Corner of Bourbon & Division

Today has been absolutely crazy at work. Emergencies and rushes and signings and important meetings and more phone calls than you can shake a stick at.

I've still managed to get a fair bit of filing done, in spite of all that. I'm very impressed with myself. I'm determined to get all my filing completely finished by the end of June. Well, by "completely finished" I mean "all caught up," really. There's no such thing as completely finishing with the filing. There are days (today included) when I feel a whole lot like Sisyphus: just when I get rid of one pile, someone else comes along and dumps another pile on my desk.

Still, if I've caught up with my filing by the end of June, it'll be one more reason to try to obtain a week or two off in July. I won't have to worry about old filing while I'm gone: only the new filing will pile up. I might not be able to get two weeks, but even a week would help. A week of nothing but domestic puttering, cooking and baking and taking walks and other nice, relaxing activities.

Also, the idea of being caught up on my filing appeals to me because it makes me feel as though I'd be able to leave the office on fairly short notice without feeling guilty that I'm leaving behind all this unfinished work. I'd like to be able to leave my successor with a clean desk, nothing pending, nothing in the inbox: tabula rasa, so to speak. Not that I have any kind of job lined up yet, but the idea that I'd be able to pick up and leave without any qualms is very appealing and reduces my stress levels like you wouldn't believe.

My job isn't all that stressful, to be honest. There are two things that stress me: one is the filing piling up while I deal with emergencies. I simply don't like having that much paper accumulate on my desk –it makes me feel incompetent and unproductive (regardless of whether or not that assessment is true). The other is New!Boss. I know he doesn't mean to stress me, but dear God is he a stressful little man to work for. It would help if I didn't always feel like some sort of bug about to be eaten by a hungry lizard every time he looks at me. I turn into a blithering idiot around him, because he's always staring. very. intently. at me, and I can't think straight because I don't know where to look that doesn't involve the Giant Staring Brown Eyes Of Doom. We just don't speak the same language: if I speak he doesn't get what I'm saying, and vice versa.

I'm hoping this will resolve itself as we each settle into the new routine. He's a nice enough guy, I just have trouble communicating with him. Time will tell.

The One Form has also made its monthly appearance on my desk. I am unthrilled, but I shall soldier on regardless. This month I get the added complication that some of the expenses are being paid by another department, but there's no procedure in place for them to do so. I anticipate many phone calls and a fair amount of aggravation. Whee.

So that's my exciting news from work. Thus far nothing new has happened at home either. The Parental Units are coming home tomorrow, so that should be fun. They're always in a splendid mood after their trips, so I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

Okay, first things first. If you aren't reading the_exclamation, why the hell aren't you? Go read. Go now. Do not dilly-dally. Seriously, your life will be the richer for it.



In other news, filing is t3h b0r1ng. Luckily, and thanks to my fantastic and marvellous and extraordinarily generous friends, in a few months I may never have to do anyone's filing ever again. This makes me happier than words can express.

I'm seeing a light at the end of the tunnel with regards to the filing. I had a pile that was literally a foot and a half high last week, and I've been chipping away at it steadily since about Wednesday. Now it's only about three inches thick.

Mind you, I haven't been filing it *properly*, in the sense that I've only been shoving the stuff into a large folder in alphabetical order. Once I've put all the papers in alphabetical order (and then by date), *then* I can actually put them in the filing cabinets. However, it does mean my job is nearly half done.

I've also got rid of most of my backlog of other pending work which generally gets put on the backburner due to "emergency" stuff. I still have a bill to organise, a couple of board sheets to process (that counts as "emergency," mind you), and The One Form has resurfaced, since there's a charge on there that I didn't understand and that Boss!Lady now wants me to research. Have I mentioned how much I hate that form?

Anyway, the point of all this is that I want to get all this work done so that I can leave here with a clear conscience the minute another job opportunity shows its face. Once I pass all my dispatcher courses, I want to be able to leave ASAP and without feeling bad that I'm leaving a pile of unfinished work for whoever they'll get to replace me.

Technically, as it happens, because of the particular nature of my temp work, I don't actually have to give two weeks' notice. The sword cuts both ways, of course, since they don't have to give me two weeks' notice either, but in this case the advantage is mine. See, they need me here. L cannot manage the workload on her own. So it's unlikely that they'd let me go unless I really screw up in a monumental way.

On the other hand, I've always prided myself on leaving every single one of my jobs on the best possible terms with my employers. Even at Bell Mobility and the Stupid Scaffolding Company From Heck(TM), I left on amicable terms and left a good impression behind. So, I want to give as much notice as I can to the bank and not leave a pile of unfinished work behind.

I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and all indicators point to it not being a train.

Dear Self,

Don't taunt the CAM. It's too easy, and thus not as much fun in the end. Pick a target who won't automatically rise to your bait.

Love,

Me


In other news, almost everyone has left. L got a lift home with the CAM, and now I'm all by my lonesome at reception.

*twiddles thumbs*

I have one bill left to take care of, and several metric assloads of filing, and the One Form to do.

The One Form is pure, unadulterated administrative evil which takes me several days of very tedious research to complete. It's basically a form that puts all the departmental expenses in one place, and I have to verify the whole thing. Unfortunately, the One Form blithely assumes that we keep all this stuff in one place, which we don't. There isn't enough room, for one thing. Also, the One Form's concept of math does not correspond to Earth Math, so I spend a lot of time with my calculator trying to figure out where the hell those numbers came from. I've been doing this for nearly a year, and it still takes me forever to finish it.

One Form to frustrate them all
One Form to find them
One Form to bring them all
And in the Administration bind them...