So my first official day of working from home

Sucked!! I made a ton of mistakes. Luckily I know how to fix them. It was odd to do laundry and work at the same time but I muddled through. Both my job and my house are never ending disasters. Good thing I had some time to get to both.

So stressed out today

For some weird reason, my car is acting funny. Mike put some freon in it the other day to get the air to work and now the clock display and radio do not work. They click. Its like its trying to get the connection to power TO work but it can't so it keeps clicking on and off. Sad as it is because as much as I need the A/C, I also need the radio and clock. Driving 20 miles a day to work and back is torture with nothing to listen to but clicking. And for some odd reason, this is really stressing me out. I am now worried about every little thing. Of course, none of this has to do with cable.
On another note, my mother is really pissing me off. She has been saying for years that she is going to GIVE me her car when she bought another one. She went the other day and bought a new car and now wants to know how much I want to PAY her for her old one. If I had money to buy a car, I would have bought one by now. Idiot! She is coming into town next week for Aiden's birthday and I know all I will hear about is Ashley's baby. Now don't get me wrong, I love babies and I am thankful that God has given me a Great-Nephew but I do not need to be constantly reminded of how wonderful Ashley is and how gorgeous her son is. Of course, he's gorgeous, most babies are. I also do not need to hear how rough Ashley has it. She lives with her Dad, her step mother, and their kids. I doubt she really has it that rough. She doesn't have to pay for child care, if she decides to go back to college, that's paid for......What a terrible position to be in!! blah blah blah.
On a good note, it's slow today here at work (again) and that's good because I just don't feel like dealing with it. However, I am patiently waiting for BC to call me and tell me to start working on underground. It reminds me of a tune my father would sing whenever he asked me to do something....."Patiently waiting....." I know a blog doesn't do the tune justice but call me and I'll be more than happy to sing it for you.

Good God, its slow

Since TWC has decided to pull our residential contract, it is terribly slow here. Good for "the new girl" (she's been here about 2 months but its a lot of information) to pick up her dispatching skills but bad for me, as I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off for 13 years. So here I sit. Waiting patiently for some unforeseen emergency to happen so I will have to move some jobs. It ain't gonna happen. Crazily hitting send/receive on my outlook in the hopes I may get an email that pertains to work. I've already cleared out the filing cabinets and put the old stuff in boxes. Pray for BC to call me so I can research something. Or even my darling husband to call me to close out something for him because I&R is being wonky and I'm the only one (he knows) that can fix it.

Friends

ever have one of thise friends that if you ran into them on the street, you may say hello but when you get home and call them on the phone, you can talk for hours? I have found in my old age, that I have a TON of these kinds of friends. We don't hang out, we're not "besties" but we're just good ole fashioned friends. I started my collection of these types of friends when I moved to California. I would talk ALL DAY and ALL NIGHT to certain people on the phone but as soon as we got home, (i.e. not 1000 miles away) suddenly an hour is too far to drive. I'm not complaining. My 'friends" are not the only ones to use this excuse. I do it too. Who wants to drive all over God and creation when I could just sit my fat tush on the couch and tell you what I need to tell you. I can hear you screaming at your children, I can hear you fight with your husband, I can hear your youngest say the words that "OMG you should hear him say . " I can hear your oldest (or only in some cases) tell me herself what awards she won at school. I can hear her speak to me about a problem with her little friend at school because her mother said "here talk to , she may open up to you." Am I completely content with this type of friendship? ABSOLUTELY NOT and I am working on it. I just find it so difficult, as I'm sure other mother's do, to feel like you are rested and spending quality time my own family, that I can't seem to find a balance for "real life hey I can touch you" friends. It's not so difficult to find the balance when I go to Florida because I am on vacation and have built in babysitters but what do I do the other 11 months out of the year?

So word up

BC approached me today and said "Oh yeah we want you to take over drops. TWC says we're keeping our undergrund contract". My response was "So I get to keep my job?" His answer to that was "well yeah". Don't you love how excited he gets?

August 18th......THE BIG DAY

On August 18, I will officially be unemployed. I'm not worried. This may be my chance to "get out of cable" (like I've been saying for the last 13 years...yeah right). I will always be a cable person. There is no escape. Mike's company will still be going strong so I'm not as stressed as I would have been, let's say 3 months ago. I'm hoping to pick up more classes at the studio and maybe find a nice cozy, not so stressful office job. We shall see. In the meantime, I will continue to go to Ameritech everyday until BC tells me to go home and not come back. At least I know I'll get a good reference from him. He's my homeboy! I guess it helps that I show up everyday....well except for today and tomorrow (because I ASKED for some time off). Here soon though, he will permenantly grant my wish. It's not his fault. I hold no ill will towards him. In fact, Dear Billy Sue will always be my homie!

Well here we go

TWC has decided to pull Ameritech's contract. As excited as I should be because this may finally be my chance to get out of cable, I am terrified of having to find another job. I am terrified to work for someone other than my current boss. We have until August 13th. THEN if TWC decides, our contract goes month to month. Needless to say, I am staying here until BC tells me to go home and not come back. He is the most awesome person to work for. He actually tells you a) when you screw up....to your face and b) when you are doing a good job. And he always seems to tell you at exactly the right moment. Saturday night (my 4th night of pulling a double) I was FED UP!! I was ready to wash my hands of the entire situation and tell TWC to bite me. I needed help and I needed it BIG TIME! I called BC AND sent him an email that I was almost done with the whole situation and I didn't care anymore. He told me over the phone to do my best. UM...HELLO? I am at my wits end here dude! My best is not getting these guys out of the field anymore. In his defense there was nothing that he could do that I hadn't already tried. So what else could he say? It's not like he was sitting in front of the TV drinking a beer and laughing at me so I took it. He then responded to my email with the simplest of phrases that, at that moment, made me a little teary. He said, "You're doing a good job. I will remember all the hard work you do for me." For a few seconds, at least, those few little words made everything better again. The reason I take these few words so seriously is that I'd never heard that at my old job. Sure I heard it from my direct supervisor but she's like a sister to me so she doesn't count. Even on the days when I was dispatching over 40 techs alone, throwing up at my desk because I had morning (all day) sickness when I pregnant with Tyler, even on the days I was so weak from not being able to hold any food down. Even on the day of my review when I had perfect attendance and never called out of work for anything more than a OB doctors appointment. Actually I say never but I think I may have heard it once...it was so few and far between though that I responded to my boss at the time, "Are you serious?" I thought he was being facetious. Who knew?
So this is what I say to you people in supervisory positions. Let your people know when they are doing a good job. THEY WILL KEEP DOING IT!!! Also be honest with them when they screw up. THEY WILL WORK TO FIX IT!! It's amazing how telling someone that they are appreciated can make them feel. Especially when they are stressed out and pulling their hair out to do a good job.....FOR YOU!!!