Life at The Office

Things have been really busy at work lately. We have been preparing for a big reorganization for several months now, and this month is when most of the decisions and changes have been announced. We are moving to a regional management system, which I think is going to be great overall for everyone.

For me personally, it means I am moving to a different department (Education and Awareness) and a different supervisor. My new supervisor, Vicky, is a friend of mine and is really a great manager, so I’m kind of excited to be working more closely with her. She’s really organized and makes lists and creates agendas….all things I love. I am quite a needy employee however, and I am wearing her down fast. Today I was trying to get her to change the org chart, she said no, then I asked her to change my job title, she said no, then to change my FTE allocation, and still she said no. I also tried to persuade her to let me work from home, but once again, a big flat no. Obviously she's not very flexible and open to change :) One of my biggest problems is that in the past when she would get really bossy with me, I would just say to her "you're not the boss of me". Now when I say that, she says “yes I am” ......and she’s right because now she is the boss of me. I’m still trying to find a way around that.

Tomorrow is the first time I get to attend one of her team meetings. I have prepared my own list of new rules for her team which I plan to pass out at the meeting. I think she really appreciates my help with stuff like this. Rule number one is that I am no longer banned from talking to the rest of her team. Last spring she banned them all from talking to me because apparently I was causing problems. All I was doing was clarifying the rules for them because sometimes Vicky made the rules more strict than necessary and I wanted them to know how things really work. I was just trying to be helpful. And they appreciated the clarification because they thought it really was a rule that they couldn't wear flip flops to work until I explained to them that wasn't really an agency rule, just something Vicky made up for their department. I still don't think that warrents the ban that I received.

Other people in my office have been busy too. Not so much torturing their supervisors, but doing other important things like in this photo. Christy, one of the other supervisors, zipped herself into a duffle bag yesterday in her office. I’m not sure why. I think just because she could. Afterall, not everyone can fit in a duffle bag, so if you can, then you should. I've tried to set an example in maturity for Christy, but sometimes I fail. We did come up with a good plan this afternoon though. She couldn't make it to a community meeting we were going to, so we printed this photo and I took it in her place, and told everyone she couldn't be there because she was zipped up in a bag. The other people on the committee didn't think it was that funny though. They thought maybe she didn't have enough to do at work. Which isn't really the case at all. I think it's more that there is so much to do, that sometimes you just have to stop and do something stupid so you can just survive.

Also this week I met with one of the therapists in our office. I was explaining to her about some of my problems (I didn’t have time to go into ALL of my problems) and told her that my friend Tracey recommended that I get counseling (this was after Tracey accused me of manipulating my friends into playing some game where I ask their opinion but I’ve really already made up my mind). I expected that when I told her that Tracey recommended I get counseling, she would say “oh Kelly, that’s crazy….you don’t need counseling”, but instead she said she thinks counseling can be helpful for anyone, which I took to mean that she thinks I need counseling. I asked if we could set up a weekly meeting so she could help me, but she said she can’t be my personal therapist because of a conflict of interest and inability to bill for that time. I think she just doesn’t want to help me because it’s funnier if I remain crazy and she needs a little entertainment in her work day.