そう天に座せ、氷輪丸！ Souten ni zase, Hyourinmaru!
I gotta admit, despite all my grumblings and such, I really have enjoyed working for the Training Div this election. If this could be a permanent position, I think I'd apply. But. On the flip side I've had to deal with some crazy work drama - with my coworkers. I've already mentioned Vivian plenty of times. Well, each passing day just convinces me further that she really has some kind of problem with me. I did find out that Vivian constantly acts like she's in a bad mood because she is always in a bad mood. She and Rogelio don't get along so he makes it a point to piss her off everyday. And of course, she stays mad the entire day and then whether intentionally or not, takes it out on me and Carrie. So not cool. Not to sound like a whiny little weakling here, but she really does do a lot of things that piss off a lot of people. She should be counting her blessings that she hasn't been fired already for some of the stuff she's done. Stuff she flat out knows she is not supposed to be doing because she's been warned about it so many freaking times. She says I'm the favorite because the supervisors always let me do things when I ask, well I've never asked to do something I'm not supposed to be doing to begin with! Yes, they make exceptions for me and let me meet them in Palo Alto and Mountain View, but they also know where I live. They don't expect me to drive all the way to the office only to drive halfway home with them to the training site. And I am most definitely NOT the only person they make that exception for.
And no, Vivian is not the only person I have a problem with. Let's just say that Raymond is a little too friendly, but beyond that he most definitely has said things that fall under the "sexual harassment" category. During train the trainer week Phil came in to have a mandatory meeting with us about harassment and such. That was of course to be expected, as I'm sure that's expected at any work place. Well...the next day, he came back in and told us that since that meeting, we already had 2 complaints, so we had another meeting. I found out last week that what had happened is Raymond had told Carrie that she should come to work in a mini-skirt and high heels. That's why we had that 2nd meeting, and apparently he didn't take it much to heart because 2 days later he said to me "so you're going to wear a dress to work on Monday, right?" If I had been smart about it, I should've said something to a supervisor right there and then. But of course, that never crossed my mind. It was one of those things where it was like 'ok...you freak...get away from me'. Things didn't stop there. I've heard that he kept asking Siria out for dates, and she said no. Finally she told him she was going to accuse him of sexual harassment and actually made a complaint about it. Well, again he didn't seem to much take that to heart because a few days later he started up asking her out again. Did I mention, btw, that Raymond is married and has a son who is in college? And Siria is about 30? And Carrie and I are the same age? Can I say dirty old man?
Oh and it doesn't end there. Raymond and Tom apparently almost got in a fist-fight on Friday because of the VeriVote printers. What. The. Hell. They're printers for cryin' out loud! The result of the printer dispute (which actually started out as a very heated discussion between Raymond and Sue) is that I tested and fixed each and every printer for Kathleen's team that morning. I am now called "the printer expert/technician".
Anyhow, on to the fun stuff. Thursday I was scheduled to work an afternoon class and an evening class w/ Joe in Morgan Hill. Not to be mean but I wasn't exactly looking forward to it because I don't really like working with Joe. Well, what happened is that Kathleen, who had morning and afternoon classes that day called and asked for help. Guess who was sent to help. Since by the time I made it to Campbell I'd only be really helping with the afternoon class, Paulo said to go to Palo Alto after to help with his evening class. That was totally fine by me, and actually kind of ironic because when I saw that Paulo's team was going to Palo Alto that day I thought to myself "man, if I was going to Palo Alto today, I'd totally follow them in my own car and drive home from there instead of coming back to the office". (And of course, my mileage was paid for.) Hehe. Anyhow, so that was a fun day because Kathleens morning class had 54 people, but only 40 ppl showed up in the afternoon, then when I got to Palo Alto, there were only 14 people!! The other trainers were all like "oh thank goodness you're here, I don't think we could've handled it". Hehe. Well, I did provide assistance w/ their printers. I'd gotten to Campbell halfway thru Kathleen's morning class so I wasn't much help for that class, but I spent the 2nd half of the class playing around w/ the printers and fixing them and such (hence being asked to check the printers on Friday); so when I got to Palo Alto, I knew exactly what to do w/ the printers that were down. Anyhow, we finished the morning class around 8:30 and Paulo goes "hey, did you guys hear about Joe's first class? Rogelio, tell them what time Joe's class ended today" and Rogelio says "4:30". Everyone's jaws dropped at that. Joe did a 4 hr class! The classes are scheduled to be 3.5 hrs and we usually finish them b/w 3 and 3hrs15 min. But 4 hours. What's even more surprising is that people actually stayed, they usually start walking out when it gets close to 3hrs. That in itself made me even more glad that I didn't have to go to Morgan Hill with Joe. Hehehe. And that night got better for me, I had stayed around to help them clean up and pack up the vans and stuff, but Paulo let me go home. Sooo I got home around 9pm instead of close to 10pm.
Then Friday, was only one morning class, so that was easy despite the drama over the printers. But it was also payday...and apparently I got a raise. That was an excellent little surprise in my opinion. =P And on Saturday...I walked in to work and my coworker handed me an e-mail. Apparently a precinct inspector from our Monday class had called in to say what a great class we did and specifically named me, his "personal trainer", and said that I did an excellent job and was very thorough. Hehehe. Oh, the other thing that happened Saturday, our media specialist came in followed by a camera-man. I thought he was gonna set up his camera in the back and tape Kathleen, but no, he set up his tripod right by me and taped me. Did I mention I don't like being on camera? It makes me really nervous. Well, I did my best to ignore him and act normal, so I think it was ok.
Well, I finally have a 2 day weekend now, only because I don't have to work on Monday, but methinks it's time to veg. =P Happy Memorial Day.
And no, Vivian is not the only person I have a problem with. Let's just say that Raymond is a little too friendly, but beyond that he most definitely has said things that fall under the "sexual harassment" category. During train the trainer week Phil came in to have a mandatory meeting with us about harassment and such. That was of course to be expected, as I'm sure that's expected at any work place. Well...the next day, he came back in and told us that since that meeting, we already had 2 complaints, so we had another meeting. I found out last week that what had happened is Raymond had told Carrie that she should come to work in a mini-skirt and high heels. That's why we had that 2nd meeting, and apparently he didn't take it much to heart because 2 days later he said to me "so you're going to wear a dress to work on Monday, right?" If I had been smart about it, I should've said something to a supervisor right there and then. But of course, that never crossed my mind. It was one of those things where it was like 'ok...you freak...get away from me'. Things didn't stop there. I've heard that he kept asking Siria out for dates, and she said no. Finally she told him she was going to accuse him of sexual harassment and actually made a complaint about it. Well, again he didn't seem to much take that to heart because a few days later he started up asking her out again. Did I mention, btw, that Raymond is married and has a son who is in college? And Siria is about 30? And Carrie and I are the same age? Can I say dirty old man?
Oh and it doesn't end there. Raymond and Tom apparently almost got in a fist-fight on Friday because of the VeriVote printers. What. The. Hell. They're printers for cryin' out loud! The result of the printer dispute (which actually started out as a very heated discussion between Raymond and Sue) is that I tested and fixed each and every printer for Kathleen's team that morning. I am now called "the printer expert/technician".
Anyhow, on to the fun stuff. Thursday I was scheduled to work an afternoon class and an evening class w/ Joe in Morgan Hill. Not to be mean but I wasn't exactly looking forward to it because I don't really like working with Joe. Well, what happened is that Kathleen, who had morning and afternoon classes that day called and asked for help. Guess who was sent to help. Since by the time I made it to Campbell I'd only be really helping with the afternoon class, Paulo said to go to Palo Alto after to help with his evening class. That was totally fine by me, and actually kind of ironic because when I saw that Paulo's team was going to Palo Alto that day I thought to myself "man, if I was going to Palo Alto today, I'd totally follow them in my own car and drive home from there instead of coming back to the office". (And of course, my mileage was paid for.) Hehe. Anyhow, so that was a fun day because Kathleens morning class had 54 people, but only 40 ppl showed up in the afternoon, then when I got to Palo Alto, there were only 14 people!! The other trainers were all like "oh thank goodness you're here, I don't think we could've handled it". Hehe. Well, I did provide assistance w/ their printers. I'd gotten to Campbell halfway thru Kathleen's morning class so I wasn't much help for that class, but I spent the 2nd half of the class playing around w/ the printers and fixing them and such (hence being asked to check the printers on Friday); so when I got to Palo Alto, I knew exactly what to do w/ the printers that were down. Anyhow, we finished the morning class around 8:30 and Paulo goes "hey, did you guys hear about Joe's first class? Rogelio, tell them what time Joe's class ended today" and Rogelio says "4:30". Everyone's jaws dropped at that. Joe did a 4 hr class! The classes are scheduled to be 3.5 hrs and we usually finish them b/w 3 and 3hrs15 min. But 4 hours. What's even more surprising is that people actually stayed, they usually start walking out when it gets close to 3hrs. That in itself made me even more glad that I didn't have to go to Morgan Hill with Joe. Hehehe. And that night got better for me, I had stayed around to help them clean up and pack up the vans and stuff, but Paulo let me go home. Sooo I got home around 9pm instead of close to 10pm.
Then Friday, was only one morning class, so that was easy despite the drama over the printers. But it was also payday...and apparently I got a raise. That was an excellent little surprise in my opinion. =P And on Saturday...I walked in to work and my coworker handed me an e-mail. Apparently a precinct inspector from our Monday class had called in to say what a great class we did and specifically named me, his "personal trainer", and said that I did an excellent job and was very thorough. Hehehe. Oh, the other thing that happened Saturday, our media specialist came in followed by a camera-man. I thought he was gonna set up his camera in the back and tape Kathleen, but no, he set up his tripod right by me and taped me. Did I mention I don't like being on camera? It makes me really nervous. Well, I did my best to ignore him and act normal, so I think it was ok.
Well, I finally have a 2 day weekend now, only because I don't have to work on Monday, but methinks it's time to veg. =P Happy Memorial Day.