00:51 - 04.11.05
Icebergs
On my way to work this morning there was a large German Shepard wandering along the street with a leash still attached to his collar. At one point, just as I passed him, he came running at me and was barking. I was wondering if my heavy desk-in-a-bag would be enough to fend him off if he decided to bite, but fortunately just stepping off "his sidewalk" into the snow seemed to pacify him. The area I was in was open space where the only shelter was the bus stop. There were two people sitting in there and I didn't want to involve them in any way, in case they were bitten as a result. I was looking at the traffic wondering if anyone would stop to help if it had escalated. The one thing it did do was get me moving faster to get to my own bus stop, which was a good thing since it arrived just after I did. Maybe that dog just knew I needed to hurry up a bit eh?
The driver of the feeder bus chatted away to me as we moved from my community to the one where I catch the long distance bus that takes me to the warehouse. He was just telling me about the number of accidents there had been yesterday, because of it being the first real snowstorm of the season. Drivers here just don't want to accept that they have to slow down or watch for ice. It's not like it's that big a surprise, is it? This happens every year at this time - snow and really dangerous driving responses. Is it really worth killing someone or dying because one wants to get to work a few minutes earlier? I really admire the way most bus drivers handle the traffic woes, because the busses are often targets for the road rage sets' frustration. He seemed to have taken it in stride and was just hoping people had settled down a bit today. Slept most of the rest of the way to work after transferring to the second bus.
The atmosphere was a lot less strained at the warehouse today. I just kept to myself and my usual routine, although I had to have my headphones off for a while while I shifted stacks of boxes around sorting them into the next stream of work that was required for the contents. The staff working at the next station are very loud, but I try hard not to listen. Guess I need those remote headphone things. You know the ones where you don't need to be plugged in to the unit to be able to pick up the sound.
Things got a little stessful after lunch, but it might hav been my own stuff being projected onto the communications. First was the group email to all transgressors who had not returned their temporary security cards back to reception. As posted to you earlier dear diary, I got in trouble from the second in command for asking for a permanent card re-issue. Not wanting to arrive at the downtown office tomorrow, only to find that card deactivated along with my original pass, I emailed back with the emails from last week attached so the receptionist could see that I wasn't being careless with the company's assets - her point being that the loss of temporary cards was adding up to be a big expense for the company. Then things went weird again. Suddenly I received an email back from her that was copied to just about every other supervisor I deal with. The person who responded asked a couple of questions about the situation. Then my computer crashed. I had to back out and reboot before I could get the beast back up to respond. She answered that email and asked some more questions. The beast crashed again and again. So I ended up just leaving her a voicemail before I left for the day.
Added in was an email from my supervisor setting a meeting with herself the second in command and me for Friday morning to discuss the project and "other issues". Quite frankly, I would just like to be left alone to get this projject done. I reported the problem as I was trained to do over the past decade of work and I haven't seen a reaction as strong as this since the time it was discovered as a result, that something really shady was going on with the management of the data. The anxiety that one email caused is probably just a projection of that trauma onto the current circumstances - that incident happened exactly six years ago to the day and almost the hour. That time I was summoned into a boardroom where the door was shut and blocked by the then second in command - him standing with his fists cocked. The supevisor screamed and threatened me with all sorts of things for about an hour, then ordered me out of the office. Next morning I was told I was fired. Morning after that I went to see a labour lawyer and about a week later I was reinstated, although the next year was one round of harrassment after another. That was the work site where I would arrive, go throw up in the bathroom and then go to work. It was the one where even getting on an elevator was frightening, because I couldn't be certain who else might get on. Those two supervisors seemed to have a lot of allies. It was one of two places where I ended up with chemical burns on my hands from a substance placed on work equipment I used every day. Uh huh. I refused to be bullied out of the work, because I hadn't done anything wrong. See that post about William Wallace and the Scots culture's reputation for stubborness yesterday? Can't help my genes right? Just like a predisposition to heart disease or diabetes only less tangible I think. Or not.
So that essay on cultural blindness, as referenced to my own culture, played out when I went shopping for groceries after work today too. The liaison from Elections Canada who I called about the community outreach program called me back as I rolled down aisle number three - something about that aisle there is. Anyway we had a long discussion about the problem I was having with the local rep over how I want to carry out my tasks. He was the one who approved that program last year and he told me that he also helped draft the response from the second in command at Elections Canada that approved it again, while just asking for an expansion on some of the newer things we tried. I think I can proceed now by following the comments he made round and about. We'll see - deal with that this weekend.
Arrived home to find a call from the renovations supervisor. Could he start work on my fence tomorrow. Well as long as I can organize the post holes being dug by my sons, I guess so. I really want that done as soon as possible, but I don't know how many more activities I can handle this weekend. I have that paperwork to do for my assignment and a computer that is just barely operable - mine with another acting as a paperweight only - Elections Canada. They want to send in one of their techs, but I already have two appointments booked with various election staff here to get some work done. How am I supposed to fit it all in? Its all good news and shows progress, but I only have two hands to juggle with.
Next up was a call from the co-worker from the same agency as me. I had told her about the one job I had received an interview request for and wouldn't be able to follow up with. She was just letting me know about the contact she had with that recruiting agency. Turns out one of the staff is the recruiter who often would book me into those workshops and seminars when he was working at that other agency. He asked her to ask me to call him even though he knows that I have work (maybe) until the end of this year. I really missed the time I spent with him becuase he always made me feel good about my skills and offered a lot of coaching as well. Just a really nice guy. I called and left him a voicemail, so maybe there will be one good meeting to look forward to. Anyway time for bed again. Good night dear diary.
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