12:23 a.m. - 2004-06-14
progress
Arrived at the office at about 9 am today. We aren't supposed to open until noon, but my automation co-ordinator and her assistant had a lot of work to complete before they could start printing the revised electors'list. Part of the problem was that when I told them to book time off each, they didn't check or they ignored their calendars to account for key high volume work dates. The assistant had booked yesterday off, but had to be called in to do his tasks. He was a bit frustrated, but I can't hold people's hands when it comes to their responsibilities. It never occurred to me that the workload would not be taken into consideration before taking time off. Silly me.
We got word from Ottawa that the shut off time for additions of electors to the list had been changed from last night to 2 pm our time today. Bonus, more data entry and more names on the list. Started calling people in to work extra hours if they wanted them. Looked up to find the supervisor who had caused so much trouble the past two weeks in the office. First of all, she was booked off for today and second it was three hours before we were slated to open. How was it that she knew that she could get in and why. Oh just to take the bottles to the depot. Ummm fine, but the depot doesn't open on Sunday. She left very quickly once she realized I was there.
Originally I had been booked off to go to a family picnic that was scheduled to celebrate my Dad's, 2 sisters', one brother and one in law's, two sons', and one niece's birthdays. Summer babies. Last night my assistant got a call from his wife at about suppertime, letting him know she was following the ambulance carrying their youngest son to the hospital as a result of an injury during a soccer game. He had broken both bones in his lower leg just below the knee. A knee brace that had been there to protect already damaged ligaments had been too inflexible to allow the leg to move so that the bones snapped instead. Ouch. Nothing could be done last night in terms of surgery - metal rods inserted to bone - so my assistant wanted today off, in anticipation of the surgery being done today. He came in at about 3 pm very upset. Cutbacks in our health care system mean his son might have to wait two or three days until an operating suite and an orthopedic surgeon can be matched up at the same time. His son is in Grade 12 and has departmental exams starting this Friday. He could have to repeat the whole term if the provincial board won't make allowances. Sometimes that happens, but usually not. We'll see where that one goes.
The automation assistant who had retrained most of the data entry staff took our best data entry person and asked them to go back and correct the errors that the mistraining had caused last night. He was to report his findings to the assistant today, so I asked that that discussion take place in my office so I could get a handle on what had gone wrong. I want to ensure that training next event is more efficient. The young guy noted that most of the problems were of minor impact to the accuracy of the lists, with the exception of inclusion of postal codes. Those determine where a voter is directed to go vote. That is critical information. One female was doing most of the damage there. The question had been posed about whether one or two of the male clerks had been adding or deleting names on purpose. The response was no - the errors were understandable based on the paperwork that was being entered. Had everyone improved as a result of retraining? Yes by leaps and bounds. Any recidivism. No. That should help me when I address the bulliers tomorrow. No direct confrontation about behaviour, just take away the "reasons" given for the abuse - poor performance.
During the morning I was able to catch up on all the statutory work I was struggling to ensure was on time. That was a major relief. I started preparing for the new teams and tasks that are about to take precedence in the office as well. Pulling together supplies and information, creating packages as a result. New staff start tomorrow, for that. Most of the afternoon was taken up with issuing Special Ballots to voters walking in. Also spent some time with my recruitment officer - the who had helped clean up the mess we found yesterday. She was a lot more content and secure today. I think she realizes now that I will back her up when she is badgered about placements and procedures by other staff. She acknowledged that she understood clearly that she had only to answer to me. Good. The list was started printing at about 2:30 PM. My assistant indcicated that he would stay until it was done then take it to the printer at around 6 pm when it was done. The office officialy closed at 4 pm so his wife took me home because I was having difficulty staying awake any longer.
Tonight I just napped,ordered supplies on line for the office, paid my bills,cleaned house and read to my youngest and the cats. The babies are walking a bit now so we lay on the floor and let them gambol and crawl all over us. Very relaxing for a bit.
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