How do you feel today?

[StevieG]

Crappy shit - describes it perfectly. Dammit, I hate hearing stories like that, yet I'm grateful that you've shared it.

Cag, C# is supposed to be easier than C++. I've had no exposure to C++ so I don't really know, but when I started it was recommended to me that I use C# because it was more intuitive and less mind-bogling. I still found C# to be a bloody nightmare for a few months though.

[Menolly]

, Jenn.
I know it doesn't help.
Yet, perhaps Bill will now rest easier.

[Cagliostro]

My heartfelt condolences Jenn.

StevieG - Hmm...maybe I should try picking it up again.

[Avatar]

... he yet lives while you have little bits of him with you.

Yep.

--A

[aliantha]

Jenn: I'm so sorry about your friend.

Batty and Shara_Lunison arrived last night. We were supposed to go down to the Folklife Festival on the Mall but we haven't quite gotten it together yet today, so it looks like we're going tomorrow.

[Cameraman Jenn]

Thanks everyone. It helps. It really does. I had a nice long yammer with Heatherly on the phone this morning. I still feel anger. I feel like I've processed some but little bits keep popping up at odd moments, like the fact that this woman was his boss and the work he did for her was in home care for her special needs kid and that he was going back to school for child psychology. I'm angry for the other kids that he was providing care for, who lost out on everything he could have taught them or shared with them. It makes me nauseous. I still feel oddly conflicted with feeling some new closure but feeling like I just had the scab ripped off the wound at the same time. He worked in a school for special needs kids and moonlighted with private in home care on the side. A part of me wants to go up to the prison she's in and tell her fellow inmates about the man she killed because you know they would f--k her up.

[Cagliostro]

I don't believe in punishment, either, Cag, but I do believe in suffering the consequences for one's actions. The consequences for the workplace behavior you describe should be an immediate sacking. Your supervisor is an idiot.

Amen sister. And two of the biggest perpetrators of this are the people who the boss left in charge. I was just working with one of them. He only took a couple calls today while I've been here, to my knowledge. I look in the tickets and I see he put in four tickets for the entire length of his shift - 3 accounts locked (less than a minute to execute each) and one replacement device which should take maybe 10 minutes tops.
Then I get a call from an area manager pissed off because she was expecting to hear back from him. No notes. She said she also talked with someone last night about this whom she named. I check the open ticket on this problem - nobody put in any additions to the ticket since the problem first arose. I check the ticket on the side of the people that were needing contacting, and there is the one from the one guy last night, but nothing from the guy who is supposed to be in charge now. I call him to ask about it, and he said that he didn't talk to her today, but instead talked to her yesterday. So, again, lying about something stupid that didn't need to be lied about. I am SOOOOO sick of it. So from talking with this group, someone on their end didn't do their job, so that brings the tally up to: 2 people not doing their job on our side, 1 on theirs. I talk to the lady again and she lets loose on me, and says we need to get this done. Well, the people cannot dispatch out until Monday, so I give the phone number for the second in command as she is going nutty.

I don't know where to go from here. Seriously. Should I go to HR, or report it for...I dunno...I think this would be the 6th time, to the big boss? Carla's sick to death of hearing about it, and frequently gives me job annoucements, which I have been applying for. I hate job hunting with a passion, and barely have enough time at home to enjoy my home life as it is, so adding job hunting to the mix is brutal. But it looks like what I'll need to do. But meanwhile....what do I do?

[deer of the dawn]

Jenn, your story makes me remember my friend Simon, a great guy, teacher, musician, husband, dad, friend. He stopped to give a friend a ride on his motorbike one morning and the governor's son, who had just been given a brand new set of wheels the night before and had been partying and driving all night, lost control and killed both Simon and his friend. Totalled the car but was himself unhurt. And because of who his father was, he was never charged, probably never even talked to the police.

But, peace and forgiveness are crucial. I know Simon is in an awesome place right now, and believe that there will be justice in the end. I hope you can believe that too.

Oh... I'm supposed to say how I'm feeling I guess. Today is a good day.

[aliantha]

Good to see you around, DotD!

Cag: One word for you: Annoyatron. I'm sure Jenn can hook you up.

[Holsety]

I'm feeling good. I had dinner with my parents and some of their friends tonight. I was able to have a lot of fun most of the evening, but unfortunately towards the end we decided to play a card game (Guillotine). It was obvious to me that no one was really interested and I couldn't figure out why we were playing it. I'm worried that the adults we were hanging out with are having a hard time sleeping or something like that, cuz they didn't seem to want to go home too quickly.

[Cameraman Jenn]

Again, thanks everyone for the support. You guys rock. I'm feeling better this evening. Still a bit sad and angry but better overall. When I got into work I was still feeling the way I felt in this mornings post. It must have shown on my face because when I got in and was in the breakroom getting ready, Tiny came in for her lunch and took one look at me and asked if I was ok. I told her about it and she said some wise things that made sense to me. She told me that a big part of my anger is probably due not just to my loss and the woman's horrible deed but anger at carrying the burden of doubt and guilt one naturally feels when a friend has committed suicide. She also said that she believes that guilt is one of the most difficult emotions to process and it takes time. I think Tiny is very wise. Tiny is actually one of my favorite new co-workers. She is super nice and very funny and has gone out of her way to help me acclimate and so I go out of my way to help her out as well. If anyone should have been unhappy with my joining the team it should have been her since she is the resident management trainee. I jumped over her position and straight into department manager but she doesn't seem to care. She's very cup half full and has a naturally magnetic and happy personality which is fun to be around. Anyway, I had some really nice customers that were fun to work with today and even though I ended up stuck on a register for way too long it was basically a decent day. I did have one jackass customer. I was working on my project assignment and he came up to me and I was pinning backers to gondolas and he said, "Are you just a stocker or do you actually know something?" I stood up, made sure he could see the nametag and title stuck to my right boob and said, "I might know a thing or two, depends on your question." He asked me a question about wireless routers and even though I did know the answer I knew he had rubbed me the wrong way and that was early in the day so I still had emotional attitude so I said, "I get the feeling that is not your only question so why don't I introduce you to Tyrone in the tech department so you have the technical expert to help you figure out what will work best for you. Please come with me." I walked him over to Tyrone and told Tyrone what the customer was looking for and passed him off. I felt a little bad knowing the guy was an asshole and I gave him to Tyrone but I also recognized my limitations in the moment and I think it was a wise decision. Anyway, I'll stop blathering for the nonce.

[LaRocca]

Like Touchdown Jesus after the conflagration.

(Trying to expand my vocab for obvious reasons.)

[Cameraman Jenn]

Had a weird day. Not bad weird, just odd. Got into it again with one of the assistant managers, barely avoided being asked out by one of my stockers and got a kudos from the boss. Now I have to be up at ungodly hours.

[aliantha]

Sooo, the Walgreens Mail Order prescription saga continues. I got a call from them this morning. Not only have they not put my refill order in the mail yet, but apparently they're holding it hostage until I go and pick up the tide-me-over prescription. Which means I get to take an eight-block walk in 95-degree heat today to go get the tide-me-over prescription. I wasn't going to bother; I figured that even if they waited until today to overnight the refill, it would get here tomorrow, and I still had enough of the old prescription left for today. Arrgh. If you don't hear from me again, you'll know I succumbed to the heat....

[Phantasm]

Off to a theme park with the family tomorrow (Alton Towers, for our British viewers).
Looks like weather is good, and just found out one of my mates and his family are going to be there at the same time - happy days.

[Seareach]

Ali, they sound like ning-nongs! Hope you have a successful journey...make sure you come back, ya hear!

I'm freezing today--it's far too cold here.

We're all a bit bummed out here about the puppy that we wanted but was taken off us. We gave back the "surrogate puppy" (it just wasn't the right dog for us) and after offering a sizable amount for the puppy we wanted (which wasn't accepted) we're resigned to being dogless for a while longer. I suppose it's not necessarily a bad thing: although I'll miss the company on my walks, I'm not sure I was really keen on having to eventually have a dog that *I* looked after (as always happens with our pets here--Mr Seareach and SoS tend to lose interest after a while).

Anyhooowwww....today is officially 2 years since I came back to Oz after my big adventure in the US of A. <sigh> Far too long!

[Spiral Jacobs]

Our baby girl was due last Friday but has decided not to pop out yet. I've been listening to her heartbeat for weeks now, and I want to see her! But I guess she's going fo 'fashionably late'.

[Menolly]

awwww...
Do share the good news of her arrival as soon as you can, SJ!

[aliantha]

First baby, SJ? They're usually late. It's the first in a long string of lessons for their parents about whose needs come first.

Thanks, Sea -- yeah, ning-nongs about covers it. I was wrong about the distance, btw -- it's six blocks, not eight, one-way. Oh, and to cap off the story, the original prescription showed up in my mailbox yesterday. The USPS had actually forwarded it in a timely manner. So the good news is that once the refill shows up today, I'll have a 6-month supply of my medications; the bad news is that it's costing me an additional $87 for the refills, which obviously I hadn't planned on spending right now...

[Cagliostro]

Our baby girl was due last Friday but has decided not to pop out yet. I've been listening to her heartbeat for weeks now, and I want to see her! But I guess she's going fo 'fashionably late'.

Yeah, my kid did the same thing. We had to practically kick him out of there. The wait was excrutiating, as apparently was the 26 hour labor before we were finally able to see him.