Special Sauce

A mish-mash of twisted thoughts from a fevered ego. Updated when the spirit moves me, contents vary and may have settled during shipping. Do not open towards eyes. Caution: Ingestion of Special Sauce may cause hair loss, halitosis, and a burning sensation while urinating.

12.14.2004

Super-crab-a-freakin-pissed-off-extra-angry-postin'

Yeah, Mary Poppins, you can bite my butt.

OK.

I have this job. See? And I don't do a whole lot right now, so I shouldn't bitch a lot, right? Well. I gotta bitch. Just a bit.

I love the mission of our organization. I think that the waiting lists that exist for MH/MR care in my state are ridiculous (thousands in crisis situations, yet the past year's budget only allowed for just under 400 new individuals to be helped), and I think that the fact that individuals with disabilities (and no MH/MR issues) aren't even included in these figures is a brand of disturbing that I can't even begin to describe. It's frustrating, because there's so much that needs to be done, and not enough resources (people, physical plant and funding) to help everyone who needs it.

But that's not the reason for my ranting.

No.

Today, I am going to kvetch about my boss. She is a very passionate, very devoted woman. She loves her family more than anything, and she's dedicated to her kids in a way that I wish my parents would have been when I was growing up. Then again, having a doctor in the family will afford you some luxuries. I don't fault her for that- it's where her priorities are, and that's all swell. However, the woman can't respect a timeframe to save her life.

Example. Friday we scheduled a meeting for this morning (Tuesday) at 9:00 AM to discuss strategic planning, board recruitment, and other things that would generally give me both things to do, and structure for the organization. I prepared a bunch of stuff from various websites, and my own experience, and put together handouts on how to select a nonprofit board, what committee duties are, and all that good stuff.

So here's how my day went...
7:30. Get to work
9:00. No boss (who needs a pseudonym)
10:00. No boss. No phonecall.
10:45. Phonecall. Boss is finishing writing notes on letters for bulk mailing. Will deliver letters at lunchtime so I can take them to post office "on my lunch break". (Note. Sauce has "taken a lunch break" exactly once, in six weeks. Special Sauce brown bags it, and eats at her desk.)
11:00. eat lunch at desk.
12:00. Boss comes with mailing, her christmas cards, and a holy host of complaints about the mailing list (which she says is incomplete. However, *I* wouldn't have known that when I printed the thing out, since the document said "Fancy Schmancy Fundraiser MASTER LIST". I kinda assumed the thing was right.
1:00. I finish sealing the envelopes that boss didn't bother with and take the entire thing to the post office, navigating the evil spiral staircase with trays of mail. (And the tall shoes, and I didn't fall!)
2:00. Return from post office. Wait. Retype entire email list.
3:15. Get 15 minute meeting with boss before she realizes she hasn't washed child's jersey for sports event this evening.
3:45. Go home.


OK. I like my boss as a person, but as a boss, she is sucking it pretty hard. She's busy, I'll grant her, but I can't figure out WHAT she's doing. This is her job- she doesn't work anywhere else. She has cleaning ladies. She has someone who cooks for her. She has a handydude. She has 2 full time aides for her daughter (who is disabled). The only thing she doesn't have is a kid with a driver's license so that she doesn't have to run all over creation and back for her kids.

It wouldn't normally piss me off so much, but damnit, it's really impeding MY ability to get anything substantive done. As much as I'd enjoy just surfing the internets all day, and pull a paycheck, I don't feel right about doing it. I've done about all I can do as far as research goes, I need some freakin' GUIDANCE. I don't need to be micromanaged, but I would like some direction, and the tools I need to do my job properly. That means, if I ask for check copies, I'd like them in the same month I asked for them. If I ask for paperwork to be filled out, sometime the same week would be nice. ARGH.

Yes, I'm having a bad day. This only compounds it. And apparently I'm low-girl on the totem pole for boy-o, and don't rate an email. (Even a "hey, we emailed constantly, and had some interesting chemistry, and I enjoyed our gymnastics, but I'm gonna split because I found someone closer to my zip code" would have been appreciated. Fuck it.


edited to add- received a voicemail last night, and apparently he has been sick, and at home, without internet access. So, he's not a total dick, but that's the way my mind works.

2 Comments:

Blogger Memphis Word Nerd said...

Bless your heart! Of course, there is that little sick-and-twisted part of my that loves when you have a bad day because you are hee-larious when you start venting. Very clever title, by the way. I actually listened to that song this morning (the current cd in my cd alarm clock is Harry Connick Jr's jazzified covers of some really great kids' songs from movies like Charlie and the Chocolate factory, Mary Poppins, Annie, etc). That song is the first track on the album so I've woken up to it for the last few mornings.

I'm also fascinated that you work with the dual diagnosis population. My agency has a fairly cutting edge program for the MH/MR pop, though I'm only peripherally involved in it. My state (Tennessee, as I'm sure you gathered from my username) is embroiled in a series of class-action lawsuits for our lack of MH/MR services so my company created a really clever program. I'm not sure exactly what your agency does but let me know if you are interested in some literature; I could probably find some to mail you.

Anyway, I hope that your day gets better (or do I? :-P ) and that you keep up with this daily posting. Your writing skills are fabulous and you keep me laughing.

10:16 AM  
Blogger Special Sauce said...

MWN- If you were a dude, I'd want to marry you. As it is, you're my favorite personal cheerleader. :) (And I don't mean that in a freaky kind of way.)

I'll email you the info on my job- although I warn you, we're so verrrry in the planning stages- Boss is looking at a 10 year plan for the completion of our campus. I'm looking at something a bit faster than that for a board and other stuff.

And we'll see how today goes, I'm presently wrapped in a large faux fur (dear god, I hope it's faux) blanket, with the heat cranked on high, two sweaters, and am desperately trying to keep my feet warm. (And I even left the heat on last night!) Cold tends to make me crabby, but I do have Nero Wolfe on the radio, so it may just even out.

Sauce.

10:58 AM  

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