Thanks...I think...

So....

My manager at Peyton PHlaCe made sure I got a reward for all my hard work on a recent project...

I appreciate that...

What I do not appreciate is how Peyton PHlace now handles rewards...

You get rewarded in points...

You can use the points to purchase items from a catalog...

Overpriced items from a catalog...

Except for the Gift Cards...

A $100 American Express card is $100, right?

Except that you cannot turn it in for cash and you can only use it certain places...

But here's the kicker....

Once you choose and order your reward online, the dollar amount of the reward goes onto your next paycheck...

So...

My paycheck went down by 28% of the reward that I have not yet received (thank you USPS) and that I will only be able to use at certain places once I do receive it....

None of them grocery stores or utility companies (yeah, I was on the all-electric plan)....

The reward system is nice for those who do not count on every cent in their pay check to make ends meet...

But as for me, I say: Just show me the money!!!!

If you give me a $100 extra in my check, I know I may only see 72% of it but I am still $72 dollars ahead.

Now I have a gift card that I cannot spend on necessities and I am a few dollars short in my paycheck....

Oh well...

When life gives you a gift card...find a margarita bar:)

I have a tendency...

...to bring out the worst in folks....

On a side note...this is my 500th post - yay me:)

I had something totally different planned for this post, but f-it - I need to rant....

So hear goes....

I was working at the office today - first mistake of the day:)

Second mistake was letting one of our contractors get the better of me...

This particular contractor has gained a reputation around the office as AAFAC...

Yeah, I will let you have fun with that....

Anyway, AAFAC was having a conversation with FTSW (full-time, not f-in), going on about how he needed to use his files for a document that needed done next week....

Well the said document needs to build on the version FTSW is working on...

AAFAC: Well, I will just copy your files to my C: drive to work on them so I can release them.

FTSW: Well, I need to make sure these changes are in there.

AAFAC: I cannot wait - you are holding up this other project.

FTSW: There are a lot of other service docs that are ready to work on....

AAFAC: I told them we would do this one first and now I can't because it is not done like I thought so now our schedule is off

Phip - that's me:: Wait a minute....two things here...if you do not let FTSW finish making changes before he hands over the files, your files will not have the changes.

AAFAC: So, it's a different project...

Phip: Building on the same files; if our reviewers make changes on these files, they expect them to be in your files.

AAFAC: It's their job to review them.

Phip: You are messing with our credibility here...

AAFAC to FTSW (ignoring Phip):I'm copying the files to HCSW's hard drive.

Phip: I disagree with the concept, but if you are copying files from the network to anyone's C: drive to work on them, please indicate that on the newtork files, so we know that someone is working on them outside of the netwrok..

AAFAC: I do not have time for that....
Phip:It takes a sec and lets everyone know not to work on those files until they are copied back. It is our source control...
AAFAC: We have no source control....
Phip: Not open for discussion...please just mark the folders...

AAFAC: PHIP, DO YOUR OWN WORK AND MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!!

Phip: THIS IS MY BUSINESS. I NEED TO RELEASE OUR FILES AND I NEED TO KNOW THAT THEY ARE CLEAN.

AAFAC: YOUR FILES ARE PRISTENE. I AM NOT TOUCHING THEM.

Phip: I NEED TO RELEASE YOUR FILES TOO...OUR DEPARTMENT. I BELIEVE OUR OSS ASKED ME TO UNDERSTAND AND GUIDE THE DEPARTMENT ON OUR FILE STRUCTURE.

Okay, third mistake...right there...

Assuming I understood my role...

Yeah, the caps are becasue we were loud...

In the office...

He started it...the yelling, that is...



Of course I emailed OSS to apprise her of the situation...


Apparently, I was out of line and need to apologize for....


For what????


For causing AAFAC to yell at me to mind my own business????


Apparently, when we are rushed it is ok to not follow protocol and I need to mend relations with AAFAC.


Now, OSS is a good boss for me...


I really wish she could see the office semantics rather than hear about them over the email wire...


For her own sake...


But I am done worrying about it....


I did apologize for being overly-aggressive in my concern for our file structure and for not understanding my role...


I will be working from home tomorrow...


Where I cannot hear what they are doing to our files....


I will just take what they give me and trust (ha - none of that left) that our contractors know what they are doing...


Have I mentioned how many times in the past that they have proven that they do not know what they are doing??????


Life at Peyton PHlaCe....


Just when things start to look up....


They come crashing down....


If only OSS were not so OS...


For the sake of our department...

Oh well....

Sometimes Revenge is Sweet...

I have heard this story before, but I love it so much that I decided to share it with you, my blogger friends....

Note that I have never done anything like this...

More so because I have not had the opportunity than because I would not...

I am not quite sure what I would do, given the opportunity...

But I digress...

On with the tale...

She spent the first day packing her belongings into boxes, crates and suitcases.

On the second day, she had the movers come and collect her things.

On the third day, she sat down for the last time at their beautiful dining room table by
candle-light, put on some soft background music, and feasted on a pound of
shrimp, a jar of caviar, and a bottle of spring-water .

When she had finished dining, she went into each and every room and deposited a few half-eaten shrimp shells dipped in caviar into the hollow of the curtain rods.

She then cleaned up the kitchen and left.

When her ex-husband returned with his new girlfriend to live in their house...

All was bliss for the first few days...

Then slowly, the house began to smell...

They tried everything; cleaning, mopping and airing the place out .

Vents were checked for dead rodents and carpets were steam cleaned .

Air fresheners were hung everywhere.

Exterminators were brought in to set off gas canisters; they had to move out for a few days during the extermination.

They paid to replace the expensive wool carpeting.

All their efforts were in vain!!!

People stopped coming over to visit.

Repairmen refused to work in the house.

The maid quit.

Finally, they could not take the stench any longer and decided to sell the house ans move.

A month later, even though they had cut their price in half, they could not find a buyer for their stinky house.

Word got out and eventually even the local realtors refused to return their calls.

They ended up having to borrow a huge sum of money from the bank to purchase a new place because they could no longer stand to live in the home while they waited for it to sell.

It was around this time that she called her ex-husband and asked how things were going...

He told her the saga of the rotting house.

She listened politely and said that she missed her old home terribly and would be willing to reduce her divorce settlement in exchange for getting the house back.

Knowing his ex-wife had no idea how bad the smell was, he agreed on a price that was about 1/10th of what the house had been worth, but only if she were to sign the papers that very day.

She agreed and within the hour his lawyers delivered the paperwork.

A week later the man and his girlfriend stood smiling as they watched the moving
company pack everything to take to their new home.........

And to spite the ex-wife, they even took the curtain rods!!!!!!