Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,
Fortunately, I am home and quite comfortable. It's our slow season at work, so in between handling small tasks, I can read, or I can open my personal laptop for some blogging. I'm not neglecting my work. I simply don't have a lot of work to do now.
We were under some pressure to be in the office once a month for in-person meetings and to socialize over a provided lunch. That pressure is gone for now because the higher uppities decided they want our offices to be in a different part of the city, close to many restaurants and high-end shopping. Our former space was rented to someone else immediately, so a month-to-month continuation of the lease was impossible. The new space is being remodeled and it has been alleged it will be ready in March. I'm betting on June or July.
I don't want to go to the new office. The traffic is terrible. If I should be required at some point to return to the office full time, that would be my breaking point.
I was supposed to go to a friend's for Christmas dinner. She texted me during the morning to say she was ill. I'm sorry she didn't feel well, but I was fine with staying at home to enjoy my favorite Christmas movies and a simple dinner.
I thought I was done with Christmas shopping for myself after I bought three pairs of flannel jammies from Victoria's Secret. But I ended up getting myself a new office chair, too. I couldn't relax in the one I bought from the furniture store when I purchased my desk. On Mondays, I had no back pain. It commenced on Tuesday afternoons, and by the end of the week I had a constant sharp pain in my back, beneath my right shoulder blade. I needed a chair that allowed me to lean back and get comfy. And I found one. It even has a heat function, similar to a heating pad on the lowest setting. The warmth comforts my back and bottom.
I did not want to make any purchases on the larger side until at least March, but my back demanded I spend the money. I'm especially happy that work is slow now because I'm having annoying issues with the work computer stuff. My supervisor noticed yesterday that I don't have access to a particular application that I would seldom use and am not trained to use. He insisted that I call IT so they could make the %^&*$#! piece of shite work for me. No one in IT knew how to take care of it. Finally, someone who is supposed to know this stuff contacted me to ask what the problem was. He said he would send a temporary password for the application and once I used it to gain access, I could set a new password for myself.
Instead, he sent me a password for an application I use all the time, which caused me to be kicked out of the system and unable to perform the little bit of work I did have. Again, I called IT. Again, no one knew what to do. Again, the knowledgeable person contacted me. He helped me get into the application I need and asked me to share my screen so he could be sure of what I needed with the application I don't need. When he saw what I was trying to do, he said, Oh, no. We can't help with that.
Christ on a cracker.
I was again locked out this morning but managed to get back in on my own. I am ignoring a message from the knowledgeable person and communicating as little as possible with my supervisor in the hope he will forget his need for me to have an application that no one can help me get into and I don't know how to use.
I was very grumpy upon being locked out this morning, but my mood is gradually lightening. Florida is out of the freezer. My backdoor is open so Franklin and Penelope can run in and out as they please. I can use my important work systems, at least for now. I enjoyed reading your most recent blog posts. They helped me feel better as well, as did writing this post with my complaints, which you should feel free to ignore.
My recent training was not very successful, and more training is to take place soon. I fear I'm being made a jack of all trades and a master of none.
Infinities of love,
Janie Junebug