Ri-dic-u-lous

That is how yesterday was.

We finally made it into the building 45 minutes after we arrived when the campaign manager (who we love) arrived. Boss got there a full hour and 20 minutes after we had planned, and did not give any explanation.

We had planned to have volunteers arrive and canvass. Things were disorganized and we were somewhat unprepared because we had been locked out all morning and could not get everything ready. So we were frantically printing things and finding pens and water bottles in front of all the volunteers (and some financial donors). We certainly could have made a stronger impression.

We then all split into pairs and left the office. I was the lucky one who paired off with the boss.

Oh my.

Things were fine at first. And by fine, I mean the usual annoying things that I tolerate with a clenched jaw. When we got to our location, we separated and went out to canvass. And that was quite good really.

Then I got a phone call. From the boss. To get back to the car.

Because he had forgotten that a new employee was arriving and he was supposed to pick this person up at the airport.

So off we go rather frantically. And the traffic is bad. And the boss doesn't know the airline of this person or have his phone number. So how are we going to find him at the airport?

Boss gives me his blackberry to search through all his emails and find the one with the phone number and flight info.

There are 2414 emails.

He does not know the name of this person.

He does not know what day he was emailed.

How do I find the email?

Have I mentioned that I get carsick quickly if I am not looking out the window? I can't read or really do much at all in a vehicle if it involves looking at something.

So I'm starting to get queasy while flipping through thousands of emails and the boss is switching lanes periodically to get there faster.

We get to the airport after an hour. I have found the email. Boss takes off into the airport with his blackberry attempting to contact the new guy while I stagger alongside clutching my water bottle and attempting to remain mostly vertical.

We find him without too much difficulty, and apologize for being 3 hours late. Boss fibs a bit, blaming our tardiness on some bs communication problem that deflects the blame from him. I recover.

As we're driving out of the parking lot, things are looking good. We found the new guy without incident, remembered where we parked, and I am feeling fine. And then Boss realizes he has lost the parking ticket.

So we pull up to the attendant's booth and Boss gives some story about being lost and pulling in just for a second to turn around.

Doesn't work.

So he frantically searches. Now, I will be the first to say I am disorganized. Open my purse and a whole mess of crap will explode on you. But this man is just BEYOND. Random crap in every corner of the car, and his pockets. He pulls everything out of his pockets and, instead of putting it in a tray or cup holder, just dumps everything onto the floor of the car.

Decides to confess he lost the ticket. I guess everything about airport security has gotten severely anal recently. She takes the license plate number, driver's license, airline, flight number, and arrival time. Then confirms the flight information with someone over her radio. She decides to charge just for the time from an hour before the flight landed. Which is much better than the maximum rate.

But now Boss has to pay, and this proves to be a challenge. He hands over a broken debit card. This thing has been snapped in half. And then duct taped back together. I think that was the breaking point of ridiculous for me. I wasn't annoyed anymore, I was chuckling on the inside of how stupid all this was. The parking attendant was very confused and frustrated.

Once we finally get out of there, his blackberry rings. Of course, he can't find his headset because he dumped it on the floor with everything else. So in the midst of groping around on the floor for this thing, he doesn't listen to the GPS and gets onto the wrong freeway.

Poor new guy. This must have been the worst first impression. Boss tried to make some joke about the new guy being bad luck. He really has no idea what he's in for.

A Seriously Slacking Boss

My work situation is getting to a point of ridiculousness. I believe my boss is allergic to work. His office is absolutely disgusting. A few of us were helping clean up his office, and we found old cherry pits that he had just spit on the floor. Eeeewwww!

He just sits in there eating and gchatting and reading blogs. Now, I’m all for spending a good portion of your day being unproductive on the computer (well, I don’t consider getting out a full blog post to be unproductive).

But he really is the master.

When we need him to do something, we have to tell him hours before it’s needed, remind him, then he still doesn’t do it. It gets done an hour after we needed it done. Then, he often does a crappy job anyway and we have to fix it.

He truly is a master slacking overachiever, so I wonder why I hate him so much. He has a good position considering how young he is. When this post is over he will be in good shape to get a better gig. He came highly recommended, so he must be getting something done!

Lately, however, my primary colleague and I feel he is taking his employees (who are the ones doing all the work) for granted, and reaping the benefits (of OUR work) when he gets to report to his superiors.

What’s even more frustrating, is the rest of the office and staff are absolutely amazing and fun and awesome and great to work with. I don’t know how I got stuck in the bad department with the one rotten egg.

Then, there are tons of little things too. That all just pile up. For instance, right now I am sitting in a parking lot. I mean sitting on the curb with my laptop balanced on a "reserved parking" sign, using the wireless from our office. Why? Because the boss is not here to let me in. (Actually, let us in, one of my colleagues is set up with her laptop right next to me).

We were told to be here early on Saturday. Being the overachiever that I am, of course I will do this in order to satisfy my boss. Being a slacker however, I got here 10 minutes later than scheduled.

And no one is here.

And we never got a call that plans had changed.

And now it is 30 minutes after the time when he should be here to let us in so we can all start working.

And my colleague really has to go to the bathroom, and is whining to me about this as we sit on the curb in the parking lot with our laptops.

And now, as I type, two other colleagues have arrived. Along with the cable guy. So the four of us are standing out here stupidly, unable to let the cable guy in.

I suppose this is a good lesson in workplace relationships and such, but it sure is frustrating.

I just hope I get a great recommendation after all of this. Being an intern who hopes to continue moving up the ranks, I need a really good one.

p.s. This is a campaign I am working on, so it only lasts a few more months, fortunately, until Nov 4. By boss, I don’t mean the candidate who is awesome and perhaps the hardest working person I’ve ever met!

Thursday Thirteen #12

Click photos to enlarge; some are better that way.

Thirteen of my favorite self-taken nature photographs 1. Yang Shuo, China 2. Halifax, Nova Scotia:3. Cape Cod, Massachusetts 4. Cape Cod, Massachusetts5. Cape Cod, Massachusetts 6. Cape Cod, Massachusetts7. Jilin, China (The other side of this lake is North Korea)8. Seattle, Washington9. Seattle, Washington10. Kenmore, Washington11. Kenmore, Washington12. Jilin, China13. Guilin, China (This is inside a cave)

Thursday Thirteen #11

Thirteen Great Websites For Slacking 1. Facebook: You can get lost for hours on this thing. The following quote expresses it pretty well: "If AIM is a gateway drug, Facebook is internet crack." 2. YouTube: pretty much anything you want - it's there. Also, archived footage at thedailyshow.com 3. Overheard in New York: hilariously real! 4. Ebaums World: Ridiculous things (albinoblacksheep.com is good too). 5. Addicting Games: I'm a fan of the puzzles and the helicopter game. 6. Recovering Frat Boy: He publishes a bimonthly column. 7. Wikipedia: You can get severely sidetracked by clicking on links in the middle of articles. As a friend said, "Wikipedia is like alcohol. You start into it, wake up a few hours later, and can't remember how you got there." You can play the "Jesus Game." Either click "Random article" on the left hand column, or go to a random page yourself. See how few clicks it takes to get to Jesus. 8. College Humor: fairly ridiculous and sometimes funny articles. 9. LOL Catz: Sooo juvenile but sometimes hilarious. 10. The New York Times: If you want to do something a little more refined (or you want people to think you are sophisticated when they look over your shoulder), NYT has great articles, photo slideshows, and videos on tons of topics. 11. Memes: You're probably familiar ;) 12. Google: There are so many games and funny things to do with google. One option: put in the searchbar: Your Name needs Your Name looks like ...does ...hates ...goes ...loves ...eats ...has ...will 13. prettymuchanything.blogspot.com: Like wiki, one can spend hours surfing blogs by following blogrolls.

Thursday Thirteen #10

With the 4th of July tomorrow, here is my 10th TT. I'm sorry that it is a little bit more geared towards the second half of the century than the early years.




Thirteen Quotes From Important Moments in US Political History of the 20th Century (In chronological order, feel free to disagree or add your own). 1. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Speaker: Franklin D. Roosevelt Date: March 4, 1933 Chosen because: I give a lot of credit to FDR for promoting the welfare state and introducing the radical idea in this country that the government might actually take care of its citizens. For me, this quote shows his leadership in not only being an emotional "hand holder" for the country during this time, but for his leadership in creating new programs. 2. "December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy." Speaker: Franklin D. Roosevelt Date: December 8, 1941 Chosen because: Well, it's infamous. ;) 3. "The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima." Speaker: Harry S. Truman Date: August 9, 1945 Chosen because: Would forever change the way the world views conflict between major powers. 4. "Have you no sense of decency?" Speaker: Joseph Welch Date: June 9, 1954 Chosen because: I think this sentence sums up how many of us often feel about government. Also, it came at a time when things were seriously out of control in our government and we saw how willing people are to go with the flow and believe certain things. 5. "I have a dream..." Speaker: Martin Luther King, Jr. Date: August 28, 1963 Chosen because: I don't think this really needs an explanation of its importance. 6. "I'm about to sign into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964." Speaker: Lyndon B. Johnson Date: August (?) 1964 Chosen because: A landmark piece of legislation that showed presidential courage. Also a defining moment in political history as, just as Johnson predicted, the south would be lost to the Democratic party. 7. "I have today ordered to Vietnam...additional forces will be needed later and they will be sent." Speaker: Lyndon B. Johnson Date: July 28, 1965 Chosen because: Well, the Vietnam War was a pretty big part of history that will always be with us. 8. "I have some very sad news for all of you, Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee." Speaker: Robert F. Kennedy Date: April 4, 1968 Chosen because: Not only the death of an important figure, but a moment that showed the skills of another. 9. "...I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow." Speaker: Richard M. Nixon Date: August 8, 1974 Chosen because: The most powerful man in the world stepped down without a single gun being fired. 10. "I don't think it was wrong...I think it was a neat idea." Speaker: Oliver North Date: July 1987 (?) Chosen because: This casual reference towards the president and officials engaging in something inappropriate and unethical as "a neat idea" is quite disturbing. 11. "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." Speaker: Lloyd Bentsen Date: October 5, 1988 Chosen because: I did not include a Kennedy quote in this list although there are a few that almost made the cut. I decided to instead include this one because it shows how strong of an impact Kennedy had. His influence can be seen in how eager politicians are to mention the late president and draw parallels. 12. "The skies over Baghdad have been illuminated. This is thunder, this is lightning, this is death - this is hell." Speaker: Bernard Shaw Date: 1991 Chosen because of the foreshadowing it offers. 13. "The young killers of Columbine High School do not stand for the spirit of America. We can rise up and we can say 'No more.'" Speaker: Al Gore Date: April 25, 1999 Chosen because: This one is much more powerful when heard than when read, but I think there are so many events and issues to which we want to say 'no more'.

Happy 4th! Since I am working for a political campaign, and the 4th of July is also National Politician Day, I will be hitting up three parades