11:10 p.m. - 2004-08-10
Jailhouse Rock
Heavy fog and air that was almost a blanket of cold water when I went to catch the bus this morning. My tummy wasn't so roisterous but with the fever hanging on it felt good. One young woman sitting on the outside aisle not allowing anyone access to the empty seat by the window - she had placed her backpack on the seat as an additional barrier. I excused myself and stepped across to sit down - there being limited choices left. She reached inside the bag and started punching the side of it facing me. I glanced over and saw the title of the book she was reading - "Understanding Schizophrenia" - there seems to be a pattern developing here. Anyway got downtown thoroughly distracted from the fever and nausea with minimal bruising. The young woman got off at the same stop as me, but a young man sitting with us shielded me from any other parting shots from her.
The elevator ride brought all the queasiness back and then some - not going to let it win. Looked at the documents on my desk and found that they had been messed up in my absence. The other contract came by as I was trying to reorder them and asked if she could borrow some of the supplies I usually keep on my desk. We looked all over but they had disappeared. I found something that could do in a pinch for her then went back to the documents in question - the co-ordinator standing there watching stating that she found that happened to her too. Work space in open areas seems to be an invitation to some people to help themselves to whatever. Plugged in my diskman to try to help myself concentrate and found that it had been run completely down - no juice. Not an auspicious beginning. I just focused on surviving to lunchtime. My chiropractor was back from his holiday in Toronto so I didn't want to miss my appointment. Besides that there was a sale on slips - ones with a single slit in them. I found one for one third of the regular price and bought it. See there was a good reason to go to work today.
My liaison came by early on and set a time for us to meet at 3 pm. She took one look at my face and said I could go home before then if I was feeling too ill to cope. I thanked her (I think) but thought that since she was going to be gone for a couple of weeks I couldn't afford to give in to that luxury. I wanted to know from her exactly what her priorities were for my work in her absence. Continued on but was getting increasingly nervous about being in the stacks for any length of time. Each day so far there has been at least one incident where someone has unlocked the rolling shelves I've been working in. Several times I've nearly been squished. Today was the worst. Yet as I explained to the other contract last week I'm paranoid about being in the stacks any more. Most of the files are now brouught to my desk to work on and I check those locks every time I go down the row. Someone has to be really determined to catch me off guard. Happened once this morning but the afternoon incident was really scary. Two of the males had to come running to stop the thing from closing on me completely - the library co-ordinator insisting that the locks had been undone and she hadn't seen me working in there. So much for the adjustment from the chiropractor.
Finally got to meet with my liaison at about 3:45 pm. Not unusual given that she was trying to get all the loose ends finished befor e leaving today. I felt sorry for her when I looked at the stacks of data she still had sitting on her desk. I showed and told her about the odd stuff I'd found while going through the material I'd been given to work with. She started checking it in the database and it just got weirder. First assignment - go through it all document it and then liaise with a consultant I haven't yet met to get it resolved. She called the IT people to have them set up an account on her computer - I'm to work in her office in her absence. What about the security of the documents she's been working on. Not a problem. Um sure. Next up, get working on the new software to learn all the ins and out for the bulk of the work I was hired to do. I'll have to liaise with her brother on that as well as with respect to the other tasks assigned. A major redesign of the library means all of us will have to move and that a lot of material will have to be shifted back and forth while new work stations are being set up and configured for us. Well it will be nice to have something that hopefully will allow more security and privacy while we work. Now if only they could do something to make the rolling shelves safe. Maybe alarms on the locks that go off when someone tries to disengage them with a big spotlight that shines on the culprit. Background music - Jailhouse Rock?
Arrived home late and found a reply from the agency that had asked me to supply a reference for one of the workers I had during the election. They apologized for the errors in the template and stated that they had been withdrawn immediately they heard about them. Apparently, an overzealous intake worker had added them without permission. Fair enough. I emailed back and commented further on a couple of points thanking them for not being offended - that wasn't the intent. Earlier on I had handed in all the documents that my liaison had asked me to sign with respect to company policies except the one on collecting and using employee information. I told her I would write my essay about why I hadn't signed it based on this incident and some experiences I had while working on personnel files. She said their lawyer would probably appreciate the insights. We'll see.
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