bored and micromanaged

6-2-09

It is a boring day.

No boss today, but for some reason the day is dragging. I have read several Wiki readings, mental floss articles and even news stuff, yet I am bored. Sure, there are accounts I should tackle, but everyone has the same answer. We have no freaking money! Ok, they don’t tend to say it in such a angry tone, but some have. I have some customers who have actually just flat out told me they will be paying everything 30 days late. If I don’t like it, tough. Nice, huh?

My nose is still having issues, but on the plus side, I have regained some of my sense of smell. YAY! I smelled garlic bread yesterday, and this morning, I could detect the slight scent of my lotion. I am all kinds of jazzed. Also, I am on no meds right now, and despite being stuffy, It isn’t at its worst as of yet. So this is a positive sign, I think. I keep sneezing every now and again, and if I breathe too deep after having not talked in a while, I will have a cough with nasty, but all minor compared. It is sad when I am excited about having these horrible symptoms.

The internet at work seems to be having some problems. Email is still running slow, and the net itself seems to be free of restriction. I assume it will be back soon enough and I am doing my damndest to stay off unless I need to be there, assuming I still can’t get anywhere. I don’t want this to be some kind of trap.

I have noticed more mouse droppings. I am not about to say anything since it means they will roll out more traps. I have tossed as many of the glue traps as I can without getting in trouble. I actually have no problem with the mouse being here as he hasn’t bothered me aside from having to clean up his poop. Pretty minor, really. Plus, our building has probably been so infested at this point, it would not do much good to trap any of them and release as there are another 50 somewhere else. Luckily, I have not heard of any being caught, so that cracks me up. They are crafty little fellows.

We had our dinner last night around a table together. I pulled out the folding table, turned off the tv and all had dinner. It was nice. The boys didn’t eat much of the mac and cheese, but Dax polished off like 20 grapes and Bobby ate a bunch of cantaloupe. The problem is, these kids don’t eat much at dinner, then want bread and milk right before bed. In all fairness, they are still at an age where a snack before bed isn’t unheard of, and their choice of snack isn’t too bad when you get right down to it. I just want them to eat a better meal. If they know they will get bread, I don’t know that they will try to eat anything I put in front of them. If we don’t give them bread, I don’t know that we will have a full night of sleep.

Last night, their whining was at a new level. So I told Dax it was time for bed. This was seconds before their Spongebob show was on. Both boys had asked for bread and milk, so I brought them cups of milk and a couple of hot dog buns (we had them and I wanted to get rid of them before they went bad. Plus, they normally love them). Both freaked about the lack of lids on their cups, Dax was upset at the bubbles in the freshly poured milk and the bread selection. I was done. So I took him to bed. I didn’t yell, just got him in bed and began to read him his story. He was devastated, but I found that when I talked to him calmly, I got a lot more results. I explained the problem, and he was ok. I ended up bringing him a cup of milk (and yes, I broke down and got him bread, but this was only after he had calmed down and was nice again) and he seemed better. Ken even said he was less whiney this morning. Bobby, on the other hand, still seems to be testing us.

We are going to revamp his chore chart and will be taking full advantage of the magnet that says no whining. We also will be working on a better incentive based program with him as that has always been a better solution with him. Potty training was the prize tree. When we take stuff away, he doesn’t care. But when we bribe him with even the smallest of things, he is motivated. Dax has to have stuff taken away. He doesn’t care about bribes. So you do what works, right? I have expressed my concern that he doesn’t have story time regularly anymore, so that will now be norm. Game stuff has gotten out of hand. He used to do puzzles and things, now just watching Spore or even just looking at Ken’s Lego isn’t really what I am hoping for. So I want to make all of that stuff more special, and he has to earn a lot of it. Tonight, after Dax goes to bed, the three of us are going to sit down and map out a plan. His testing may just be a phase, but either way, I want to nip it in the bud so that it doesn’t become a problem. No more going to work with Daddy, schedules are to be adhered to, and we will no longer tolerate his crying over everything. We will see if this helps.

I was super impressed with Bobby last night, though with his willingness to try a couple things. He boldly asked for a bite of my mac and cheese, with had been mommyized complete with tuna and pepper. He did promptly spit it out, but kudos to taking a mouthful in the first place. What amazed me further, though, was despite this trust violation, he still decided to try the cantaloupe. I knew he would like that. Shoot, the kids loves peaches, pineapple and apples, so why wouldn’t he enjoy this? Not only did he finish off the chunk, he ate another large chunk. He even tried the honeydew, despite being full. So this was a breakthrough, I thought. He has been getting better. So hopefully with some more offerings, he will be more inclined to eat other things.

Dax, of course, is, well, Dax. He eats only what he likes, which if he had his way would just be sandwiches. Tonight, my plan is to make him some soup, though, as I know how much he enjoyed that.

What is crazy is that really, the two of them don’t care for some kids staples. Like hot dogs! Who doesn’t like hot dogs? Shoot, even Brandy has vegan hot dogs because let’s face it, hot dogs, no matter what they are made of, rock! Yet the boys don’t care for them much. Hamburgers, well, every now and again they will sample. Only recently have I seen them eat pizza. And really, Dax only picks at it. They don’t like tater tots, or even French fries. I am way shocked they don’t like refried beans. And cheese! They don’t really dig on that. Bread in any shape or form tends to be happy making. Eggs, they really won’t touch. Bobby loves yogurt, but isn’t a fan of the chunks of fruit in some of them. Yet I have seen him eat strawberries. I want to get some blueberries since my dad pointed out they would probably love them in their pancakes. They won’t touch corn. Or tortillas. Bananas, yes, but only if they are in the right mood. Then they look like little monkeys, polishing off a couple at a sitting. They won’t eat my lasagna or enchilada casserole. They don’t even try my chicken noodle soup, which I am sure they would love the noodles. I know, this is a common parent complaint. In fact, I can’t even get all that upset being that I am just as picky. But I do get frustrated. They won’t even try my safe foods!

Ok, all this talk of food has made me hungry. Luckily, I eat in about 30 minutes.

The boss just called in, trying to talk to each person, even if he had nothing useful to say. I am pretty skillful at avoiding his calls. When I heard someone else talking to him, I made a point of being on the other line the whole time I knew he was in the transfer universe. I even hung up on a coworker when she tried to transfer him. Instead, he did manage to get to my voicemail. He then leave the message, “Hello! Sorry I missed you. Hope everything is going well. I just wanted to touch base with you on that one account, I saw an email, you were waiting for a check or something. Any way, I will catch up with you later.” Mind you, there was no mention of what account. Or an amount. Or any other identifying markers that might allow me to check on what the hell he was talking about. Oh, and what is really funny is, I have no email that was sent to him that indicated that I was waiting on a check from anyone. Plus, aren’t I waiting for checks from lots of people? I am a fucking collector! That is my fucking job! When he goes into this micromanaging mode, I get very frustrated. He was here half day yesterday, and will be in tomorrow morning. Nothing is that pressing that he needs to call ANY OF US right now. Seriously. We don’t have big contracts pending for things like government issues. Sure, we do sometimes, but not right now. I can totally see him calling the person involved. But all of his calls are for mindless stuff. Like with Tammy, he called her first thing this morning (like at 6) to ask her about this one customer who has been a pain in the butt even before I started here. They always pay, but super late. We always give them crazy good deals despite them never deserving it. He has talked to her 100 times over the last week on this, and nothing has changed. Yet today, when he isn’t even in the office, and the main contact for the customer is in the hospital (no joke, they said minor surgery), does he really fucking think something is going to be accomplished today??????? And then for him to call me, for nothing? What the hell?? It is his excuse to try and keep in touch with all of us, especially when he is gone. Mind you, he hardly ever talks to me. He knows I am on top of my stuff and when I need him, I do involve him, much to my dismay. So why now? It doesn’t keep us on our toes. It doesn’t mean I will be good while he is gone. It just means he doesn’t trust any of us and that he thinks we are not able to handle a day without him. I would like to point out that since he and Fred have been out at the same time on multiple days, I have been the go to girl, getting people info on how to do things I shouldn’t even know how to do. I can handle myself, and the dept just fine, despite not considering the idea that perhaps someone should be left in charge when they are out. Instead, they wing it, and then get crazy. If I didn’t enjoy my job so much, I would hate it.