Bonus
12 Dec 2011 1 Comment
in Office Games
Two posts in two days. Just had to share what happens when the holiday party at work brings in a Photo Booth!
An open letter to my coworkers:
16 Jun 2011 1 Comment
in Office Games, Ranting, Uncategorized
I will preface this entry by making the following points:
* This is not pointed any any specific person or job. These are just things that happen in companies that drive me UP THE WALL.
* I’m feeling a little stabby today, so I may rant a bit. If you don’t want to hear it, just skip this post and we’ll be back to knitting and spinning soon!
—
Dear COWORKERS:
If I may, there are two things in this world that drive me crazier than anything else. And since they keep coming up across all the jobs I will just take a moment to tell you what they are so that we can get along peacefully in the future.
1. Tell me what you would like, and how you would like it.
If there’s a certain way you would like something done, please tell me that. If you need something, please just ask. I’m friendly and I don’t bite (much) and as long as it’s a request that is respectfully made, I am more than happy to do my best. HOWEVER, please don’t ASSUME that I know how to do it if we’ve never discussed it. I know most people are doing it the way you want it. I also know that I routinely get omitted from those emails so I don’t always get the message. If I’ve been doing something wrong for (eeps!) 6 months we’ll both be better served if we have a conversation about it than if you rant and rave about how terrible I am until another of our coworkers suggests you just talk to me about it since she’s never had to ask me to do anything more than once. And maybe, just MAYBE, you could give me the benefit of a doubt since I’m generally pretty dependable and more than willing to fix my mistakes.
2. Will you show me how to do this?
What I say: Will you show me how to do this?
What they hear: Will you do this for me?
I can’t tell you how many times I have asked someone to show me how to do something, to have them treat me like I just sent them outside to pick up dog droppings. When I don’t know how to do something, I ask. When you explain how to do it, I take notes so that I don’t have to ask you again. IF I have to ask you more than once I am personally mortified that I didn’t get it the first time. BUT this doesn’t mean I want you to do it for me. If I wanted you to do it for me, I might ask you to do it for me. But I meant what I said and I said what I meant (and an elephant’s faithful 100 percent!).
With all due respect,
the feisty yarn pirate
Negotations
14 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
in Funny, Office Games
Boss: Apparently my printer is “on strike”. Would you be so kind as to “conduct negotiations”?
Eureka!
19 Mar 2009 3 Comments
in Funny, Office Games
I have finally found it, my friends. Quite possibly the most perfect white elephant gift ever:
I mean, who couldn’t love this rooster?
Brought to you courtesy of everyone’s favorite neighborhood department store.
In love.
20 Dec 2008 1 Comment
in Off the Needles, Office Games, Weekend Update
Since I started the retail job, I’ve been pretty exhausted. Some nights it’s so bad that I don’t really want to knit. However, with the impending cold (it’s already single digits today) I decided I needed to whip up another scarf and fast.
So I succumbed to the Yarn Harlot’s latest passion, the striped Noro Scarf. And I’m in love.
The Pattern: Jared Flood’s Noro Striped Scarf
The Needles: US 8′s
The Yarn: Noro Silk Garden, 3 balls (1 each of 279, 84, and 86)
The Verdict: This pattern was totally addicting. Though it was super simple knitting, watching the color changes and interplay in the yarn made me want to keep knitting to see what would happen next. I didn’t have to mess with the colors too much; only once or twice did the colors get a little too close to each other. Thank heavens for spit joins and natural fibers!
In other news… I’ve been interviewing again and am keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll have some offers soon!
Reality Bites
17 Nov 2008 1 Comment
in Deep Thoughts, Notes to Myself, Office Games
Why is it that at night, as I lie in bed and wait for sleep to come, I compose beautiful bloggy prose in my head and when the morning comes and I can finally type it all out, all that remains is “I can haz cheezeburger?”
Last night, for instance, I had this whole beautiful post about how my life is going right now. How I got a call about 6 weeks ago to interview for a great position at a local company. How I sailed through three rounds of interviews (one with the CEO) and how I was happy and excited and nervous and buoyant all at the same time. And then how in the last week or two I seem to have hit a wall. They have my number, but they just don’t seem to be calling me. How I have no idea if I did something wrong, or if they’re still working on it or if they’re “just not that into me”.
And then I started thinking about how I felt when I applied to colleges. How when I visited Cornell I fell in LOVE with the university and how I wanted to go there so badly I could taste it. And then the unthinkable happened – I wait-listed. And suddenly I had to pursue a plan B that I hadn’t even started thinking about. I had to suck it up, get over it, and get on with my life.
Which is what I did today. I’m now a seasonal sales associate at a major department store. It isn’t my dream job (although I’m sure it’s a perfectly great job) and a little part of me is dying inside that I had to suppress both my bachelors and my graduate degree to even get the job. But I’m moving on, finding a paycheck and working through this period of limbo.
Now that wasn’t poetic at all, but there you have it. Reality bites.
When Find/Replace Bites You in the Ass
25 Jun 2008 2 Comments
in Channeling my Inner Geek, Office Games
Since Monday I have been working at a new temp job. Normally I don’t share too much about the jobs I take on, just in case someone happens to stumble across my little corner, but this job is pretty cool. I happen to be working for AMC World Headquarters for the next few weeks, in downtown Kansas City. Though the commute does leave a bit to be desired, the downtown area doesn’t. We’re in one of the highrises right near the river, and our building adjoins the Kansas City Public Library, where I can go on my lunch hour to read and enjoy!
The people so far have been very nice and the accomodations are really top notch. As I write this I’m sitting in a corner cubicle, with a sliver of a window, looking out from the 14th floor at the blue sky and the neighboring highrises. They’ve set me up at my own desk, with a dedicated computer and given me run of any number of spreadsheets and applications. Today I’ve been a super-sleuth, getting all geekily excited about using Excel (both my skills gained in grad school, and new ones they’re teaching me). And you can’t beat the perks – soda fountains and popcorn machines on every floor!
The title of the entry actually refers not to something I did, but to something one of my supervisors did. The work I’m doing today is with spreadsheets of employees, using SSN’s as identifiers. Well let’s just say that the boss did a bit of a find/replace that rendered about 300 SSN’s utterly useless. It took me a while to figure out why I was getting SO many errors between spreadsheets, but now I’m back on track and happy as a clam that I sleuthed out the problem. I know… I’ll just be over here getting my geek on….
Stay tuned tomorrow for a tribute to my new personal hero – she’s changing the grammar and typographical errors of the world one billboard/sign at a time!
The Siren Song of …. well…. Sirens.
02 May 2008 2 Comments
in Knitting Content Ahead, Learning to be a Midwestern Gal, Office Games, Weekend Update
Howdy folks. I’m sitting here while the tornado sirens wail, the lightening flashes, the thunder rolls and the rain pours down. What we have here is a good old fashioned midwestern electrical storm and (minus the tornadoes) I’m kind of enjoying it. I really don’t have tons to report since life is crazy on a variety of fronts.
The past two days I’ve made negative progress on knitting – that is I’ve knit and I’ve tinked back and I’ve knit and I’ve frogged. More than once on the same pair of socks. It’s frustrating and maddening. I love being a knitter but I hate that I keep having to rip, especially now that my time is much more limited.
The job is getting better. Slowly I’m starting to learn more and get things better organized. I don’t know yet whether or not it will be a good permanent fit, but for now it’s a good source of steady income.
Lastly, I seem to have fallen into a slight Facebook addiction. Man some of those applications are EVIL but fun. They also make the day go by faster when things get slow at the job.
More news and pictures when I get something fit to print (we’re kayaking this weekend and there should be birthday pics soon too – Cinco De Mayo is Monday BABY!)
It’s Raining, It’s Pouring
24 Apr 2008 Leave a Comment
in Office Games
Today I started a new job. We’re not sure yet if it’s permanent – he and I are using a few months to test drive on both our ends. It was, as first days go, exhausting. There is a lot to learn, and he doesn’t seem to have too much time to teach it (he’s getting phone calls every few minutes). I think the work could be interesting, but I’m not sure that I’m the right fit for the job so we’ll see how it goes.
I did, however, get to go to knitting night tonight and that was super relaxing. I’m about halfway done with my mom’s Mother’s Day gift and pondering what of the many projects, gifts and samples I have here to start next. I want to start everything all at once, but I’m trying to temper myself and only have a few projects going at a time. I will have progress pictures soon!
Otherwise I’m glad to be home in Kansas. Don’t tell Wes cause I don’t want him to get a swelled head, but I missed him lots while I was in LA. Although I’m still not sure exactly where home is geographically, it’s quickly starting to be exactly where he is.
Ok, off to bed to rest and refresh for a new day.
P.S. I couldn’t decide whether to title this “First Day Blues” or something with rain in the title – I am a little blue, but it is also POURING outside and we’ve had some great electrical storms the past few nights.
Multiple Choice
03 Apr 2008 2 Comments
in Office Games
The feeder on the copier is broken. Do you:
A. Swear at it like a sailor.
B. Pour a Diet Coke over it and kick it with your shoe.
C. Take it outside and beat it with a baseball bat (Office Space style)
D. Place every one of your thousands of sheets on the glass individually and collate them by hand.
E. Wish you had called in dead.
