Hormones
I'm not convinced that hormones can really take the blame for a woman killing her husband - 'Oh, sorry dear, it was my PMS' just doesn't wash. But I do think they can do a number on your head. Debbie & I have both been suffering, this week.
Yesterday I was pre-menstrual, but feeling menstrual, which is the weirdest combination. Today, I was menstrual, so less grotty but tired. Debbie's head was just somewhere else yesterday and today, and she had her big meeting to prepare for! So, we've both had better days.
I don't know if I can blame hormones for this or just the passage of time, but I finally told Debbie my theory on the creation of the PSP Officer post.
In the beginning, collating, interpreting, and chasing programme proposals belonged to me, and nobody cared about it. Then Karen needed a proper job, and the secretary of the committee the forms went to retired, so Karen became the secretary and also got to do the collating, interpreting, and chasing. I had the fun task of teaching her how to do my job, which nobody had cared about before, but was now suddenly so important.
It was a relief, therefore, to be offered a brief secondment with the Faculty of Health. In the meantime, Karen suddenly got another job, and after initially being told she wouldn't be replaced, I was put in the position of having to apply for the new post of PSP Officer - a large part of which is, being the secretary to the committee the forms go to and collating, interpreting, and chasing them inbetween whiles. Of course, whilst I was away, Debbie had been helping Karen to do all this, so I was doubly shafted. Not only was I having to apply for 'my own job', but Debbie had more recent experience in doing it than I did.
Debbie's memory was that Karen did the job while I was in Health, but actually Karen took over first. Also, at the time, everyone was listening to me moaning, and to JK telling them how much I wanted to leave. Nobody actually sat me down and let me tell them that I was frustrated with the job (and with being shafted at every turn, and seeing other people have jobs created for them, etc, etc) rather than with working for Planning. Hence everyone's surprise when I applied for the PSP Officer post, too.
I was surprised that they were surprised, I really was. Why wouldn't I go for 'my own job' for crying out loud?! But I let anger, resentment, and fear get the better of me and bombed in the interview.
Of course, now, I'm really glad I didn't get it. I would have been miserable, because some things never change. Whilst the importance of the job is now more recognised, there still isn't the support from above, because those people don't make it a priority in their time-allocations. Probably with good reason, since they are busy people - but it leaves Debbie flailing around in the dark at the best of times, let alone when her hormones are getting in the way!
At the moment, I'm fairly content. I have my new committee to look after and get interested in. I am going to make a concerted effort to embrace credit/UMF, since nobody else is the least bit interested, and carve a bit of a niche for myself. I am going to push for the process review of NCBC, and the revamp of ModCat.
There are still modules to set up, but there always will be.
The most heartening thing is the respect I know I'm held in by people at all levels of the University. I may be on the bottom rung in Planning, but I'm the first port of call for all sorts of people.
Then there's ProdCat. I know I spend more time on that than Debbie does, and it's really her job to look after it, but she just doesn't get the time. I just need my PDPR, now, so I can point that out.
Debbie and I sometimes wonder what would happen if either of us were to leave. Between us, we do a heck of a lot of work. Whilst none of it is especially difficult to learn in one sense, understanding some of the coding that we use only comes with time and experience. One new person could not do everything that I do, for example. Either Debbie (and/or one or more other members of the team) would have to take stuff on and leave the new person with just the data-entry, or they'd need two new bods. It's things like that, which are just not recognised. When I filled my last application in, Wayne said, 'you only need to serve a month's notice?! - please don't leave!'
I know I'm valued and appreciated when I hear comments like that, but when you're setting up the 20th module of the day, and you know all you have to look forward to after that is someone griping about why their programme specification hasn't been signed off, yet, the whole thing can just wear you down, ever so slightly :D
Yesterday I was pre-menstrual, but feeling menstrual, which is the weirdest combination. Today, I was menstrual, so less grotty but tired. Debbie's head was just somewhere else yesterday and today, and she had her big meeting to prepare for! So, we've both had better days.
I don't know if I can blame hormones for this or just the passage of time, but I finally told Debbie my theory on the creation of the PSP Officer post.
In the beginning, collating, interpreting, and chasing programme proposals belonged to me, and nobody cared about it. Then Karen needed a proper job, and the secretary of the committee the forms went to retired, so Karen became the secretary and also got to do the collating, interpreting, and chasing. I had the fun task of teaching her how to do my job, which nobody had cared about before, but was now suddenly so important.
It was a relief, therefore, to be offered a brief secondment with the Faculty of Health. In the meantime, Karen suddenly got another job, and after initially being told she wouldn't be replaced, I was put in the position of having to apply for the new post of PSP Officer - a large part of which is, being the secretary to the committee the forms go to and collating, interpreting, and chasing them inbetween whiles. Of course, whilst I was away, Debbie had been helping Karen to do all this, so I was doubly shafted. Not only was I having to apply for 'my own job', but Debbie had more recent experience in doing it than I did.
Debbie's memory was that Karen did the job while I was in Health, but actually Karen took over first. Also, at the time, everyone was listening to me moaning, and to JK telling them how much I wanted to leave. Nobody actually sat me down and let me tell them that I was frustrated with the job (and with being shafted at every turn, and seeing other people have jobs created for them, etc, etc) rather than with working for Planning. Hence everyone's surprise when I applied for the PSP Officer post, too.
I was surprised that they were surprised, I really was. Why wouldn't I go for 'my own job' for crying out loud?! But I let anger, resentment, and fear get the better of me and bombed in the interview.
Of course, now, I'm really glad I didn't get it. I would have been miserable, because some things never change. Whilst the importance of the job is now more recognised, there still isn't the support from above, because those people don't make it a priority in their time-allocations. Probably with good reason, since they are busy people - but it leaves Debbie flailing around in the dark at the best of times, let alone when her hormones are getting in the way!
At the moment, I'm fairly content. I have my new committee to look after and get interested in. I am going to make a concerted effort to embrace credit/UMF, since nobody else is the least bit interested, and carve a bit of a niche for myself. I am going to push for the process review of NCBC, and the revamp of ModCat.
There are still modules to set up, but there always will be.
The most heartening thing is the respect I know I'm held in by people at all levels of the University. I may be on the bottom rung in Planning, but I'm the first port of call for all sorts of people.
Then there's ProdCat. I know I spend more time on that than Debbie does, and it's really her job to look after it, but she just doesn't get the time. I just need my PDPR, now, so I can point that out.
Debbie and I sometimes wonder what would happen if either of us were to leave. Between us, we do a heck of a lot of work. Whilst none of it is especially difficult to learn in one sense, understanding some of the coding that we use only comes with time and experience. One new person could not do everything that I do, for example. Either Debbie (and/or one or more other members of the team) would have to take stuff on and leave the new person with just the data-entry, or they'd need two new bods. It's things like that, which are just not recognised. When I filled my last application in, Wayne said, 'you only need to serve a month's notice?! - please don't leave!'
I know I'm valued and appreciated when I hear comments like that, but when you're setting up the 20th module of the day, and you know all you have to look forward to after that is someone griping about why their programme specification hasn't been signed off, yet, the whole thing can just wear you down, ever so slightly :D