1:04 PM - 28.09.04
Slave of the system
Morning began a little later today dear diary. Parent teacher interview at the distance education office. That`s how my youngest is doing his schooling. The topic was which subjects he should be working on now and his progress to date. His progress not stellar and not anywhere near what he is capable of doing, but as I noted to the Administrator, he is my sixth child through our public education system and having him move at a pace that works for him is better than forcing him into a pattern that will result in him giving up or dropping out. Children aren`t cattle anymore than adults are. Treating them as if they are tells them you don`t really care about what they are capable of as much as you care about worshipping the god of the almighty system. Anyway that was discussed and then we decided as a group that phys ed and science were good choices. The meeting was cross town from where we live so it was necessary at 10:45 in the am to have a cab drop me off at work so I wouldn`t lose any more wages, then proceed to the programs depot in another totally inaccessible corner of an industrial area with my youngest in tow to pick up said program material. When I got home after work my son was in high gear with the science package. No doubt - all the trappings of a lab including chemicals, microscope, safety gear and a working car model to test various scientific principles - right. The cats are a bit wary of the car scooting around the floor. Can`t say I blame them.
Arrived at the office at 11 am. I always feel a bit disoriented when the day is truncated but scanning was what were my marching orders for the day. The reconstruction on the records center has begun and it is terribly noisy. I popped on my headphones and didn`t hear a thing, except when the brother, the liaison or the co-ordinator came by with questions or asking for help with their tasks. The liaison and I discussed how to deal with all the documents that should actually have been sent out with the disposition. Scan as quickly as possible so it is available on-line for potential buyers then set aside for filing when possible. Fine.
The brother`s in house scanning software had been deinstalled when the consultants download of material - still running on the terminal after four days - crashed. Could I look after that task since the tech deemed it urgent - the one who was criticizing the fact I had two chairs yesterday. Come to think of it I`ve seen two or three in her office so I don`t know what the complaint is about. Anyway - I digress. Tried scanning on my PC only to find that an error message was the only response - terminal error abnormal something or other. I took a screenshot, placed it in the folder set up for me on the shared drive since I haven`t been given e-mailprivileges then called the help desk. The tech Ispoke with doesn`t know anything about the scanning programs and got quite testy about my questions. She just said she would have to ask someone who did know and then have them call me back. Fine. Did a reboot of my PC and found that was enough to get things running anyway. Called back and let her know for future reference.
Then the co-ordinator walked in to my cubbyhole carrying a set of labels the brother had produced for a file that had gone awol at the beginning of the month. He had given them to me so that I could follow up with that file when it was returned by the phantom of the records room. The odd thing was that when I had left the evening before that set of labels had been at the bottom of a foot hile pile of documents waiting to be scanned. How did she come to have them? Her tone was a bit sharp as she demanded to know where the file in uestion was being kept by yours truly. I pointed out that there was nothing but discrete documents sitting in my work area - I only retain what can`t be put away. No files or pockets in sight.
At 5 pm I was just winding down to the end of the stack of documents I had promised I would finish scanning before I left for the day. Put the last budle in the scanner`s hopper and halfway through it just stopped dead. No paper jam, no miscued functions, nothing. Finally the same error message as the one that happened on September 10 appeared on screen. Cancelling the process could have unforseen results including crashing the computer. Called the brother so he could see exactly what was happening. Last tie it happened he had been late for work and missed about two hours of struggle to get the beast back on track. He thought the sister should also see the problems so off I went trying to locate her. More screenshots and a request from her to write up a report that I could email to her with the screenshots from the first instance as well as this one. Right I don`t have email. The diarized information is what is recorded in these posts since I was told not to provide any documentation or reports for this assignment by saaid liaison. As I was packing up to go home I noted to the brother that I would email the relevant parts of my diarized report from the first instance from home. He commented that I shouldn`t be doing that unless I was paid properly for it and that it should be done on the company`s time - not my personal time. I said I would be delighted to do that but that iI had never been allowed the luxury. Anyway you can guess how Ispent the last hour or so - right dear diary? Editing out the non work related stuff and tightening up what was left. Won`t get paid for that either. More resumes going out this weekend I think.
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