Update on work - Round 1
So I know most people aren't going to be interested in this, but it's something I've decided to do in order to figure out what I want to do with my career. I'm going to start updating in here a LOT, and it's going to be mostly about work. If no one wants to read it, that's fine with me. Advice would be good though. Mostly I'm doing this because I have an "internship" for my Masters at the moment, and the class is basically writing papers reflecting on your experiences and then giving a big presentation at the end. I intend to totally kick ass in this class because all I do is talk about work and how much it pisses me off or how much my clients drive me crazy or occasionally, how awesome I can be at my job (usually I forget this part).
Anyway, I had written down in my planner that I was going to update in here on Weds., Thurs., and Fri. of this week. Well...it's been a little hectic with the restatement and quite frankly, I've already forgotten anything that's happened on Weds./Thurs. so I figured I better start writing some crap down so I don't forget all of this.
Last night I left work around 6 because I was just so damn exhausted. I mean it is just so difficult trying to start having a life again when you are in the middle of a restatement. Difficult is putting it lightly. So I tried to make up for lost time this past weekend and it has been killing me all week - I just never caught up on sleep. Anyway, left work early last night...turned on the OC...and then tried to do work from home. No sooner did I boot up the computer and get all my spreadsheets open and my databases running, then I get the blue screen and the damn thing restarts. Ok, admittedly I've known this computer was dying from the day I got it. Admittedly it's given me that screen before and shut down all my programs. I just figured - maybe it won't crash before the restatement is over. So I've just rebooted, backed up all my files, and carried on.
Today I come into work bitching that I lost my work AGAIN because of this damn HP piece of crap laptop (I miss the IBM!) and Mark tells me I can just take it to IT and they'll swap out my hard drive in 2 min. Previously I had thought it would take 4 hours (like the last time they transferred all my files onto a new comp.). So, I go up to IT and they run a few tests on my computer basically confirming what we already knew...they told me the imaging was trashed and that they had to re-image my hard drive because apparently there were still some parts of it that were ok, but the rest was dead. (Yeah, obviously I can't speak in IT terms and I forget what they said exactly...they did say the imaging was trashed though...I remember that because I was highly amused by it). Anyway, to make a long story short - they DID need 4 hours to fix my computer because they had to swap out the hard drive but ALSO transfer my files. So, on the day of the deadline, Nicole did practically nothing to help out.
I was a bit upset that I couldn't help out much, but I can't even explain how much my stress level was lowered just not having access to e-mail, AIM, and Sametime. I actually had a fairly relaxing day. I worked on an adjustment to Q1 revenue for one of the agencies, worked on a couple of open items for Q2 for that same agency, and gave informal feedback to my staff that's rolling off of this client. I mean there is only so much you can do without a computer. All my files are on the computer. My databases are on the computer. E-mails. Contact information. IM. God - I am immobilized without a computer. Every day there are fire drills obviously - it's the nature of this client - but I am pleased to say that I dealt with it without freaking out or pointing fingers (even though one of the managers DID cause the problem), and he eventually admitted it was his fault.
My HR person pretty much blew me off the whole day because she knows I am trying to schedule a call with her to discuss my salary. She doesn't know that I am considering transferring to the NY office. That is what's going to happen if she doesn't give me more money. Granted, I did just get a huge raise, and not to be ungrateful, but...what if I found out that there are people in my EXACT position in NY making $12k more than me? Hi, pay me what they're making since I work on 100% NY clients (due to the fact that NJ can't staff me for shit and I do all my staffing myself)...or else lose me to the NY office. My team has been begging me to transfer to NY since May anyway. It's not like I would have a problem pulling this off. Maybe NY won't give me that much money, but if they do not want to give me that salary, I am expecting a pretty stellar reason why they can't.
Enough ranting about this job...the funny thing is today was a good day.
Anyway, I had written down in my planner that I was going to update in here on Weds., Thurs., and Fri. of this week. Well...it's been a little hectic with the restatement and quite frankly, I've already forgotten anything that's happened on Weds./Thurs. so I figured I better start writing some crap down so I don't forget all of this.
Last night I left work around 6 because I was just so damn exhausted. I mean it is just so difficult trying to start having a life again when you are in the middle of a restatement. Difficult is putting it lightly. So I tried to make up for lost time this past weekend and it has been killing me all week - I just never caught up on sleep. Anyway, left work early last night...turned on the OC...and then tried to do work from home. No sooner did I boot up the computer and get all my spreadsheets open and my databases running, then I get the blue screen and the damn thing restarts. Ok, admittedly I've known this computer was dying from the day I got it. Admittedly it's given me that screen before and shut down all my programs. I just figured - maybe it won't crash before the restatement is over. So I've just rebooted, backed up all my files, and carried on.
Today I come into work bitching that I lost my work AGAIN because of this damn HP piece of crap laptop (I miss the IBM!) and Mark tells me I can just take it to IT and they'll swap out my hard drive in 2 min. Previously I had thought it would take 4 hours (like the last time they transferred all my files onto a new comp.). So, I go up to IT and they run a few tests on my computer basically confirming what we already knew...they told me the imaging was trashed and that they had to re-image my hard drive because apparently there were still some parts of it that were ok, but the rest was dead. (Yeah, obviously I can't speak in IT terms and I forget what they said exactly...they did say the imaging was trashed though...I remember that because I was highly amused by it). Anyway, to make a long story short - they DID need 4 hours to fix my computer because they had to swap out the hard drive but ALSO transfer my files. So, on the day of the deadline, Nicole did practically nothing to help out.
I was a bit upset that I couldn't help out much, but I can't even explain how much my stress level was lowered just not having access to e-mail, AIM, and Sametime. I actually had a fairly relaxing day. I worked on an adjustment to Q1 revenue for one of the agencies, worked on a couple of open items for Q2 for that same agency, and gave informal feedback to my staff that's rolling off of this client. I mean there is only so much you can do without a computer. All my files are on the computer. My databases are on the computer. E-mails. Contact information. IM. God - I am immobilized without a computer. Every day there are fire drills obviously - it's the nature of this client - but I am pleased to say that I dealt with it without freaking out or pointing fingers (even though one of the managers DID cause the problem), and he eventually admitted it was his fault.
My HR person pretty much blew me off the whole day because she knows I am trying to schedule a call with her to discuss my salary. She doesn't know that I am considering transferring to the NY office. That is what's going to happen if she doesn't give me more money. Granted, I did just get a huge raise, and not to be ungrateful, but...what if I found out that there are people in my EXACT position in NY making $12k more than me? Hi, pay me what they're making since I work on 100% NY clients (due to the fact that NJ can't staff me for shit and I do all my staffing myself)...or else lose me to the NY office. My team has been begging me to transfer to NY since May anyway. It's not like I would have a problem pulling this off. Maybe NY won't give me that much money, but if they do not want to give me that salary, I am expecting a pretty stellar reason why they can't.
Enough ranting about this job...the funny thing is today was a good day.