On Tardiness and Bullying
July. Good grief! I thought it was only a month or so.
It's still cold - but not as cold as before. The garden is still green, fragrant as always at this time of year, even with the lack of water. The great thing about bulbs is - they are water-wise. You don't need to water them in summer, when they are dormant. How cool is that? I could almost forgive the Daffodils for looking shitty for so long after they've finished flowering. The Hellebores are spreading and looking marvelous, along with the Grape Hyacinths. The tubs of stocks and Snapdragons are starting to flower, whilst the Pansies are past their peak. The Hyacinths have finished after the most lush display - Ratface planted out two great tubs and always had one where I could see it from the kitchen window. Now the Tulips are taking their places - purple and gold... Up the back, the Freesias are sending their scent all through the garden and I'm wondering when the Iris will flower. The DayLillies are sprouting - we need more of them. This morning I walked out to empty the teapot and two Rosellas flew out of the Wisteria, causing a cloud of mauve flowers to carpet the lawn underneath. Two of the Camellias he repotted have flowered so magnificently it's like they were on fire with colour. The one on the right has red and white striped blooms and the one on the left large, shell pink ones. Even the small Camellia in the corner has provided us with perfect watermelon coloured flowers. Some of the Fuschias will survive, but a couple of the ferns aren't looking so good. The Bird's Nests were badly frost bitten, but seem to be reviving. I am still in hope that we will get that area tidied up before summer. Balmy summer nights with barbies, wine, and good friends... surrounded by tealights and the sound of trickling water...
Ratface tells me he is retiring in December - so there'll be no excuses. I keep telling him to find another job or he'll end up like Dad. With Dad, every week is an adventure - I never know who I'll be. I wrote in Dad's diary the names and ages of his children, so he can remember us. Still not at the 'running naked from the house' stage. It's a bit sad. Every week things look a little sadder. He tells me he is lonely. I tell him to stop whingeing because he's the only one who can fix it. Sounds harsh, but I'm tired of the guilt.
Last week my offsider submitted a request for transfer. The week before I had decided to quit, but not before I'd lined up another job, and I will be picky. At my age, I want what I want. My boss is a bully, I suspect I have mentioned that before, on several occasions. My other boss is also a bully, and Karma is taking a while to kick in. When my offsider succumbed to her emotions - literally as I was walking in the door at the start of the day - I bundled her out the door as quickly as I could. The less time they see her upset, the less they have to give her a hard time. A short time later he got me into his office, closed the door and proceeded to give me his version of events. I tried to tell him it was none of my business and that I hadn't heard the discussion leading up to her needing to go home, but he kept telling me "Let me finish." After giving me his spin, which included the line "I spoke to her like we have our discussions on the newsletter" - and they always go so well!, he asked me what she had said to me. I told him that it was none of my business, and if she wanted to talk to him about it, I was sure she'd let him know. I then left his office, having not given him the satisfaction of succumbing to his obviously heavy-handed tactics, and felt better than I'd ever felt before when we'd had one of our 'discussions'. In fact the overriding sensation I had for the rest of the week was one of power and 'bring it on!'.
I don't think they'll try anything for a while. Earlier in the week I'd sent the other one an email because I was supposed to have a Performance Management whatever. Until the weekend before, I'd actually been worried about it, not ever having had one before, and was also pissed off that I had to go through all that for a lousy 13 hours a week. Ratface was actually very helpful. In fact, he knows the act backwards, and it was he who advised me to send the email, politely requesting my J & Ps so I could figure out if I'd been working to it. I figured if I hadn't ever actually been given a J & P, it was pretty hard to have a meeting to see whether I had been working to it. She came in a short time after receiving it and said "It's not really a formal sort of meeting, I thought perhaps we could work on the J & P?" I said I thought having a J & P was a good idea, because when I had one, and had worked under it for a while, we could then know whether I was keeping my end of the bargain as an employee.
Haven't heard anything since.
I am going to join a union - for the first time... ever.
Am working a lot of extra hours at the moment because 2 days after I had decided to look for another job, the other woman in the office broke her ankle, and she'll be out for months.
I have dreams of saying "I'm leaving."
It's a shame, really. I love the job - I just have no respect for the dumb fucks who control my working life. Luckily, I am not alone.
It's still cold - but not as cold as before. The garden is still green, fragrant as always at this time of year, even with the lack of water. The great thing about bulbs is - they are water-wise. You don't need to water them in summer, when they are dormant. How cool is that? I could almost forgive the Daffodils for looking shitty for so long after they've finished flowering. The Hellebores are spreading and looking marvelous, along with the Grape Hyacinths. The tubs of stocks and Snapdragons are starting to flower, whilst the Pansies are past their peak. The Hyacinths have finished after the most lush display - Ratface planted out two great tubs and always had one where I could see it from the kitchen window. Now the Tulips are taking their places - purple and gold... Up the back, the Freesias are sending their scent all through the garden and I'm wondering when the Iris will flower. The DayLillies are sprouting - we need more of them. This morning I walked out to empty the teapot and two Rosellas flew out of the Wisteria, causing a cloud of mauve flowers to carpet the lawn underneath. Two of the Camellias he repotted have flowered so magnificently it's like they were on fire with colour. The one on the right has red and white striped blooms and the one on the left large, shell pink ones. Even the small Camellia in the corner has provided us with perfect watermelon coloured flowers. Some of the Fuschias will survive, but a couple of the ferns aren't looking so good. The Bird's Nests were badly frost bitten, but seem to be reviving. I am still in hope that we will get that area tidied up before summer. Balmy summer nights with barbies, wine, and good friends... surrounded by tealights and the sound of trickling water...
Ratface tells me he is retiring in December - so there'll be no excuses. I keep telling him to find another job or he'll end up like Dad. With Dad, every week is an adventure - I never know who I'll be. I wrote in Dad's diary the names and ages of his children, so he can remember us. Still not at the 'running naked from the house' stage. It's a bit sad. Every week things look a little sadder. He tells me he is lonely. I tell him to stop whingeing because he's the only one who can fix it. Sounds harsh, but I'm tired of the guilt.
Last week my offsider submitted a request for transfer. The week before I had decided to quit, but not before I'd lined up another job, and I will be picky. At my age, I want what I want. My boss is a bully, I suspect I have mentioned that before, on several occasions. My other boss is also a bully, and Karma is taking a while to kick in. When my offsider succumbed to her emotions - literally as I was walking in the door at the start of the day - I bundled her out the door as quickly as I could. The less time they see her upset, the less they have to give her a hard time. A short time later he got me into his office, closed the door and proceeded to give me his version of events. I tried to tell him it was none of my business and that I hadn't heard the discussion leading up to her needing to go home, but he kept telling me "Let me finish." After giving me his spin, which included the line "I spoke to her like we have our discussions on the newsletter" - and they always go so well!, he asked me what she had said to me. I told him that it was none of my business, and if she wanted to talk to him about it, I was sure she'd let him know. I then left his office, having not given him the satisfaction of succumbing to his obviously heavy-handed tactics, and felt better than I'd ever felt before when we'd had one of our 'discussions'. In fact the overriding sensation I had for the rest of the week was one of power and 'bring it on!'.
I don't think they'll try anything for a while. Earlier in the week I'd sent the other one an email because I was supposed to have a Performance Management whatever. Until the weekend before, I'd actually been worried about it, not ever having had one before, and was also pissed off that I had to go through all that for a lousy 13 hours a week. Ratface was actually very helpful. In fact, he knows the act backwards, and it was he who advised me to send the email, politely requesting my J & Ps so I could figure out if I'd been working to it. I figured if I hadn't ever actually been given a J & P, it was pretty hard to have a meeting to see whether I had been working to it. She came in a short time after receiving it and said "It's not really a formal sort of meeting, I thought perhaps we could work on the J & P?" I said I thought having a J & P was a good idea, because when I had one, and had worked under it for a while, we could then know whether I was keeping my end of the bargain as an employee.
Haven't heard anything since.
I am going to join a union - for the first time... ever.
Am working a lot of extra hours at the moment because 2 days after I had decided to look for another job, the other woman in the office broke her ankle, and she'll be out for months.
I have dreams of saying "I'm leaving."
It's a shame, really. I love the job - I just have no respect for the dumb fucks who control my working life. Luckily, I am not alone.