Okay, this can't be good. Today's the first day both Bernie and DiamondGirl have been in the office at the same time since last Thursday.

And today is the first day since last Thursday that I'm feeling really, really, really stressed.

This is ridiculous. He hasn't done anything. He's been very calm, even though I forgot to follow-up to get two simple things done that he asked for. (Okay...three things. But he hasn't discovered one of them yet and I might be able to get it done before he does.)

DiamondGirl tells me she's waiting to hear back on a new job and hopes to hear today or tomorrow. I hope to hell she hears back and that she got it.

Bernie is twitchy and a poor communicator and he flies off the handle, but at least he cares about getting work done, you know?

In the long run, it's not hard to see which of them is most likely to help me remain gainfully employed for a while (come on cruise!), even if it's the same person that I'd rather not be working with. And even if there's a possibility that he'll still stress me out when DiamondGirl is gone.

Of the two of them, I like DiamondGirl a lot more, but she does shit like she did this morning (she showed up at 10:00, which is about an hour later than she's supposed to get here, and her excuse was that she had to give her son benadryl?) (And then ten minutes later, she was already making a personal phone call?) and it just makes it hopeless for me to "solve" any of the problems we all have.

She's not showing any commitment at all to the job. Okay, I know she's burned out and tired of fighting to try and make this situation work. And I know she knows we're about to run out of work for her. So, you know what? I hope she leaves. As soon as possible, even though we're going to be in some trouble without her. It's going to be a lot better for her in the long run.

I mean, for god's sake, the thing Bernie wanted done was for her to put someone's name and phone number in Outlook. And she didn't manage to accomplish it? (Okay, and I forgot to follow-up to make sure it got done. And I wish that whoever started this little battle had just asked me to find the name & number and put it into Outlook in the first place. But still.) Doing that and taking a poll question he gave her and putting it online, which required nothing more than a simple text change to the website, this is about all he asked her to do before he left. And she didn't get either task done.

Also, which is equally aggravating to someone of my temperament, I really do (in spite of how the frequency of these posts make it look) have to keep my nose to the grindstone pretty much all day, every day. I can't really nudge her about her work ethic if I'm not setting a good example.

At the moment, I can't start any projects because a client was supposed to be calling me at 11:10 for some help with a project and I need to be available. I'm a tad annoyed that it's now 11:25 and I haven't heard from him. (I wish this kind of time was "billable.") Which is why I have the time to blog.

Update: Okay, I know Bernie left for a couple of hours to have a meeting. But why did you disappear, too, Diamond Girl? You disappeared 45 minutes ago. And you already had lunch. Where could you have gone?