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...That while you really like it, you're not ready for a committed relationship right now?
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Life Lessons from Meetings:
(1) Any white-collar worker who brags about how many hours they're putting in isn't actually doing much at all.
There's another team where the manager brags about her team members putting in 60-75 hour weeks, and how she had to cancel her weeklong vacation to do an "urgent update" of all her materials.
But a few months ago that team had me test one of their classes. The screenshots hadn't been updated in 2-3 years. The slides hadn't been updated in at least 6 months. So, er, what had the person been doing that made them so "busy"?
We've consistently noted that this team makes very few changes to their courseware over the years, yet insists they're working harder than any of the rest of us.
(2) Any white-collar worker who constantly insists on taking credit for a project probably had very little to do with it.
It amazes me how consistent these observations have been over the last 22 years, and how few upper managers recognize this behavior. Instead, the more you brag, the more likely you are to get praise, promotions, and/or raises.
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Life Lessons from Shopping: Never sell a store you love without making it 100% clear you're no longer involved.
Years ago, McCallum's Ice Cream on Solano shut down. We were all heartbroken. They were infamous for their multi-gallon sundaes, their excellent ice creams, the wonderful owner and his penchant for hiring Albany High Schoolers to run the store and welcoming teens to spend hours hanging out in his establishment. When the horrified community demanded to know why he was shutting down instead of selling, he responded, "I don't trust anyone who buys my ice cream parlor to maintain the level of quality I demanded, so I don't want my name associated with my successor."
How prescient he was.
The Colusa Market was lovingly run by the Johs for 34 years, handed down from father to son until Ike Joh retired earlier this year after decades of getting up at 4:00 am four times a week to go to the produce markets in San Francisco to get the best possible produce for his store. As I've mentioned, they sold it earlier this year to a new family.
Unfortunately, while the new family means well, they're not as "dedicated", for lack of a better term. The produce has gone from "top-notch" to "I could get better at Andronico's if I wanted to do the walk" to "I could do better at Safeway". They're constantly out of the staples I typically buy. If I mention it to them, they order it for me because they know I'm a dedicated customer, but they won't re-order even when the stock vanishes in only a day or two. Coffee, bread, and cereal are no longer staples I can rely on, and I'm beginning to think the walk to Andronico's for better produce may well be worth it.
But the name "Colusa Market" remains the same, and so the Johs' 34-year legacy will slowly fade from "an amazing place to shop" to "just another corner store trying to compete with the Big Boys".
They've even applied for a liquor license to sell hard liquor. I wouldn't normally be concerned, but when quality is fading everywhere else, it's definitely a red flag.
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Things you can say to your cat but not your significant other: Are you really tied up, or are you just being annoying?
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Things you can say to your cat but not your significant other: Are you really tied up, or are you just being annoying?
I disagree.
Hmmm, aren't you the divorced one?
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Why I love working where I do.
The Boss: Originally I was thinking about engraving all the numerals in the onyx, but then I wondered if you could carve numerals out of stone.
Hmmm, aren't you the divorced one?
Not *currently* divorced. Not yet. I'm sure she'll get around to it.
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Woohoo! Mom and Eve signed a contract with the buyer today! They close on the 14th, have a ten-day rent back period, and leave for Maine on the 24th!
Two Questions for the Group:
(1) Has anyone ever run a Badass session?
(2) If so, care to provide me with your setting, villains, and overall plot?
One of Impus Major's friends has decided that for his 21st birthday he wants me at his house running a Badass game. I take it as a compliment, but it would have been nice to have more than 6 days' notice. Yeah, yeah, Badass is supposed to be a stream-of-consciousness ad-lib game, but considering I just downloaded the rules tonight to be able to run on Saturday, a little cheating wouldn't hurt my feelings at all.
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Are they going to live in Maine? I love it there.
Kennebunk!
They're so excited about how ideal it is for them that I've started teasing them by singing all the words to "Camelot", but substituting "Kennebunk".
Which annoys the living crap out of my mother, which, really, is the only reason to do anything.
Two Questions for the Group:
(1) Has anyone ever run a Badass session?
(2) If so, care to provide me with your setting, villains, and overall plot?
One of Impus Major's friends has decided that for his 21st birthday he wants me at his house running a Badass game. I take it as a compliment, but it would have been nice to have more than 6 days' notice. Yeah, yeah, Badass is supposed to be a stream-of-consciousness ad-lib game, but considering I just downloaded the rules tonight to be able to run on Saturday, a little cheating wouldn't hurt my feelings at all.
Sorry. Hadn't even heard of it before now.
Peas and Rice, lady. How many times, and in how many different ways, do I need to tell you to "Follow the directions on the login screen" before you just do it? You're telling me that you see the screen, and that it has instructions on it, but you can't figure out what to do? How hard is "Enter last name here", "Enter room number here", "Click here"?
Considering the number of sales execs who called my personal cell at 10pm on a Saturday night because they couldn't figure out the hotel wifi...and each time I had to tell them to just talk to the front desk for directions...and then they'd call me back...
I'm so glad that job was stupidly paying hourly. So glad I'm not there anymore.
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Life Lessons from Meetings:
(1) Any white-collar worker who brags about how many hours they're putting in isn't actually doing much at all.There's another team where the manager brags about her team members putting in 60-75 hour weeks, and how she had to cancel her weeklong vacation to do an "urgent update" of all her materials.
But a few months ago that team had me test one of their classes. The screenshots hadn't been updated in 2-3 years. The slides hadn't been updated in at least 6 months. So, er, what had the person been doing that made them so "busy"?
We've consistently noted that this team makes very few changes to their courseware over the years, yet insists they're working harder than any of the rest of us.
(2) Any white-collar worker who constantly insists on taking credit for a project probably had very little to do with it.
It amazes me how consistent these observations have been over the last 22 years, and how few upper managers recognize this behavior. Instead, the more you brag, the more likely you are to get praise, promotions, and/or raises.
In regards(1), it's not just white-collar workers.
My predecessor in one of the most crucial jobs in the store had been apparently 'phoning it in' work-wise for at least six months, if not longer. So much so, that when I had approached to get training (as I was the 'back-up'), there was always an excuse or 'something would come up' -- unless Management got a fire under their butts because I wasn't doing a 'necessary job function'.
And yet they'd always be complaining about how there 'wasn't enough time'. So as a result, they'd take credit for any crucial aspect of that job (even the things I had been doing all along) but downplayed my involvement with it.
And then it'd show when I'd go on vacation and I'd come back to two or three weeks of the job not being done.
So on the 'flip' side of the equation, management got used to their exaggerations and (put politely) half-truths on matters.
I'm a pretty blunt person, even though I do try to be diplomatically blunt.
Unfortunately, because of several years of the previous BS and a manager that didn't want to upset the Good Thing they had going, the manager now believes that my predecessor's job can be done in one quarter of the time and a third of the payroll/attention.
We have one associate out with complications of pain from a previous workplace injury that came back to work Way Too Soon. They are going to be out a minimum of two weeks, possibly much longer given that the previous outage had them out for four months as the doctors dithered about and couldn't find anything and passed the buck back and forth.
We have one associate that just had a death in the family. They were trying to get vacation in August to go visit the recently deceased overseas. No idea yet on how that is going to shake out, but they weren't at work the past two days.
We have an associate that has been getting a majority of the evening shifts, but none of the support (it's been a Corporate thing to keep cutting people 'at night' because they 'aren't doing anything' to promote sales). They're already pulling six days (mostly nights a week) and have been muttering somewhat more fervently of late.
We have two managers that seem to Manage getting *all of their days* off (and vacations/etc) just fine
Then there's me, who has told Management outright that working six-seven days in a row is a physical impossibility due to personal health, and that an hour or so there (barring extreme circumstances) of overtime is 'okay', but days of overtime is just... *no*.
Yesterday pulled a twelve hour shift. Got about a third of the work accomplished in my newly designated 'primary' role, along with several management objectives for the week in the 'secondary' role.
Manager looked at me at the end of twelve hours and didn't *quite* try to give me 'puppy dog eyes' to try and stay longer.
After I left work yesterday, it was just the Manager to do everything in our side of the store for five hours, and then the associate who works mostly evenings was due in.
I'm heading into the essential employment cesspit shortly, an hour earlier than scheduled to try and get some work done before the store opens.
Be safe and careful out there,
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Good luck Wei Ji.
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Oh, right, the kids have dentist appointments today, good thing for them that I remembered.
I probably shouldn't tell them we're going to Disneyland this time, they're starting to grasp geography. Also, I suspect they're getting wise to that.
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Asked a lady out on a date yesterday. Turns out she was married. I found the situation kind of humorous though, and was pleasantly surprised when she said she'd have taken up my offer to go for a cup of coffee if she wasn't married.
Asked a lady out on a date yesterday. Turns out she was married. I found the situation kind of humorous though, and was pleasantly surprised when she said she'd have taken up my offer to go for a cup of coffee if she wasn't married.
way to go icy!
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Oh, right, the kids have dentist appointments today, good thing for them that I remembered.
I probably shouldn't tell them we're going to Disneyland this time, they're starting to grasp geography. Also, I suspect they're getting wise to that.
Tell them Disney World instead.
Or you could do like my Dad and whenever we asked where we were going, he'd say "We're gonna go see a man about a horse".
They'd never believe I'd willingly go to Florida.
They'd never believe I'd willingly go to Florida.Oh, right, the kids have dentist appointments today, good thing for them that I remembered.
I probably shouldn't tell them we're going to Disneyland this time, they're starting to grasp geography. Also, I suspect they're getting wise to that.
Tell them Disney World instead.
Or you could do like my Dad and whenever we asked where we were going, he'd say "We're gonna go see a man about a horse".
You were mind controlled?
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They'd never believe I'd willingly go to Florida.Oh, right, the kids have dentist appointments today, good thing for them that I remembered.
I probably shouldn't tell them we're going to Disneyland this time, they're starting to grasp geography. Also, I suspect they're getting wise to that.
Tell them Disney World instead.
Or you could do like my Dad and whenever we asked where we were going, he'd say "We're gonna go see a man about a horse".
Not without a flamethrower at least.
It's for the mosquitoes.
...mostly.
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They'd never believe I'd willingly go to Florida.Oh, right, the kids have dentist appointments today, good thing for them that I remembered.
I probably shouldn't tell them we're going to Disneyland this time, they're starting to grasp geography. Also, I suspect they're getting wise to that.
Tell them Disney World instead.
Or you could do like my Dad and whenever we asked where we were going, he'd say "We're gonna go see a man about a horse".
Not without a flamethrower at least.
It's for the mosquitoes.
...mostly.
Oh, I have flamethrowers, still not worth it.
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The Vagrant Erudite and Cap get cookies.
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Eve sent me the best text about parenting last night:
"I just realized that Burning Man has prepared me more for raising a 3 year old than anything else in my life. When I'm trying to get pajamas on her to put her to bed and she's running around naked with a towel for a cape screaming, "I'm Wonder Woman," I think to myself, "yeah, I've been here before."
We started building a wall, just a quick little wing wall about twenty feet long.
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How do I know it's July in the Bay Area?
After spending so much time outside in June that our housekeeper concernedly asked, "Is the little white one OK? There's hardly any hair on the couch this week!", the Fluffernutter has moved back inside to nap on said couch where it's warm.
EDIT: Oh, and GothBard had to turn on the heat in the studio.
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The dentist appointments were a rousing success.
July in Wisconsin is a fun time, 4th of July is basically Christmas and thanksgiving Day all rolled into one with a copious helping of booze and illegal explosives.
And then fair season starts kicking in and suddenly every weekend is filled with funnel cake and tractor pulls pretty much for the rest of the summer.
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And at no point does one ever turn on the heat.
Yes, our July low temperature is usually the lower 60s.
It's a good thing it's a three day weekend, the General could use a break.
Sleepy.
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Hope you you get decent rest, John.
To avoid begging from management at work and cut down on the chance of accidentally calling a spammer I shut off my cel after work.
Will see what having an actual day off feels like.
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No posts since last night?!
You people should be ashamed of yourselves!!
Why I love my job.
Coworker: Are you planning on working on Monday?
Me: I don't know, I haven't figured that out yet
Coworker: Let me know when you do.
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Geez, the legal gamesmanship of financial institutions never ceases to astonish and irritate me.
It was time to cash out my annual stock options, and I finally had enough money to pay off my 401(k) loan. (An interesting side note was that in the course of doing my day job I learned that 401(k) loans are about the worst thing you can possibly do financially, because you're getting taxed on the money you're using to repay the loan twice: Once when you make the payment, and again when you retire.)
All the money's with the same company.
Stock Options: "Oh, it's going to take us 2 days to finalize the transaction, 3 days to liquidate the stock, and then 5-7 business days to get it to your bank."
Net effect: The financial company sits on my money for 5-7 business days, earning interest for themselves. It may be only a few pennies, but if this is standard for every transaction anyone makes, that can add up FAST.
401(k) Payoff: They yoinked the money out of my bank account in under 24 hours, but it's going to take 3 business days to finalize the payout process.
Net effect: The financial company sits on my money for 3 business days, earning interest for themselves.
It's all perfectly legal, but it's really amazing watching it at work: Whether you're putting money in or taking money out, THEY have to hold onto the cash for a few days to "finalize the transaction".
Considering I've learned that I can transfer money to another individual using Zelle in under 30 seconds, this whole, "It takes us 5-7 business days to move your money" is B.S.
It's more, "Government regulations allow us to sit on your money for 7 days, so we're going to go ahead and do that so we can get some interest."
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I know it's not just Albany that's like this, but yet another reason we live here: I stopped by the ATM to get cash. I pulled out the cash and the card, but forgot to sign out as I walked away. The next woman in line walked up, didn't notice that I was looking, signed me out, put in her card, and proceeded with her transaction. There wasn't even a moment of hesitation in her movements of, "Hey, I can access this guy's account!"
It was definitely, "That moron forgot to sign out! What a waste of my time!"