The "Q" Word
Jan. 22nd, 2025 10:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mousmeNo, not THAT 'Q' word. ;)
It's a long-standing superstition/tradition working in emergency response (or any kind of call centre), that you should never, ever, comment on "how quiet" it is during a shift, because that's just inviting in the forces of chaos. If you're a dispatcher, it means there's going to be a multi-car pileup or a huge fire or some other cataclysm that will tie up your phone lines and keep you so busy you won't know which way is up right until the very end of your shift. If you're extra unlucky, you'll be stuck handling That One Call and have to stay past the end of your shift, and no overtime is worth that.
So, naturally, we've been having a very, err, uneventful week at work, and one of my colleagues just announced he was bored and then loudly started talking about how quiet it was. Seconds later, the phones started ringing. I can't swear that the superstition is true (the lines have died down again), but it certainly feels true.
I don't mind either way as a rule when it comes to work. A busy shift will go by quickly, and a quiet shift will let me get other stuff done, like reading a book or working on my knitting or what have you. Of course, this week I haven't brought my knitting for a few reasons. One, day shifts are usually very busy, and I am not a good enough knitter that my projects can survive the constant interruptions without suffering from potentially catastrophic error. Two, this week I am taking public transit home from work, and in the winter that is a dangerous proposition for knitting (and I am not a person who can safety knit on the bus, because again, catastrophic error). I had a third reason and now don't remember what it was, but I'm sure it was a very valid reason. ;)
Why am I taking public transit home from work, you ask? (Okay, you didn't ask, but I'm telling you anyway.) The reason is because of the chihuahua. I wish I were kidding. So, for those of you following along at home, you may not know that the Federal Government, or more specifically, the Treasury Board Secretariat, has mandated that all federal employees must now report to their place of work a minimum of 3 days a week (or 60% of their working hours for those working different schedules). This doesn't directly affect me because, as a shift worker, I already work more than 60% of the time in-office, but it does affect KK who was previously only going in 2 days a week. Enter the chihuahua, who is epileptic and needs to be given medication three times a day to prevent seizures. Normally, when I am working day shifts, I will often be assigned anywhere from 1 to 3 WFH (work from home) days, because my evenings, nights, and weekends are all in-office. Usually it's 2, it's very rarely 3, and every now and then it's only 1 WFH day per week. When I am WFH, I can of course medicate the chihuahua, and the same goes for KK. But on the weeks when I don't have 2 WFH days then we have to do a complicated dance wherein KK does half-days in the office. We share a parking pass for work because we have offices within 1 city block of each other, and we're usually not in on the same days, so we carpool in together in the morning, she drives home at noon, and I take public transit home when my shift is done. Aren't you glad you didn't ask for this lengthy explanation? :D
Anyway, all this to say that work as been pretty dead today. I've been slightly obsessively checking my email inbox for a confirmation that my red wiggler worms will be ready today, and it's not looking good, I must say. The email I got did say they would be ready between today and Friday, so I may have a little while to wait yet. It's not that big of a deal--I can still go to Canadian Tire after work and pick up the Rubbermaid bins and the bedding I will need there. In theory one can use newspaper for bedding, but it can't be a colour newspaper, and these days I don't trust the papers that are available in my city not to contain some weird toxic substance in their ink, so I'm getting newsprint paper that's made specifically for packing and has no ink on it whatsoever. It typically is made from recycled paper, so I am hopeful that I won't be fucking over the environment too hard with it. Then I can put together my new worm-friendly environment and have it all ready and waiting for the worms whenever I get them.
In other mundane news, I have to put gas in the car later today. It's at about 1/2 a tank, and given the pretty cold temperatures we're having this week I prefer to keep it at 3/4 or more. Not having much gas in the tank causes a lot of wear and tear on the fuel pump, and also in the winter if you get stranded somewhere or even just stuck in longer than average traffic, you don't want to run out of gas and/or your potential only source of heat in the cold. For those of you who've been following me a long time, you may be amused to know that I still have my blue Yaris, aka the General Service Vehicle: Congenital Optimist, or GSVCO for short. I bought her in May of 2010 and she's still going strong, thanks to Steve the Wonder Mechanic. He gave her a makeover last fall, because she had developed a hell of a rust problem on her driver's side rear wheel well, and also needed her struts replaced. It was an expensive repair (body work is always a bit of a bitch), but he has breathed new life into her, and she's been purring along nicely ever since then. She's nearly 15 years old, has nearly 250k kilometres on her, and has been paid off for nearly a decade. My goal is to keep her as long as physically possible, because she does excellent mileage and I don't want to contribute another car to the landfill and use up even more resources for a newer car, even if it's hybrid or electric. In fact, KK's last car was a hybrid and has turned into the World's Most Expensive Lawn Ornament, because it would cost more to fix than the car is worth, but she still has to pay off the rest of the car loan anyway. Nightmare fuel. I'm sticking with my reliable little workhorse that doesn't have too many fancy computer bits in her until the bitter end.
Anyway, that's today so far. I have to think of something to make for dinner tonight. I've been slacking off on the meal planning of late, which is never a good idea. I will have to start that up again when I get home, and just plan for the next few days and next week while I'm at it. I always do better when I have a plan.
It's a long-standing superstition/tradition working in emergency response (or any kind of call centre), that you should never, ever, comment on "how quiet" it is during a shift, because that's just inviting in the forces of chaos. If you're a dispatcher, it means there's going to be a multi-car pileup or a huge fire or some other cataclysm that will tie up your phone lines and keep you so busy you won't know which way is up right until the very end of your shift. If you're extra unlucky, you'll be stuck handling That One Call and have to stay past the end of your shift, and no overtime is worth that.
So, naturally, we've been having a very, err, uneventful week at work, and one of my colleagues just announced he was bored and then loudly started talking about how quiet it was. Seconds later, the phones started ringing. I can't swear that the superstition is true (the lines have died down again), but it certainly feels true.
I don't mind either way as a rule when it comes to work. A busy shift will go by quickly, and a quiet shift will let me get other stuff done, like reading a book or working on my knitting or what have you. Of course, this week I haven't brought my knitting for a few reasons. One, day shifts are usually very busy, and I am not a good enough knitter that my projects can survive the constant interruptions without suffering from potentially catastrophic error. Two, this week I am taking public transit home from work, and in the winter that is a dangerous proposition for knitting (and I am not a person who can safety knit on the bus, because again, catastrophic error). I had a third reason and now don't remember what it was, but I'm sure it was a very valid reason. ;)
Why am I taking public transit home from work, you ask? (Okay, you didn't ask, but I'm telling you anyway.) The reason is because of the chihuahua. I wish I were kidding. So, for those of you following along at home, you may not know that the Federal Government, or more specifically, the Treasury Board Secretariat, has mandated that all federal employees must now report to their place of work a minimum of 3 days a week (or 60% of their working hours for those working different schedules). This doesn't directly affect me because, as a shift worker, I already work more than 60% of the time in-office, but it does affect KK who was previously only going in 2 days a week. Enter the chihuahua, who is epileptic and needs to be given medication three times a day to prevent seizures. Normally, when I am working day shifts, I will often be assigned anywhere from 1 to 3 WFH (work from home) days, because my evenings, nights, and weekends are all in-office. Usually it's 2, it's very rarely 3, and every now and then it's only 1 WFH day per week. When I am WFH, I can of course medicate the chihuahua, and the same goes for KK. But on the weeks when I don't have 2 WFH days then we have to do a complicated dance wherein KK does half-days in the office. We share a parking pass for work because we have offices within 1 city block of each other, and we're usually not in on the same days, so we carpool in together in the morning, she drives home at noon, and I take public transit home when my shift is done. Aren't you glad you didn't ask for this lengthy explanation? :D
Anyway, all this to say that work as been pretty dead today. I've been slightly obsessively checking my email inbox for a confirmation that my red wiggler worms will be ready today, and it's not looking good, I must say. The email I got did say they would be ready between today and Friday, so I may have a little while to wait yet. It's not that big of a deal--I can still go to Canadian Tire after work and pick up the Rubbermaid bins and the bedding I will need there. In theory one can use newspaper for bedding, but it can't be a colour newspaper, and these days I don't trust the papers that are available in my city not to contain some weird toxic substance in their ink, so I'm getting newsprint paper that's made specifically for packing and has no ink on it whatsoever. It typically is made from recycled paper, so I am hopeful that I won't be fucking over the environment too hard with it. Then I can put together my new worm-friendly environment and have it all ready and waiting for the worms whenever I get them.
In other mundane news, I have to put gas in the car later today. It's at about 1/2 a tank, and given the pretty cold temperatures we're having this week I prefer to keep it at 3/4 or more. Not having much gas in the tank causes a lot of wear and tear on the fuel pump, and also in the winter if you get stranded somewhere or even just stuck in longer than average traffic, you don't want to run out of gas and/or your potential only source of heat in the cold. For those of you who've been following me a long time, you may be amused to know that I still have my blue Yaris, aka the General Service Vehicle: Congenital Optimist, or GSVCO for short. I bought her in May of 2010 and she's still going strong, thanks to Steve the Wonder Mechanic. He gave her a makeover last fall, because she had developed a hell of a rust problem on her driver's side rear wheel well, and also needed her struts replaced. It was an expensive repair (body work is always a bit of a bitch), but he has breathed new life into her, and she's been purring along nicely ever since then. She's nearly 15 years old, has nearly 250k kilometres on her, and has been paid off for nearly a decade. My goal is to keep her as long as physically possible, because she does excellent mileage and I don't want to contribute another car to the landfill and use up even more resources for a newer car, even if it's hybrid or electric. In fact, KK's last car was a hybrid and has turned into the World's Most Expensive Lawn Ornament, because it would cost more to fix than the car is worth, but she still has to pay off the rest of the car loan anyway. Nightmare fuel. I'm sticking with my reliable little workhorse that doesn't have too many fancy computer bits in her until the bitter end.
Anyway, that's today so far. I have to think of something to make for dinner tonight. I've been slacking off on the meal planning of late, which is never a good idea. I will have to start that up again when I get home, and just plan for the next few days and next week while I'm at it. I always do better when I have a plan.
