11:57 p.m. - 2004-05-30
Look Away
Sort of a good and bad start to the morning. I had found I was able to get into the Elections Canada intranet, so I was trying to open and print off the 10 memos I hadn't been able to get into last night. However, the smallest, weakest kitten that I wrote about last post died in the night. The mommy cats were very distraught and needed comforting. The problem became that the cats were climbing all over me and the keyboard, demanding that I remove the dead baby and cuddle them first. They did settle down considerably when the little one was dealt with. I was able to get the rest of the work done, although it was with a telephone stuck between my shoulder and my ear as I talked with another Returning Officer who wanted to compare notes. Problem solving and co-ordinating other activities made me feel better. It was good to talk with someone who knew exactly how I felt and could give me the pep talk I needed.
That came in handy when I opened the office. There was a voter who needed a ballot immediately, because of an assignment that would mean she would be untrackable for the next month out in the wilds of our country. She didn't want to vote right away because she hadn't received any information about some of the candidates in her riding. Problem was we still haven't received all the materials we need for any of our tasks and I needed something to complete the process which is very stringently monitored and regulated. Called Ottawa and needed to be shifted to a more senoir level of response. The problem was that all the supervisors had the day off. Uh huh. My contact was able to locate one of them on their cell phone, but she was driving on a freeway somewhere in Ottawa. We waited until she could safely pull off the road and then worked out a solution. One happy customer.
Got a call from one of the other Returning Officers at about that time. We chatted a bit about what was working or otherwise for each of us staff wise - we know people in both offices. Next was some good old horse trading. None of the Calgary offices received all the critical supplies each of us needs as I mentioned above. However, each of us got some things that the others didn't. Sometimes photocopiers are our best friends don't you know. I traded her some office equipment for some kits I couldn't reproduce otherwise. Peer support and comfort, I guess.
In the interim training for door to door and in office registration had begun and a flood of people were coming in the door. The co-ordinators who had been looking after reception had given that pool of staff the day off, thinking we wouldn't need them. The three teams hadn't discussed their schedules either and had a conflict with use of the AV equipment. They also had not prepared all the paperwork for their classes, nor thought out how that was to be achieved. In a panic they tried to load that on to my plate. I explained that their failure to plan was not my emergency and insisted that they clean up their own mess. In addition, they hadn't consulted me about when I would be available to swear everyone in. They found that I was pretty frustrated with them because my statutory priorities had to be completed today and I couldn't take the time away from my duties to cover off for their lack of planning.
The printer called with several problems that had arisen as he had gone through the material I had sent him the day before. Most of it arises from weaknesses in the software we have to use which simply does not allow us to fulfill some of our statutory requirements. Fro example the Voter Information Cards are supposed to be completely bilingual. Some sections can't be coded properly to do that. Called Ottawa on that and they said yes they knew about it, but they couldn't do anything to rectify the situation. Fine.
The printer also noted that some of the alignments on the camera readies were wrong. I told him to do whatever he needed to address that. He wanted to know which of the 5 specs that had been sent to him were to be followed. Still no answer from EC.
One of my responsibilities is to calculate the amounts to print for each polling division, based on a formula that Ottawa has devised. The weakness in that is that we are to base it on the estimated numbers of electors they have come up with. Now when the number of electors they have for one poll is "0", but we know that there are two large apartment buildings newly built and occupied in that poll, do I follow their instruction and calculate "0" plus the formula or do I deal with the real world. Me, Im a realist first. I'll apologize later if need be.
The other stressor with the printing was that Ottawa had only sent us the new formula based on the new pay rates the night before - the one where I couldn't get into my e-mail to open their memos. Not available until this morning that is. The constant interruptions and the trouble shooting I had no choice but to do with my team leads, meant I couldn't get that work done properly either. Finally finished getting the polls in the schools I lost on Friday redistributed and the data entry necessary completed at about 3 PM so that my Automation Co-Ordinator could print off the balance of my camera readies. The final stressor was that the constant demands made it very difficult to do the proofing that was necessary. The degree of attention to detail demanded is very high and it requires concentration and time. When was all this work due by statute - yesterday at the latest.
My Assistant and I drove over to the printer's home with the final camera readies, just to be certain he received them without problems. He lives in one of the oldest areas of Calgary and the layout of the community is very different from any urban configuration that I've ever seen. Being that the community was a "Railroad Town" that was owned by our national railway specifically for its laborers it looks more like a modern trailer park even though the units are all single family dwellings - and very nice ones at that. Once I got home I sat down at my computer and started the calculations from scratch just to be certain that the distractions of the day didn't affect the accuracy of that work. Got that all done and faxed them to the printer too with my comments and concerns included. I'll let his decades of experience be the final arbiter on all the printing problems I think.
There were a couple of bright spots in the office. One was the two new workers in the recruitment office, both are working out well and are providing me with support instead of demanding such high maintenance. The Assistant I picked for my Automation Co-ordinator is a "can do" type of guy and he does whatever is necessary. He has done some really good trouble shooting without having to be asked and without overstepping the parameters of the other parts of the endeavour. The woman I want to act as office co-orcdinator came in for her first shift and we were able to scope out some plans while I was scrambling to get things sewn up at about 3:30 - our office closes at 4 PM. Facilitating, guiding, and babysitting if all else fails she will take a lot of the pressure off me when I'm under the gun.
Got home to find my youngest had whipped the upstairs into shape. The cats are still all spooked from the various adventures - mousing and birthing so there was a lot of time spent aking certain my youngest got the praise and attention he deserved and the cats got the guidance/discpline they needed since they were acting out. Tomorrow will be better - right?
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