The work craze
I still need to write about the weekend, but since I'm at work right now (and that's the topic on my mind, and I am on a ROLL with entries after having been silent for a few weeks) I'm going to go down that path.
I am still at the audit office. How is that, one might ask. Well, there was an exit strategy in place, let me tell you. First off, one of the girls in our department (and there are only four of us) quit in December because she's moving to the Gold Coast. Which left us short a member. Then, my boss went on vacation from before Christmas to the beginning of February. If I had left, there would have been one person to run the department--a third to a quarter of its normal capacity. I thought it would be nice for my boss not to have to worry about staffing while she was away on vacation (she got to go to Egypt, lucky duck...and London and Albania). I figured I'd work for two more weeks after she got back and then I'd be off to some non-prof to find some more challenging work.
My boss got back from work and I got down to business contacting my temp agencies. I talked to two of my reps, both of whom advised me to hold onto this job for as long as possible. Apparently there are hundreds of temps out of work right now and the agencies are having a difficult time with getting placements. Ugh. I need to keep an inflow of cash, which means that it's probably in my best interest to stay put for a bit longer. So here I am getting driven crazy by incredibly easy work. Sometimes I feel as though my brain is wasting away sitting here and not having a good challenge, not learning, and certainly not feeling good about the work that's getting done. I look around this office and I'm most often disappointed. I'm surrounded by auditors who go out and review companies, tell them how they should be running their business in a very detailed fashion, then go back to their own office and do not heed their own advice. There are so many people here who shirk responsibility, blame shift, and just do NOT follow policy and procedure. It drives me nuts! This is a government organization...wait, let me rephrase that. This is THE government organization who oversees that the other government organizations are adhering to proper work policies and procedures. Seriously, folks, what is going on here?
Here is a random but poignant topic I feel the need to vent about (on a larger scale, not on my own personal richter scale)--vehicles. The higher up government employees here get their own cars. That is, every three or four years they get a NEW car (oh, but nothing flashy, of course--the best car they could choose to get is a RANGE ROVER!). But it doesn't end there. All of their gas and insurance is paid for. ALL OF THEIR GAS IS PAID FOR! It doesn't matter where they drive, it's all covered. I heard a story of one particular employee letting his parents take his government car on a roadtrip of Australia. Who paid for that? Oh, just the citizens of New South Wales. That is absolute crap! Another employee's son took his government car for a spin and crashed it. Guess who got a replacement car? We all know who paid for that! Grrr. I just can't believe that this is stuff that taxes pay for, it makes me absolutely outraged! Can you tell? I'm using exclamation marks all over the place!!!!! :)
If I were the editor of the world, let me tell you, things would not look this way. I suppose I can just take it as incentive to right my own office when I'm boss some day.
Other than getting annoyed at how corrupt the government can be, I am annoyed at how mindless the work is. There are hours, nay, days on end where I can be found just clicking away on the mouse, doing work that could be done by a monkey. This is what we call "phase activation" and "phase deactivation". Despite sounding somewhat interesting, even cool, this job consists of opening an audit and clicking on a button. Open. Click. Open. Click. Frick, frick, frick! It makes me want to kick myself in the head (if that were physically possible, but as it turns out I'm not that flexible!). At the moment, I am opening all of the 2010 audits and it is BORING! It's taking the will to live out of me. Okay, that's a bit dramatic, but the truth is while I was working in Seattle I used to feel this chest tightening that would accompany stressful tasks and people...and my drive home. Now, I hadn't felt that since Seattle...until I began working here. I've done a better job at keeping it at a minimum, but it still arises and this leads me to believe that this work is adverse for my health. I don't have a "yes sir" attitude. I don't like people sucking up to me so I'll think they're nice only to have them turn around and try to get me to do their work. I don't like people inconveniencing me and trying to take advantage. I do not like shady characters. That being said, there are a few nice people in this office (obviously the ladies I work with) but it's a difficult balance. I have a huge barrier up one minute and then am turning icy eyes to people that don't deserve it, creating an atmosphere where people are almost afraid to talk to me. But the people that are actually afraid are exactly the ones that shouldn't be afraid! Biiiiiiiiiiiig siiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. Okay. I'm better. At least staring out the window seems to do me some good...I'll be looking into school even more closely in the coming weeks and months...I also have an interview tomorrow to become a volunteer. Cross your fingers and wish me luck, I'm certainly hoping it turns out well!
I am still at the audit office. How is that, one might ask. Well, there was an exit strategy in place, let me tell you. First off, one of the girls in our department (and there are only four of us) quit in December because she's moving to the Gold Coast. Which left us short a member. Then, my boss went on vacation from before Christmas to the beginning of February. If I had left, there would have been one person to run the department--a third to a quarter of its normal capacity. I thought it would be nice for my boss not to have to worry about staffing while she was away on vacation (she got to go to Egypt, lucky duck...and London and Albania). I figured I'd work for two more weeks after she got back and then I'd be off to some non-prof to find some more challenging work.
My boss got back from work and I got down to business contacting my temp agencies. I talked to two of my reps, both of whom advised me to hold onto this job for as long as possible. Apparently there are hundreds of temps out of work right now and the agencies are having a difficult time with getting placements. Ugh. I need to keep an inflow of cash, which means that it's probably in my best interest to stay put for a bit longer. So here I am getting driven crazy by incredibly easy work. Sometimes I feel as though my brain is wasting away sitting here and not having a good challenge, not learning, and certainly not feeling good about the work that's getting done. I look around this office and I'm most often disappointed. I'm surrounded by auditors who go out and review companies, tell them how they should be running their business in a very detailed fashion, then go back to their own office and do not heed their own advice. There are so many people here who shirk responsibility, blame shift, and just do NOT follow policy and procedure. It drives me nuts! This is a government organization...wait, let me rephrase that. This is THE government organization who oversees that the other government organizations are adhering to proper work policies and procedures. Seriously, folks, what is going on here?
Here is a random but poignant topic I feel the need to vent about (on a larger scale, not on my own personal richter scale)--vehicles. The higher up government employees here get their own cars. That is, every three or four years they get a NEW car (oh, but nothing flashy, of course--the best car they could choose to get is a RANGE ROVER!). But it doesn't end there. All of their gas and insurance is paid for. ALL OF THEIR GAS IS PAID FOR! It doesn't matter where they drive, it's all covered. I heard a story of one particular employee letting his parents take his government car on a roadtrip of Australia. Who paid for that? Oh, just the citizens of New South Wales. That is absolute crap! Another employee's son took his government car for a spin and crashed it. Guess who got a replacement car? We all know who paid for that! Grrr. I just can't believe that this is stuff that taxes pay for, it makes me absolutely outraged! Can you tell? I'm using exclamation marks all over the place!!!!! :)
If I were the editor of the world, let me tell you, things would not look this way. I suppose I can just take it as incentive to right my own office when I'm boss some day.
Other than getting annoyed at how corrupt the government can be, I am annoyed at how mindless the work is. There are hours, nay, days on end where I can be found just clicking away on the mouse, doing work that could be done by a monkey. This is what we call "phase activation" and "phase deactivation". Despite sounding somewhat interesting, even cool, this job consists of opening an audit and clicking on a button. Open. Click. Open. Click. Frick, frick, frick! It makes me want to kick myself in the head (if that were physically possible, but as it turns out I'm not that flexible!). At the moment, I am opening all of the 2010 audits and it is BORING! It's taking the will to live out of me. Okay, that's a bit dramatic, but the truth is while I was working in Seattle I used to feel this chest tightening that would accompany stressful tasks and people...and my drive home. Now, I hadn't felt that since Seattle...until I began working here. I've done a better job at keeping it at a minimum, but it still arises and this leads me to believe that this work is adverse for my health. I don't have a "yes sir" attitude. I don't like people sucking up to me so I'll think they're nice only to have them turn around and try to get me to do their work. I don't like people inconveniencing me and trying to take advantage. I do not like shady characters. That being said, there are a few nice people in this office (obviously the ladies I work with) but it's a difficult balance. I have a huge barrier up one minute and then am turning icy eyes to people that don't deserve it, creating an atmosphere where people are almost afraid to talk to me. But the people that are actually afraid are exactly the ones that shouldn't be afraid! Biiiiiiiiiiiig siiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. Okay. I'm better. At least staring out the window seems to do me some good...I'll be looking into school even more closely in the coming weeks and months...I also have an interview tomorrow to become a volunteer. Cross your fingers and wish me luck, I'm certainly hoping it turns out well!
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