My Pal Nutso

Over the course of 21 years at any job, you're going to have a few alliances. This character is one of mine. 

We started the same year- 1991, me in April and him in November, and have survived two managers and a seemingly astronomical number of workers over all these years. Lots of stories- or(especially in his case)the same stories over and over. (Well, my ex-wife used to complain that after 3 years, she'd heard all of mine, so maybe I'm guilty here too..).

    This is an ebullient individual, quite over-the-top, caught here in a rare moment of repose. Most of the time,  this is quite infectious: whatever he's spewing, you get caught up in it. There are a few instances, though, usually first thing in the morning, when I have to say, "just give me an hour"--to which he's generally cool, but still times you! Definitely someone you'd say was on.

For a good while now, he's been "safely" sequestered off in this semi'private office(somewhat akin to The Swamp on the MASH TV series, only without the Still--at least to my knowledge) but  used to work among us on the floor. At that point, one of the more senior workers, who referred to him as Nutso, put a For Sale sign up at her desk.

So this morning, I'm having my coffee and reveling in the three-day weekend, having a Sunday without dread-of-Monday, and there's a knock at the door. 

It's 8:45 in the morning. Who the hell would be knocking on my door on Sunday morning at 8:45? 

Nutso. He needed to borrow my badge to get into the building. Wanted to work on some assignments. No problem. (Assignments are a body of tasks , some common to all of us, some more specialized, in one of our computer systems.)I have a feeling he did some of this yesterday as well. 

Once in a blue moon, we'll have a Saturday where we're requested to come in, but normally it's strictly Monday through Friday, from whenever to whenever and no longer. I remember, when we were more fully staffed, getting some mild flak from a few folks about being there after 4:30. It was in jest, but still staying after school wasn't a common practice. 

In my friend's case, it's not some big supererogatory display to impress the boss, but more just filling a void. During the week, he's there at 7:50 or so when I arrive, and still there at 4:30 when I go home. Lotsa hours in there, but more just to keep him occupied. Besides, that approach of putting in beaucoup hours to show your dedication can backfire on you. Either they permanently assign you all those extra hours or the boss figures, negatively, that you're unable to complete your work in five days and lets you go for "incompetence".

 I gotta say, he does make things fun around the office. As far as specific instances, the shenanigans are too numerous(and juvenile--or at least hadda-be-there )to go into, but they've been a big part of things. Like I said, all week he's there when I get there and still there when I go. Back in the beginning, I started 7 months before he did, but I bet he'll still be there when I go. I predict he'll be found back in that office, slumped over. The year: 2022. 

Nutso takes better care of himself than most of us, so this longevity is not unlikely. But I hope he expires someplace else- unless he's got a babe back there.         

Pink Slip Panic

It's been happening all around me at work. Waves of layoffs and office closures, one after another. Definitely a treacherous body of water we're sailing on. And we just got hit with another wave. The vast majority of our already truncated workforce got their notices just last week.  

So this coming week is a series of "bump meetings", wherein you find out who has less time in the books than you, so if need be you could "bump" them out of their jobs--and of course who could bump you out of yours!Survival of the fattest. 

 Then the dust will settle and we'll see a playing field that's once again changed. This happens anyway every couple of years, "budget problems" notwithstanding, a shift in personnel. New faces. But this time it'll just be the old faces who've got enough time on the books to bump into our location.  And naturally, being as that you know all the prospectives,  there are people you hope to see on the new workfloor, and a few you hope not to see there. 

 With this kind of upheaval, the office feels very much like a sinking ship--like the Titanic right after it hit the iceberg.(What am I saying- it is a sinking ship!)You just see all the repercussions coming your way,  the progressive destruction. The air is abuzz with all the controversy and the rumors and half-truths that follow, so you have to exercise caution as to just how much of all this you allow to filter into your own opinions. All too easy to repeat, to reiterate something enough times that it becomes "truth". I think that's also called propaganda...

With 21 years in, I'm not going to get any kind of layoff/bumping rights notice. At least not in this round. But I wouldn't be surprised if I got dinged myself down the road, had my position eliminated out from under me. 

And it is suspicious in this regard(to say the least) that there are a goodly number of position openings in IT and upper management but nothing down at the nuts-n-bolts level where they're most needed. In other words, nothing for my position.

Hmmmm. Might lead you to believe(but again, wanting to sidestep the maelstrom of rumor and half-truth already thick in the atmosphere)that you're being phased out yourself. Who am I kidding- it's a certainty. Just a question of when. It'd be nice to make it all the way to the finish line next August, but if they cut me between now and then, so be it.  

 Freaky times. 

Blue Monday

 This is Monday where I work. Well actually, every day looks about like this anymore, but especially Monday. We always start the week like this. 
  Quite often at least a few of these folks are waiting in their cars when I pull in at 7:50 or so. They have at least a 40 minute wait--but as the day goes, it may be an hour or even two, so I can see their point. Get in, get off, get out. 

It used to be that I hated seeing people sitting in their cars out front when I pulled in to work in the morning(it's like they're giving you a 'sneak preview' of the shit you're gonna have to deal with in about 40 minutes!)but I almost wish more folks would follow suit with this first-in-first-out business. Get in, get off, get out. From our standpoint, the day would start out gangbusters,but taper off signifigantly, to where you might even have little-to-no traffic in the afternoon. Ugh changing to ahhh, rather than one steady ugh. 

    But you're going to have a lot of folks to take care of, regardless of how it's managed. And the minute the doors open, you have at least a couple people to deal with right off the bat.The day always starts off with a bang. 
  
  Most people who read this(if if even gets a readership)will identify with the folks standing in line in these pictures(maybe--probably--having been there themselves at some point), but I'm writing it from the perspective of the people working behind the counters, the people whose job is serving the long lines of customers.

 It's a necessary function, the reception area- somebody's gotta be there!- but it's the shittiest job in the office. Why? Well just look to your left and there's your answer: because you have to deal with all those fucking people, that's why!! 

Pardon my French here, but it's very enervating having to tend to a steady stream of humanity like that, one after another after another. It would be draining enough under optimum conditions, with each person you get being blissfully happy. You'd still have one person after another planted right in front of you.

And of course they're anything but blissfully happy(if they're blissfully happy and standing in our line, then there's really something wrong with them!) Each one of the folks standing there, every single person you have to deal with  has a bad situation, a bundle of misery to dump "your way ward". Either they just lost their job(or they lost it 7 months ago and are just now getting around to coming in) or has some other kind of financial crisis they're coming to see if they can alleviate. They're in pain(sometimes very mild pain**, but pain nonetheless..). 
   Unlike the lines at movie theatres

and restaurants, they're not coming to see you to feel good, to have an enjoyable sensory or gastronomic experience. They're in to see you because they don't feel good, because they've got a boo boo that you can hopefully repair. 

       Understood. Thus I try not to take too much of their sometimes less-than-good humor personally, and see what I can do to help. Still, all the bitching, all the moaning and  groaning- however justified- wears on you. I used  to refer to the aural atmosphere of our office as the PPC Level. Phones, printers and complaining. Those were(and still are)the sounds filling the air. Most heavily, unfortunately, on the 'c'.

  These days, we have lines of folks in our lobby much like those in the pictures. There are lulls(mercifully)but mostly long periods with a seemingly interminable and querulous queue of customers(no meals or movies here *). Like I said, it's the shittiest job in the office. 

  At this juncture in my 19-more-months-to-go, I am not working in that enviable position, but have spent much time there over the past 21-almost-22 years. Much time. 

 I know there are those out there with personalities such that this kind of job just rolls off their backs, but for me it was always the most draining. Absolutely hate every minute of it. Worked many a Monday up there, and for a good while this last year, just about every Monday: the shittiest job in the office on the shittiest day of the week = compounded shit! And it was always The Big Obstacle to get through for the week. I must say, though, it did make the rest of the week seem easier, but was something to dread on Sunday. So you got your good with your bad. 

  I hope to never have to work up there again in my 19-more-months-to-go, but if I do then so be it. But then it might raise the PPC to a dangerous level of toxicity(at least deleterious to my working health!)and drive me to an early exit. Not from life but from working--at least the counter(if negotiable). 

Thanks to good old vacation time, I am excused tomorrow from the rigors of daygig(a musician reference to one's job, can't help it), and will miss the experience of Monday morning- which for our office will be pretty close to the pictures above. A long line of folks who just want to get their boo boo fixed(sometimes this involves a band-aid, others the systemic equivalent of quadruple bypass surgery). And not nearly enough workers on the other side of the counter to help make that happen. 

   With even a few more of us, of course, there'd be a lot  less of them, but this is something only we seem to see. And that's the problem right there. It's a shame. 

  But for now, I'm going to enjoy- well, now!- and the rest of my 4-day weekend--which, having the next two days off, is sans dread-of-Monday, something that usually colors(or should I say discolors at least the latter part of Sunday). My condolences to those who are working tomorrow. 

   As for me, for these next couple of days, I aspire to be like a movie theater or restaurant customer and enjoy myself. Food and movies are available here as well as out in the retail world of course.   



* Movies have never been a part of our "backstage" life at the office, but food is almost always available. We celebrate the usual events with some sort of chow offering , and there is usually something to munch on around our desks, courtesy of our supervisor. One of the perks of working there.  


** I got these bass-ackwards, somehow. An example of mild financial pain might be something like "I don't need the money, but it wouldn't hurt".      

Welcome to my world!

Welcome to my world! This is a brand new blogsite, and I hope you enjoy it(for that matter, I hope I enjoy it as well). 

Anyway, to introduce myself, my name is Roger U Roundly(at least as far as you the reader are concerned)and I work for the State, one of those social service agencies providing assistance for indigent folks. Our facility is actually a conglomerate of several agencies, both State and County, 12 partners in all. As such, we are open to the general public, and I do mean general. Quite a cast of characters coming through our doors, as varied as you can imagine--though, as you can also imagine, being a social service agency, you see some of the same characters over and over and over again.

I started this job on April 16, 1991. Before that, I'd been a Bank Teller for 4 1/2 years, a fast food worker for 3 months before that, and a full-time musician up until then. Such is my 'career path' as it were.. The money was over twice what I'd made as a Bank Teller, which was of course wonderful, but of course the stress doubled as well. It was work I'd never done before, a more volatile clientele than I was used to, plus a boss who liked to micromanage(his newest employees in particular). Those three elements all stirred together made for a bitter concoction of a first year.

And here we are over two decades later. After that first 12 months , things got a lot easier. Over the course of all these years , you're going to have your rough ones and your easy ones, relatively speaking, but on the whole an easier ride than that first year of school.. 

 
At this point in the game, I'm looking at retirement. Bailing from the game. It's something most folks start thinking about when they get 5 years away. For me that was 2009. That's when the clock started ticking as far as the countdown. Here in February of 2013, I've passed the 5 , and the 4, and the 3, and even the 2. Down to the one-and-change at this juncture. Nineteen months remain(counting this one)until I too will be a retired person. August 29, 2014 will be my last day of work. So close yet so far. 
This blog is not only about my quest to get from here--February 6, 2013, to there--August 29, 2014, but also about all the craziness going on in the office and with our agency. No names(not even mine), but certainly events. And I'm planning on the blog title to change every month. Next month(if we get that far), it'll be called Only 18 More Months of this Shit!And so forth, until we're finally finally there!

So, welcome! More to come.