1:10 a.m. - 2004-05-08
Dharma
The first train stop into downtown is just a block or two from one of the homeless shelters. A lot of our city's homeless have jobs, they just can't afford housing because it is so expensive. Quite often as the suburban crowd are departing the train at that stop, a lot of the shelter's residents are climbing aboard for their morning commute. Makes for some interesting moments some mornings.
One of the aboriginal residents/workers was trying to cheer up one of his friends, so he started into what was obviously a well rehearsed stand up comedy routine with a definite "Native" perspective. Leonard was his name. His stories were both very funny and sad - sometimes at the same time. A lot of the riders didn't know how to take it. That time of the morning a lot of us are barely coherent anyway.
Work was productive, but a lot of thorny issues around ethics came up for me. Because I move around so much in the industry, there are times when knowledge I gain at one place of employment can be applied at another. The question is sometimes, but not always, if that is appropriate. A lot of shades of grey showing up today and it wasn't something one wants to discuss with a supervisor on the client's worksite. My supervisor did drop in today to see me and my co-worker, but I hadn't reached the data that really had me worried. I emailed him just now asking him to help develop some guidelines or questions I can ask myself to determine which side of the line some of the issues fall. Touchy, but critical to address.
When I arrived in the office this morning, I was a little overwhelmed. I had been given a regular secretary's chair to use at my desk. Problem was it was causing me extraordinary back pain. It wasn't an issue that could be addressed by fussing with said chair either, because the problem was the design of the chair itself. I switched it for the visitor's chair that was also in the office I was given late yesterday and found that helped quite a bit. This morning three of their staff arrived at my door with a different, ergonomically correct chair and footstool. Then they helped me adjust all the furniture, including the height of the desk and table, to fit me to a tee. In most places the fact that I'm breathing the same air as the regular staff is seen as an intrusion. Asking for a chair or desk that doesn't cause me pain would be unthinkable. Here I didn't even need to ask. Also nice was a detente between the lady that resents my headphones,T,and me. I think maybe she's realized that I'm not doing it to shut her out. My liaison, A, is very happy with the quality and quantity of the work I'm doing and has been talking about it with the rest of her team. I think T made the connection with the use of the headphones and the quality of work. Also, my co-worker and I got put on the company internet and e-mail systems in addition to being given our own phone lines. Very nice change from the usual treatment we get - I'm savouring it. My supervisor is also very happy with how things are going. I came home to find a very nice email from him waiting for me.
What really emphasized the day's events as special, was the get together I had with one of the women I had made friends with on the contract I was working on a year ago. We went out walking quite often then and I would tell her what it was like trying to deal with the supervisor I had in that workplace - the one who seemed to sit up nights planning another mean thing she could throw at me and the students I worked with. Today she was telling me about the effects of the reorganization in that company on her. She is being treated like I was then and she is really struggling to cope. That is made worse for her, because her hubby started his own business a couple of years ago and it still isn't completely stable yet. She has to stay where she is in order to be sure that they can pay their bills. The measure of a company or a person, for that matter, is how they treat you when they know that you are vulnerable like that. I think sometimes she thought I was over-reacting to that treatment, because she was quite secure last year. Now it is different in that she realizes how much that psychological abuse can wear you down, when you are already under the gun before you walk into the workplace. It can be coped with when the company or person is causing you stress unknowingly, but to almost taunt you with you weaknesses - single parenthood, financial distress brought on by outside circumstances - says a lot about the perpetrator's real character. She talked for about four hours while we sipped our coffee and rode home together on the train. I hope she felt a little better being able to talk freely about it with me. I know she certainly helped me by just listening last year. I think I'll keep my ears open for other jobs coming open in her area of expertise when I'm out and about. She is a really nice person and deserves better.
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