Trudging

By cliopatra

Apr

2

So, it’s Good Friday. And I’m at work.

For the last week, most of our vendors have been sending out e-mails announcing that they are either (a) closed today or (b) closing somewhere between noon and 2 pm today. Nice of them to let us (and their employees) know ahead of time.

Somehow, I always seem to end up working places where they treat days like this like some sort of secret. Will we be getting out early? If so, how long will they wait before they tell us we’re leaving early? Maybe at 2:30 they will tell us we are closing at 3.

I thought about taking today off, but on the off-chance we’re getting out early I don’t want to waste a whole PTO day, so I’m here, and it’s nearly 2 p.m.

Some smart people (smarter than me, I guess) worked until noon and then left for the day. The people who are as dumb as me are still here, but most of them are walking around saying “do you think he will let us go early?”

OMIGOD PLEASE STOP. THIS IS STUPID.

How about this: you know early release is expected, so either say “not going to happen” or tell us it will early enough that we could, I don’t know, make plans?

And seriously, when I was 22 this kind of drama was intriguing, but now it just annoys the shit out of me. I cannot wait until I’m the boss.

Sidetracked Again

By cliopatra

Oct

28

CALEXICO, CA - OCTOBER 9: Customs and Border ...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I did make it to workout with my workout buddy last night, got gas for the car, and even made it to the library to pay my fine and pick up the book I had on reserve.  At home later I did a few little housecleaning tidbits and a little personal writing, then decided to watch a little TV while I messed around on the internet.

I had set up some reminders for some things I needed to do, and my phone blipped to remind me that I needed to set up a couple of Facebook event notices on our local Mensa calendar, and also research some activities for a Michigan member who will be here in December.

POP! from outside.

All the lights went out.  Everything went out.  Transformer blew again, but this is the first time this year, that I know of.

I was sitting in the dark looking at my dimmed laptop screen, remembering that earlier in the day I had been thinking “we need D batteries for all of the flashlights” but didn’t get them.  So I stumbled around and found the lighter for the grill and lit a couple of candles and an oil lamp.

The electric company was out within the hour, but at 9:40 I ran up to Walgreens to get batteries (they close at 10) and just as I turned off my car in the driveway, the lights came back on.  I love progress.

So, things are getting done.  I’m making small strides every day, though my intention is to make bigger ones than I am actually making.

The good news is, I got the Facebook activities scheduled, and found some events for the Michigan member.  I also went to bed way too late.

Still… making progress.  Must focus on that, and not on what I haven’t done.

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The Day After

By cliopatra

Oct

27

Comune di Roma

Image via Wikipedia

Last night on the way home from work I had to stop and pick up a few things.  I loaded my purchases into the trunk of the car, and then took a few minutes to dig some loose change out of my car to pay my library fines.

I owe 50 cents, and I almost never carry cash.  I haven’t replenished my ashtray full of change in a while, so after digging around I was only able to come up with 35 cents.  I decided to delay the library trip until tonight, but did have a nice little freak-out when I couldn’t find the bottle of Sobe I had just purchased to drink.  I finally found it in the trunk.

I was beating myself up quite a bit for being unorganized, and feeling so out of control.  I was feeling a lot of anger and resentment over household chores, so I knew something had to be done.

Irish had class last night, so I went home and turned on one of the music channels through cable – Party Favorites.  I expected I would have to turn it off eventually, but it was just one song after another of fun and energy.  I heard everything from James Brown to Justin Timberlake, Sister Sledge to Lady Gaga.  Lots of fun.

I cleaned house for about an hour and a half singing and dancing to the radio.  I did a couple of loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, swept the floor, took out the trash and worked up a sweat.  I had originally set the time for 40 minutes, but I decided to keep going and also count it as a workout.

When Irish got home I had him start dinner and a couple of other small chores.  He never complains when I ask him to do something, but I try to keep the requests quick and simple.

Only personal writing last night, and a couple of personal housekeeping items, but I did get some play time in.  I really needed that.

I didn’t accomplish everything I wanted to last night, but Rome wasn’t built in a day.  I just have to keep a list and check things off as I go.

A friend of mine likes to send me little things she gets in her e-mail and this was today’s:

Today’s thought from Hazelden is:

It’s easy to look at all the tasks and unsolved problems and feel so pressured that we get paralyzed and don’t get anything done. It takes discipline to gather in our scattered forces and focus on one thing, one day, one step, and sometimes one hour – even when taking only that one step can seem so trivial in the face of all that looms.

Inventory Focus:
Are you creating unnecessary fear and drama by taking on more than you handle? Are you willing to trade in the I’m-out-of-control-and-overwhelmed feeling for a sense of manageability? Do you have any history with deliberately living life one day or one step at a time? How did that work?

Plans, goals, and dreams are good, but the only way to get there is one day at a time.

The link for Hazelden takes you to today’s thought on the website, which is different from that one.  They have an e-mail service where they send you a thought for the day, which is where this one came from.

I think I needed to hear that.

I was late for work today, but I’m clean and dressed and I’ve had breakfast, and really, life is full of small miracles I can look at and stop drowning in my self-flagellation.

One day at a time!

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Economics of Grocery Shopping

By cliopatra

Dec

9

One of these days the Today show is REALLY going to piss me off and I’ll just start watching Entourage in the mornings.

This morning they (the Today show) did a story on downsizing at the grocery store.  I think this story has gotten a lot of mileage in the past few months, so how it qualifies as “news” I have no idea.  But whatever.

I noticed grocery store downsizing a few months ago, only because the popular flavor of yogurt at the store was in a noticeably smaller package than the not-as-popular flavor next to it.  Same brand (store brand), same product – just different flavors.  The yogurt had been downsized from 8 oz. to 6 oz.

They were discussing this on the “news” article, and mentioned that most people never notice the downsizing, which is probably true.  I doubt I would have noticed, if not for the side-by-side comparison.

Then they interviewed a woman who said she would happily pay more for the same-sized product and felt “duped” by the companies who changed their packaging.  Interesting for 2 reasons:

1.  She is paying the same amount of money for less product, which means she’s paying more for the same amount.  For example (using round numbers):

In 2007, let’s say you paid 30 cents per ounce for ZUMZUM (not a real product).  So an 8 oz container cost you $2.40.  

In 2008, the company downsized the 8 oz to 6 oz, but kept the price the same.  So you’re actually paying 40 cents per ounce (.40 x 6 = $2.40).  If they left the same amount of product and raised the price to 40 cents per ounce, you’d be paying $3.20 for the thing you paid $2.40 for in 2007. 

And everyone complains that prices go up.

So let’s say you normally consume 48 oz of ZUMZUM per month.  In 2008 this would mean either six 8 oz cartons or eight 6 oz cartons.  Sure, the 6 oz cartons are smaller, but you get more of them, and you’re still consuming the same amount of product.  Almost seems like a better value.  Not quite, but almost.

2.  The grocery store and grocery companies aren’t duping her.  They have to print the amount of product right on the label.  Sure, they didn’t take out an ad or post on their website that they are doing it, but why would they?

Grocery companies say they downsized to be able to ship more product in the same amount of trucks to save costs on shipping and fuel.

PROFIT is not a dirty word, people.

Grocery stores and other companies have to do what they can to make a profit, even in a bad economy.  That’s why SOME of us still have jobs, because they companies we work for are doing what they have to do to make it in these scary times.

My recommendations: use coupons, and eat less.  I know I will be doing both (and need to!).

Minimize the Negative

By cliopatra

Dec

3

A friend of mine texted the other day to tell me she was reading blogs and was just so completely fed up with how people are so stupid, that she couldn’t stand it.

My advice to her?  Stop reading blogs.

What’s the point of torturing yourself?  There are misinformed people in the world, and they often have the loudest voices.  But only because people listen to them.  Remember that old question about the tree in the woods?

I’ve been trying hard recently to minimize negativity in my life.  I didn’t have a lot to begin with: my marriage is good, my friends are great, I have a very supportive family and a good job.

Yet negativity is everywhere.  Just look around and I bet you can find at least one thing within a 20 foot radius of where you are currently sitting that has a negative connotation.

It’s not just the news either, though I tend to avoid that (I prefer to pick my own news from several internet sources).  It’s those little things like the voices in your head or your coworker who complains about everything.

At a recent departmental meeting I noticed several coffee cups that all had negative sayings on them:

1.  I Don’t Do Perky!

2.  Good Morning, Let the Stress Begin

3.  I  See Dumb People

And people carry these mugs around, sometimes displaying them like badges.  How am I supposed to feel when I walk up to my coworkers desk and see one of those mugs?  Certainly not motivated.

Maybe I should find some perky mug website and buy a bunch of “world’s best coworker” mugs or something.  I just found this one that says:

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

If your attitude determines your altitude, my plan is to get HIGH in 2009. 

And speaking of positive?  How’s this?

Customer Service?

By cliopatra

Nov

19

Blog Pictures | acobox.comI will admit, that last night I thought that the technical support call I had to make was going to be a problem. I went into it with a pessimistic attitude.

I just bought a wireless print server (cheap! refurbished!) so that I don’t have to go and plug my laptop into my beloved Kodak Easyshare 5500.  I want to be able to print while sitting on my ass on the couch.  Or the toilet.  Or the lanai.  Is that too much to ask?

Irish tried to install it, God bless him.  He even read the destructions instructions before trying to install the server.  It really looked like we were going to have to move the printer into the same room as the router and leave it hooked up there.  Which kind of defeats the purpose of this being wireless, IMHO.

He gave up for the night, but at 10:30 I took a stand and decided to call technical support.  I spent about half an hour on the phone with “Tracy” before she determined I needed to speak to a specialist for that particular type of print server.  I was then transferred to “Holly”.

“Holly” immediately hit me with the $9.99 “we’ll log in and do it for you” speech.  I’m no idiot when it comes to computers, and I follow instructions pretty well, so I figured I would save myself the $9.99 (and them having access to my credit card) and do it while she instructed me.

“Holly” frustrated me more than the computer did.  As we were installing, she would instruct me to do something, and I would do it, then immediately report back the result.  If there was an error, I would tell her the error and would be met with silence.  Like this:

Holly:  Click the print test page button.

Me (click – then out loud): Error.  Printer not connected.

Holly: …

Me:  Hello?

Holly:  Did you click the print test page button?

Me: Yes.  And it gave me an error.

Holly:  What did the error say?

Me: Error.  Printer not connected.

This went on and on.  Now granted, we were on the line for well two hours before she gave me the old heave-ho by saying it was obviously my printer drivers (which I would need to contact the printer manufacturer about) or a compatibility issue with the print server, but in any case they couldn’t fix it until my printer driver issue was resolved.

Having worked in technical support and customer service for many years, here are my tips for dealing with technical support (from both sides):

Technical Support Reps:  LISTEN to the person on the other end of the line.  No matter how stupid you think that person is.

Customers:  Pay the $9.99.  And if the tech support rep starts saying you need to contact the manufacturer of some other product, that means they are done with you and you need to hang up and call back to get a fresh rep.

Money Matters

By cliopatra

Sep

25

Last night while I was working on my little organizational notebook (details forthcoming) I found a business card for my dentist, and nearly choked when I realized I had a cleaning scheduled for this morning at 8 a.m.  I vaguely remember receiving a reminder call sometime last week, but I never called the office back to confirm.

I got up early this morning and headed up there for my cleaning.  I am a child of the 70s, so I have those terrific silver fillings that have been there for years, and I know my teeth are in bad shape structurally.  I generally don’t have cavities, but I do have some cracks.  In the last 4 years I’ve had two crowns put on, one as a preventative measure, and one to replace a tooth that broke off down to the nub.

The hygenist took some pictures and showed me the two teeth on the lower right in the back are very cracked and damaged.  I still have some benefit left on my dental coverage, and they suggested I should get them both done at once.  My portion after insurance is about $700, which is both “whew – thank God I have insurance” and “oh crap – $700?” all at the same time.

So next week I get to go in and have those taken care of.  Instead of going to my writers conference.

The conference is $250 + $250 for hotel plus gas and meals and any crap I buy while I’m there, which is, well, essentially $700.  I just have to get someone to buy my conference registration by next Tuesday and we are all set.  If not, I cancel the registration and lose $50, but I still will not be out the money for the conference.

The economy has me a bit spooked.  I am more thankful that ever that we didn’t buy a house last year, and that we found a rental that was within our budget.  We both still have jobs, and we live within our means, which means room for some extras now and then.  Hopefully we won’t be as affected by the economy as others have been or will be.

But choices have to be made, and I choose my teeth.

Besides, the conference is geared towards novelists, and I am starting out on my screenwriting adventure.  There is an online screenwriting basics class starting in January for only $50 and I can probably afford that.

Who is this fiscally responsible person.  Me?

Oops I Did It Again!

By cliopatra

Jul

8

About 4 or 5 years ago, I got very involved in blogging and Xanga and meetups and all that crap, and while I did meet some really cool people, I also met some creeps.

Funny thing, this Internet.  People pretend they are other than what they really are.  They will cheat you, they will lie to you, and then they will laugh in your face, or behind your back.  They will hurt you.

I backed away slowly from some bad situations, and held myself above the fray for a really long time.  I met my husband during this period, and he’s lucky I ever agreed to even meet him, let alone marry him.

I want to do this blog thing, and be successful, and make new friends and become known, whether to a few or millions, who appreciate what I’m trying to do here.  So I put myself out there, and I got my hand slapped.

You know who you are.  Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?

Back to the shell she went.  I’m learning.  People make themselves into something else here.  No more hiding from me, though. 

Time To Weigh In

By cliopatra

Jun

17

It is so ridiculously hot around here right now that I can’t even ride my bike in the evenings. I really need to keep getting exercise, which might mean spending a lot more time in my in-laws’ pool.

Plus, I need to, um, eat less. I took Phentermine way back in the day when it was popular, and that stuff would make me forget about eating for whole days at a time.  Is it still popular?

In Which the BlogMistress is A Whiny Bitch

By cliopatra

May

16

There is no part of me that is not exhausted right now.  It’s been a hell of a week, and were it not for a brief hour yesterday, a lot of drinking last night, a halfway decent day today, and one terrific husband, I’d probably STILL be crying.

It’s all about work, really.

I have a very specific job function in that I am a salesperson.  Oh sure, I train, and do pretty much everything else, but my job is to sell.  I have a sales goal and incentives and everything.

Last year was an amazing year.  I met my sales goal by July, which was a good thing because one of my agents left in March and I had to help pick up the slack, then just as they got her replaced another agent left and I had to pick up her slack, plus train some newbies.  We were told her position would not be replaced, so her accounts were distributed between the old agent and the new agent.

Then in March a senior account service manager AND her assistant left and her producers and accounts were left in the cold.  The other marketing guy and I got handed a bunch of half-assed files and told to make sure they got renewed.  Not all of them did.

We were told a month later that those positions would not be replaced.  Yay.

Then last month another senior account service manager advised of her impending resignation.  She and her husband are retiring to another state.  She’ll be gone in a couple of weeks.

Of course, it will take a while to find her replacement, so we’ll be picking up slack there (and not even close to done with the other accounts).  So there seems to be no end in sight.

But wait!  There’s more!

The “new agent” I spoke of earlier has decided to resign effective June 6, which is his one year anniversary with the company.  So now we have two empty agent positions (not counting the one that wasn’t replaced earlier this year) and a very slim job market for trained professionals.

None of our trainees are capable of moving up yet, so we have to go outside the company to hire.  Our service department is in a world of hurt.

His resignation absolutely deflated me.  I was in a meeting with him and his assistant to discuss renewals when he told me, and I almost got up and walked out.  The next morning after our department meeting my boss snagged me and asked me what was wrong and I started bawling.  Then HER boss came over because he was wondering what was wrong with me, and I told them I was frustrated, angry, and tired.

See, we were told at the beginning of the year that there was a hiring freeze, so those first two empty positions wouldn’t be replaced in the foreseeable future.  We can replace those who leave (thank God) but no one new beyond that.

Then the big boss hired a new sales guy – a friend of his, who has never worked in insurance before.  Yet we have a hiring freeze.  Plus we’ve got two other producers running around with virtually no training.

I’m sick and tired of getting incomplete submissions, submissions at the last minute, and being told to just do it.  I have written not even 5% of my sales goal for the year, and it’s nearly June.  I haven’t had time, because I’ve been too busy doing the jobs of the people who keep leaving and not getting rehired.

It’s going to be a long long long summer.