May be it was the four consecutive days of rain? Living in Maine the goal is to get through the winter to enjoy the bright dry days of summer. That is until this past week. Yes the weather started it the same way you roll damp snow and it gets larger as more damp snow clings to it. To get out we decided to head out to the stable to watch our daughter ride. At this stables there are horses, of course, chickens a rooster, a few goats, an obnoxious pot belly pig and packs of dogs. One mutt in particular just waits for me to appear in order to sneak behind me to bite at the back of my ankle. Honestly I never did anything to this mutt until the second bite when I grabbed it and tossed it into the trough. This day she had an even nastier plan as I sat down I noticed her at the door and just waited. As my daughter was setting up some jumps I heard a commotion and noticed the dogs jumping through the mud potholes. My attention returned to my daughter and jazz, her horse, when a small damp brown 30 pound mutt takes a leap onto my lap soaking me as she immediately rubs against my shirt. I get up saying you, “win scram.” I swore she smiled the same way my wife does when she feels that “she won.” That evening it was my turn to cook dinner. I put the marinade chicken in he oven realized I left my glasses at the barn I accidentally set the temperature at 550 degrees and went into the living room where I fell asleep 2 hours later my wife and daughter enter a smoke filled kitchen shouting what the blazes (not quite the term she used) did I do? The chicken was black toast a sacrifice to baal that caused this punishment. I told my wife that I intended to eat it, I cooked it.
Next day the rain continues, as I go back to work where I supervise 9 file clerks in a large bank. I always arrive thirty minutes early to set up the work. A good start makes for a productive day – a motto of mine. As I turn on the first of two dedicated computers nothing happens. It will not connect to the server. I do everything possible I can at my before calling the I.T. tech. One hour later he shows up. He tells me, surprise, that I am not connected to the server.. At the same time our new label making printer arrives. He spends 45 minutes to unable to get the machine back on line. I ask him while you are here can you attach the new printer? He says with a straight face, did you e-mail in a work request?” No you saw I got it while you were here and the computer was down I replied in a neutral tone. Similar to how a someone on death row orders their last dinner before their execution. On top of this a swoosh of wrap around skirt enters the “pod” or four cubicles circled like a wagon train under attack. I can tell by her breathing she is a “state advocate “representing the physically and emotionally challenged” she asks if we can go some place private to speak I respond no. there is no place. Did I mention that all positions are staffed by people with rather serious challenges? She sits down and whispers thickly that so and so has reported me as discriminating against him. In that he has almost no time working on the computer tasks, plus he mentioned that I have started to count each file each staff person completes? I ask her to go to the computer and turn it on she does and nothing happens. At this point my competitive juices were out of control.. I can’t control them so I open my draw take out a spread sheet that shows every person including myself. It shows number of files, number of reworked files length of time it takes to complete files by groups of ten. I show her the person who made the complaint’s statistics. Seven out of ten wrong for over 120 files. Now it is her turn to get a point on me so she accuses me of being Frederick Taylor, the father of the assembly line. Now I am laughing and thanking her for the complement. She leaves telling me I need to fill out this form. It continues raining
yichel