It Could Always be Worse
Now Playing: Once in a Lifetime by The Talking Heads
Topic: General Diatribes

Did you ever have a dream where you can not figure out what anything is, you try to read what's in front of you, you try to click on the link but none of them go anywhere, every button you press does nothing or opens up annother bunch of possibillities that you either don't understand or are not what you need? Welcome to my LIFE! I felt pretty good after yesterday, I felt like I had the whole new computer program at work under my belt, I could schedule a tech to come out, I could set up to replace equipment. Then Monday came, I knew it would be more difficult, the sheer volume alone, people who don't do business on Sundays & people who assume we don't do business on Sundays always call on Mondays so there's Lots of calls coming in. & there's a lot more random stuff, people who are mad because the tech didn't put the cable in where they wanted or left it hanging off the gutter, people who select tech because 'I thought it would be the fastest way to get a person on the phone honey' We're allowed to use the old computer system in certain circumstances (all of which we have to document for the programers to check out so they can make the new program do those things too- I'm not holding my breath for the day that happens-) & the computer with the old program is next to me so I've seen a lot more of my co-workers than I usually do. Every one of them who has walked by my desk to the computer with the old program has been mumbling swears, imprecations & laments all the way there & all the way back. One woman's rant was so blue with swears that I had to mute my customer so he wouldn't hear her.
I try to look at things like this: The job is really the same as it ever was. It's still nice when I fix a little old lady's snowy tv screen. It still stinks when I have to tell people who are at least as poor as I am or sometimes even poorer what it's going to cost to have someone come out & fix their problem. I still take the attitude that if you get on my phone & it's technical I will fix the problem or get someone to you who can fix it. (I tell anyone who I have to talk to who hasn't been at the job as long as I have that tenacity is 70% of the job I DON'T just quit or give up - before I was advanced tech it was a point of pride not to transfer to them. Now I am the end of the line & I make sure what has to be done gets done- even when it means doing unpleasant things.
The only thing which has changed is how I do a lot of the things that have to happen to make sure that people get their remotes or that the tech gets to the right house on the right day. It's a part of my job but not the biggest part & not the most important part. So far everyone who I've had to ask to wait while I resolve their problem thru this new program has been very patient & kind. Especially when I've explained about learning a new computer program. There's always a curmudgeon in there though, once in awhile theres a person or two who just won't wait & they get mad or hang up while on hold. I try to take that as being their problem not mine.

In other news miss 16 finally got a picture of her boyfriend from KY. he's coming to visit in a few more weeks & staying a week. I'm glad she know's who we're meeting at the bus station now! He's cute & I belive, considering her excitement over the pictures, that he's exceeded her expectations of how he would look. So all is very calm & even a little hyper/happy on 16's front. Except of course, for that little inconvenience called school, this is sol (standards of learning) week for her & I've learned from previous years to not even question her as to how she thinks she did I've learned to just wait for the test results & not worry about it too much. She always says she did terrible but she nearly always does very well.
Miss 9 is having a lot of fun with Chrissies daughter, they're sharing a room & are deep in cahoots when they're not at each other's throats. The really amusing thing to me is how Chrissies daughter is just like Chrissie was when we were 12, 13 etc. & how miss 9 although she's 2&1/2 years younger than Sami is nowhere near the sheep I was. If she wants to do what Sami says she does it, if she doesn't she just digs in her heels & says 'no way.' By comparison I just went along with what ever my friends wanted to do & then felt mad because we never did anything I wanted to do & of course the kids who were willing to let me boss them & do what I wanted to do were 'boring.' That's all too familiar in my relationships with men, (except Doug, my relationship with the ocean 2 blocks away from where we lived kept me from being as big a fool with him as I was with others- though some would say I was a fool since I've got miss 16 & he's never even seen her- but that's my reward not my punishment!)
Mr 6 is adjusting pretty well to watching tv in my living room, he definitley enjoys having Chrissies dog here, he loves to run & the dog likes to chase him so that works out well for both of them. We had the garden plowed (the guy still has to come back & till it & break the turf up more in depth) on Saturday. & he's having a lot of fun checking out the hills & valleys of the plowed area, looking for worms & digging up tree roots (I had to cut off 5 or 6 which were 3-4 inches thick) We had a little bigger area plowed to expand the garden this year, last year I was hesitant because I thought it would be too much to take care of & it was, but I also found that stuff will grow even if you don't weed much, you just have to look harder for the stuff that grew. I bought a bunch of seed packs in January so I plan to start all the seeds, buy even more flats & just grow as much as I can, who knows, I've always wanted to learn how to make pickles, maybe I'll learn on cucumbers we aren't able to eat all up!