What’s New

Excuses, Excuses…I see that I haven’t posted since July or so and it’s now October. I guess with no clear theme and no audience, it’d hard to know what to put here. I did want this to be a ‘whatever’ kind of thing…..

So I start a new job on Monday. Still with the same organization so I guess it’s considered a promotion. I want this to be different for me. I was an administrative assistant when I started 10 years ago. My idea of an admin was to be the one who keeps things going. I was supposed to know when we were running out of things, call who needed to be called when a light bulb went out. I put myself beneath the others in the office because they were in higher positions. I served them, I wasn’t to be friends with them. Thus, because we were a small office and didn’t interact with others except via email, I felt alienated.

When I wanted to move up to a newly created position, my boss at the time didn’t think I could do the job. Turns out the person she gave the job to really couldn’t do it, so I got my chance. Despite now being at the same level as my co-workers,  I still was somewhat alienated because of the pattern I created.

The new admin we hired didn’t have the same “I serve you” attitude, nor did she excel at her job. So I was in a position of authority over her which, for me, meant being distant enough that I could tell her how the jobs should be done and let her know when she screwed up. A person above me was new to the area, needed friends, and didn’t have the same role with the admin that I did, so they got quite friendly. Another alienation.

The new admin, in her lack of ability, clued me in to the fact that I had skills that I took for granted. While I was an admin, I had already been doing some of the things I was expected to do in my new position. She will never rise to that level. It was eye-opening.

I could take all these skills and the knowledge that I could successfully pick up new ones, to a new place. Be open to being friendly with all levels of staff, be open to being myself ( I didn’t feel I could admit to co-workers that I smoked sometimes for fear they’d dislike me) and be part of a group. A new start.

So I started looking. Happened to interview with someone who I think told a higher up in my department that I was looking. Was given a hefty raise with no explanation (to keep me in place is my guess – another positive reinforcement about my abilities). Paused in the job search for several months, renewed the search only to find that I was looking at a job in the same department I’d interviewed with during my initial search. I’d pulled out of the process back then because of the raise, but they remembered me from then and were happy to interview me and offer me the job.

Again, because it’s in the same organization, it is looked at as a promotion. I have trouble with that word.  I hesitate to use it  as a description for what I’ve done. Maybe because I think people will laugh at my arrogance. Me, promoted? No, that’s for better people. I’ve just been moving from job to job.

But I have to take a new tack on this. I am a good person, I am skilled, and I have been promoted 2 times now. To think that my first promotion almost didn’t happen. Eventually I would have found a new spot somewhere at a higher level, because that’s what I do.

So Monday I am going to go to a new job in a new building and be open to making new friends and confident in my ability to do a great job.

Or I’ll come back here and console myself…

Hmmm…

So I haven’t posted in a while. I don’t think anyone reads this except when I’ve posted about Jon & Kate.

They are certainly going through a rough time now. It’s apparent that she is a motivated person and I think she is thriving in her new role as PR person for the Jon & Kate ‘brand’. Still, I wish she could know that although she sees herself growing away from Jon, both of them could quit this show and get back to focusing on themselves and their family. She can give up these opportunities for something that could mean more to her.

Some people are griping that players should not be suspended during the playoffs. There is more pressure to do well in the playoffs than any other time of the season and certainly you want your whole team there. If you lose, your team is done for the year. No more income from ticket sales, merchandising or concessions. So a player may think he needs to do harm to another player to get ahead. If there is not a serious punishment to keep stupid actions from happening, players could be seriously hurt. We’ve already seen some stupid moves in basketball and hockey. I think, if you know the rule is that you will be suspended for certain types of actions (intent to maim, for instance) and you ‘do’ that action, you should be suspended without a hearing for the rest of the playoffs. That should create a dis-incentive so that players can be safe.

Blueberry Muffins

Because I had about a cup and a half of huge blueberries that I picked in the summer, I looked on WordPress.com for a muffin recipe. I found one at sandgroper14.wordpress.com. Very easy and quick. The muffins are good and they freeze well. I was able to use more blueberries than the recipe called for and had no problems. It’s nice to have a reminder of summer to get through the last stages of winter!

Poll

Don’t Buy a Bender Ball

It may not be appropriate to do here, but I need to vent about a particular product….

Can’t imagine why, but I saw the ad for the Bender Ball and thought I should buy it. It’s basically a small exercise ball that can help you work on your abs.It came with a DVD and I’ve used it once since I got it in October. I happened to glance at my bank statement online recently and found that the company had charged me twice for two different amounts, six weeks apart. Because my husband was good enought to by it for me, I thought he should call to find out the problem since the account would be in his name.

Via phone, the customer service rep insisted that  he had purchased a video delivery service. For $26.95 per month, I would get a new DVD each month. Of course, he had not purchased this but she was reluctant to ‘hear’ that until he told her what was going on was fraud and he would be calling the better business bureau. She then agreed to refund the money but said we must return the DVD that was on it’s way (that was 12/3, still don’t have that video!) at our own expense. He noted again that was fraud. I don’t recall whether there was any resolution about the DVD, but she said we would have a refund. He asked for an email to confirm this but we never received it.

I searched online and found a site listing lots of unsatisfied customer stories. I decided to file a compaint with the Better Business Bureau in California, where the PO Box for orders is located, since I was not sure the company would follow through with the refund. I also emailed the company and said I wanted a refund by 12/13 or further action would be taken. I did receive a response noting that I had already contacted the company but no other details.

The BBB sent our compaint to the company for a response and let us know of this via email. The next day, someone from the Bender Ball company called (not the unhelpful CSR) and told us we can expect to receive a refund in 3-5 days and we did not have to return the DVD.

The cool thing about the BBB is that you can tell them what you want the company to do to satisfy the complaint. We wanted our refund of course, but we also felt like we needed specifically say we did not want to be charged for anything further and wanted confirmation to that effect, and did not want our information in their databases. According to their privacy policy, they will sell our information, so they’ll still make money off us. This issue was not covered in the phone call and might need follow up.

So, if we get the refund and all is done, we will be happy. But I may follow up about our personal information just to be sure…

Check your credit report

If you live in a state that allows you to get your credit reports for free, you should space our your requests over the year. Since there are 3 agencies who report pretty much the same info, ask for your report from one of them, ask for one from another four months after you requested from the first, then request from the 3rd agency 4 months after that.

Turn Signals: A Dying Art

Have you noticed many more people are turning their signals on just as they are braking for their turn? Or pulling into the ‘left turn only’ or ‘right turn only’ lanes and THEN putting their signals on? It like it’s part of the rules to do it but people don’t really know what its purpose is. I’m not in your car with you so I can’t ask what you are planning to do. I don’t drive behind you every day as you drive the same route you’ve driven for years, so I don’t know you are going to turn there. Using the turn indicator tells me you may be slowing down ahead. That I should look ahead of you to see if anything will be forcing you to low down a little quicker. I can back off your tail a bit if I am too close. If you put your indictor on while braking, I am reacting to the brake and turn signal at the same time, it will be a bit slower of a reaction. If I’m behind you, I need to know you are pulling onto the ‘left turn only’ or ‘right turn’ only lane so I can make any adjustments to my driving. Once you’re in that lane, I know where you’re going.