Ali’s Meanderings

So it is becoming apparent to me that you all seem to either like the work blogs or the ones where I completely flip out about drivers and things like that.

I have a new work-related story for your reading pleasure.

About a year and a half ago, we had to have our annual meeting and all that fun jazz about work environment, blah, blah, blah.  The one thing that seemed to grab EVERYONE’S attention was the new dress code policy that had been incorporated into our company handbook.  How bad is it when your company has to include the following statement in their handbook?:

“UNDERGARMENTS SHOULD ALWAYS BE WORN”

WTF?, you say.  Yes well, it is a manufacturing facility, we do have office staff, and we practically work in the foothills of WV (that is a funny for all the other people who don’t live in WV and make fun of the state).

Back Story:  There was a lady in the plant that was working with no bra on one night.  Unfortunately for her, the men were NOT happy about it.  It was summer and I think that she might have been wearing a tank top or something and the guys were extremely scared that the “puppies” were going to make a grand appearance.  Therefore the change to the dress code statement.

Current story:  There is a new lady working here and she has an office job.  She is absolutely tiny in body, but it appears that she might have had some “puppy” work done a while ago.  (If it was recent it is a REALLY bad “puppy” job”).  Aaannnyyywwwwaaaaayyyy, she usually seems to have her stuff together and will wear a casual suit and is really covered up.  I do have to give her props she doesn’t dress cheaply, if you know what I mean.  One day she wore something along the lines of a baseball shirt (you know, the colored 3/4 sleeves and a different color on the torso - we do have dress-down Fridays), however either the shirt felt really good or she was REALLY cold.  Okay, let me just qualify that whole statement with: This wasn’t something that I noticed right off the bat, it was brought to my “attention” by other people.  Now there have been a couple more times where things that, professionally speaking, were noticeable that really shouldn’t have been.

I finally went to someone that used to work in HR and just said “Look, whatever floats her boobs boat, however there is a lot of things being said and technically according to the handbook, blah, blah, blah”.

Basically the big debate is: Is she in fact wearing a bra that lends absolutely NO support or coverage for that matter, or is she just not wearing one.  One suggestion has been that she is wearing maybe more of a camisole (no support, check; no nip coverage, check, check).

Don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place for no bra, but in a place of business with 30 + horn dogsguys out in a manufacturing plant??  Uhm, I won’t be doing that anytime soon.  I can wait until I get home to let everything breath.

Regan’s poor Crocs, they have no tread left and they slide on the floor sometimes.

Last night I decided to get her some new ones from Blue Canoe Crew, however they didn’t have them in the pink that Regan already has.  So, I got these.  The other thing that kind of stinks about crocs is the sizing of them.  Right now Regan wears an 8/9 in crocs.  It looks like her toe is right at the end.  However crocs doesn’t have in between size so the next size available is 10/11.  I brought them home for her to try and they are HUGE on her. 

Gayle (store owner) told me that they will be receiving Hannah Montana crocs June 1st.  As I am looking at the site I see that they only offer from a 10/11 and up in shoe size.  So that won’t help me much either?

What say you?: Do I just keep the ones I got and wait for her foot to grow, or do I take them back and get another pair of 8/9’s?  I guess I could keep the pair I got her and I could get another pair of 8/9’s.  UGH!  Just shoot me!

Hello All,

For all you Mothers!, I hope that you had a wonderful Mother’s Day.

I got to sleep in- Ahhhhh, is all I have to say.  9:20 wake-up.

We got coffee, we amused Regan by going to Costco to see if she could play in “her” house there.  Unfortunately, they have it on display up high now so she wasn’t able to play in it!  We went grocery shopping, Regan wanted to play in the Tree House (our grocery store has a kids center that they can play in for an hour and a half).  We came home, had some lunch, watched ‘13 going on 30′.  Regan went down for “quiet time” (yeah, right) around 1:30pm.  I cut my mom’s hair, we got Regan up.  David made quesadillas (OMG, yum) and everyone (including Regan) enjoyed them!

So my Mother’s Day is complete.

Seriously, this day COULD have made me FLIP.COMPLETELY.OUT. 

But you know, it has really worked out well for me today.  I have enjoyed work, I have done a fairly good job today (haven’t made any mistakes, YET).  I feel accomplished and  I still have just a little bit more to do to be “officially” done for the day.

The only thing left now is to have fun with Miss Thang. uhmmmmm, what to do, what to do?

Maybe we will have eggs tonight and she can help make them……what have you let your 3 year old help with?  (This is even for you all that have grown kids too! - They were 3……ONCE!!)

Let me be specific!

PHONES.AT.WORK.

Let me be MORE specific, the phones at work that the receptionist answers.

Okay, here is the deal.  We have a receptionist.  She gets a lunch break (1 hour).  We have an automated system, HOWEVER!!, Customer Service (specifically the Assholes Assistants) covers the phone for that hour.  (WTF is the point of an automated system if it isn’t used?  Because seriously, the guys in Prep have to answer the phones at night)  There is 2 assholes assistants, myself and another girl.  We used to have a laundry list of people that helped to answer the phone so that (specifically I)each person on the list only had to answer the phone 1 day a week.  Well we went from four assholes assistants to 2.  Plus the other people that used to help out that are either no longer alcoholics because they worked here working here or they were let go.  So now there is a TOTAL of 5 people that answer the phones and 3 of those people rotate it around within their department.  So the other girl and I answer the phones 4 days a week (Wed. is our ‘break’ day) and we get one Friday a month off that we alternate each month.  We alternate weeks because it is just easier to remember that you have a full week.

Today we find out that the receptionist will be training for 4 weeks as back-up for payroll that used to be done by one of the accountants.  So training will commence on Monday the 12th and each week she will be upstairs 2.5 days.

So…..Now, the other girl and I will have to cover the phones all day for 2.5 days a week on top of our lunch hour up front.  Another lady in a different department all together said that she would be able to do 1/2 day Tues and the 1/2 Wed.  Let me explain.  The department that she is in varies on the amount of work they have day to day.  I guaran-f*%king-tee you that those specific hours will not all be covered.  Not because she won’t try to still help out but I know how that department is and she is needed in that department.

Ya know, I don’t mind the phone, I really don’t.  However I just feel that I am paid to do a job. Covering the phones and trying to do work that you are actually “paid” to do gets very cumbersome to say the least. 

Oh, and just extra food for thought, what is going to happen when the real payroll person is out for a week? 

Any phone ideas out there for me to suggest to my boss??

Okay, I actually did really well this year.  I have the gifts already in my hot little hands, however, I suck at remembering the cards until the last minute.

Anyone else have an issue with either getting the gift on time or the card?

Today I don’t seem to be in as much of a funk as I was last week so I will tell you of my weekend I guess.

http://www.thebloom.com/

This is what happens every year in the Shenandoah Valley.  Let me add there is TONS of alcohol involved too. 

Anyway, I took a vacation day off work on Friday originally due to my sitter taking that day off (every year).  So I needed to have Regan home or given to the gypsies.  I thought it would be a nice long weekend for us.  I forgot that David also takes this ”week” off due to our anniversary being within the week of the Bloom.  So when a girlfriend called and asked if I wanted to partake in some of the festivities on Friday I talked to David and he said “Go have fun”.  So I did.  I went to a luncheon, then to another party and then finally met up with David and Regan for the Fireman’s Parade Friday evening.

The Parade didn’t go over quite so well for Regan (the good part was that she never cried but she did start shaking a couple times from the noise of the sirens that some f’ers still turned on that weren’t supposed to go off.  So we chilled just a block away for a while then headed home.  Someone was really sweaty and over stimulated. (It might have been me but I gave Regan the bath to cool her down and got her to bed!).

Yesterday we enjoyed some of ‘Sunday in the Park’ and got out of there before the crowds got really going. 

At this point, I can go a while without being in a crowd and be quite happy with that.

Geez all,

I really seem to suck ass right now.  I haven’t kept up with hardly anyone, I haven’t posted in a week (but it feels much longer), I haven’t youtubed my vid’s of Regan riding a scooter and bike.  I’m just stinking up my blog right now.

I hope to be better soon with warmer weather but as David said last night “I’m waiting to see the trick-or-treaters come to the door”.  Yes, it was THAT cool last night.  These chilly days are driving me insane.  I’m getting 7 hours sleep and my eyes still don’t seem to want to cooperate and be OPEN during the day.  Once “Summer” temps hit I’m usually ready for just about anything.  But are we EVER going to see those temps?  I know, I know, I can hear you ALL (2 of you) saying it already : “You’re going to be miserable come August”.  Seriously people, I love the heat.  Why I live in VA, (well technically I know WHY but still) I have no idea.  I honestly feel that Florida would be my choice of location or So. Cal, or So. TX for that matter.  Anywhere that I do not have to feel COLD, BITTER, WINDY conditions.

Okay, so that was a completely random TANGENT.  I seem to be in a mood today.  Maybe I should go away and come back another day that I’m not in A mood.

Oh, and one more thing for the complete randomness of this post, check out this guy if you have never seen him before.  Very funny stuff.:  http://www.comedycentral.com/comedians/browse/d/jeff_dunham.jhtml

Specifically check out Achmed, Peanut and Walter (every knows a Walter).  The other characters are very funny too, but those are my favorites.

Peace and monkey grease.

Okay, got the car back.  Made it to Maryland Friday night.  Left MD on Sat. morning at 9am and made it to NJ by 1pm.  Saw the NY skyline - LOVELY.  It was such a beautiful day along the East Coast.  I could see lots of stuff.  Gas in NJ was $3.17 (cheap to VA standards at this point).  Checked in around 1:30pm.  Got another shower (was just sticky or something from driving), got dressed. Re-did hair, did makeup, was ready for departure to the Church.  The wedding was very nice - my cousin (the bride) was BEAUTIFUL!  By the time we got back to the hotel I had 20 minutes to change clothes and get ready for the reception.  There was a shuttle from the hotel to the reception (GREAT IDEA!).

The reception was here: http://www.themanorrestaurant.com/home.htm

This place was AMAZING! Food was great. Dancing was fun. Family was all there. Late (really late) night. Got back to the hotel around 12:45am (probably, as I didn’t really look at the time), read for a bit, called the front desk for a wake up call at 8am. Woke up, got a shower, got the rest of my stuff packed up and we were back on the road around 9:15am.

So whirlwind weekend? Yes, you could say that. To the point that I actually took a nap in my car at lunch time yesterday. So far okay today - but I think that I’m still dragging just a bit!

I should have some vid’s up of Regan later this week.  She got to ride another little girls bike and scooter this weekend.  So she learned some new things too!

Need I say more?