Pulling on my cranky pants

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i love my job. i love my job. i love my job.

Surely if I say it enough times, it will come true.

To explain, I work in a small company, where there are 15 office staff in my area. Generally there is only one person in each area, maybe 2, but they have different roles. So when one person goes on leave, your role is left empty until you return. The only exception to this is reception, where the rest of us have to take turns going and filling in out the front.

So, our revenue admin lady is on leave for 6 weeks, and it was agreed that I would cover the role. I was not informed of this until it had been decided. So I have to cover this ladies 40 hour role. Thats cool.

But I still have to cover my own 32 hours role. In 32 hours. So I get to cram 72 hours into 32. Awesome.

Second week in I am not doing so well. I like the man who works in revenue, but he is very different to my boss, who lets me go about things in a manner which suits myself, as long as the work gets done, she doesnt care how I do it, in what order I structure my day. Basically I have free rein of my schedule. This man expects me to not do any finance work (my usual work), and do things his way, right down to the very last detail of how to fold a letter.

Yes, how to fold an letter to put in an envelope

Thats not all. Simple instructions take half an hour for him to explain, as he goes through every detail in such extreme detail. Now, not to toot my own trumpet, but I am reasonably smart. I know how to use a computer, I know how to use our system,  and I know how to fold a letter!

I love my job

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A work rant

Today, I am the cat. Actually, I have been the cat all week.

For some reason, apparently not being able to complete End of Financial Year, despite it now being July, is of no concern to the staff where I work.

It all started with wanting to have my creditors started first thing yesterday, resulting in my STARTING at lunch time thanks to a staff member who has zero time management skills. She had been given 2 weeks notice that I would require the invoices back by Friday, yet she finally got them back to me yesterday, but only because I had my big boss have words with her.

I finally got the file done, gave it to my superior to send off to the bank. It doesnt work. I cant resend the file as I am half way through a cheque run, which is also fcuked up. None of my cheques have names on them, and have a massive watermark over them.

I went home in a bad mood. It got worse this morning when IT dont see it as a priority to fix. I have now sat here for 3 and a half hours doing nothing work related, despite having plenty to do.

By the end of this week, someone's day will be fcuked up big time! Pin It

Birthdays

With a birthday coming up, the husband and I had a discussion. It went a little something like this:

Me: I will do you a deal

Him: yes....

Me: I will trade my burberry scarf and sell my current computer, if i can buy a new macbook pro

Him:What exactly is a scarf going to cost?

Me: six hundred-is

Him: well there goes our weekend away for your birthday

Now, this poses the following question: if it is my present, why should i have to share it.

Now call me selfish, but every other year I choose something that will benefit us both (to prove this, my mum brought me overnight bags for my birthday this year, and husband goes away more than I do). Husband however only gets presents he can use, like fishing/camping/hunting stuff (ok, so i could use them if i was so inclined, but I am not, so i dont). So this year I wanted something for just me. Something that I could enjoy and not have to share. Sure if we were going away AS WELL as my present, all good, but i dont want to go away as my birthday present. Husband thinks I am being selfish, which I probably am, but its my brithday, and I will cry if i want to.

So tell me, am i being selfish for wanting a present for just me?

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After Marriage Vent

Husband and I have been married 17 months now, and don't have children yet.

Now, apparently this is up for public comment (must have missed signing that release). Lately I have had more people ask me "soooo, when you and B going to have children" or "time is ticking. tick tock" (yes, because 24 is soooooo old).

Now this shits me on several levels. One, it is B and my life. We shall have children when we see fit. God, it isnt for lack of trying, we have had some nasty little curve balls thrown at us this last 17 months. Not that we talk about our fertility with many people, but still.

And secondly, what business is it of other people? I mean, do I walk up to them and say "soo, had sex lately?" You dont ask those kind of questions. It's just not done, so why do people see it fit to ask about our plans for children? Why? And it isnt just older people, it is friends of ours, young people.

Does anyone else get these questions? How do you deal with them?

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Smugness over Hairdressers

Image from Flickr

On a few of the blogs I follow, hairdressers has been a topic of hot conversation. Mainly about how to tell a hairdresser her cut really didnt make the cut (no pun intended...oh hell, yes i did mean that ;) ) or how to leave a hairdresser when you are finally fed up.

And I sat here smugly saying to myself "see I would never have that issue, I love my hairdresser. And even if I did leave her, I travel an hour each way to get my hair coloured, so its highly unlikely that I would ever see her again".

Til a few weeks back, when i received the most hideous cut, and to add further insult to the injury, was charged $140.

Now to give you some background, I found my hairdresser by accident one day when i badly needed a cut and couldnt get in where I normally went. So I ended up at the salon where she works. It was your regular run of the mill salon, and I walked out only paying $70 for a cut and colour, and best of all I was thrilled. I kept going back. She did my hair for my wedding, and I was still thrilled. She moved salons, and I followed her. However, as she was out on her own, she raised the prices a bit, not much, $15 or so. So, as I was happy, I paid the money. Until 8 weeks later where the price went up again. And again. And again. And again. By the $120 mark I was starting to get a little fed up with it, as I didnt feel I wasnt getting my money's worth (not even a head massage! Oh the pain) But when I received a crappy cut and colour (I went home with dye on my new white top and on my face, and a lopsided cut that I had to fix myself at home) that was it.

So I sussed out people in my local town that have good cuts. Mainly the girl who does my body maintenance. And she sent me to a local salon. The girl who cut my hair is my age, and had just got back from maternity leave, and was a delight to talk to. And her cutting and colouring skills were well above par too. Best of all, it cost me $65.

So all is good, I have a new hairdresser who gives me the things I like (good colour, cut and reasonably priced, which means more $ for shoes), and chances are slim that I will ever see the old hairdresser again. Until she rings me and tells me how "she has decided to start working from home, and would I like to book an appointment?" Crap! Double crap! I just had my hair coloured a week ago. I fake illness and say I will give her a call. She gives me her number, I write it down. She asks how my mum is going (triple crap, she plays the heartstring card). I quickly say goodbye and hang up. I feel dishonest and icky.

But I look in the mirror (the vain person I am) and see my lovely haircut and that feeling goes away. This better not be a viscous cycle!

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The drama of the ring

This is my engagement ring. It has a matching paved wedder.

Lets take a walk down memory lane.

Brian and I got engaged in late 2006. Being the girl i am, he let me choose my own ring, as, well, it was safer that way. So we went through every jewellers in the town i was at uni in, the town we live in, and eventually to Melbourne. I couldn't find the ring I loved. I knew what I wanted, but just couldn't find it. We had made a promise that we wouldn't tell anyone until we had the ring, and that wasn't going to last much longer. We stopped in at a store in a town close to us, and I found a ring i was happy with, so we brought it. Fantastic.

6 months later I was looking at wedding bands, and found the engagement ring I originally wanted in a set. The set was around the price we would have paid to have my wedding band made, so I convinced Bri to buy it. I have two engagement rings :D  Even better was that it was from the jewellers in our town.

Now, a smart person would have ordered both rings at the same time, but alas, I is not a smart person. So we ordered the e.ring, with the wedder to follow in a few months. Happy days.

Or not. A couple of months later when I went to order the wedder, the nice lady had gone, and I was left with a complete fool. A fool who told me that the matching wedding was no longer available, and they would have to custom make it for me for the same price. Not happy

So they made my wedder, and was due to be picked up before Christmas 2007 (I got married 2nd February 2008). I wasn't taking chances. I picked up my ring on the 28th January 2008 because they: made it 9ct white gold, not 18ct like ordered, allowed their jeweller to take extra holidays despite having orders, lost my order, and had trouble getting the right stones.

In amongst all of January, I managed to mangle my engagement ring in a freak gardening accident, which required being taken to the jewelers. It came back on the 30th January 2008. On my wedding day, i wore an imperfect ring, as it had a damaged stone. I didn't trust them to be able to fix it in time, and there was no way I was going to my wedding without my rings.

So, after our honeymoon I took it back to them. They fixed the ring, and all was good until December, when a stone in my wedder dropped down below the others. Once again, I go back to the jewelers. I got my ring back today!!!

And guess what, they have f**ked it up again! It now had a yellow tinge to it, like it was re plated with some crappy mix that isn't even 9ct white gold!

The cycle continues

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You know who i really dislike?

The CFA.

Not the volunteers though, they're great. The organisation as a corporate body.

I have been without my husband for 78 hours. Whilst I dont mind him going away to help fight fires, I do mind when he goes away to sit on his behind and do diddly squat. From what I have heard from him, he has used a hose once in 3 days, for around 3 hours. The other 33 hours he has done nothing.

It is made slightly worse by the complaints about the accomodation. My Brian is 6'4 or something stupid like that. He is tall. The bed he has been sleeping in is apparently  2' too short. His pillow is thinner than a sheet of paper, and the blankets are see through. They have to be fed and ready to get onto trucks at 7am. So they get up at 5am, as there is an hours travel. They get back to their accomadation at midnight at the earliest.  For once, he hasnt complained about the food, but then again, he will eat anything if he is hungry.

Now, here comes my gripe with the CFA. The boys did nothing today. They were at the staging ground quite early (around 6). They have sat around waiting to get on a bus for 3 hours. They could be two thirds the way home by now. But no, they had to sit on the grass for some knob to say "ok, you can go home now". So, now they are expected to arrive home between 2 and 3am, instead of a respectable 10pm.

So much for looking after volunteers

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