Logistics?

After barely a month and a half of employment at UTi, I have been promoted.  Yes, it is exciting and rewarding to be recognized so quickly but, I have to admit it, was nice being an hourly employee with hourly responsibilities.  Which is to say, not much responsibility at all!

Still, I was really worried that I would have to take on a part time job to make ends meet and after a couple of days, I had sort of come to terms with the prospect of being sucked back in to the unfulfilling world of middle-management.

Then, as I learned more about the position, I started to get nervous.  I am worried about one aspect in particular - training with the person who's position I will be taking.  I got a bad feeling the very first conference call I had with her.  She was argumentative and confrontational about everything and, unfortunately, I am going to have to find a way to work closely and learn everything from her when I go to NY for training.  I was daunted by this all last week, especially given the fact that I only have about two weeks to learn it before I lose one person in the department.  To take things to a whole new level of craziness, today I found out that she has filed a discrimination suit against my boss.  Why, you might wonder?  She is PISSED that I got the job and not another guy.  I can't explain how undermined I felt at hearing this. 

Now, everything about my pending training and traveling is up in the air (not that it was ever finalized) and I am supposed to be leaving in 12 days.  I am going to give it my all, but honestly, I don't know if I can take so much crazy so soon.

31 Days of Music -- Day 17

Favorite bassist

I don't know. I like Kim Deal, Charles Mingus, Gail Greenwood and Bud from Sublime.  I wouldn't say I pay enough attention to pick one favorite, BUT, I know who my LEAST favorite bassist is:

Seriously, a douche bag this enormous could cleanse a whale vagina.

31 Days of Music -- Day 12

A song you used to love but don’t anymore:  "I Wanna Sex You Up"  by Color Me Badd

Yes, the skeletons in my musical closet wear gold chains, Drakkar Noir and cheesy color coordinated suits.  This song was in constant rotation in my friend's VW Rabbit the summer of '91. And by constant rotation, I mean that quite literally thanks to the technology of the time known as the cassette single (or cassingle, if you prefer).

Color Me Badd - I Wanna Sex You Up
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31 Days of Music -- Day 11

A song you hate:  "Love Story" by Taylor Swift

I won't post the video but if you've been living in a cave for the last five years, you can see it (in stunning Hi Def) here. 

Let the hating begin...

Sunny With A Chance of Assholes

We're just a few weeks away from the new season of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." 

 

 

To get myself in the mood I have been browsing the around on the show's official site and found this little sneak peak of what's to come from my favorite douchebags from the City of Brotherly Love.                          

**Disclaimer - do not watch this show if you are easily offended or looking for stimulating subject matter, compassionate characters, or intelligent dialogue.  If, however, you've had a shitty day, are drunk or otherwise under the influence or have just visited your local WalMart and are feeling both disgusted and unjustly superior, 'Sunny' might just be the show for you.

I love the clip of Dee gagging and, of course, the return of the McPoyles.  I'm looking forward to this sunny addition to the fall lineup.

More Customer Disservice

We recently scheduled a service change from Dish Networks to Comcast to save a little money while I’m out of work. The change does not come easily. We had Comcast years ago have not missed their service despite the fact that they are the only carriers of many Blazer games. We’ve stuck with Dish out of loyalty and blatant refusal to ever go back to the dreaded cable but, when trying to squeeze every penny, some sacrifices must be made.

Matt set up the installation for Saturday and they confirmed that someone would be there between 8AM and 10AM . At about 10:15 we started to wonder what was up and he went to the website to find out that they somehow had us down for *next* Saturday. This was not acceptable as we still plan to trip up to PT for Thanksgiving so he called to complain sure that they’d remedy the situation. Then I remembered who we were dealing with.  The "customer service representative" stood by the story that there was NO WAY they could get anyone out this weekend, sure that we had screwed up the date.  It took about twenty minutes of explaining, shouting and name calling before she would let him talk to a supervisor who finally agreed to try to get it done Sunday afternoon (still insisting that they were REALLY booked up and didn’t have any available installers).

The guy arrived on time and got started promptly Sunday afternoon (during football…grr) but apparently he ran in to some trouble on the roof and needed to call for backup. A short time later, the fucking cavalry of cable men arrived at my house. They parked all up and down our street and wandered back and forth from truck to truck, spitting and laughing the whole time.  I had to snap this shot of three dudes, standing around the truck while the other two were "working."  They were there for over half an hour.

Sorry, we can't help you today.  All of our installers are having a tea-party on NE Russell street.

Count the Comcast trucks.

I doubt anything will come of this as I didn't even call their bluff. And I certainly don't have the time or inclination to blackmail the cable company.  Then again, I sure would like a few months of free HBO and Showtime...

And the Hits Just Keep on Coming

Knowing my job will no longer exist in about 60 days, you'd think someone at corporate communications would cease sending (or at least change the verbiage on) emails like this one, received this morning:
 

Dear Skye,

On behalf of Ferguson, I would like to congratulate you on reaching another year of service in your career at Ferguson.

Every year, Ferguson has been able to outperform its competitors and show the true value of being a leader in our industry. We could not do this without dedicated associates such as you. It's your dedication and passion of our business that allow all of us to be successful.

I wanted to take a moment to thank you and wish you all of the best in the upcoming year.

Thank You,

Frank Roach

President & CEO

Life is What Happens When You're Making Other Plans...

...Funny thing about surprises - they go both ways.  After what I thought was a great start to my day, I was called in to a meeting to discover Ferguson has decided to close our facility by December 4th.  Timing couldn't be worse - we just bought a truck!  I had to go home... can't deal with everyone else not knowing about it because of course I'm bound to secrecy.  In all honesty, I think we'll be fine.  I'm much more worried about the 21 other people in the department.  It really sucks being the knower of secrets sometimes.

SO IF YOU WANT DISCOUNT PLUMBING SUPPLIES FRIENDS, LET ME KNOW NOW!

The Best of the Worst
In case you haven't read them all, here are my personal favorite comments, observations and tweets regarding the Kanye mic grab incident at the VMAS:


Kanye West is the biggest piece of shit on earth. Quote me. - Pink, popstar, party-starter and walking fashion don't

Fuck you Kanye. It's like you stepped on a kitten. - Katy Perry, girl-kisser

We lost damnit. Maybe next year. At least we got to see the worst haircut since 1984 try to steal the spotlight from lovely Taylor Swift. - Nathan Followill of Kings of Leon

I saw the devil in action when Kanye West stole your mic! - Heidi Montag, celebretard

It's not as if Kanye West's reputation until now has been built on decorum, so it's probably not going to make much difference to him. Beyonce made herself look classy, and Taylor Swift got a more enthusiastic greeting for her second speech than she ever would have gotten for her first. But the biggest winner, surprisingly enough? Jay Leno! West is scheduled to appear on tonight's premiere episode of The Jay Leno Show, and frankly, this explosion of interest in him couldn't have been timed any better if they'd planned it. - Linda Holmes, NPR blogger

Usually, something as branded and crass as a mainstream music-industry event tends to squash individuality and blend everything into a giant ball of gilded banality. But watching West's solipsistic outburst at the expense of Swift seemed to split the show apart at the seams. The moment revealed a gross (though not surprising) underbelly of ego, power, sexism and stupidity. But overall, the incident gave us a glimpse into something most of us already knew: that MTV and the Video Music Awards have very little to do with music. If we were tuning in to watch a spectacle, we got what we came for. - Carrie Brownstein, rocker, blogger and all around righteous babe

Ok Really,,, were we this irate when Rep Joe Wilson disrespected President Obama? - Anonymous post on cnn.com.

American Lameass

I can’t stand Kid Rock. Loathe him, actually. But I love micro brewed beer. So I am agitated and somehow intrigued by the fact that “the Kid” is launching his own brand of brew. American Badass beer is to start out (naturally) as a gimmick to be sold at shows but despite that, I’m dying to try it. You can all say “I told you so” once I realize it tastes like piss. I wonder if it comes in tall cans or 40 oz. bottles?

Be Nice

It seems like there has been an increase in the number of grouchy people out there lately. Don’t get me wrong – I read the news. I know there are a lot of good reasons for folks to forgo niceties when they’re trying to figure out how to put food on the table and so forth. But I was at Fred Meyer the other day and as I walked through the garden center, I witnessed an angry customer reduce a cashier to tears. TO TEARS?!! The chick wasn’t even working, she was walking through the garden center to go on her break and this bitch just totally unloaded on her because she was tired of waiting for help. OK, I’ve been there. We all have. But number one, who in their right mind thinks going to the garden center on one of the first nice days of spring is going to be quick and expedient? And secondly, when someone is on break, there really isn’t much they can do to help in any case. (We have these labor laws that allow people to take breaks and lunches.)

I don’t know, maybe this woman never worked or at least never worked retail and MAYBE she was just having a bad day but really, that’s no excuse. I end with an Ani lyric and dedicate it to everyone who just needs to suck it up and be nice.

pixie

i'm a pixie i'm a paperdoll i'm a cartoon
i'm a chipper cheerful free for all and i light up a room
i'm the color me happy girl miss live and let live
and when they're out for blood i always give
the man behind the counter looks like he's got

a half a dozen places he'd rather be
and furthermore it looks like he's prepared
to take it all out on me
buddy, i don't really care what your problem is
just don't make it mine
come on kids, let's all hold hands
and pretend we're having a good time

maybe you don't like your job
maybe you didn't get enough sleep
well, nobody likes their job
nobody got enough sleep
maybe you just had
the worst day of your life
but, you know, there's no escape
and there's no excuse
so just suck up and be nice