well, not always so good.
Do a little dance, make a little love,
Get down tonight.
- KC and the Sunshine Band.
I'm on familiar terms with both the good and the bad, the right and the wrong, and know exactly when it's time to take the gloves off or just to bite my tongue. I know how to be happy, and I know what makes it all go bad, but sometimes I take the other road anyway...
I haven't been out in months, and quite frankly, I'm starving for it. I just want to go to my pub, order a pint of special pale ale, perch on a bar stool, and just listen to classic rock, and check out whatever game's playing on the grimy TV above the bar. I wouldn't mind exchanging a few words with everyone I know, and take off at a leisurely pace, with just the stars above to shine the way home.
The problem with the above scenario is it leads to more of the same. I see people I haven't seen in months, make plans with everyone, and the next thing you know, I'm on a three week bender.
I still wanna go.
It's Saturday for me, and after dropping my girl off at school, and seeing my sister and her girl off for their end of the year class trip, I immediately headed over to her house, used the last of the coffee to make a nice steaming pot, and fired up her internet. And I opened the windows up wide to smoke inside her house. I plan on using her car this afternoon to go to the record store which is the only thing that I cannot do with Kole, or my friends. Nobody seems to get off on record browsing anymore, and everyone looks at me like I'm a freak for suggesting it.
I'm thinking of putting in a little overtime tonight before heading out... maybe it will lessen the guilt a bit. But the future is looking rosy. I've finished paying off everything... I'm already paid up for rent, and the last bill is paid for, too. It's been a hard month, but this upcoming month brings a nice GST cheque, my yearly bonus, and some more vacation time at the end of it all. My last week off is going to be spent camping in a lovely little provincial park with my sister, the girls and my father while my mother heads off for her own separate vacation to Niagra-on-the-Lake. I feel as if I can breathe a bit easier.
But there's always something to vent about, and I've been silently fuming for the past couple of weeks, too. I wish that people would just do their bloody jobs. I spent close to 3 hours in Aux 9 time yesterday, which means that I was doing work off of the phones. I had 2 major rerates to do, and all because someone else got frightened when they saw the amount that they had to do, and then just did not complete it. If I was smart, I would have closed the accounts as well, but damn my work ethic! It wouldn't have been right to just dump it on someone else, either.
Of course, being off of the phones is not entirely a bad thing, and sometimes I actually look forward to intricate math, but only on my own calls. See, if I have to problem solve a call that was completed by a rep who only notes in the account: Promised credit re: seasonal suspend for all charges, it means that I have to go back countless months, figure tax rates, prorated charges, and subtract original charges from what should have been billed. When I take the call, I hear all the details from the customer himself, and generally, if it's just a little fuck-up, it's easy to smooth over by assuring him that it will be taken care of. If its a dumped call, he's typically pissed, rabid, and foaming at the mouth. No amount of assurance cools these people down, because they assume they've been promised before, and I'm just another minion that will screw them again.
Whee! Anywhoo, job done, but now my stats are all messed up (Aux 9 time is supposed to be no more than 18% and I just had at least twice that percentage, which affects my own quarterly and, in the end, yearly bonuses. And as I only described this one situation, I feel as if I've been doing everyone else's dirty work for the past 2 weeks now. That's the problem with hiring and firing. I was told that about 3 months ago we had more than 500 regular employees, were down to around 300 now, and they've started rehiring, but of course because it's summer, it's all the students who are only planning on being here for a couple of months and then go back to their studies. Honestly, our company is leaning on approximately 150 employees who actually know what they are doing, and do the job right. The rest is slack, baby. You'd think they'd put more of an effort in retaining them, but no, everyone's hours are messed, no one is able to book time off, and they are now scheduling training time during afterwork hours. But that's not the worst of it; they've also recalled training due to staffing levels, and are asking those who were made to come in early for training to stay and just take calls. Balls.
No wonder people go postal.
And since no good blog of mine is complete without mentioning my love life or lack thereof, I state firmly that I'm nowhere near getting a date, going out on a date, or even bloody interested in dating, since my entire social circle revolves around people who are already partnered, gay, or off-limits. Am I worried? Nah. Not so much.
I've actually reunited (hehehe) with a guy who I used to work with, back in the good ole days. I didn't get a chance to talk with him for long, but we exchanged numbers, and plan on meeting up in the next couple of weeks. It's no love connection, but he's a decent felly who makes me laugh. I've missed him alot, and can't wait to catch up on things. And he actually likes checking out Blue Streak, our little record store.
So, bad girl me, I'm going to waste a day away, work a bit more at night before heading out to enjoy a few leisurely drinks. After I air out my sister's apartment.
Cheers.