I sit among a bunch of finance people at work.  It is just how it happened to work out when I moved upstairs after switching departments.  At first I was in awe of how much they work – how much they put up with from the areas they support – and how much they have to sort through.  Over the year I have been up here, the people have changed.  They all are contractors through the same company, and I learned that the company is very good at swapping people out as needed and with minimal impact.  And that happened until we got to the current team I’m surrounded by…..

……Team Pain-in-the-Ass

I have a standing desk, so I not only hear more, I usually get the joy of seeing the bullshit go down.  The current crew is so fucking negative about everything.  They may look like they are lending each other a hand, the other hand has the knife ready to stab them in the back.  They are loud and obnoxious and annoying to be around.

One woman in particular is the worst.  She bitches about everything and everybody.  My cube neighbor and I who have worked together for the past several years on a different project often IM each other during the worst to commiserate on how annoying it is that we have to listen.  And at least once a week, there is the hour long personal call where she is chewing someone out.  One week it was the customer rep at the Starbucks headquarters.  Construction happening on the office building in which it has a small corner of has caused some less-than-ideal obstacles to getting into the store.  Doors you could pull or push are now push only because of the construction beyond their control.  I have never seen anyone have issues with it.  Yeah, you guessed it – she does.  She claims she has had her hand slammed in the door more than once because ……the sign on the door isn’t big enough to grab her attention and remind her to be careful.  “I am a classically trained pianist!” was one of the exclamations she issued during her rant to them.  All I kept thinking as I was being forced to hear this was, “Seriously? You are bitching because THE SIGN ISN’T BIG ENOUGH FOR YOU!”  After an hour of ranting, she got what she really wanted – a $50 gift card for her trouble.

Yesterday, this woman was in rare form when I went to get some water from the lunchroom.  I met up with a cost accountant who sits on the other side of this crew.  “How’s your day been?” I asked her.  She made a comment that was clearly about this annoying woman – so I took the bait.  “Yeah, she’s in rare form today – why can’t she get swapped out?” was my response.  Her face lit up.  Apparently she thought she was alone in her feelings about this woman – and even went to HR at one point.  “Wanna hear what she thinks of you?” she asked.  “Oh, I’m on her radar? Let me guess, it’s because I stand at my desk?”  “Nope,” she responded, “get this – she hates that you laugh – you laugh too much – she doesn’t think anyone should laugh that much.”

Yeah, I started laughing hysterically at this info.  The accountant joined me.

“Now I want to laugh more when she’s around.  Is that wrong?”

“Please do – we need less of her negative crap and more laughter – driving her crazy by it is just an added bonus that will now make me happy when I hear you laugh.”

Yeah – I made a friend.

I’m in the process of plowing through my to-do list today.  Lots of things I’m trying to tie up before I go on vacation.  The timing of the vacation is poor now that my project has gone sideways but that’s not my problem…….my boss is going to deal with it because, well, he’s annoyed at how much time it is taking for me to get it back on track – and sick of how little people are putting towards getting it back on track.  So he is here next week – and he’ll have a cattle prod.  It’ll be good for him to see why certain things take so much of our time on these projects.  The people who want it done put less into the project than those doing the work.  And it makes everyone look bad when people start responding to the lack of urgency. Enter Super Project Manager – master of herding cats.  Yeah – it’s about as effective as herding cats.  Wonder how these people would change if they knew, at the end, I got to rate their performance and their could be consequences?  I kinda like that idea.

Last night was clearly a night for processing all of the bullshit from the week.  My dreams were weird and crazy and all with guest appearances by eccentric lunatics.  It had sex and violence and espionage.  It was weird as a whole, but when I start looking up certain things that stand out as symbols in the dream, I find quickly that it all relates to the bullshit of my work week.  Funny how the subconscious continues to process it even when we’re asleep.

But what did surprise me about these dreams and all were two things.  The fact yesterday was a decent day.  Nothing exciting and new – people were moving on and all, so it was good.  Then, on Wednesday, SB came over and took Indigo and me to dinner.  After dinner, he and I went to one of my favorite pub / bottle shops and sipped some great beer while we talked about our weeks, the upcoming trip to the coast, etc.  I could feel myself exhale while sitting there.  So why the crap of my week was still in my head even with everything positive that has balanced me out – who knows!

I’ve been chuckling the past couple of weeks as all of the local people I know are discovering that school starts earlier this year than in past years.  The school board when they made this decision started a campaign to let people know.  This started well before the end of last school year.  It was on the news, in the papers, in newsletters from the school.  I knew about it before G knew it, I think.  Apparently a lot of people didn’t pay attention to it and are getting a rude surprise when they have planned family trips between now and labor day only to find that school starts before labor day this year.  Ooops.

What weirds me out about this school year? I have a sophomore in HS and a 7th graders. how did that happen?!?

Speaking of how things happen, Indigo the other day looks at me while DJ, she and I were in the kitchen – and says “So, if I could back 9 months from my birthday, it means you and dad had fun on Valentine’s Day.”  DJ just shook her head.  Indigo looked a bit smug at her observation.  Without missing a beat, I replied with, “We DID have sex on valentine’s day.”

Indigo’s jaw hit the ground.

DJ almost fell off the bar stool due to laughter.

And I smiled before walking out of the room.

DJ to Indigo: “Well that backfired on you.”

My children are going to need therapy as adults.