work dramas and other shiznit

so,  i know i’ve been going on (and on) about that stupid job and how i didn’t get it.  well, the exact same job has cropped up someplace else and it’s pretty much mine,  we’re just negotiating money.  it’s for the same company, just a different site – hopefully one that isn’t as uptight.  my manager calls me up and asks me if i’ll stay if he gives me a raise.  he says that he will beat (or at least match) what the manager at the other site offers me.    what do i do?  i’m leaning towards leaving anyway because i can’t work with the douchbag.  i can’t.  and here’s my manager telling me that he’s screwed without me and there’s no way he’ll be able to cope with me being gone but yet he’s having me do all the stuff the new guy is going to have to do anyway.  i’m a bit miffed because he’s the one that put me up for this new job prospect,  he said “i don’t want you to leave this site but i know you can do the job and you’ll be really great at it.”  and i’m thinking,  “but you didn’t give me the job here…”  bah,  water under the bridge.  but now there’s this new dilemma.  if i could get a raise here but still maintain my status quo of work here, stay with my team who i’ve mentored and adore and make the same money at the other place but be put in charge of everything (meaning lots of new work for me).  it feels good to be wanted.  i think i’ve made up my mind,  i’m going to the new place.  we have to dinner with the douchbag on wednesday and i know i’ll just be really bitter.

i’m  mentally exhausted. 

the weekend was really good.  full of nothing.  the brit and i went to see some ballet at the cinema on saturday afternoon and spent 45 minutes killing time in the cheap CD shop and we bought a million CDs.  we just watched a movie on woodstock so i’m all about buying richie havens and other performers.  i snuck a justin timberlake CD in my pile to which the Brit just rolled his eyes.  “it’s for working out!” i said as i shoved it underneath the others.  i heard the cash register guy snicker.  frack ‘em all.

sunday morning i, for some reason,  was glued to the television watching the funeral of ted kennedy.  i almost shed a tear when his son spoke but i dared not with the Brit nearby.  the Brit and i finished watching season 1 of Breaking Bad on sunday so now we have nothing to watch until we get season 2.  we are now watching Battlestart Gallactica, the final season and we picked up where we left off but i don’t remember anything that happened.  i just want to know who the last cylon is and if they’ll ever make it to frackin’ earth so i’m going to find out on the web (but not tell the Brit because he thinks i’m weird that i do that). 

and now it’s monday.  ick.

busy day.

busy doing job that i didn’t get hired for.  i’ve managed to turn super nice guy (who went for job too) into super bitter guy for losing job to douchbag.  it was brewing inside him,  i just had to expose it and bring it to the surface.  i am evil. poor new guy.  will write more tomorrow.

x

and another day.

a day spent reading more CVs.  i’m over it all – exceeding expectations, leading by example, mulit-tasking,  working alone and in a team with minimal supervision,  blah blah blah.  it’s all just fluff.  everyone that has strong attention to detail somehow forgot to use spellcheck.  someone’s motto was “learn, unlearn, relearn”  wtf?  my motto is “delegate.”  and someone else put “buying stuff for the house my parents are building for me” as an attribute.  huh? thanks for sharing but i don’t care about your trips to ikea. my head hurts.  i’ve shortlisted the candidates for my manager and i’m just waiting for the go-ahead to do phone interviews.  did i mention that i don’t like others? i think i’m getting dumber reading these CVs. pretty soon i’ll just randomly say things like “i embrace challenges” and “i am deadline-oriented and proactive” because i don’t know anything else to say.

today i said something extremely australian (“give me a hoi this arvo and we’ll get it sorted”) which impressed some colleagues but left me shocked and dismayed.  i was just distracted by a  fresh box of krispy kreme donuts on someone’s desk.  they think they’re winning but  i will not succumb.  

so,  on other things australian,  i was reading the age and was drawn to this headline ‘Teabagging’ case sees military court declared invalid’ only because there was all this talk of tea parties/teabagging in america from right wing whackos (apologies to any right wing whackos who read this blog,  i’m just a whacko in general so it’s said with love).  i thought it would be a case of australia copying americans and their political antics but much to my surprise (and amusement)…um,  well, it’s not the same.  surely they could have re-worded the headline.

and that is my interesting story.  aren’t you glad you tuned in?

job skills

so because i didn’t get the job a couple of weeks ago,  my manager is rubbing it in by having me do the job (oooh,  the bitter taste at the back of my throat is getting stronger each day).  i have to hire someone to work in another department and i have 213 CVs to go through.  sifting through these is painful work.  looking at these has made me think about updating my own CV.  did you know that the following things can be listed under “relevant skills / hobbies / interests”?

• competent gift wrapper …(notice that this person only said that they were competent,  i would at least put that i was exceptional)
•  being with people
• good phone voicewords
• young children …(again, can probably be worded better…or maybe they’re just sick)
• listening
• giving massages …(that’s probably an overshare)
• two-way communication …(stating the obvious)

other things to do to not get considered:

• if you use the phrase “think outside the box,” make sure you use it at least five times in your cover letter and ten more times in your CV.  (other ones include “adding value”,  “team player”, “self-starter”, and “multi-tasking”
• always start your cover letter with “in today’s society…”
• putting your health status under personal details and marking it as “average”
• spelling the same word four different ways
• attaching a picture of yourself holding a beer

oh dear,  i think i’m in for a long night.

Risky business

yesterday,  the brit and i played a game of Risk with the Kiwi and Andrew.  i thought my experience of playing Lego Battles on Nintendo DS would be to my advantage but i still lost.  i abandoned my usual tactic of keeping Siam as my base (a tactic that is often ridiculed by the others) and decided to concentrate on africa.  another tactic that i used was pouting to put off anyone from wanting to attack my countries.  it only worked with the Brit – i even got him to make me a sandwich!  andrew proved to be way too bloodthirsty and power hungry and my armies eventually crumbled.  i demand a rematch. 

hey, i finally downloaded some pictures from our holiday.  a whopping four…which is all we took really because  we’re crap –   you can say it loud and clear,  we know it.

on our way to the baseball game

oooh, baseball.  about as mind numbing to watch as cricket.  at least i was drunk.

and this is what made me drunk.  they’re really good but you can really only carry one of these around if you’re a girl.

me, the Brit and birth control my niece and nephew

travel tips

a co worker is going to new york for holiday next week.  never been to america.  all week he’s been asking me questions.  here are a few of my favourites:

“does everyone there carry guns?”
“is new york close to florida?”
“how should i dress so i don’t look like a foreigner?”

good grief.

it’s about fracking time

finally, friday!  i can go on holiday for a year and a week back at work will make me feel like i didn’t go anywhere at all.  it’s quite depressing.  today has been flat out busy so the day has gone by quickly.  copious amounts of caffeine have been keeping me going all day and i feel the crash coming very soon.  just in time for going home.

i got offered another job at another site.  it’s the same job i went for here…but it sounds better (more client-facing) and they are very keen to have me.  i demanded a lot more money and left it with them and will touch base with them next monday.  but i called the guy up this morning to have a chat about the job duties and i think it ended up being my interview. 

the plan is to do nothing this weekend.  i can’t wait.  the brit has leaving drinks tonight for some people from work so i am going to sneak in a ms. marple movie (or two) before he gets home. everyone here is going out for drinks but i just can’t be bothered. i’m so tired.  all i keep thinking about are my pajamas and bed.

i realise i haven’t posted any pictures from our holiday which i will remember to do next week.  they are not overly interesting and there are very few of them because we forgot to take the camera with us but there are a couple i’ll post. 

lookin’ busy

boss man is in town today so i haven’t been able to write.  figures he leaves me alone just in time for me to go home.  have some interesting job news to share with you all tomorrow.  til then..

wednes…zzzzzz

i am so sleepy and work is really slow at the moment which is just making it worse.  i managed to stretch a fifteen minute job to an hour but that’s all i’ve had all day.

i really need to get back to my routine.  i haven’t gotten back into working out and i’ve had cake every morning for breakfast.  my “holiday glow” has been sucked out by the flourescent lights in my office and my feet hurt again from wearing high heels every day.  i wish i could detach my toes for the purpose of wearing high heels and then snap them back on again when i get home.  it’d make my life so much easier. 

the boss-man is in town tomorrow which means i have to look alert and busy.  it means i also have to dress nicer than usual to give him the illusion that i do know what corporate dress is supposed to be.  fun stuff.

 

tuesday.

i wonder how long i can milk the jetlag story to avoid working hard.  anyone know? 

ah, work.  it has me so confused at the moment.  today, i spent the day doing the duties of the job that i got turned down for.  i asked my manager if these duties would be transitioned to the newbie and if i would have to train him (in my head i was screaming “over my dead body!”) and he told me that he would probably want me to continue to do it for a while because he only trusts me to do it correctly.  really?  that’s interesting because… oh i don’t know…i didn’t get the job. 

my bitterness/passive aggression is on hold at the moment because yesterday they told me that they would hire an attorney to do the paperwork for and pay for half of my permanent residency application.  i don’t quite know what they’ve got up their sleeve but i clarified that i would get my residency as a spouse of the Brit who is a citizen and not as a slave employee of the company.  they seemed quite content with that so i told them to bring it on.  if they’re dragging their feet then i’ll just go ahead and do it myself.  but that’s pretty good, eh?  the application can be pretty costly,  money better spent on a new Tod’s bag,  so if they’re going to pay for half, then i’m more than happy to oblige.  the Brit is a bit dubious about the whole thing and wants to make sure that it won’t tie me to the company.  to be honest, i’m a bit suspicious myself so i may ask for something in writing (written in blood preferably).

so things are just dandy here.  i brought some spray cheese back from america for all to look at and marvel.  we’re all afraid to actually try the stuff. it has directions on how to apply to crackers that sound like the directions for applying hair dye. no thanks.  also,  the fact it says in big bold letters on the front “made with real cheese” is off-putting.  it immediately makes me suspicious.  i would just assume it would be cheese since the word “cheese” is in the title.  it’s like if a doctor put on his signage “John Smith M.D.  I’m a real doctor!”  Would you seriously go to him? yeah,  i don’t think i’ll be tasting it.  so i’ve put it on my shelf next to my obama action figure. my homage to america.