22:37 - 23.11.05
breaks
Missed the bus this morning. I could have caught it easily, but my intuition was so strong about not taking it that I listened and went to the corner store for coffee instead. Maybe the body just hijacked the sense so it could get it's jolt of juice earlier. Could be, I suppose. A theme began to develop as I stood waiting at the bus stop. First a young teen talking to one of his "motherly" classmates. He was describing several epiodes of being bullied by one particular classmate. That included being hit across the head with a metal baseball bat. He was expressing frustration because when he had told one of his male friends about one threat, that male told some of the rest of the group. Apparently that enraged the bully even more, so that he became even more abusive. The young woman's comment? "Well maybe you shouldn't tell anyone next time." Oh yes, that code of silence, the bully's best friend.
On the bus, a group of the young couples' classmates of the female persuasion were sitting at the back of the bus. The theme continued. Two of the girls were describing in detail their latest phyical fights with other girls. They were talking about "fair fighting". As in no hair pulling, biting or use of fingernails into the bargain. Straight punching only. They both seemed really proud of their "code of combat". If the word bully had been applied to them, I'm guessing that they would have denied that label vehemently. They did have a point, when they spoke of the school administration's reaction to their one friend's behaviour though. She had beaten up another girl quite severely based on the description of her injuries. What did the administrators do? Suspended the girl who was battered for being the loser. The one girl commented with a snicker that "those administrators are getting stupider by the year". May not be grammatically correct and there may be other factors that weren't discussed that would create an entirely different picture, but the other girl - the batterer - apparently has been issued a restraining order with respect to other classmates and isn't allowed within two blocks of the school. That "punish the victim" syndrome is very strong in the theme. Don't make the community safer, just hide the evidence of the violence. That was definitely the response from school administrators when my youngest was being bullied a few years back. When they had a meeting with the parents of the group of boys who were serially bullying many of the students at the school, their response was to demand that those children, including my son, be bussed to another school rather than addressing the bullying behaviour of their own children. The only reason the school administrators didn't cave into those demands was that I insisted I would bring the police in if they did not stop the shake down of the vicitms for money. The other thing that was known about those students was that they were pushing or abetting drug dealers who worked out of the back of their cars in a parking lot near the school and that some of them were also very active in a break and enter ring run out of another school. Yes of course why would we want to nip long term criminal behaviour in the bud.
Got to work just before that 8 am start time imposed on me as punishment for breaking the workplace code of silence. Began working away to the sound of alarms going off. "Just fixing the system", said one of the liaisons as he bustled by. Fine. The second in command called just before lunch to see how things were going. Nothing to report really. I still hadn't had enough sleep from the past few nights of stress so the one issue I had - struggling to stay conscious - wasn't really reportable. My responsibility and challenge. At one point I caught myself just as I was falling forward in to the box I was working through. Bet that looked really professional for the security camera directly above my workspace. Maybe it wasn't focussed on me at the time, eh? It made me mad enough at myself so that I found ways to stay awake for the balance of the day. Just after lunch, my cell phone was flashing so I picked it up. I could hear the person on the other end of the line, but they couldn't hear me. Great, another piece of technology bites the dust. Two more calls came in that I couldn't take, so I emailed the one contact at Elections Canada that I like hoping they were on duty today. When there was no response, I asked the one liaison if there was a phone I could use to register the problem with EC. Can't have parliament dissolving and me without a clue can we? As I was making that call in the employee staff room I could hear the table full of males discussing bullying in the workplace - this one I think. They were really loud, so it was difficult to hear the support network person on the other end of the line. Fortunately she was very patient with my requests of her to repeat a couple of things for me. Probably thought I was just doddering.
Went for a quick bio break. The alarms started ringing again. One of the admin staff running through the washroom telling every one to get out now, there was a fire in the building. 5 million boxes of paper. That would burn for a while if it took hold now, wouldn't it? I went back to my station thinking I should probably get my inhaler for my asthma at the very least. Smoke triggers my symptoms you see. Realized after verifying that the purpose of the alarm was to evacuate the building due to a fire, that it was likely just a drill. Why? No smell, no smoke, no ceiling sprinklers going off anywhere and no heat either. Especailly as an asthmatic, I think I would know long before most others if there really was any sort of flames anywhere. Not being able to breathe is a good first clue. Decided that since I was at the station, that I would power off the computer for security and also take my office in a bag with me. Remembered to grab my diskman, but forgot my inhaler. Guess I wasn't as calm as I thought I should be after all. Made it out to the mustering point and stood around waiting for roll call to be finished. Because all visitors must sign in our roll was called too. That took about 20 minutes, because of the number of staff and also the noise level from the highway right next to the building. Made it difficult to hear anything that was said. Emailed the second in command to advise her about the lost time and to ask for more supplies then blasted through one of those nice easy accounting boxes, god bless accountants everywhere, then headed home for the day.
Came home to more pre election work. Trying to get any of the technology supplied working was a first priority - the printer now having given up the ghost too. Must have a techno-demon lurking about somewhere. Lucky I don't have automatic doors and lights in my home, I suspect they'd be unworkable too and I'd be completely hooped. The home phone was nearly out of charge too, so I could only call my assistant back. Her comment about being shorted on my contract by a couple of weeks? Well it' all for the best since it was clear the bullying wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Maybe so, but I'm the one being punished again aren't I? No wages and probably no new contract with all the hoopla about the possible election call either. How am I supposed to pay my bills then? Why is it the bullies are still on the job collecting their pay and being allowed the pleasure of celebrating the yearly festivities while I'm sent home as an inconvenience. Don't know, but I guess I'd better go do some laundry and visit with my youngest before I go to bed. His day didn't go well either. A visit to the doctor about soreness in his knees and shins has him all worried because of a remark the doctor made about possible sources of discomfort. Personally I think since the pain seems to be most intense after he runs or works out at the gym, I would be inclined to think that therein is the obvious solution. The doctor muttered about tumors, for heaven's sake, even though palpation of the bone revealed nothing but, well bone. Has my son all upset now though and it is difficult to argue the point with an absent-from-the-conversation authority figure. If my cell phone was working I would call him up for an explanation tomorrow, but that isn't likely to happen. Maybe tomorrow will be better. Maybe the theme tomorrow wil be "unexpected lucky turns of events". You think?
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