So many pointless thoughts, so little inclination to bother typing them onto the page….

First, let me update you on the Dipshit situation. No, I have not yet informed the offending party (i.e., NewerBossMan Peter) that his "fixes" weren't populated to the system. I decided to play stupid and pretend it never occurred to me to go check.

I just--you have to pick your battles and I decided I just wasn't up for that one.

Second, I am disenchanted with a heretofore unnamed Café crony, to whom we will probably not have occasion to refer again. She's been revealed to be considerably less mature than I'd believed. In spite of her age (22-23) and the fact that she's dating Bert, who is technically her boss but no one here seems to find that inappropriate, I've had nothing against her for the last six or eight months that she's worked here.

That changed yesterday after she was informed* that she will not, as she anticipated, be attending the Corral's annual conference in two months. She reacted--badly.** (Footnoted for those who just don't care.) I think so much less of her today than I did before--and I'll admit I'm having my own problems getting past that.

Third, although informed that a S'S'West nut (previously discussed as a significant example of DIY FAIL) took advantage of the acquisition to run out and start DIYing again while management was in transition and although agreeing, in principle, that this is a bad idea all the way around, NewerBossMan Peter has decided that this is not a current "issue" in his eyes.

So now, we not only have another DIYer playing in my sandbox, but I don't even have transparency into what he's doing, so any lunatic thing he does that might reflect badly on the rest of the system can be--not diagnosed, but guessed at--only via the disastrous effects it has on the system.

Fourth, although it's probably moot by now, I was going to blog a triumphant record of the record-setting (really this time--I double-checked the figures) number of leads the overall network generated last month. It wasn't necessarily due to my efforts, it was a variety of sources, but my projects were part of it, with a modest 24% increase over last year. With the actual "busy season" still ahead of us, I was looking forward to a successful summer.

Not so much now. Not only do I have to fear the negative impact of an invisibly destructive campaign but the Corral BOWG who heard the news got snippy about the really modest 1.5% increase in actual sales from last year. Since closing leads--booking jobs--isn't my problem or responsibility, I felt that was unfair.

I did not, however, throw a temper tantrum and stomp out of the office. Because I am not twelve.

Fifth, freelance. I think I overbid a project earlier this week. Someone asked me for an estimate for managing one rather large-scale project and I quoted them $1500 a month. Their reply was, essentially, thanks and we'll get back to you--maybe--some day.

I don't care for me--it wasn't that interesting of a project from my perspective--but I regret the loss of potential income for Gidget. (Also, I'm firmly reminding myself that I may have bid more than the client was prepared to pay, but I also bid less than the project was worth--or would be worth, once Gidget and I got it performing properly.)

Sixth, 'net access issues! The in-house 'Nut network got hacked Monday night, we had intermittent access problems all day on Tuesday, and my little, Chromey toy won't connect to the office wifi any more. I only have 17mg of data left to last me the rest of the month, so I'm having to use it sparingly, if at all. As always, the loss of a tool I've come to rely on makes me feel crippled.***

Seventh, and the most urgent today although I very nearly forgot it. This morning my old (I'm guessing, 10, maybe 15 years) hairdryer finally gave up the ghost. I managed to get my hair dried before the motor burnt out but I smell strongly of--well--burning. I have to pop out at lunch and buy a new hairdryer.

I'd like to point out that, in spite of all this, I'm not really crabby.

I just have a lot going on in my head this week.

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* Don't even get me started on the inadvisability of the onsite management, CougarNot, breaking bad news to people in the kitchen instead of in her office--I give her credit for not having anticipated that this child would react so badly.
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** I had the misfortune to enter the room two seconds after she'd gotten the news. The girl was--angry. Massively pissed off.

Instead of seeing it as a business trip she wasn't participating in, she chose to interpret it as a personal affront--the latest in a perceived string of slights and oversights. Since she's young, inexperienced, and cute, she's actually been coddled and spoiled and indulged both at her previous job (for a local 'Nut's operation) and since she got to the Café but the trouble with spoiling children is that they come to look at that treatment as the norm.

Anyhow, in her eyes, she was being mistreated. Everyone else was--wait for it--going on a company sponsored vacation and she was being left behind--and what was more unfair in her eyes was that her boyfriend would be on vacation without her.

In fact, she was so angry about this she announced she was going to quit her job, buy her own plane ticket to the city, and sit by the hotel pool, waiting on her boyfriend to be done with his work and come and party with her.

! (And !!)

Yes. She was prepared to throw away a stable job--in this economy and without real cause--for the chance of sitting outside the door of a convention for two days and hoping her boyfriend would be able to slip away from work for long enough to talk to her occasionally.

Because I am Not Smart, I did try to point out to her that working a conference is a far cry from her only experience of such functions, which was attending one as a guest. That it means long days, tiring work, boring conversations, and that the only sport involved was Extreme Exhaustion.

That it should mean something to her that all the people selected to go, including her boyfriend, were doing so reluctantly and only because it was being required.

That this should tell her something about the level of "fun" involved in working such a function.

Nothing I said got through to her. In fact, she went back to her desk and continued to fume until, in a temper tantrum worthy of a six year-old, she actually wound up storming out of the office in tears.

I spent the rest of yesterday afternoon being grateful--being oh, so incredibly grateful that I am neither 21 any more nor that, even when I was 21, had I ever made such an infantile exhibition of myself in the workplace.

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*** The cause, you ask? CougarNot, who freely admitted that the laptop she brought in to the office had no virus protection software. That she uses no antivirus program at all at home. That she brought in the infected laptop and hooked it up to the network in spite of knowing there was a problem with it.