he's not too bright

Today’s blog is a tribute to our office coordinator. And I’m sure that you can tell by this title that “tribute” is not quite the right word. God bless him, he tries. Not very hard, but he tries. The boy is part-blind, I’m convinced, because he sits about 6 inches from the computer screen, and he neglects to see all the work sitting around his desk unless it’s been pointed out to him a few thousand times. While I really do think there’s something going on in that blond-haired, blue-eyed head, he doesn’t make that too obvious. He talks low and slow, making you think he has no idea what he’s saying and making it up as the words come out of his mouth. I really don’t know what the parents think when they call and get him as the official voice of NYLF.

Like any 19-year-old guy, he keeps the office in a messy state. I go in at least once a day and clean things up, but it’s messy again within half an hour. Papers everywhere, boxes strewn on the floor, packages everywhere (and students not notified!) and supplies dropped right where the deliverer put them. Our boss got on him this weekend because we had lots of parents come in and she wanted the office clean, but he didn’t do much about that.

And when I suggest things to him (like cleaning up the office), he refers to that as my “lectures.” In a non-patronizing way, I suggest to him, “We have a lot of students and parents coming into the office this weekend and we want them to think about us as a professional organization. We need to keep this place clean.” And I’m not lounging when I say this…I’m picking up papers, organizing boxes – and hoping he’ll follow my lead. When he turns on the TV, I try to suggest to him that our boss doesn’t like it and he will face her wrath if she comes into the office and finds it on. I am trying to help him out (because seriously, it does NOT look professional to have him lounging on the couch, watching HBO when people come in!) and he thinks I am just trying to lecture him! Like it’s a personal vendetta that I have, when our boss is the one who will get angry when she walks in.

While I understand that there are certain things that guys find funny that are not at all humorous to me, he takes this to a new level. No, I do NOT want to know exactly what went on when you spent 15 minutes in the bathroom! And, by the way, the other guys in the office think he’s just as gross about that as I do, so I know it’s not just a girl thing.

Our directors spent a good portion of our first week yelling at him because he’s not very good at listening to and following directions. And even though he has now been told how to do things for a month, he still does it his way. Which is not usually our way. I think we’ve given up getting things how we would like them, and we just make sure that he gives us the best that HE can do.

Nice, huh? I was talking a couple weeks ago in my blog about how I look for work to do if I don’t have any work in front of me. Our office coordinator, on the other hand, doesn’t take that initiative, and he regularly gets reamed because of it. Over the past weekend, when I was feeling particularly homicidal, I started making myself walk out of the room whenever he would walk in. As mean as that might sound, his ignorance, maturity level and mannerisms were seriously making me want to put my hands around his neck and squeeze tightly. We have bets around here to see who will kill him first – I have decided that I will not do the killing, but I definitely want to be around to watch.

As I am writing this, he has jammed the paper shredder YET again (and I think it overheated as well) because he will not put less that 8 sheets of paper into the shredder at a time. Yes, he has been reminded, but if the little picture on the top of the shredder doesn’t mean anything to him, I’m not sure our words are any better.

One more day! Of course, that includes a very hormonal night (we are expecting to break up a party on the 14th floor – booze and all) with everyone wanting to hook up before they go home…it reminds me of that teen movie "Can’t Hardly Wait." It’s their last night, so why shouldn’t they have a little fun, right? Uh huh. Not on my watch! :o)

I just have to say

I know I have finally posted again after a long silence, but I just thought of something else – Harry Potter rocks! I might not find time write Laura at boot camp or talk to everyone via my blog, but it only took me about a day and a half to finish the latest book! While it’s not the best of the series, it definitely sets up book seven, which better be AWESOME or I’ll be upset. Go ahead, say I’m a freak (or at least really, really sad) but you have to read them!

Cheers!

What a day!

OMG! I have just had my first encounter with a truly crazy person. Yes, I have seen them, smiled a greeting at them, maybe even chatted with them, but I have just witnessed a serious mental breakdown. So finally, here’s the great story I said I’d have for you!

This girl showed up late to our second forum, seeming a little frazzled and tired. Her mom was completely overbearing, so I thought maybe it was a little bit of intimidation too. I let her settle in, telling her she could meet everyone the next day.

Then, we noticed day by day that her actions were getting weirder and weirder. A couple days into the forum, we discovered a note from her mother about her medical issues and what medications she was on. She hadn’t let anyone know beforehand – because of HIPAA law and confidentiality, she said – and didn’t include it on her emergency information sheet because she wanted the problems to be on the DL. But her plan also meant that we had no knowledge of any medical issues – we couldn’t plan to have her taken care of, to have her watched so she wouldn’t wander off, to make sure she was in a bed instead of the cot because of her “lumbar” problems…the list goes on.

This poor girl is on 16 different medications, diagnosed with at least 4 problems that her mother was willing to admit, and who knows what else. She's a pediatrician that medicates her own daughter with medications that should only be taken under monitored situations, and NOT taken with some of the other drugs she's on. She could barely focus on us when we would talk to her and she could barely walk down the hall without bumping into something. Not only was she over-drugged, but we knew she wasn’t taking her medication correctly because she would leave pills all over when she left her seat on the bus, in her MED session…anywhere.

Her mother refused to believe the things we said about her daughter, and refused to stay out of things. Next thing we know, we have her in her own room, just to make her mother happy. One morning, I get called to go to her room because she’s not with her group and they can’t get her to answer the phone. I go in her room, and it’s already a mess. She moved in after 11 the night before, and it’s already wrecked! Clothes everywhere, each of the three beds had been slept in, pills on the floor…it goes on. And she had obviously been up earlier that morning, because there was a full plate of breakfast food in the top drawer of her nightstand!

I call to her from the foot of her bed, and she wakes up a little startled, of course. Only she immediately closes her eyes again and goes back to sleep. I call again, and she says “yes?” She can’t even focus on my face! Again, I say her name and make her sit up in bed before I’ll leave the room to let her get dressed. I walk back outside to where some guys from our operations team are waiting for me, and we leave the door cracked so we can get back in, if needed. I see her get out of bed, hear some rustling…5 minutes later, I walk in the room, calling for her, thinking she’s in the bathroom. No, she’s now in a different bed, completely covered by a blanket and not responding! We called her mom, who told us that her daughter was just exhausted and she had given her permission to stay in bed and order room service that day (which, by the way, is NOT NYLF policy!).

The mom came later that day to take her home. When they're finally packed up and ready to leave, the family comes up to the office, and the daughter goes to my boss and says, “I just have to tell you, my time here has been just retched. It’s the worst experience of my life.” And it went downhill from there. We're trying to get them out of the office when the daughter starts freaking out – she’s screaming, hiding in the corner, running out in the hall and throwing her stuff around – just generally acting crazy. And the mom thinks this is normal! And if it’s not, then we're to blame for her distress! I call for our director of operations (he’s big and faster than hotel security) and I’m worried that she’s going to either destroy the office or injure someone before we can get her out. By this time, my boss is telling them to get out, that they are not welcome in the hotel and that she doesn’t need to stand there listening to them. I’m not sure how she finally got them to leave, but the next thing I know they’re storming down the hall to the elevators.

I don’t think the drama’s over, but it’s mostly out of our hands. We’re working on incident reports from everyone who dealt with her and shipping her the stuff she left behind. (and why would they leave behind some of the stuff in her room? It was all hers! Not that hard!)

That happened on Sunday (I’ve been trying to find the time to post this since then) and we’re still shaking our heads of the whole thing. This girl was certifiable. We’re not too sure why she even came here, but we are also glad that she’s gone and not our problem anymore. I feel sorry for her, and I wish that we could get her the help she needs. It’s obvious to all of us that her mother doesn’t admit that she has problems – it could be OCD, schizophrenia, manic depression, or a mix of all of these – but her mom just says she has ADHD (but has her on some pretty scary drugs!). This is definitely someone who is falling through the cracks of our protective services and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.

That's all for now - one full day left before the kiddos go home and I can too!

My name is Bethany, I am a follower of Jesus Christ...

…and I suffer from codependency.

The fact that I am codependent makes me a great employee. I am so eager to please, for everyone to like me and what I have done, that I practically kill myself to get the job done right and done well. I think I have an over-inflated sense of importance, so no matter how minute the task, I spend forever on it to make it perfect. That makes me a great editor, but it does NOT make me sane.

And then there are moments when pleasing other people is the farthest thing from my mind. I don’t want to do anything for anyone, and I am good at making that quite clear. (This happens the most at home.)

Those two sides are fighting desperately against each other right now. I just got back from a delightful, relaxing birthday weekend, and I do not want to have the same sense of urgency about my job that I have had for the past couple of weeks – heck, the last couple of MONTHS. I am struggling very hard against that disapproving face that my boss can wear, when I know perfectly well that even if I did everything right (which I have to admit, there has been little to complain about when it comes to my work), she would still wear that face.

I have figured out (and why did this take me so long!) that I am earning way less than the other people working at the forum because I work longer hours AND I have been working through our breaks. But here I have sat in this office all day long, working on various unimportant projects, waiting for her to return so I could talk about the important stuff. And here I still sit, at 8:30 on Monday evening. My stomach is in freaking KNOTS because I am so tired of working with her, on her terms and none of my own. And because the moment we sit down, she will remember the one project that I have not done today and get upset about it.

You remember how I was talking about how cool she was about the hospital visit that I didn’t finish planning? I think I am now dealing with the effects of that. I am no longer perfect, which I do not wish to be, but everything I do is under scrutiny, and I feel like it’s never good enough. And to talk about the hospital visit – do you want to know how many times I went to her because I didn’t know what I was doing? I have never even been inside that hospital, let alone worked there for 12 years and know most of the doctors we are trying to coordinate with! I tried to pass it to her – I even tried to dump the thing altogether! Instead, somehow it’s my fault and responsibility that things were left until the last minute, when she could obviously see how I was struggling with this task.

Are there positives? Of course. It does pay well, in a sense – in no other job could I work for a month and get paid as much right now…I’m just working my butt off for the money. The people here ARE really nice. I’ve enjoyed socializing with them, even when they’re not easy to work with…At the moment, that’s about it.

Guys, please pray for me. I feel caught in this situation, and I know I cannot get out until after the conferences are completed. No matter how much I would love to just walk out, I’m not that kind of person to leave everyone in a lurch like that. Please pray that I deal fairly with those I work with, and that I DO a good job here. And that I can keep my head on straight! I want to have fun for the next couple of weeks, but I also have a lot of work to do.

okay, but this is the last straw...

While the title of this blog comes from several different places, I am mostly thinking of "Office Space." Great movie - a new classic! If you have EVER worked for a large company before, you would appreciate it.

Can I just say that I don't think I was cut out for full-time work? I am TIRED of having something to do every second of the day! Why can't I pick a job that IS 9 to 5, nothing more? I think I had that before at UCS, but I didn't appreciate it because I went home and did homework every night. Now, I go from having one part-time job to a couple jobs that equal well over full-time! I cannot WAIT until I am done with NYLF! Not that I haven't had a good time, but not having a minute to yourself for a long period of time is very draining.

I had this weekend off and I am now up at the office on Sunday evening, really bitter about the fact that I am here. My boss somehow thinks I have a lot to do before the next batch of students come on Tuesday, when I basically sat around, twiddling my thumbs last time, trying to look busy so I wouldn't get in trouble! A couple days off just wasn't enough.

I have great friends, I gotta tell you. Katie and Josh came down from Dallas and we hung out all weekend. They had other things to do, so I was able to get the little bit of work done that I needed, AND they understood that I needed time to myself as well. Last night, we just vegged on my couch and watched movies - "Legally Blonde" and "Office Space." We also watched a few scenes of "The Italian Job" just because we kept quoting Seth Green and I wanted to watch the real thing. But doing nothing, with no projects, papers, or work hanging over my head was FANTASTIC! I can't wait to do it again! I vow for the next two weeks, during our second forum, that I will take more time for myself - have fun with the other staff members and not take myself (and this job) so seriously.

Who wants to take bets on how long that will last? I'm pretty certain that I will be burnt out by the time I get to move home. Which, by the way, is a pretty nice place! Hotels are great, but my bed is still very appealing. Number one, I sleep with my dog. Number two, I love my sheets, even if they are less expensive than at the Renaissance. Especially the set on my bed right now - Ralph Lauren sheets that were a birthday present a couple years ago. Number three, I am always the perfect temperature in MY room, while I cannot find that temp in my hotel room - it's either too hot or too cold. Number four, it's at home!

Now that you have heard me babble about hotel living for the umpteenth time, I'm going to get back to work! Maybe I can quit early if I play my cards right! (Fat chance, but it's worth wishing, isn't it?)

the end is near

Hallelujah, the "scholars" leave tomorrow! Nerves are very frayed, eyes are drooping, voices are loud...the whole bit. We're all ready for a good night's sleep and not having to deal with where we can take and what we can do with 300 students.

The other day I really flubbed up. We had 16 students scheduled to go to Memorial Hermann Hospital, but we had only 2 students scheduled for shadowing doctors. So, my BOSS when on the site visit, while I spent the day on the phone, trying to find departments and doctors that would take some students. I think they had a good time - they got a tour of the hospital and of Life Flight - but it was just crazy. I thought I would have the day to sleep because I didn't have anything else going on (just preparing for next week, when we do this all over again) but instead I was up at o'dark thirty, helping to get students out of their rooms when they overslept and making cold calls to Hermann Hospital.

But I went to bed early last night, and I slept in late this morning (no time for a shower!) so I feel somewhat better. I still can't wait for tomorrow! It's my birthday, the kids are leaving, and I have friends coming to spend the weekend! And I get to sleep in my own bed and cuddle with my dog (who misses me VERY much).

I have found that I've been more social the past couple of days. I actually went down to dinner last night to spend time with the other staff members, which I rarely do. It feels good to get out of the office and hear what everyone else is doing, especially since I helped negotiate their activities and speakers.

I think I will get to enjoy next forum more because I know what's going on, what we need to do ahead of time. Maybe I can actually talk with the speakers, listen to a few of them and have more fun than I've had so far. I think I have a higher sense of obligation - that I need to be working, that I can always find something else that needs to be done - while some of our other staff members feel fine with just hanging out when they haven't been assigned a task.

An observation that just came to me: that kind of attitude means that I might make a good manager, huh? I don't have to be assigned tasks - I can get things done without close supervision. Well, that makes me feel good about my future!

I just need to take things a little less seriously. I felt like it was MY personal responsibility that these students had fun this week and learned a lot. I started crying the other night because I was so frustrated that the Memorial Hermann visit wasn't ready and I was afraid that those 16 students would have a horrible day, when they came here to learn more about the medical profession (and paid a lot of money to do just that). Luckily, my boss saw my tears for what they were and helped me calm down. She was really cool with everything, even though it completely inconvienced her to have to go to the hospital with the students.

(Note on 7/17: Now that I think about it, I'm SURE lack of sleep had something to do with the tears as well, not just frustration!

I am actually posting this on 7/17. For some reason, Blogger didn't post by blog on the day I wrote it. Oh, well. I'm just glad it wasn't lost for good!)

Laura's Address at boot camp

If you know Laura (and even if you don't and just want to write), send her a letter! She's gotta be lonely and I just got her address today, even though she's already been gone for a month.

PV2 Powell, Laura M.
Co A 3-13th Inf. Regt 1st BCTBDE
Plt 4 Lightfighters
5385 Jackson Blvd USA TC&FJ
Ft. Jackson, SC 29207-6100

impressions

Can I just say that high school kids are better than I thought? I figured that some of the activities we have planned would be seen as cheesy or boring...but I keep hearing how excited they are, how much they enjoy even the worst speaker (c'mon, who wants to hear about podiatry?), and looking forward to even the worst sites (I pity those going to a nursing home...how will that help them make their decision to go into medicine?).

So far, no major snafus! It's been a quiet day - my boss is working from her hotel room and the students are off at a medical school until after dinner. And people are less annoying today! Is it them or me? I don't know...but I did get enough sleep last night, so that might have something to do with it.

I had hoped to have funny stories to share, but everything that's going on is only funny to me - a speaker frantically calling to say he's on his way, when he was speaking the NEXT night; a kid going to MD Anderson ER instead of Memorial Hermann (nothing big, just a kid with medical issues throwing up); ALL of the flights from Dallas being delayed; duct-taping the NYLF banner to the podium because someone forgot to put it up earlier; one of the faculty advisors making a student cry; people yelling at each other at 1 a.m. meetings; the copier breaking down because someone put in a whole pack of paper...liner and all; staff letting the students in the outside pool when there was lightning; a "Nebraska taco" eating contest...it goes on.

Funny stories from other forum cities? They were talking about evacuating New Orleans due to the hurricane! They already had a tropical storm (or depression?) with lots of water, and a hurricane was supposed to come through! (I haven't listened to the news today...where did it end up?) From Philly, the circle drive at the college campus they're at was backed up with parents double-parking everywhere, and then someone came in an old Mercedes that was smoking...they used 2 fire extuinguishers trying to keep the fire under control and it closed down that circle drive for a couple hours during the rush of registration. You just have to laugh it off later.

By the by, Nebraska tacos are regular tacos, just not seasoned. How in the world can a hotel kitchen in Houston, Texas, not season their meat! It reminded me of the time I had fajitas in Kansas, and my friend's mom pulled out a McCormick sauce mix to make them! Since when do fajitas have sauce??? And I chose Nebraska as my state of choice for naming them because half of our staff is from there.

The first few days were crazy, but I think I have the hang of things now...I better knock on wood when I say that!

the countdown has begun

I apologize to all readers if I have been overly pessimistic lately. Can I just say the real world sucks. I am tired of being responsible, of living up to everyone's expectations, of getting the job done when other people slack off.

I will be glad when I am back at home, when this job is over. Everything is done at the last minute, and there's a lot of times when I have to help scramble, even when I've already been working all day, just because someone didn't think ahead. I don't have a job description; I just do everything that hasn't already been done. One of my issues - which I figure I have to get over fast - is that I'm telling these people that we're dealing with that something is going to get done, and then someone doesn't follow through!

Okay, that's enough!

Tomorrow, the "scholars" get here. The pandemonium begins! It should be fun, crazy, hard...all of the above and more.

Luckily, I was able to get rest this weekend at home, just chillin' with the animals on Saturday night. My dog has gotten very loveable since I have been away. It used to be that he would only stay on the bed until I fell asleep then sleep underneath the bed, but I woke up several times the other night, and he was still right beside me. And of course, the lummox of a boxer named Tsunami was right up against me on the other side...you try to move 60 pounds in the middle of the night to get more room!

And I watched "First Daughter" last night on pay-per-view. Yeah, I know...out of everything I could watch, I watched that?!?!? Well, it was cheaper than the other movies I wanted to watch (like the Interpreter and Hitch). And I wanted fluff...which it definitely was. The movie's premise is basically the same as "Chasing Liberty" with Mandy Moore, but I definitely liked Katie Holmes better than Mandy. The end could use some work, but the rest of the movie made up for a less-than-stellar movie.

So, happy Fourth, everyone! I hope to get back to my blog soon, but I can't promise anything until the 14th, when the first forum ends. See ya!