The Rant!

To be honest, I've cooled off a lot since this afternoon. I talked with a dear friend for a long time tonight about far more important things than this, but I still have a bit of the rant in me and thought I'd share!

Okay, so here's my first question. Do I have a sign on me somewhere that I can't see? A sign that reads "I cannot be trusted to do my job well?"

Because I'd like to think that nearly two years in, I"m pretty good at my job. I know the volunteers by their voice on the phone. I handle each and every problem that gets dropped on my desk with what I hope is skill and aplomb. And yet, there's this one coworker who seems to take delight in undermining my decisions time after time.

Take today, for example.

We had a package returned to us today, with money due. This is rather unusual. I arranged for the excess postage to be paid out of petty cash, and made plans to phone Canada Post to see if I could discover why the package had been returned. This particular coworker came to ask me which package had been returned. You see, it's her job to take the packages that are too heavy for me to put the postage on in our office to the post office, and mail them. She had apparently questioned the post office worker about the way he measured this particular package. I took in the information and then let her know that I would follow up with Canada Post.

She went for lunch, and when she came back explained that she had gone to the post office, and could she please have the package, because she would go back and handle the issue with the woman at the post office later in the day.

So not impressed.

What part of "I'll call Canada Post to follow up" was hard to understand?

If this had been the first time, that would be one thing, but seriously, I think this woman is convinced I have no brain. She seems to go out of her way to undermine me at every turn. She's nearly impossible to work with, despite many of my best efforts, and it's beginning to look like ultimately I will need to look for a new job in large part because of the difficulty in working semi-closely with her.

And can I just say that I am only one of many staff members who have had this problem with this woman?

The biggest frustration for me in the midst of this work situation? Because I work for a Christian company, when the personality conflict became obvious, our boss called a department meeting to "hash things out" and essentially told us that we were "bad christians" because there was personality conflict. I think I'd rather work for a secular company. No dragging my faith into personal preferences.

And also, can I just say that I have done everything in my power to work smoothly with this woman for the last month or two? I have been polite, compliant, (yes, distant), and have rarely complained.

But I'm tired of it now.

And, part two.

Is it really that difficult to plan ahead? I mean really?

And if you can't plan ahead, could you at least not make someone else suffer because of your lack of planning?

At 2:30 this afternoon I received a list of 23 documents (several of which were multiple pages long) of which I needed to make 18 copies of each, and then assemble training packages for an out of town volunteer training session, by the end of the day. (The day ends at 4:30).

I got it done. A minor clerical miracle. I do that for this company kind of a lot. Not that they generally notice. They do say thank you, but they don't realize quite how much I pull off. They don't tend to realize that copying 23 separate documents, onto a variety of different colored papers, collating them, assembling them into an order, and into portfolios to create a training package, complete with two business cards attached to each porfolio, takes time, and that it is not generally something that just anyone could pull together on that short notice.

Ah well... tomorrow is another day I guess.

Here's hoping it's smoother than today.

Updated Headline

They found another severed foot today. It just kind of floated ashore. That makes two in two days. Don't know why this keeps hitting me, but it does.
Latest headline here.

Ranting

For the last couple of days I have been in full ranting form for anyone who would care to listen. One or two very gracious friends listened while I vented, effectively letting me blow off some steam.

I am back to full form, and nearly ready to explode just presently.

Let's just say that I am underappreciated at my office, and am about to pull off a miracle of clerical work, and no one will notice, because it's their poor planning that has made it necessary for me to work miracles.

Full rant to come perhaps.

A Few Links

I woke up to the news of this on the radio yesterday morning. It's hard for me to explain why this is so attention getting to me right now, but it is.

And, author of the "Christian Culture Survival Guide" (a book I highly recommend if you like very sarcastic, tongue in cheek humor), Matthew Paul Turner, posted a letter to his soon to be born son on his blog recently. Poignant and funny, I thought I'd share the link with all of you!

We are the Glory of God - Henri Nouwen

Another thought from Henri Nouwen:

We Are the Glory of God

Living a spiritual life is living a life in which our spirits and the Spirit of God bear a joint witness that we belong to God as God's beloved children, (see Romans 8:16). This witness involves every aspect of our lives. Paul says: "Whatever you eat, then, or drink, and whatever else you do, do it all for the glory of God" (Romans 10:31). And we are the glory of God when we give full visibility to the freedom of the children of God.

When we live in communion with God's Spirit, we can only be witnesses, because wherever we go and whomever we meet, God's Spirit will manifest itself through us.