Work Vent

I… just… cannot…handle it today. So you get to read my vent.

About three weeks ago my work brought in a temp to cover basic administrative duties while I’m off on maternity leave. Fine.

Then it ends up that they didn’t even screen her for her knowledge of Microsoft Office, which, you know, I use constantly in my job. Like most of the corporate world.

Especially Excel. We use Excel for just about everything. She had never been in the program. Which meant I spent much of her first week teaching her things like how to color the background of a cell, how to insert a row, how to delete a column, etc., etc., etc.

I get that it’s not her fault. The blame falls on the management members who hired her for not screening her properly. But still… Drives. Me. Nuts.

And then there are things that I just consider intuitive in a corporate office setting. Things like if your computer hasn’t been working properly in a week, call the Help Desk. Or, I don’t know, maybe let me or our supervisor know, so we can tell you to call the HelpDesk.

Or you can just sit there complaining about it until I explicitly tell you “call the Help Desk”, then you complain for another 20 minutes before making the call.

Things like when you’re logging into a new system, and  Information Systems has informed you to leave your password blank the first time, and you will be prompted to create a new password. So you try to log in, then when you get to password, you ask me what to put. And I say “Didn’t I/S tell you to leave it blank?”

“Well… yes.”

“Then I suggest you leave it blank.”

{{ head desk }}

Stuff like this happens all. day. long.

Things like, our Assistant Manager tells you to book a specific meeting room. There’s a problem with the room. You inform me with a helpless look on your face. I tell you to call the Assistant Manager who made the request. You do so. Problem solved.

Why do I have to explain this to you?

Like having someone send me an attachment for a meeting notice that you sent out, then me having to explain to you that since you sent out the invite, I cannot add the attachment.

Why would you have them send it to me, when you sent out the original meeting invite with the original attachments?

This makes no sense to me.

Like when you’re expecting someone  to stop by your desk, so you have to discuss with me whether or not it’s okay to take your break right now, or if you should wait.

You are a 40-something supposedly professional. Can you not figure this out for yourself?

I don’t understand.

And when I told you to use the group email for our entire group, and not just our location, it wasn’t just for fun. We have employees located at other locations. The email needed to go to all of our employees. So why did you use the one just for this location? When I specifically included the correct group address in the written work instructions, and verbally explained to you which one to use and why?

Why?

And when our Manager told you to remind an entire group to fill out a specific form, then you ask me if you should remind everyone, or just one person. He said the entire group. He gave you a list of names.

I don’t understand why you even have to ask. He very clearly told you what to do.

Today, my patience is thin. I’m tired, I’m irritable, I don’t want to be here at all.

And it doesn’t help that this temp, whose previous best trait was the fact that she was really super-nice, and willing to learn has decided to cop an attitude, demanding why she hasn’t been trained on more (because you can’t handle it), and blaming me and other team members on her lack of training thus far.

Here’s the deal: how can I train you on more complicated items, when I have to teach you the basics of the software first?

So no, you will not be getting access to our secure database system to run queries, pull data streams, etc. Because it’s too easy to mess up the entire database if you don’t know what you’re doing. Which is why only three of us in the entire division have access to it to begin with. And since I just taught you how to bold the text in an Excel cell, no, we don’t trust your skill level to even be able to do that part of the job, let alone not screw up the entire system because you don’t know what you’re doing. So quit stomping your feet.

Besides your skill level, you’ve shown over & over that your attention to detail is not what it needs to be to be successful at this job. There are too many mistakes on too many menial tasks.

Oh, and as for not having a full work day? Talk to management. I advised them months ago that since you would only be doing the very basic administrative  items, part-time would be more than enough. They insisted on bringing someone in full time.

The transition work plan that you have a copy of clearly shows a workload of approximately 12 hours per week of standard work. Leaving roughly another 4 hours for non-standard requests. That’s an estimated 16 hours per week. I don’t have more to give you. Don’t like it? Talk to the manager. Stop huffing at me like I’m holding out on you.

The management team & I have discussed it. There was talk of letting you go. You got to stay. The decision was that:
a) the department can muddle thru for a couple of months, and
b) since I could be out literally any day now, re-training someone else on the items you have learned is too time consuming. It’s risky.

You got to stay. Appreciate that.

Quick Baby Check In

Quick baby check-in:

I continue to have contractions (not Braxton Hicks, like real-actual contractions), but no changes to my cervix, so we're still on this "okay to resume normal activity" bull crap. Even though the contractions are getting stronger. So blah.

Had an ultrasound yesterday. This little girl is already weighing in at an estimated 8 lbs 12 oz.

And we have four weeks until our scheduled C-section. Did I tell ya'll that? C-section is scheduled for May 20. If we make it that long.

We were told that her size, while large, is very proportional, which means they have no way to guess if her large size is simply genetic or is caused by the gestational diabetes. Apparently if it's caused by GD, the belly is usually disproportionately large, while Peanut's is not.

Not that it really matters to me. My biggest concern about the GD is that my sugars, while better, still aren't totally controlled. Even with major diet changes and repeatedly upping my insulin doses. Which means that she's been getting pumped full of sugar constantly for months. Which means that when the umbilical cord is clipped there's a significant chance that her blood sugar will drop significantly, leading to a stay in the NICU.

That, is my concern. I don't care how big she is, or why. I don't really even are that much about the fact that my sugar is uncontrolled. I do care about the possibility of how it will affect her health. That is why I follow my diet and stick myself with insulin twice daily. That is why "indulging" myself now means having a 2nd apple with peanut butter, as that's the sweetest thing I allow myself on a regular basis.

Anywho... kinda got off on a tangent there. Everything looked great at the ultrasound. So we'll keep hanging in there.

As always, thanks for checking in!

This Summer is Gonna be Awesome

So the upcoming Summer has been a subject of quite a good amount of anxiety for me. Why? you ask. Well, I'll tell you.

First of all, we'll be welcoming a newborn into our home.

Then, there's the fact that I will be off work for the first time since I was... 15? Looking back on work (and way back including school in the mix), I have never had this much time away from daily scheduled obligations since I was 15. Which was a long time ago.

And then let's add in that Jena will be staying home with me (ie. not going to preschool). So for the first time in three years (she's only five, mind you), she will be home all Summer, not participating in the daily structured atmosphere of preschool. And since my parents watched her before she started preschool, she'll be staying home for the longest period of time in her life.

On the surface, all of these are good things. Really good.

But I also am keenly aware that they are all three major changes. Changes that will need adjusting to. Adjustments which will almost certainly cause at least a small amount of stress on our family.

And they're all happening at the same time.

I have been anxious about everything from just the stress of so much change to our family at once, to what will I feed Jena for lunch, to what will I eat for lunch.

What will we do to occupy our time? With me taking care of a newborn? And a five year old with lots of energy to burn?

So much anxiety over it.

Until recently.

Now, mind you I do still realize there will be some stress involved. And some anxious moments. And we'll probably go to McDonald's more than once simply because I forgot that I have to feed us lunch at home now, but...

There's so much good too.

I get to spend all Summer home with my girls.

I don't have to make Jena come in from playing outside, just because we have work/school the next day. I anticipate lots of chasing-of-lightening-bugs and other dusk fun.

My house might actually be clean. Maybe.

I can visit with friend or my parents whenever I want. No trying to squeeze visits into already busy nights & weekends.

We can visit Daddy at the firehouse during the week. No more waiting until a weekend when the stars align just so, so that he's on shift and we have nothing planned to do.

We can go to the park during the day. No squeezing it in after work/school and worrying that if we stay too late she'll be up too late then won't want to get up for school the next day.

We could maybe do a play date with some friends.

So much available. I know we won't do it all. But it's there. It's a real possibility. For the first time ever.

This Summer is gonna be awesome.

Happy Easter !!

source

I'm ready

There's been a lot of talk this pregnancy about the chance of pre-term labor.

This has led to a lot of anxiety on my part. First and foremost for Peanut's health. But then there's the other stuff: the nursery's not ready, the house is a wreck, we have no diapers, blah, blah, blah.

And then,  yesterday, at exactly 34 weeks pregnant, I just kinda had this moment:

I'm ready.

Not in a practical way. Nursery still isn't done. House is still a mess.

But in a mental and emotional way. I'm ready for this baby to come.

Which is both a calming feeling, and a frustrating one. Because I'm ready. Now. And so now we've reached the point where we just wait for our youngest daughter to make her presence known.

And whenever that is, it will be okay. Because now... I'm ready.

General Update

Jena:

We've decided to give the public school a try next year. To be honest, from our experience so far and things we've heard from other parents we're not terribly optimistic, but we don't want to give up on the public school system without first at least trying.

I'm a public school kid, and had a great experience, but I also recognize that because of things like No Child Left Behind and Common Core, the schools that I went to and benefited so much from quite frankly may not exist anymore. But we want to at least try it.

The latest thing for Jena to start is Girl Scouts. It's brand new, but she is super-excited about it. So am I.

Jason:

The biggest news in Jason's world right now is that his business has taken off like gang-busters. We expected it to be busier this year than last, but it really has just exploded here in the past few weeks. I'm so proud of the work that he's done and it's so exciting to see his efforts pay off.

Me:

Well, most I'm gearing up to have a baby. But I guess you knew that. At work, they've hired a temp to fill in while I'm on maternity leave, and she started yesterday. It's a little weird to train someone for your job, when you have no intention of handing it over, you know?

Baby:

Baby is doing well. My blood sugar has seems to be much better controlled since they last upped my insulin, so that's good.

I've been having contractions off & on since last week, so that's a pain. Last night they were every 3 - 10 minutes... for seven hours. From around 7pm until the last time they woke me up at 2am. Needless to say I not only didn't sleep well, I'm also physically tired from my belly's activity.

Those are the major updates. As always, thanks for checking in!

No Restrictions

So the other day I felt crampy all day. But I had a NST scheduled for that afternoon, so I figured I'd just wait and have it checked out then.

Sure enough, contractions. I was sent to Labor & Delivery triage to determine if I were in pre-term labor.

After a shot of something to stop the contractions, they were milder, but didn't go away. So I was given a liter of fluid in the hopes that being hydrated would stop them. Nope. In fact, by the end the intensity was returning.

But I wasn't dilated at all, so I was sent home. Without restrictions.


All good news, but I have to say I think once they determine you're having honest-to-God for real contractions, you should at least get a couple of days off of work. At least.

Can I get a witness?


In other news, assuming Peanut doesn't decide to make an early entrance, we have a C-section scheduled for May 20.

Yay.