Run Down of the Low Down
I have decided that it is about time to start over fresh with my blog. There will be no username changes or any old entries unlocked, but I want to try to actually update. I have been experience the want to do it, that pull that nags at me every so often, begs to me just start typing about any ol’ thing. Yes, this means that I’m giving into my inner impulses and starting fresh.
Very soon (I hope) there will be a change to my layout. Not that anyone cares because we all read our entries from our Friends’ page in our own layout, but I’m bored with mine. I want something fresh, something I can envision my type, my letters, my words showing up on for my own amusement. Currently, I can’t see that and it actually makes me a little bit sad.
A lot has happened since my last real update. Christine and I have moved into our own place, and our lease is actually up for renewal. While this is good - because it means we’ve actually made it! - it also means that we will be having to pay out more money. The raise of rent is inevitable, something that everyone has to deal with unless they live in a rent controlled building or complex. Sadly, that is not the case. In fact, I am waiting on a phone call so I can try to negotiate the price down a little bit. My hopes aren’t set on this because I’m a realist, but there’s no harm in trying, save for the undue stress it has caused for Christine so far.
I find people annoying, and this leads from the above paragraph - I called the office Tuesday morning and I had to leave a message for someone else to give me a call back. The property manager is apparently the only one who can discuss and negotiate lease amounts which, while it makes perfect sense to my practical side, I find inconvenient. In my years working for a call center I have gained knowledge of what precisely happens with messages taken for someone else, and this is what happened: I spoke with the woman who had only been hired a few months earlier. While unfair, I do judge people on this basis because it is just a fact that those with the least amount of time in any office, save for a few exceptions to the rule, suck the most. I was told that the property manager is out of the office until the following day around 1:30 due to a family emergency. This is understandable as shit happens. I gave her my cell phone number, verified my name again (as both Christine and I are on the lease) and I told her what time I always go to lunch. She tells me this should be no problem and I would receive a call back. Instead of calling me they call Christine’s cell phone in the morning to tell her that the call back to discuss the lease would have to wait until the following day for the same time. This would be fine except I told them to call MY cell phone. Yes, we might sound similar on the phone and we are both women, and we do happen to have very similar phone numbers, but please pay attention to the needs of your customers so they will want to continue to pay their rent to you and not vacate the apartment.
At this point, fingers are just crossed that they get it right tomorrow (Thursday) and I can actually speak with them.
I recently received a raise at work. This has been a long time coming since I am now responsible for just as much as the Senior rep and even have taken over some duties from her so she could take over duties from the Team Leader that left months ago. Of course, the Team Lead has not been replaced and we have been assured that they are not looking to fill the position because it’s “not in the budget.” It’s bullshit, but what can we do when we’re merely peons begging for scraps? While this normally would be good news, and it definitely is because at least some extra money is coming in, the raised placed me in a higher tax bracket and so more taxes are being taken out. A $1.60/hr raise seems almost useless when you’re not even getting $100 a paycheck because of taxes.
I’m finding it stressful to be an adult. I know that I’ve technically been an adult since I’m 18 but this is a different kind of “adult” all together. This was discovered when Christine and I had Emily over for a small Buffy marathon and we ended up in a conversation about our work commutes and how much they suck. Never before have we applied this kind of topic to an everyday conversation, and I have to say it worries me a little bit. It means I’m getting old.
Normally the issue of age doesn’t bother me. I know that a lot of people, women especially, find the numbers to be daunting and view them as a kind of enemy they have to hide all knowledge about. I don’t get that. Even thinking about turning 40 doesn’t seem to bother me, never mind that this is typically considered “over the hill.” It all has to do with the mindset that goes along with it for me. I mean, a work commute? And it wasn’t like we were bored, which I find amusing. All three of us were very much in the conversation and not bored at all. Even just a year ago I would have tuned it all out, but now I’m all grown up.
I recently received information about my family in California that I find... disgusting. It seems that my grandparents on my father's side of the family are being taken advantage of by their children. It is assumed that these actions have come about because of manipulation and planning by my grandmother's own brother. While believable because of the actions he has made in the past, I'm not sure how accurate it all is. I wont get into detail about the event because it is personal in nature and it really isn't for me to disclose, but I can't express how disappointed I am that my own flesh and blood are acting like such white trash, and truly they are.
I have spent a lot of my time distancing myself from them because our views on life are so extremely different. They're devout Mormons, which is a very strange religion to begin with, and I am an atheist. Though I don't know how true the story is at this point, I was told by my sister that after I was married she heard snide comments coming from my grandmother and my aunts about how "trashy" my wedding to my now ex-husband was. Because of their nature, I don't disbelieve the story, and that was the thing that pushed it all over the edge. I haven't spoken to any of them in years and I have no plans of doing so again, but what I am hearing now just pisses me off and I'm not really sure what to do or say.
Of course I email my mother about it when she deems it necessary to fill me on details... days after she texts me to tell me there's something important going on, but she'll email me later. I find this entirely frustrating and I'm not sure what to do or say about it. I understand and appreciate that she wants to keep my informed about the goings on, but texting me on Tuesday to tell me an email will be coming "soon" and then not sending that email until the next Tuesday after I've had to email her to see what's going on seems just rude and inconsiderate. I want to call her on it, but that would just open a can of worms that I'm not ready to deal with right now, if ever.
Switching the topic back to work: Hopefully soon I will be changing my schedule. Currently I work 10:30-7pm every day. This was perfect while Christine was working at LBS but that changed in May for the better and now she has a morning schedule of 8-4:30pm. We were able to hire another body for my department specifically for my schedule after I requested the change, knowing it wouldn't happen until we hired someone. This woman has been there for a month now and while it will be nice to just have another body taking calls, she seems to be almost completely useless. I agree that there is a lot to learn, but she seems just unable to do so. She is stubborn, which doesn't help a thing, and she has never had any customer service experience prior, though her medical background (if you can call working in a chiropractor's office "medical") is as extensive as the owner of our company prefers, it doesn't actually help us if she can't learn the systems we use or how to handle member concerns. Hopefully she will get better, but from what I'm hearing she just... isn't. All I know is that I want to start and leave work an hour earlier so Christine and I can actually have a real night together, full of the hours of a normal adult couple.
Very soon (I hope) there will be a change to my layout. Not that anyone cares because we all read our entries from our Friends’ page in our own layout, but I’m bored with mine. I want something fresh, something I can envision my type, my letters, my words showing up on for my own amusement. Currently, I can’t see that and it actually makes me a little bit sad.
A lot has happened since my last real update. Christine and I have moved into our own place, and our lease is actually up for renewal. While this is good - because it means we’ve actually made it! - it also means that we will be having to pay out more money. The raise of rent is inevitable, something that everyone has to deal with unless they live in a rent controlled building or complex. Sadly, that is not the case. In fact, I am waiting on a phone call so I can try to negotiate the price down a little bit. My hopes aren’t set on this because I’m a realist, but there’s no harm in trying, save for the undue stress it has caused for Christine so far.
I find people annoying, and this leads from the above paragraph - I called the office Tuesday morning and I had to leave a message for someone else to give me a call back. The property manager is apparently the only one who can discuss and negotiate lease amounts which, while it makes perfect sense to my practical side, I find inconvenient. In my years working for a call center I have gained knowledge of what precisely happens with messages taken for someone else, and this is what happened: I spoke with the woman who had only been hired a few months earlier. While unfair, I do judge people on this basis because it is just a fact that those with the least amount of time in any office, save for a few exceptions to the rule, suck the most. I was told that the property manager is out of the office until the following day around 1:30 due to a family emergency. This is understandable as shit happens. I gave her my cell phone number, verified my name again (as both Christine and I are on the lease) and I told her what time I always go to lunch. She tells me this should be no problem and I would receive a call back. Instead of calling me they call Christine’s cell phone in the morning to tell her that the call back to discuss the lease would have to wait until the following day for the same time. This would be fine except I told them to call MY cell phone. Yes, we might sound similar on the phone and we are both women, and we do happen to have very similar phone numbers, but please pay attention to the needs of your customers so they will want to continue to pay their rent to you and not vacate the apartment.
At this point, fingers are just crossed that they get it right tomorrow (Thursday) and I can actually speak with them.
I recently received a raise at work. This has been a long time coming since I am now responsible for just as much as the Senior rep and even have taken over some duties from her so she could take over duties from the Team Leader that left months ago. Of course, the Team Lead has not been replaced and we have been assured that they are not looking to fill the position because it’s “not in the budget.” It’s bullshit, but what can we do when we’re merely peons begging for scraps? While this normally would be good news, and it definitely is because at least some extra money is coming in, the raised placed me in a higher tax bracket and so more taxes are being taken out. A $1.60/hr raise seems almost useless when you’re not even getting $100 a paycheck because of taxes.
I’m finding it stressful to be an adult. I know that I’ve technically been an adult since I’m 18 but this is a different kind of “adult” all together. This was discovered when Christine and I had Emily over for a small Buffy marathon and we ended up in a conversation about our work commutes and how much they suck. Never before have we applied this kind of topic to an everyday conversation, and I have to say it worries me a little bit. It means I’m getting old.
Normally the issue of age doesn’t bother me. I know that a lot of people, women especially, find the numbers to be daunting and view them as a kind of enemy they have to hide all knowledge about. I don’t get that. Even thinking about turning 40 doesn’t seem to bother me, never mind that this is typically considered “over the hill.” It all has to do with the mindset that goes along with it for me. I mean, a work commute? And it wasn’t like we were bored, which I find amusing. All three of us were very much in the conversation and not bored at all. Even just a year ago I would have tuned it all out, but now I’m all grown up.
I recently received information about my family in California that I find... disgusting. It seems that my grandparents on my father's side of the family are being taken advantage of by their children. It is assumed that these actions have come about because of manipulation and planning by my grandmother's own brother. While believable because of the actions he has made in the past, I'm not sure how accurate it all is. I wont get into detail about the event because it is personal in nature and it really isn't for me to disclose, but I can't express how disappointed I am that my own flesh and blood are acting like such white trash, and truly they are.
I have spent a lot of my time distancing myself from them because our views on life are so extremely different. They're devout Mormons, which is a very strange religion to begin with, and I am an atheist. Though I don't know how true the story is at this point, I was told by my sister that after I was married she heard snide comments coming from my grandmother and my aunts about how "trashy" my wedding to my now ex-husband was. Because of their nature, I don't disbelieve the story, and that was the thing that pushed it all over the edge. I haven't spoken to any of them in years and I have no plans of doing so again, but what I am hearing now just pisses me off and I'm not really sure what to do or say.
Of course I email my mother about it when she deems it necessary to fill me on details... days after she texts me to tell me there's something important going on, but she'll email me later. I find this entirely frustrating and I'm not sure what to do or say about it. I understand and appreciate that she wants to keep my informed about the goings on, but texting me on Tuesday to tell me an email will be coming "soon" and then not sending that email until the next Tuesday after I've had to email her to see what's going on seems just rude and inconsiderate. I want to call her on it, but that would just open a can of worms that I'm not ready to deal with right now, if ever.
Switching the topic back to work: Hopefully soon I will be changing my schedule. Currently I work 10:30-7pm every day. This was perfect while Christine was working at LBS but that changed in May for the better and now she has a morning schedule of 8-4:30pm. We were able to hire another body for my department specifically for my schedule after I requested the change, knowing it wouldn't happen until we hired someone. This woman has been there for a month now and while it will be nice to just have another body taking calls, she seems to be almost completely useless. I agree that there is a lot to learn, but she seems just unable to do so. She is stubborn, which doesn't help a thing, and she has never had any customer service experience prior, though her medical background (if you can call working in a chiropractor's office "medical") is as extensive as the owner of our company prefers, it doesn't actually help us if she can't learn the systems we use or how to handle member concerns. Hopefully she will get better, but from what I'm hearing she just... isn't. All I know is that I want to start and leave work an hour earlier so Christine and I can actually have a real night together, full of the hours of a normal adult couple.