In which I’m cranky and feel like complaining about work.

Apparently the power went off at work last night. When I got to work this morning, the first thing that my trainer said when I walked through the door was that I had to turn my computer off at night. That annoyed the shit out of me because I only turn machines off when they need to be rebooted. I leave them on because waiting for Windows to boot and then opening all the programs I need and arranging all the windows to my liking takes for-fucking-ever. But this place is too cheap, apparently, to buy UPSes, so they’ll be paying me for 10 minutes every morning from now on while I wait for my shit to reboot. So stupid.

It also means that – since our time clock is software-based – I’ll have to clock out before shutting down. I realize it’s only a minute or so every night, but I’m already clocking off before setting the alarm, and those few minutes times every night for a year will add up to a few unpaid hours. Screw that noise.

Then my first few calls were frustrating as hell. The customers were cranky and short-tempered, and their computer skills were so incredibly limited that I could barely even understand what the hell the problem was, let alone figure out how to get them to fix it. (One guy called in because “the purple icon was missing from the dock thingy.”) (???) (I figured it out eventually; he was on OSX and the purple icon was, I guess, his dialer.)

Good news, though, comes in threes: (1.) I now have root access to the POP server, so I can reset passwords myself rather than having to wait for someone else to do it. (2.) The company Xmas party on December 20th will feature free-flowing company-bought booze and really good food (which is probably why they can’t afford to buy me a UPS – hah!). (3.) One of the engineers made apple pie liqueur over the weekend and left pints on everyone’s desk, so I’ve got booze to drink when I get home tonight!

In other news, the weather here is weird. Not only is it relentlessly windy, but I’ve been in the Midwest for so long that it breaks my brain when it gets warmer out after the sun goes down! Friday night, Gramma and I went to the Christmas Lights Parade with my uncle and his wife (they bought us peppermint mochas!), and when we pulled up at a quarter to six it was 28 degrees outside, with ice and snow on the ground. An hour later, a Chinook had blown in and the temperature went up ten degrees. By morning, the snow had all melted off. Spooky, huh? (Gramma’s dog Chipper is afraid of wind. If you let him outside when it’s windy out, he goes and sits in the middle of the street. He’s freakin’ miserable, the poor little guy.)

Update: Apparently everyone in management where I work has read this post. Apparently I should have been more judicious with the word “cheap.” Doya think I can plead hormones?
😉