Why I love my job - OR - A Day in the Life of the Hell That I Live

Ok, just need to freak for a second.

Background - Today is my assistant's last day. I was planning on taking her to lunch as her "goodbye" since this company thinks that you're committing Treason if you ever leave for greener pastures. Boss decides that he wants to get her a cake (which is shocking, but he's only being this generous because she's moving, not just up and leaving) and he'll have Wife pick it up (he does not tell me. HR tells me this). He doesn't tell said Wife anything about it, either. I ask/remind her yesterday. She flips out because Boss never mentioned it to her. I try to stay completely out of it, while dodging the shrapnel (she's pissed off as it is because Boss has her covering the phones while my sister is on Maternity - that's a WHOLE other story, but can I just say LEARN HOW TO TRANSFER INTO VOICEMAIL!!!!).

Fast-forward to today...

Boss's Wife comes to me after lunch saying that she has the cake and she's going to go get it out of the car, but then she pulls out attitude because SHE:

"shouldn't be the one doing this"

and that there were

"6 other people who quit and we didn't do anything for them"

and that SHE

"shouldn't have been the one responsible for getting the cake"

and that if

"you people want to do stuff like this then YOU need to do it on our own".

(like nails on a chalk board when she says that to customers..."You people owe us money"...)

WHOA, take a step back before I put you in your place!!!!!!!!!!!!

First off, HONEY! - YOUR HUSBAND, the BOSS, told HR that HE wanted to get a cake for my Assistant. HR told him that he SHOULDN'T because it sets a precedent and unless he's going to do it for everyone, he shouldn't do it for anyone. He announced that he was anyway and that Wife would get it.

2nd - NO ONE ASKED ME and I'm her Boss! If you asked me, all this trouble could've been avoided.

Now she's throwing all this attitude at me today. BULLSHIT. She bought a freaking tiny cake, She wants nothing to do with it, HR wants nothing to do with it and I have NO FREAKING CLUE what to do with it. I can't tell everybody to come because there's not enough cake, but there's WAY too much for just Me, Assistant, 2nd Assistant and replacement person.....UGH! I was just going to take her to lunch, easy-peasy, no one else the wiser, good-bye, good luck.

Don't even get me started on Boss's Wife's feelings on "going away parties".

New Low

I don't know if its the end of the year blahs, my depression returning, or just my plain, deep-seated annoyance and hatred of work, but I actually went out to lunch and ate by myself today. It was LIBERATING (if not a little bit embarrassing).

I've seen others eat by them self, never giving it another thought, but usually they have a newspaper, book or work with them. Not me! I just sat there, me, myself and I.

A lump on a log, loser, but you know what? It sure as hell beat staying at work!

This morning I had the grand pleasure of cleaning out the fridges at work. NOT.PLEASANT There was a horrid smell that would penetrate the entire kitchen every time one of the doors would open. I found:
1) a bottle of cream which expired Nov 2.
2) Salad which had lost its solid form and was now a liquefied bag of green jelly.
3) a petrified donut
4) Beef and Broccoli, only it wasn't the broccoli that was green (it had taken on a lovely poop brown color). I'm pretty sure it was alive and pissed at me.

The scent was so horrid I came dangerously close to adding my own "personal" blend to the mix. Nasty, and I shouldn't have had to deal with it, but I did, just like I do with everything else.

Damn Germs

So A's still sick and has added a whopper of an ear infection to her cold. 10 out of a 10 the Ped said. Grrrrr-eat! I've apparently stuck my head in mud because I can't hear, and every time I swallow my ears pop. JOY.

Not much has been happening that has been post worthy. Its still absolutely freezing at work. I've been told that the "furnace is broken" and "we haven't had time to fix it"....Um, HELLO, December here. We're in New England. It ain't gonna get warmer out! Whatever. I'm now wearing a thermal tank top, sweater and sitting on top of my electric heater (which isn't on HIGH). So I'm ok, the rest of the bastards who don't complain can freeze.

In one of my Mom's groups there been a thread about this bread recipe from the NYTimes. I've been DYING to try it. Finally going to give it a go starting on Friday, so that we can have some nice, crusty bread at dinner on Sat.

I've even created life out of flour and water! Bwha-ha-ha-haaaaaaa I created a sour dough started and shit if it didn't actually work! It did take 2 tries as DH threw the first attempt out at the end of day 2, not knowing that the pancake looking batter that smelt slightly beer-y SHOULD be there. But, he was informed and I've had an awesome 2nd try which has been growing amazingly well. Can't wait to use it in the bread!

Well I guess that's it. Nothing Shakespearian from me today. Sorry.

WTF

There are seriously days when I wonder why I work where I work. Ok most days I wonder that, but this past week....Geez

Monday, I had the day from hell.
* A woke up sick. I drugged her and sent her off to daycare, being the caring mother that I am who is also out of paid time off. I get 2 weeks vacation and 4 personal days. I've worked here, full time, since 1999. 7.5 yrs and I still only have 2 weeks vacation!
* I realized AFTER I got to work, that my pump was just about bone dry and the bottle of insulin in my pocketbook was even drier. Driving home at lunch took my entire lunch, so I skipped lunch.
* I had the mother of headaches brewing (got another one today, I swear its this place!)
* and the piece de resistance - got to work and there was.no.heat. Zip, zero, zilch. Somehow the utility had screwed up our gas line. It was absolutely freezing. Did we go home? NOooooooooooOOOOOOOoooo, I was handed a small, portable heater and told not to put it on high. The scary thing. NO ONE NOTICED UNTIL 9am! We froze our asses off for over an hour (technically longer since some people come in for 6am) before people began to notice that it was NOTICEABLY colder then normal.

Somehow my boss thinks its perfectly normal to see people wearing their coats, INDOORS, while working. This has been my only "real" job out of college, so I don't know. Is this normal? Every morning I come in and promptly put on my big fleece coat and wear it. ALL.DAY.LONG. It doesn't come off until its time to go home.

I'm NOT a tiny person. I've got fat on my fat, so there's plenty insulation on me. Its just constantly freezing here. We play the thermostat game. One of us bumps up the setting, then we all take bets as to when "the man" sets it back down. I've even ask him for "another coal for the fire, sir?" He laughs.

Its not funny.