12:29 a.m. - 2004-05-30
busybees
One of my team leads and his wife picked me up today. Stopped by her office on the way in. It's a registered charity that helps people with disabilities. Very well set up and while we were touring I noticed a stack of chairs sitting in one room. That is one thing we are short of for our training sessions. I asked if I could rent them as needed. The charity then gets extra income and I don't have to fuss with going through a rental service.
Arrived at work to find a call waiting for me from one of the other Returning Officers. All the computers across Canada were down;had been since late last night. No word on when they might be operational again - turned out they were out of service until 3 pm. So much for a few more deadlines - I still haven't received critical documents I am to send to the political parties, but I can't do much about it. I couldn't get into my e-mail at work. When I got home tonight I was logged in for about 20 minutes - time enough to download and print 3 memos, but there are still another 10 waiting that I can't even open.
Next up this morning, I asked the person I had in mind if they would be willing to step into the Supervisor's position left vacant when I moved him into the Assistant's position. She agreed with some trepidation, because she didn't feel she had enough background. With this position the greatest skill required is excellecnt organizational abilities teamed with good people skills. She has those in spades and is a quick study, so I have no worries about her at all.
Domino effect meant I had to fine a replacement for her position as well. Called one of the newer office staff in. I watch all the new ones closely just to make sure they have the best fit for the tasks they are assigned. He showed the balance of initiative with a very careful analysis of the context of the puzzles I had set him - something that was well suited to the position I wanted hime to fill. He has a background in security that can best be utilized if I put him in that position too, freeing up some time for him to apply those skills as well.
My Recruiting Officer had asked if she could bring two of her friends in to train as back up for when she goes on her week long Caribbean cruise in another two weeks. The first lady, who was in the evening before seemed fine, except she expected too much of herself given the constant interruptions that position entails. I wasn't worried about her productivity level, but she was stressed out about it. I need to get her to relax. It is a very people oriented job, so what I need most from her is a warm relaxed approach to the applicants she contacts. The second lady who came in today is one of those "still waters run deep" treasures, I think. There was way more potential than what was presented on paper. Very shy to start with, but she came out of her shell with some time and attention. I like her a lot and will move her up when there are openings.
More new staff brought in to fill positions that are becoming active and the first formal training seesion for the door to door registration today. Good choices for the most part. I have some qualms about one couple who asked if they could observe our office's activities as a favour, in anticipation of having similar duties themselves. Everyone here does whatever tasks need to be done. So far they've complained about their wages, their desks and what we've set them as tasks to complete, even refusing some work outright. Fair enough and even quite justified sometimes, but Primadonnas aren't helpful and don't last long. We don't have the time or inclination to cater to their demands. Nor should we. Who knows maybe they'll come round.
A lot of questions about why and how I determine staffing the last few days. Almost a subtle struggle for power being insinuated into the office, hidden behind the problems I was having with the Assistant who quit yesterday. I tracked down the source and also did some education as a result. The education came from a series of memos that I printed off late last night. They outline the legal requirements I am expected to honour and address the confidentiality issues I have been harping on, to the rolling of some people's eyes. Those notices got posted at strategic sites all around the office so the whispering will stop - I hope. I also moved another desk into the office of the person who seems to be the source. She was the only one of the managers not having to share and she was starting to rub other staff's noses in it in a rather nasty way. I let her know in advance and just noted that our staffing will expand rapidly this week, so I have to have more work stations and that is fact. I don't know if I'm going to have enough space for every body. I don't think she really absorbed that information until the actual placement, because she came running into my office a couple of times after acting very disoriented and upset about "her space". She also was very upset that the memos had been posted for everyone to see. Disturbing, but we'll see if that is enough to stop the behaviour.
I got some of the camera readies done once the computers were operational again and sent them, specifications for the ballots,an affidavit, and the Preliminary Voters List to my printer late in the afternoon. He was right pleased with life as a result and that is good. I also went with one of the new staff I've moved up in position to the storage site we had and emptied out the remaining material. I wasn't quite certain what all was left, although most of it seemed to be copies of all the legislation. I can close down that contract by the end of the month now.
We close down at 6 pm on Saturdays so going home - even in a good downpour - was quite exciting. My youngest had taken three of our older cats over to number one son's home because they suspected they had field mice sneaking about the place. I checked on the kittens and found the smallest was really weak. I think what was happening was that the bigger babies found him the easiest to push off the nipple he was nursing from and he was losing even the strength to get up to nurse. By the time my youngest got home I had been able to get him enough nourishment, simply by protecting him while he fed, that he had a lot more strength although still not nearly enough. We created a little incubator for him and our attention to him seemed to get the message to the mamma cats that they needed to give him more care.
The cats who had travelled with my youngest on the mousing venture seemed very tired and glad to be home again. Don't know if that's from chasing rodents or because the grandchildren were chasing them. Probably a bit of both I think. My oldest son's partner is working in another returning office working with voters and ballots. When he stopped by to drop off my youngest and the cats he asked if I was aware that my ex-assistant had called her. My son said that he had kept her tied up on the phone for a long time trying to get her to explain her position to him - wanting to know all the details and all the steps involved one by one. My son said his partner finally told him to call the Help Desk in Ottawa because she was afraid he wasn't understanding what she was explaining and she didn't want to be held liable if he made a mistake. Maybe he was thinking he could step into that position instead of quitting altogether. I would have allowed that but I think the medications the doctors have him on are impairing his ability to function quite severely. He must be feeling very frustrated. However if I don't want my health to go the same way I guess I'd better go to bed too. Good night dear diary.
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