Personalities ...

Ever since I started my new more senior position, I've realised just how good I have it at my factory. Despite the ever-increasing hours and seemingly everlasting demands on my time, we (the management team) all work pretty well together with each focusing on their areas of strength.

For example, I hate working out in the heat of the factory unpacking boxes and putting things away whereas the 2IC hates being stuck in front of a computer in the office doing endless paperwork.  

Solution:  we trade duties .. he does the box-unpacking-and-putting-away and I do some of his 'paperwork'.  Obviously there are certain things that he still has to do (he is a manager after all)  but on the whole this works well for us.  There's very little complaining and assigning of blame and a lot of 'just get it done' happening which I am very grateful for.

The fact that we are all able to speak openly to each other (most of the time) and there isn't that whole "it's-not-my-job-I'm-not-doing-it" mentality really helps.  Don't get me wrong ... I'm not saying there's never any issues but we can usually resolve them without having to  go to Head Office for further intervention.  Every workplace has people who bitch and moan about every little thing but luckily, there's not that many and we have all got our own ways of ignoring dealing with him them.

Some of the other factories don't have it anywhere near as good as we do though.  As I now oversee all the other plants and their purchasing people, I am finding out just how bad it can be.

Originally when my predecessor left, his plant's management wanted me to move up there as they wanted someone with a lot more experience and knowledge.  Despite being given the company car and fuel card, I didn't (and still don't) want to go there as it is about an hour's drive each way in traffic and I didn't (and still don't) want to work as part of that particular 'team' (and I use the word very loosely!).  Add in the fact that my team didn't want me to go and the decision was made to hire someone through a labour hire firm to take his place. Unfortunately, she only received 4 days of on-the-job training with him before he left. The plant she is working at is a 24/7 operation which means that it is pretty full-on from a purchasing perspective as she needs to make sure everything (spare parts, additives and packaging) is available at a moment's notice so there's no lost time.

She has been doing an awesome job, especially considering the complexities of learning a whole new computer system and way of doing things, but over the last month or so, there have been a lot of issues (mostly started by other 'team' members) and she is now at the stage of wanting to leave.  She has openly said that she is looking for another job and as soon as one comes up, she's out of there!

Most of these issues seem to be related to 5 or so people who are all supposed to work closely together on a daily basis to ensure everything is as it should be.  Unfortunately, of those 5 or so people, at least 4 are (or come across as) rather arrogant and know-it-all types.  The person doing the purchasing job is also a bit fiery and has a tendency to bite back immediately and collapse into tears later.  Add in the pressures of the job itself and it's not really a surprise that there's issues there.

There's also some issues relating to what she is actually required to do.  This position does vary a bit from site to site but there seems to be a lot of "that's not my job; you do it" type stuff happening too, resulting in procedures not being followed and her actual duties not being completed due to lack of time.

As I'm the senior purchasing person, I'm now in the position of "what-the-f***-do-I-do-about-this"?  Some of the things going round and round in my head night after night are:

• do I try to get her to stay if she's that unhappy?  
• do I swap plants with her (hopefully only temporarily) to get things sorted out?  
• if I swap plants, am I going to be allowed to leave to come back to my own plant?
• is me swapping plants actually going to help or will it make things worse? (I'm not a great one for tact!!)
• do I bury my head in the sand and leave it up to plant management?  (who have been doing such a bang-up job of dealing with this to date ... )
• do I try to get the head office people more involved?  (not likely to be helpful)
• do I quit and find another job? 

Despite all my tough words of advice to others, I hate conflict and confrontation and am a bit of a huge wuss when it comes to calling someone on their bad behaviour. I'm a people pleaser so will often put myself out to do things for others at work.

Talking to hubby for advice of dealing with assholes blokes in a male-dominated workplace has resulted in "just tell them to pull their heads in" which is fine in theory but as they've already been told this numerous times, isn't going to make a difference in this case.

After much thinking and stressing and then thinking some more, I've come up with the following ideas:

1. Go up there and work alongside her for a few days so I can (hopefully) see what's happening.
2. Ask for a meeting with all concerned parties (with a head office representative as well)
3. Set out her actual duties in writing to clear up any confusion.
4. Give her a roster/schedule of when things have to be done (eg Monday - stock take & invoice processing)
5. Cross my fingers and hope to god it all works!

Please cross your fingers for me and if I disappear, I'll be under the desk curled up in a ball!

(Just Another) Manic Monday

Snippets from recent Manic Mondays:

3/10/2011

First official day of school holidays so of course I slept in to 7:45am.
No milk for a cup of tea (which I didn't really have time for anyway).
Noticed I had next to no fuel so crossed my fingers and hoped I'd make it to work.
Got caught at every red light and railway crossing on the way to work.
Made it to work (and only 15 minutes later than usual).
Walked into my office to a ringing phone and nearly broke my leg on the parcel some idiot person had kindly left right in front of the door as I raced for said phone.
Answered the phone to find Bradley on the other end asking if he could have ice cream for breakfast too.
Upon further questioning, I ascertained that the idea had been planted in his head by his supposedly more sensible older brother (Alex) who was at that very moment chowing down on a very large bowl of ice cream.
When I questioned Alex as to why he thought that eating ice cream for breakfast was a good idea or even acceptable, his response was that it was a dairy food so how was it any different from having milk?
Then he asked if it would be better if he put Milo cereal in it.
It was about this point that I realised it wouldn't kill him (his brothers maybe) so gave up and went back to dealing with the other children employees waiting for my attention.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

10/10/2011

My first day (of three weeks) at Austral Bricks Malaga.
After it only taking 35 minutes for me to get to Malaga on the previous Thursday, I was somewhat surprised to find that it took me over an hour to get there on Monday morning.
During the long and rather boring drive, I spotted a van in front of me that had all sorts of stuff crammed into the boot and back seat. It looked like the occupants were moving house and this was the dregs ... you know all those leftover bits that seem to hide when you're packing.
Upon pulling level with the elderly female driver, I realised it was in fact, an episode of Hoarders ... just on wheels!
There was so much stuff crammed into every available space, I'm surprised she was able to see out of the windscreen. There was barely enough room to turn the steering wheel and I'm not just talking boxes or bags of stuff. There was layer-upon-layer of receipts, paperwork, rubbish and junk mail. Some archaeologist would have a had a field day excavating that lot. There may have even been remains of some pre-2000 lifeform, possibly under the layer of stuff that used to be the passenger seat.
That wasn't the scariest part though. That was as I pulled level with her for the second time, she reached into the pile of stuff that was where the passenger seat should have been, pulled something out, peered at it for a second then.ate.it! Eeeeewwwwww!!
Then she turned up Kewdale Road and disappeared from sight ... off to scare some other poor unsuspecting road user.

The point of no return...

It has been six months since I started at Austral and I am now officially off probation.

I don't know whether to be relieved or amused that the boss didn't even realise I was on probation until I pointed it out to him at our last snooze-fest meeting. All the other managers/supervisors said they were aware of it (due to it being standard practice) but, as the probation goes both ways (ie. me giving them a trial too), they were hoping that if no-one mentioned it, I would be happy to stay. Nice to know I'm wanted.

I do enjoy the job and like (most) of the guys, but I am now at the stage of feeling settled, while at the same time feeling like I'm on auto-pilot ... and not just at work.

I have nothing but admiration for single mums who do all this on their own as well as all the other mums in similar situations to mine (hubby working away and working full-time themselves), but at the moment I'm not thinking about them. It's all about me people!

Auto-pilot is dangerous for me as it usually precedes a lower than usual depressive episode. The fact that I have resorted to my old organisational quirks to try and feel in control of my life is a bit of a concern too.

The boys think it's funny when Mum makes the clothes pegs match each other as well as the clothes they are pegged on.

And apparently it's hilarious when Mum makes sure that there are only white pegs on the clothes airer and a certain number per rung at that.

And then when she organises the pantry so everything is organised by type of goods and then size of box/container, they are almost in hysterics (until they are told that they now have to wash all the Tupperware containers they put back in the pantry empty!)

However, it's not so funny when Mum can't be bothered getting out the bed she has crawled into after work to make them dinner.

And it's not funny when there's no clothes to wear because they're all still sitting in the washing machine after being washed for the fifth time without being hung out.

And it's definitely not funny when Mum totally loses her shit and yells about every.little.thing (real or imagined) that should have been done but hasn't or hasn't been done right or hasn't even been thought of yet but why haven't they read my mind and done it without being asked.

Luckily, I am not as the stage of crawling into bed as soon as I get home or of yelling at them for anything and everything. I am aware of this particular slippery slope and am making more of a concerted effort to keep myself upright and moving forward; not downward.

I am not as terrified of showing people the 'real me'; the one that occasionally doesn't cope too well with the whole situation; the one who sometimes just wants everyone to just go away and leave me alone.

However, it is still hard to not feel alone and isolated; still hard to ask for help when you don't know what would help; still hard to keep putting one foot in front of the other even though you know people are depending on you; still hard to put on your game face and get out into the world.

I came to the realisation the other day that I am way more like my mother than I would like to be. Depression is hereditary after all. But hopefully my awareness of my own triggers and warning signs will ensure that they aren't too affected by my issues. Hopefully it will make them slightly more sympathetic to those who struggle with issues of their own (be they mental, physical or emotional).

Hopefully my boys will be OK.

Be afraid! Be very afraid ...

because:

I am now officially licensed to drive a forklift.

I had to have a photo taken for the new licence which resembles one of the 'after' shots from those scare-people-off-Meth programs. Either that or a drunken mug shot. (No, I'm not going to post it here out of courtesy to your delicate monitors and eyes).

Alex has his learner's permit for a moped licence.

Andrew has asked for braces which means you guys will now get to listen to me whinge about how much it's going to cost for the next three years .. lucky you!

Bradley, despite not yet being a teenager, has a full blown teenage attitude and he's not afraid to use it!

I think I'm seeing things that aren't really there. For example, on Wednesday evening while driving home from work, I could swear I saw an oversized troll doll riding a bicycle along the footpath towards the train station. After looking at 'it' several more times (all while trying to keep driving in a straight line), I discovered it was a middle-aged woman with an over-abundance of very orange spray tan and hot pink, fluffy, standing-straight-up-in-the-air hair. To quote my Dad,

"The sights you see when you haven't got a gun!"

In a word ... OMG!

OK, so it's not actually a word, it's three letters .. picky picky! ... but those three letters describe my life perfectly at the moment. I've been so busy living life that I haven't had a chance (or the motivation) to write about it here.

The first big thing that happened during my little hiatus was Bradley turned twelve. His last year before the dreaded teenage attitude really kicks in! Just kidding ... he's a good kid (they all are though you'd never know it by the way I whinge about them all!) and I just hope he stays the lovable little pumpy-umpy-umpkins he is now!! Love you schnookums ... mwah!!!

The older boys finally got their first shift at work ... three hours of checkout training on a Saturday morning ... and have done many more shifts since then. They've each received their first pay and Alex has already spent most of his. Andrew wasn't sure how much he had been paid as he didn't get an email notification/payslip, so he decided to not spend anything until he could find that out. He's also hassling me to help him set up a savings account for his car .. yes you heard right .. a car. Glad one of the boys has a forward planning gene in there somewhere!

We've had Pre-Start for the new house!! We finally got our preliminary plans on the 24th February and got booked in for pre-start on Friday 4th March. It was a long day and we didn't get the pricing done then and there as there was only one estimator and three pre-start consultations happening at the same time. (The fact that we asked for prices on everything under the sun to be included may not have helped our cause!) It was a long weekend as well so we had to wait until the Tuesday to find out that we had majorly 'overspent'.

After sitting down with a red pen, we managed to reduce the pre-start spending from $35,000 down to $18,000 ($4000 was electrical changes and $6650 was to have the house smart wired) and have now officially signed the contract to build the new nest. All we're waiting on now is the final finance approval which should hopefully be through by the end of this week. Fingers crossed!!

I can't remember if I've mentioned before (and I'm too lazy today to go back and read through all my previous posts!) but I applied for a job at the end of January and was granted an initial interview on the Thursday 3rd of February. It was advertised as a 'Production Clerk' and the duties included data entry, stock control and other general office duties. It sounded perfect for me, is nice and close to the new house (and not too far from this one either) and I was still keen even after taking a tour of the dingy, dusty transportable building that would serve as my office and the equally dusty manufacturing plant attached to it.

I came away from the interview and subsequent tour of the office and plant feeling that I had interviewed well and feeling confident that I would pass though to the next level. I received a call on the Friday afternoon asking if I wanted to progress to the next stage but was having second thoughts about working full-time so I asked for the weekend to think it over.

On the Monday, I rang John (the plant manager) and let him know I was prepared (as prepared as I could be anyway) to go through. He arranged some psychometric and aptitude testing (apparently a standard thing for this company) on Wednesday 9th February at the head office in Caversham. I was told to allow 2 to 3 hours to complete the testing but was out of there in just over an hour and then sat back and waited for the results, which I was told would take about 48 hours to come back from Sydney.

And I waited.

And then I waited some more.

I finally gave in to the insecurities and phoned John on Wednesday 16th February to ask what was happening. Apparently he hadn't heard anything either and wasn't getting any response to his calls about it. Eventually, he rang (22/2) and explained that the person responsible for dealing with the reports had gone on holidays for a week and no-one thought to check her mail for anything urgent. Luckily the report was favourable so I went off for a medical on 24/2 (another standard thing for this company) and then waited for, what I thought would be, the inevitable job offer.

Another week passed and I still hadn't heard anything so gave up on stressing about it for a while and focused on pre-start and the new house instead. During our pre-start meeting, John rang to say that they would like to offer me the job but the contract had to be drawn up by the eastern states head office, so he would call me when it was available to be signed.

Yet another week passed and John rang to say that head office had finally signed off on the contract and he would drop it around to me on his way home from work on Friday night. Oh and could I please start Monday. I'm sure the Universe was working with me on this because I didn't get the request to start until we had finished pre-start and signed all the necessary documents.

Anyway, I have survived my first week of training and will be starting the company funded psycho-analysis sessions at my own job any day now. Pray for my sanity if you have a moment as I am the only woman on a site with 37 men most of whom, judging by the double takes when I worked there on Thursday, have never seen a woman in their workplace before and are all worried that they'll have to mind their P's and Q's. Can't wait to set them all straight!!

Don't you just hate it when your kids beat you at something?

To try and encourage me the boys and I to get jobs, Peter said to all three of us (Brad is still too young for a job) that he would give $100 to the first one of us to get a job and keep it for at least a week. Call it an incentive, a bribe or whatever you want; point is, it actually motivated the boys to put their resumes out in the big wide world. (Mine was already out there with not much luck.)

They put their resumes in at about ten places between the two of them and got a call for an interview each at the local little supermarket. Andrew's was last week on Thursday and even though he was really nervous, he went into the interview on his own and seemed to do quite well. He was in there for about 15 minutes and came out feeling rather pleased with how it all went.

Alex's interview was supposed to be on Friday but was re-scheduled to Monday and was all over and done with, with him back in the car ready to go home, in about 6 minutes. I was thinking that wasn't necessarily a good thing but kept my thoughts to myself at the time. Despite Alex being the older child by nearly two years, in some ways Andrew seems a bit more mature and I thought that may affect Alex's chances of getting a job seeing as they were supposed to be interviewed by the same person. Alex's interview ended up being conducted by a different person, which may account for the time difference as he wasn't given the interviewer's entire work history before proceeding to the questions about him.

I have to admit, I was rather concerned that there would be all sorts of problems if one got a job and the other didn't and had a little chat to each of them about that possibility. Luckily we don't have to worry about that as I have just received a call asking me to let them both know they have been "successful in their applications" and could they please call in ASAP to collect an employment package. Congratulations boys and welcome to the beginning of your working lives!

So it looks like I miss out on the $100 bribe incentive and as they both got offered a job at the same time, there is bound to be some discussion with Peter about who gets what. I'll leave that completely up to them to work out while I go and have some psychometric and aptitude testing for a job I've applied for.

Wonder if they'll pick up on the voices in my head?

The job search continues

I've been looking for a job, admittedly rather half-heartedly throughout December, and had managed to apply for quite a few when I hit a snag.

My computer decided that it wasn't going to play anymore and it would lock my files up tighter than a fish's backside. After a minor breakdown (for both me and the other computer I used to try to fix the problem), I was finally able to extract my photos favourite websites resume and previous cover letters to follow up on some of the applications.

Now, I have a couple of gripes regarding this whole process; mostly about how things have changed since I first started applying for jobs all those years ago (in the Jurassic era, according to Bradley):

1. Is it really so hard to just acknowledge an application? Considering that they are all sent electronically these days, it shouldn't be that difficult to set up an auto reply acknowledging receipt of the application even if they can't be bothered replying individually. Something along the lines of "Thank you for your application for a position with our company. We will be assessing candidates shortly and will only contact those that have been short listed." Not hard people!
2. When placing a job advertisement, it is wise to put in the hours and days of work required. It is not ridiculous to assume that because one is applying for a full-time administration position, one expects to work 'normal' working hours. A full time admin position that starts at anything other than 9am should state this in the advert. An admin position that needs you to work six days a week should state this in the advert. An admin position that involves split shifts on every day of the week should state this in the advert! One does not normally expect admin positions to start at 6am, break for a rather long unpaid break between 10am and 12 noon, then go through to 4:30 and be Monday through to Saturday (inclusive) unless it says so in the advert!
3. If you require applicants to have extensive knowledge of a specialised computer program, it is wise to state this in the advert to avoid wasting your time and the applicant's as well. Just because they don't currently have a job doesn't mean that their time is any less important.
4. Last (for now) but certainly not least, if the position has been filled, remove the ad from the job search websites. Ringing on Tuesday for more information about a job that was advertised on Monday is not 'weird' or 'pathetic'. How are we to know that you filled it in-house and only advertised it because you had to? Oh and make sure your receptionist knows that you actually have advertised a job and also that she knows how to press the mute button before screaming across the office about 'another weirdo asking about some job'. If I were you, I would be advertising her job ...

I did get an interview for a position at Smith's but unfortunately it starts at 7am and with two sloth impersonators coupled with a squirrel on crack for children, I felt it may not be the best fit for our family at this time. (In other words, I would be pouring money down the drain paying school fees to a school that they would probably miss the bus to every morning, thereby negating any benefit of paying for a 'quality' education.)

I have received an email from another advertiser thanking me for my application and advising that I had passed the first level of their screening process. They will be in touch via phone sometime in the next week to arrange an interview. (Yay ... someone who is actually with the program ... the manners program!!)

There are still 9 other outstanding applications for which I have received no acknowledgement or interview request. I shall just keep applying with my fingers crossed. (I'd cross other body parts too but that just makes me look as crazy as I am seem.)

I feel like I'm stuck in a version of Donkey Kong where you have to jump over a certain number of barrels (or through metaphorical hoops) before advancing to a face-to-face meeting with the big man himself, only to slip on a banana peel at the last possible moment. I was never any good at Donkey Kong as a kid. Maybe I should have paid more attention to that and less to my books and education ...

I'm back ...

... working at the canteen, for the next two weeks anyway!

The canteen manager called me on Wednesday and asked me to work Thursday to which I said yes, of course. Any extra money is good money! While I was at work on Thursday, she then asked me if I would be able to work Friday as well. Once again, I said yes with all the speed of the Road Runner .. beep beep! .. and thought to myself how great it would be if I could work at least one day a week for the next two weeks, as we could really use the money at the moment, but at the same time resigning myself to that not happening.

You can probably guess where this is going by now, but for those who aren't with the program (hurry up people!) today I was asked to work three days a week for the last two weeks of term, which just happen to be the next two weeks. So as of next week, I'll be working Monday, Thursday and Friday while I continue my search for a 'real' job (one that involves more than 18 hours a week and hopefully heaps of extra money!)

Speaking of searching for jobs, I have just found the perfect one for me so please cross all applicable body parts and send good vibes my way. Cheers!!

Let the bridge crossing commence.

Remember how I told all and sundry about my new job in this post? And how I was so happy to finally stop contributing to our financial decline be helping with the boys' school fees? Just in case you missed it (tsk, tsk!), here is part of the aforementioned post:

I will be working Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays for the rest of this term, unless the other part-timer wants the hours back, in which case I'm back on the scrap heap. Let's cross that bridge, climb that mountain, whatever else you can think of to symbolise 'getting over it', if and when we get there. Almost all the money I will now be getting paid will be going straight back to the school to pay the fees, but it's better than having to find it myself!

I would like to draw your attention the section I have oh-so-conveniently made bold for you. Apparently, she does and I will be at the end of the week.

I'm off to climb the mountain, cross the bridge and find some chocolate.

Oh Lindt, Lindt, wherefore art thou dearest Lindt?

I need to share some good news and vent as well!

Good news first:

I have been volunteering in the canteen at the boys' school for most of first term and was hoping to get a job there (oh so convenient!) when one of the other girls left at the end of the term. Unfortunately (for me) it was offered to another part-timer who already works in a different part of the school who, much to everyone's surprise, agreed to do it.

She had some health issues but thought that she would be able to cope with working the extra hours but, as she confided to me later, she hadn't realised how much standing up for 6 hours straight would affect her. She decided two weeks ago that she wasn't coping as well as she would like so told the bosses that she was just going to do her original job at which point we all thought that I would be offered the position. The bosses decided to wait it out as there are plans afoot to outsource the whole canteen, but soon realised that they needed the extra person as they couldn't rely on the volunteer (yes singular volunteer! I am the only one!!) to fill the gap.

So, to lengthen an already lengthy story, I received a phone call last Thursday as I was on my way to pick up the boys from school. I won't tell you how I broke the law by answering the phone while in charge of a motor vehicle (it was stopped at the time, just not turned off) but I will say that I very eagerly grasped the opportunity to be paid for something I had already been doing for 3 months!

I will be working Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays for the rest of this term, unless the other part-timer wants the hours back, in which case I'm back on the scrap heap. Let's cross that bridge, climb that mountain, whatever else you can think of to symbolise 'getting over it', if and when we get there. Almost all the money I will now be getting paid will be going straight back to the school to pay the fees, but it's better than having to find it myself!

And now for the vent/whinge/pity party for one ...

I am sleep deprived. So, what's new you ask? I mean I'm really sleep deprived as in I only got 3 hours sleep last night in half hour lots. I'm the kind of person who needs at least 8 hours, preferably 9 or 10 hours, to make any sort of sense and be nice civil non-homicidal to those around me. I haven't been this bad since the days of babies and snoring!

Background to the current episode of sleep deprivation: I offered to have two of the boys' friends over to spend the night on Friday. These are the same two boys who have stayed with me in the past, while their parents were interstate or overseas, or just so the boys could have their friends over for a sleepover. Both of the boys fall on the autism spectrum (admittedly at the high functioning end) but they know the rules of my house and follow them, especially the one about 'when I say lights out, that means lights out or I'll put your lights out permanently' (j/k!).

Friday night was relatively late for the boys (10:30pm) but when I said bed, all five of them quietened down and went to sleep (or at least faked it well and, more importantly, quietly!) They slept all night and when I awoke, by myself not by them, at 7am, they were all playing as nicely together as five boys of different ages are able to.

Last night was a wholly different scenario. I had lost one boy to a friend's house for a sleepover and gained one extra, not related to me and who is also apparently not familiar with the concept of 'go to sleep and stay that way for at least 8 consecutive hours'.

Now this child of 11 years is a good kid. He generally follows the rules, has manners, and plays well with my youngest. His mother is a friend from my working days and we have similar attitudes to parenting, which generally makes having someone else's child in your home a much easier proposition.

However, for some reason last night, neither of the boys could get to sleep, let alone stay that way for 8 hours. Once again, I had let them stay up later than normal (to maximise their playing time), and fully expected them to go to sleep soon after lights out at 10:15pm. I crawled into my own bed and, after fighting the dog for more of the doona, was asleep in nanoseconds.

I was awoken by Brad at 12:27am complaining that he couldn't sleep. I dragged my sorry self out of bed, went and checked on the conditions in the room and, upon finding that someone ('not me' or 'Mr Nobody') had left the climate control set at 26 degrees, fixed that, threatened dire consequences if they didn't go to sleep and crawled back into bed at 1:02am.

The threat of dire consequences obviously had no effect as after that I was awoken approximately every 40 minutes with some complaint or another, with the best one being at 3:52am when I was informed that guest child had waited too long to go to the bathroom and peed all over my carpeted games room floor. Bradley had already done a pretty good job of cleaning up what he could so there wasn't much left for me to do, apart from the few little bits he missed, do my best to reiterate the importance of sleep and head back to bed.

There were two more wake-ups after that one which I did my best to ignore, then it was time to get up and wait for Drew to be dropped off at 8am. I'm sure I look like death warmed up, with steamer trunks instead of just bags under my eyes, but I have so far managed to function due to the help of my wonderful eldest child, who has been making me yummy cups of tea without being asked.

The real injustice of the whole situation is that guest child is now fast asleep on the lounge in the games room and, despite the amount of noise we've all been making, is sleeping the sleep of the almost dead. I think nothing sort of an earthquake combined with a nuclear bomb would wake him now!

Hmmm ... I wonder if his mother knows he's turned nocturnal?

What to do? Oh what to do?

I went into my old work on Friday to do some early Easter shopping and say hi to a few people, and was immediately accosted by many requests of "Please come back. We need you!" So many in fact that I started seriously considering it and am now in two minds about it. I was also offered a two-days-a-week position in the book section, working for a manager who appreciates his staff and stands up for them.

On the one hand,

• I enjoyed the sales office job (just enough brain power required without overloading the circuits).
• I liked most of the people there and could tolerate the rest without too much angst (most of the time anyway).
• I really liked feeling useful and capable.
• I don't like being at home all the time because I start to go stir crazy and get depressed (I can feel myself sliding already!)
• Working in a different area of the store would mean getting away from the micromanaging cow.
• Doing something completely new that makes use of my OCD 'skills'.
• They still haven't found anyone to replace me on a permanent basis so technically the sales office job is still open.

On the other hand,

• I don't know if they're just asking me to come back because they think it's what I want to hear or if they really want me back.
• The main person I don't like dealing with is still there, still putting her nose into everyone else's business and isn't likely to leave.
• Whether they would take me back into the sales office seeing as they didn't seem all that put out when I resigned.
• Whether they would take me back with the expectation that I would just pick up the slack in the sales office at the expense of my own (new) job in books.
• Whether they would take me back at all or if I have well and truly burned my bridges.

I keep thinking that if they had offered me holidays when I handed in my resignation, I would have taken them and then gone back to work five days a week. I would have preferred four or even three days a week but I would have gone back and kept pushing for a job share position.

I can't figure out if I want to go back now because 'it's the better the devil you know' or because I am scared I'm not going to find anything else, especially the way the economy and job market are right now. To be perfectly honest, I haven't looked all that hard for a new job yet and the idea of starting all over again does scare the bejesus out of me. (On another note, does anyone know what 'the bejesus' is?) Even though I apparently radiate an air of confidence in work situations, it's all fake! I'm really trembling on the inside, absolutely terrified I'm going to get something wrong or found out to be a fake and that I shouldn't really be there.

I've spoken to Peter and he's OK either way but is leaning towards finding something completely new. Debbie thinks I should go for something new and not get sucked back into the black hole of Canning Vale. The boys don't really care as long they can keep going to the school they're currently in. Any other thoughts and opinions gratefully considered!

The end of my first week as an unemployed bum ..

and it feels really weird. It's kind of like being on holidays so far, but I'm sure that will wear off eventually. Anyway, it's been a very up and down week.

Up: No work on Tuesday (or any other day!)
Down: Sorting through more of Neil's paperwork, realising he's really gone and having a cry.

Up: Spending some time with Peter, without kids, before he went back.
Down: Regretting that I didn't resign earlier to spend more time with him.

Up: Managing to catch up with Jackie for a decent chat .. not a half hour one while watching the clock to make sure I'm not late for work.
Down: That I can't fix her health problems and make her feel better.

Up: Spending the day with Andrew on Thursday (he stayed at home so he didn't get heatstroke from watching the swimming carnival .. again!)
Down: Seeing the look of disappointment on his face when we couldn't bake banana bread because we ran out of time after running all the errands I needed to do.

Up: Catching up with an old scrapping buddy, Sue, for the first time in ages.
Down: Realising how long it's been since I actually did some scrapping, let alone with friends.

Up: Seeing Debbie for lunch on Friday and helping (just a teensy bit) with a scrapping dilemma.
Down: Coming home to find I left my teensy bit of mojo at Debbie's house.

Up: Being invited out to a friend's 40th birthday party on Saturday night.
Down: Going out to my car to go and pick her up, only to find one of the children left the car door open, which left the interior light on, which made the battery run flat.
Up: Remembering there's a spare car battery in the carport that I can jump start the car with.
Down: Finding out that battery is flatter than the one in the car.
Up: Remembering that I'm an RAC Roadside Assistance member and ringing them to jump start the car.
Down: Finding out my membership lapsed last year and that it will cost me $215 to re-join over the phone.
Up: Realising it's still early enough to call a taxi and then getting there only an hour late.
Down: Remembering I left the present at home .. D'oh!!

Up: Going to the bridal fair with my 'baby' sister.
Down: Finding out there's absolutely no parking left at the venue and doing about 9 laps of the city trying to find any parking whatsoever, all while dodging insane taxi drivers who don't believe the lane markings on the roads apply to them as well as the rest of us.
Up: Finding a free street parking spot.
Down: Having to reverse parallel park into said spot which was on a steep hill.
Up: Managing to do it without hitting anything .. not even the curb .. on the first try!! Woohoo!!
Down: Realising we were going to have to climb back up that steep hill after walking around the bridal fair.

Up: Having a great time at the bridal fair and enjoying Clare's company.
Down: Realising how many creepy celebrants and photographers there are out there.
Up: Finding a couple of really good, affordable photographers, caterers, celebrants, DJ's and bonbonierrie (how do you spell that anyway?) suppliers.
Down: Putting up with the creepy, pushy spruikers with crappy looking products and huge price tags.

The major up for the whole weekend though ...

Clare found the perfect wedding dress!

We had looked through all the gowns on display and hadn't found one that satisfied all her criteria. Most of them were too floral or lacy for her (FYI: scalloped lace is apparently big this year .. bleecch!) and the ones she found that came close to what she wanted style-wise were way out of range price-wise.

We'd almost given up and were browsing through the last wedding dress place that had discounted gowns for sale, when we found one that she liked the style of but thought the colour was all wrong. I convinced her to try it on anyway and she fell in love with it. She also tried on two others in different shades but similar styles and it just re-affirmed her initial reaction to the first one. The colour is perfect for her; the design is very,very flattering and the beading is just gorgeous. The saleswoman lent her a veil and some jewellery to complete the look while she was trying it on and she just looked so radiant and happy that I nearly burst into tears.

To top it all off, I got them to knock a little bit more off the already discounted price, so she ended up with $350 off and a dress she loves that fits her almost perfectly (but would still be really easy to alter if she loses the weight all brides swear they're going to lose!) I can't wait to see Richard's face when he sees her in it but I guess I'll have to. The wedding's not 'til December after all!

I'm officially unemployed!

It was a bittersweet day yesterday as I faced the reality of leaving work and all the people I've come to know and like. As is my usual trick, I spent the entire day second-guessing my decision, trying to work out if I really had done the right thing. Just as I would start thinking that working there wasn't that bad, the micro-managing cow would stick her spoke in again, sending me back to counting down the minutes 'til I was out of there.

During the course of the day, many people came to find me and tell me I wasn't allowed to leave because they didn't know what they would do without me there to help them. After receiving the response of "I'm only one person and I'm not irreplaceable", they would then proceed to tell me how I was the only person who would help everytime they asked, without ripping their heads off. I thought I had done my fair share of ranting and raving at work but they obviously weren't taking me seriously .. lol! I also received phone calls from people at other stores that I had worked with during my time there, wishing me all the best and lamenting the fact that they weren't going with me.

I'm usually very calm and controlled at work, so I think I shocked a few people yesterday by crying when reading all the lovely things they wrote in my cards. They then took great delight in telling me that they ran out of room in the first card, so for the first time ever, they had to buy a second card and they had to queue up to be able to write in it. Made me feel guilty all over again for leaving but I think I'm at peace with that decision .. for the next five minutes at least! Seriously though, it was a great boost to my self-esteem to be told over and over again how much I would be missed and to be thanked for being a wonderful person.

The thing that surprised me the most about the whole day was seeing a couple of the male managers with tears in their eyes at my farewell afternoon tea. One of them said he was hoping I'd never leave because he needed me there to make it easier to come to work everyday. (Probably because I used to do a lot of his paperwork for him!) He has also offered me a job working with/for him whenever I want to go back to work. The other manager has also offered me a job whenever I'm ready, as have the managers of two other stores.

All in all, even though I'm sad to leave, I think it is the best thing for me right now. I just need some time to sort myself and the family out, to do some of things that I used to enjoy and decide what I want to do from here on out.

Farewell Big W .. hello new beginnings!

After much soul-searching ...

and changing my mind about 1000 times, I handed in my resignation today. I finish on Friday at 3:15pm and I'm not going back.

There are some who think I'm only quitting because Peter is coming into a bit of money due to his Dad's death but they can kiss my shiny, white, cellulite-filled backside! This has been a while coming and I'm glad I've finally done it. As much as I enjoyed working with some of the people there, the constant fixing of everyone else's problems as well as dealing with my own issues, has really taken its toll. I'm exhausted and just want some time to be me.

Now if I could just find out who me actually is, I'd be laughing!

And the stupidity continues ..

We have a guy at work who has been given the nickname of 'Special K' .. 'special' as in a nicer way of saying 'so amazingly stupid, how the hell is he still breathing?' Now lest you think we are all insensitive clods, we only use it to refer to him in his even-less-than-standard-stupidity moments and only when he is not present.

Now he is a nice enough person (most of the time) but is so totally not suited to being a manager that even our regular customers have giving up asking him questions. One of our regulars has gone so far as to tell him in no uncertain terms to get someone else to help her if he turns up to answer a customer service page.

He is second highest manager of the whole store and can't manage to send an email, even with someone sitting right next to him walking him through it. I even wrote the whole process down with step-by-step instructions and he still can't do it. I know some people are technically challenged but for heaven's sake .. it's not that difficult!!!

This guy is so tunnel-visioned and focused on the little, meaningless details that he often forgets where he is and answers the phone with the name of the last company he worked for. Understandable if he was new, but he has been with our company for seven years!

He is a world class delegator-of-his-work and shifter-of-blame but very quick to take any credit, whether it's related to him or not.

So, as you can imagine, it can be rather frustrating working with him. But even we hardened, cynical, 'oh-my-god-even-a-snail-is-more-intelligent-than-some-of-my-coworkers' people were amazed that when he overheard someone referring to him as 'Special K', he took it as a compliment! And has been telling everyone he comes into contact with, how respected he is because we've given him such a good nickname!

And they wonder why I'm seriously looking for another job ...

Another week over ..

and closer to Christmas .. noooooo! There's still so much to organise and never enough hours available. When, oh when will they invent a cloning machine .. for temporary clones of course, because the world couldn't cope with multiple copies of me and it most certainly couldn't cope with copies of some of the "challenging" individuals I work with. I have enough trouble coping with the originals!!

Anyway, the week that was went something like this:

Sunday: went looking for lounges for the games room and ended up at a pet shop instead. Decided not to buy the extremely cute puppy we found and went home to wonder if we'd made the right decision.

Monday: Back to work to find out I'd been volunteered for more crappy time-consuming fiddly jobs. Chucked a major paddy and manged to delegate most of them back from whence they came. Found out we have stocktake three weeks after Christmas right in the middle of the back-to-school sales. Wondered about the mentality of the higher-ups who make these stupid decisions. Gave up on trying to find logic in their thought processes and wondered some more about the puppy decision.

Tuesday: Went back to buy the puppy but he'd already been sold. Had a look at the other puppies in that shop but they were all kelpie or heeler crosses .. not good in a standard suburban backyard. Went to work in a foul mood because how dare they sell my puppy! Peter came over to work to show me photos of another lot of puppies at a different shop that weren't kelpies or heelers. Went to pet shop after work and bought Brutus. Spent hours wondering if we'd done the right thing (all this wondering and second-guessing is a hobby of mine!)

Wednesday: Went to visit Jackie before work to have a cuppa and a chat. It still amazes me that even with the minuscule amount of time we have together, we can just pick up where we left off. Gotta love that!! Went to work very reluctantly and wondered some more about the puppy decision. Bradley rang me to tell me that there was something very wrong with Brutus. After figuring out that there was nothing wrong as such, just boredom, I went back to dealing with the Mt Everest of paperwork that was threatening to take over my desk. Went home to be greeted very effusively by Brutus and Andrew. Patted them both and then cleaned up all the 'presents' that had been left for me to deal with.

Thursday: Realised it was my second last day of doing the invoice job and I could go back to my own job next week .. woohoo!! As much as I liked the later starts, I want my comfort zone back. Talked to the boss about reducing my hours next year and he seemed fairly receptive to the idea. Received a phone call from home every time Brutus breathed, drank, ate or even moved. Took Brutus to the vet after work for his post-purchase check-up. He was running a slight temp but apparently that's normal due to the stress of all the changes he's gone through. Kids went to Mum's for the night so I played with Brutus until 8:30 then wrapped some presents.

Friday: Woke up feeling a bit under the weather. Realised I hadn't taken my happy pills for two days which explained the impending panic attack feeling. Went to work and left Brutus completely on his own in the house for the first time. Received a phone call when Mum dropped the boys home, to tell me that Brutus had done 2 poos and 3 wees and had eaten all his breakfast and that he was breathing and playing and running and, and, and..... Fought my way through another ginormous pile of paperwork and escaped from work exactly on time. Raced home to see Brutus, oops I mean the children, because they were headed out for a sleepover at Elle's house so I could go out to a scrapping night with Debbie. Went to scrapping night with Debbie and managed to actually achieve some more pages in Peter's car album. Had fun and really enjoyed the company. Came home and played with Brutus some more before crawling into bed about midnight.

Today (so far): 'Slept in' until 7:10am and so far have had a very lazy morning. I had planned to go pick up some laybys and wrap them before the kids got home but I've decide to leave that until the last minute like everything else. If I'm good at anything, it's procrastination!

So now you have the full details of my boring week, I'm going to go do some even more boring and mundane things like mop the floors, do some washing, clean up some more 'presents', wrap some presents (no, not 'those' ones; the good kind!), etc, etc, etc ...

Have a great day!

Carols

On the first day of Christmas, my workmates gave to me ...
a pallet full of broken Christmas trees.

On the second day of Christmas, my workmates gave to me ...
two dodgy bikes,
and a pallet full of broken Christmas trees.

On the third day of Christmas, my workmates gave to me ...
three stolen iPods,
two dodgy bikes,
and a pallet full of broken Christmas trees.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my workmates gave to me ...
four annoying couriers,
three stolen iPods,
two dodgy bikes,
and a pallet full of broken Christmas trees.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my workmates gave to me ...
FIVE HAPPY CUSTOMERS,
four annoying couriers,
three stolen iPods,
two dodgy bikes,
and a pallet full of broken Christmas trees.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my workmates gave to me ...
six massive headaches,
FIVE HAPPY CUSTOMERS,
four annoying couriers,
three stolen iPods,
two dodgy bikes,
and a pallet full of broken Christmas trees.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my workmates gave to me ...
seven managers whingeing,
six massive headaches,
FIVE HAPPY CUSTOMERS,
four annoying couriers,
three stolen iPods,
two dodgy bikes,
and a pallet full of broken Christmas trees.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my workmates gave to me ...
eight piles of paperwork,
seven managers whingeing,
six massive headaches,
FIVE HAPPY CUSTOMERS,
four annoying couriers,
three stolen iPods,
two dodgy bikes,
and a pallet full of broken Christmas trees.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my workmates gave to me ...
nine last-minute shoppers,
eight piles of paperwork,
seven managers whingeing,
six massive headaches,
FIVE HAPPY CUSTOMERS,
four annoying couriers,
three stolen iPods,
two dodgy bikes,
and a pallet full of broken Christmas trees.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my workmates gave to me ...
ten missing laybys,
nine last-minute shoppers,
eight piles of paperwork,
seven managers whingeing,
six massive headaches,
FIVE HAPPY CUSTOMERS,
four annoying couriers,
three stolen iPods,
two dodgy bikes,
and a pallet full of broken Christmas trees.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my workmates gave to me ...
eleven screaming children,
ten missing laybys,
nine last-minute shoppers,
eight piles of paperwork,
seven managers whingeing,
six massive headaches,
FIVE HAPPY CUSTOMERS,
four annoying couriers,
three stolen iPods,
two dodgy bikes,
and a pallet full of broken Christmas trees.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my workmates gave to me ...
twelve broken toys,
eleven screaming children,
ten missing laybys,
nine last-minute shoppers,
eight piles of paperwork,
seven managers whingeing,
six massive headaches,
FIVE HAPPY CUSTOMERS,
four annoying couriers,
three stolen iPods,
two dodgy bikes,
and a pallet full of broken Christmas trees.

This is the kind of the thing I deal with ...

on an almost daily basis. Well, not exactly this particular scenario, but close, very close!


Employee Intelligence Fail ...

see more pwn and owned pictures

And a 'good' time was had by all!

For those who haven't been keeping up, my work Christmas party was last night and despite all the politicking, backstabbing and whingeing in the lead-up, it actually turned out to be a good night.

It was supposed to start at 7pm with dinner being served at 7:30, but due to the horrendous task of finding parking and having to stop twice so Mina could go to the toilet (that will teach her to drink four cruisers in an hour!), I was late. Because I had the money for the bar tab, no-one could have a 'free' drink until I got there. The bouncers out the front were asking everyone who said they were from Big W if they were Donna .. how embarrassment!! (Sorry, just channelling my inner Effie there!) At least it got me a good welcome when I finally got there .. "Yay, Donna's here, bring on the beer!" (Mind you, that could be taken two ways, couldn't it?)

During the course of the night, there were a few complaints and negative comments, but as soon as I heard them, I very quickly set the whingers straight. To quote Rhiannon: "Drink a cup of concrete and harden up people!" It makes you realise who your 'friends' are when you organise something like this and I'm glad to say I have more of them than I thought.

There were also a few hassles with numbers, as there seems to be every year, but that was resolved with a minimum of fuss, leaving me to have an actual alcoholic drink or two, instead of my usual lemon,lime and bitters. The look on some of the younger one's faces when they saw me with a Jim Beam and cola bottle, was absolutely priceless. Then when I had a Bailey's after dessert, they were all worried I was going to be too pissed to drive home! I know I'm not a big drinker, but even I can handle two drinks in 4.5 hours!

I"m sad to say that even though the kids were at Mum's for the night, I was still home and in bed by just after midnight. That's the trouble with volunteering to be a taxi for other people to make sure they get home safe. I don't think I'll ever the hang of this party 'til dawn mentality!! Oh well, it was a good night out and I got a decent night's sleep too .. what more could a girl ask for? (apart from a house cleaner, a cook, a chauffeur, a big lotto win, world peace, etc....?)

Now all I have to do is find my camera and print out the blackmail photos and I'll be set!

The end is near!

No, not "the end of the world as we know it" (REM anyone?) .. just the end of this very long week.

Long for all the reasons listed in my previous posts. (Five boys. Count them with me: one, two, three, four, five boys! I honestly don't know how anyone with more than three boys survives daily life.)

Long because of the children being awake at 9:30pm and wanting to play because it's still light outside. (Have I mentioned how much I hate daylight savings?)

Long for all the days of dealing with the "same old, same old" at work. (Not even going there because I'm sure blogger has a limit on how many times the words moron, cretin, imbecile and plain old dumbass can be used in a single post. If they don't, they should, just for people like me dealing with people like 'them'!)

Long because of all the people asking me "is it too late to pay you for the Christmas party?". ("Um, yeah. The last day was last Friday. I can see how you may have missed the bright red sign with font size 60 stating the date of last Friday as the last possible date for payment. You didn't see it? That's odd because it's stuck to the side of the sign in clock .. you know, the one where you clock in and out every shift.")

Long due to the waiting for said Christmas party. (Roll on Saturday night .. woohoo!!)

Thank goodness the end is near! I don't think I could have survived another day ..... without being carted off to a mental asylum anyway!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In all seriousness though, this week hasn't been too bad with the kids. It is certainly different having an extra couple of bodies in the house .. ones that aren't related to me in any way, shape or form. I'm fairly sure the novelty has worn off for both lots of kids judging by the number of niggling arguments and fights in the last couple of days. Just a wild guess, but I think the visitors will be glad to get home into their own space and my boys will be glad to go back to the usual two on one fights, instead of the four on one fights of this afternoon. No-one ended up with broken bones or is missing any body parts so I think we can call my foray into home long (there's that word again!) daycare a success.

Work, on the other hand, could not be called a success this week. I was 'this' close to telling them all where to stick their attitudes and guess what people, the sun doesn't shine there! Each of the three main offenders could have been handled on their own but putting them all together is a recipe for disaster. Each of them excels at delegating their jobs to other people and then claiming the credit. Of course the flip side is that they are also experts at shifting blame for the things not done. I'd finally had enough and starting saying no and meaning it (apparently that makes all the difference!) and they all got a very rude shock when I walked out on time today having finished my job and none of theirs. I'll probably pay for it next week but right now, I don't care .. insert childish singsong voice here .. na-na-nana-na!

Good news time: Alex got an award at the school assembly this morning. He's in the top 0.5% of students in the whole of Australia for his year level in Chemistry and the award was presented by the head of the WA branch of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. Well done Alex!! He asked me to come to the assembly as he walked out the door this morning and wasn't very happy with me when I said I didn't know if I could but I would try. (just love that 20 minutes notice thing!) I managed to make it, and get photographic evidence to prove I was there because he didn't believe I had made it. I was so glad I made the effort because he was so pleased with me for being there even if he didn't see me. I love making my kids happy with me!

Still on Alex, we saw the psychologist on Wednesday morning and she has basically said the problem isn't him, it's the bullying tactics of the other students. He is reacting in the only way he knows how and then being penalised for it. We are going to continue to see her for some other issues related to things at home, but she has said the school needs to do more to support and help Alex and less 'trying to shift the focus away from the fact that bullying still happens in their school.' I spoke to the deputy principal today and while she seemed a bit put-out by the psychologist's opinion, she is still wanting to put more people and procedures in place to support Alex next year. Hopefully it will make a positive difference for Alex and those around him. (Kind of pointless for the rest of this year, because he's only got 3 days left!)

So now I just have to:

• get through tomorrow morning with all five boys,
• pack up two boys to go back to their auntie's house for the night tomorrow night,
• finish their washing so they can pack to go back to their auntie's house,
• pack up the other three to go to Nonnie's for the night,
• find something that's comfortable and looks good to wear for tomorrow night (which will involve shopping, trying on everything in sight, getting frustrated when nothing looks even halfway decent, pulling out my hair and then stressing about how to fix my hair to cover the bald spots),
• make the house look semi-presentable again,
• food shopping (or there'll be nothing to eat on Sunday .. minor technicality as I'll probably be sleeping anyway!)
• catch up on some sleep tonight so I don't fall asleep after dinner tomorrow night,
• drop the kids at Nonnie's,
• be at Mina's house to pick her up by 6pm,
• be in Northbridge by 6:45pm to secure a good table away from all the morons, cretins and imbeciles that insisted on coming to the Christmas party, and
• stay awake after 9pm so I can actually enjoy a night out without the kids or the hubby!

A girl has to have dreams .. may as well dream big!!