, or sexual preference, only to have those ideas obliterated from his mind by a 45-minute assembly. Not only that, but the assistant superintendent had the gall to say that all humans are worthy of value. When I teach my child about morals and values, I will most certainly warn him about that sort of propaganda; otherwise he will be running the streets thinking everyone is equal. It makes my blood boil just thinking about it. I hope the administration of Eastern York School District is duly punished for providing its students a forum to discuss tolerance and diversity; that is something for which the good citizens of York County should not stand.

The Good and the Bad

First the good. Two Ben and Jerry's flavors have pushed Phish Food out of my number one spot: Creme Brulee and Coffee Heath Bar Crunch. For weeks I debated getting the Creme Brulee, thinking it might be nasty, but I'm so glad I did. The texture of the caramelized sugar is perfect. Of course, it has been sold out for me since coffee is my absolute favorite ice cream flavor and I every week since I tried it. Coffee Heath Bar Crunch is a no-brainerloooove toffee. Of course, Vermonty Python, One Sweet Whirrled (which for some strange reason isn't in the list of current flavors or the flavor graveyard on their website; I know I didn't hallucinate it), Cherry Garcia, and Mint Chocolate Cookie (no green dye!) are also awesome. I've actually only had one flavor I didn't like: Chubby Hubby.

Now for the bad: There's going to be an Oprah store in Chicago.

B.: Per your request, a Knocked Up review is coming soon!

Only in America

It makes perfect sense to me that a counseling agency would have to make provisions for people who have disabilities such as being blind or deaf. Those are obviously legitimate disabilities that people can't change. According to PA law (and I'm sure all the other states) we also have to provide an interpreter for people who don't speak English. "That's not so bad," you say. But take into consideration that the rate we have to pay an interpreter per hour is more than what Medical Assistance pays us for an hour of counseling, so essentially we're paying to treat these people. Plus, if a client doesn't show up, we still get charged for the hour, but we are legally not allowed to charge Medical Assistance clients a no-show fee.

We could be sued for refusing to treat these people; in fact, we could be sued for telling them that we don't have any Spanish-speaking counselors and referring them somewhere that does. Not speaking English isn't a disability. If you choose to live here and not learn our language, that's your prerogative, but don't expect to receive services that we have to pay for. We're a non-profit and we're in the red. Try going to France and expecting the same treatment.

Noooooo!!!!!!!

This is unacceptable.

*Hurls Disintegration across the room.*

My Christmas Gift to You

Wow. Check out the video for "Christmas Shoes" by Newsong, a Christian group I had never heard of before I heard this horrifically treacly song. Apparently some Dickensian-looking child is sent to the store by his father to buy a pair of shoes for his mother so she looks nice for Jesus when she kicks the bucket. The kid doesn't have enough money for the shoes so he scams the guy in line behind him into kicking in the remainder. There are so many things wrong with this song and video.

Nothing could be worse. Oh wait, I was wrong.

Merry Christmas, everyone! I leave you with some '80s goodness.

Good God

I hope this is a hoax, but I don't think it is:

JUDITH REGAN’S EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH O.J. SIMPSON

“O.J. SIMPSON: IF I DID IT, HERE’S HOW IT HAPPENED”

TO AIR AS A TWO-PART SPECIAL ON FOX

Special to Air Over Two Nights:

Monday, November 27, and Wednesday, November 29

Source