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Winter 2011 (Dec-Feb)
I always hate to go through this, but thanks to a leaked ''ABC Radio'' internal memo (the validity of which they have not denied), I have expanded my perpetual ''personal boycott'' list to include the following merchants & services: Bayer (all products), Pepsi-Cola (and all company owned soft drink products), Cingular (now off of my list for any potential first cell phone purchase/service), Travelocity, Expedia, FedEX, Frito-Lay, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, Hershey, Welch's, Visa, Sony, and Office Depot.
Translation: Anyone who listens to ''Air America Radio'' programs are not the kind of customers these businesses want to have spending money with them. So since these businesses have made the conscious decision that they do not want (nor will appreciate) MY hard-earned ''disposable income,'' then I see absolutely no reason whatsoever why I should give it to them!!! I can always find reasonable alternatives -- e.g., I can discontinue using any of my Visa cards in favor of my MasterCard; if I ever get a 'choco-urge' there's always M&M/Mars; I'm pretty much burned out on Pepsi (and most other soda drinks) anyway and have been making the transition to Canada Dry ginger ale, etc.
What really disturbs me is the fact that this all came to light when Hewlett Packard became the 'spotlight' name behind this disgusting action! Had I known they would do something like this BEFORE I had spent all that money on one of their 'high-end' systems and the addition of their ''lightScribe'' super-drive, they would have never seen so much as a dime from me!
Also, the fact that Microsoft included their name on this list has me seriously reconsidering any plans to upgrade to the ''Vista'' operating system.
I was also disappointed to see Office Depot included in this list, since they were the only outlet (before I found out about Daiei a short time later) that stocked my Maxell blank CD/DVD media. Fortunately ''Don Quijote'' (who bought-out ''Daiei'' now here locally) has continued to stock them.
As for the others listed, they are either companies whose products/services I've never had the opportunity to purchase/use and/or I've made no great effort to, or-- in cases such as Wal-Mart & McDumbell's --I already refuse to do business with anyway.
Also, now that I have managed to save up a somewhat considerate amount of reserve cash I have likewise been spending considerably more 'freely,' especially now that I have decided not to trade in ''Lynette'' for the new ''K7'' model. (''Lynette'' is the 'official' name I've finally given to my motorcycle, chosen for the fact that during initial travel distances her rear brake for some reason ''squeaks'' annoyingly, and then it subsides as the trip progresses. I know that seems like a non-sequitur, until one recalls that ''Squeaky'' was the nickname of ''Manson Family'' member, Lynette Fromme -- the psychobabe who gained notoriety when she attempted and failed ["It didn't go off!"} to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975.) Even so, I still need to keep some sort of a 'cap' on my spending, as I still have heard no word with regard to my lease renewal, and also in light of the fact that I am scheduled to undergo cataract surgery in late February.
(This month also begins a somewhat newly reformatted ''journal'' page section. Having grown teeth-grinding tired of the idea of manually 'updating' the ''archives'' lists in ALL of the archive pages, I decided to give myself a little breather and save a bit of what's left of my sanity by cutting individual archive updates off at '5-year intervals' and listing the links for those '5-year' groups on a separate access page.
Unmentioned Highlights From Previous Quarter
December 5, 2006 (Tuesday)
Wasn't able to make a journal entry yesterday like I wanted to because, once again, I came down with that stinking headache & digestive upset which kept me in bed literally all dambed day & night! (Which also prevented me from going out & taking care of several other things which I went and got done this morning/afternoon.) I am now almost entirely convinced that it's these bitch-ass mosquitoes who are responsible for this hell I keep getting put through -- I was bitten no less than four times on my last night at work, and I know that all of the ice cream that I ate yesterday morning had nothing to do with it, because I had eaten considerably more the night before (to the point where I was concerned that I might trigger a case of diarrhea, as frequently happens when I tend to consume too much straight-milk products) and nothing at all happened! Nor was it anything else I had eaten!
Before that happened, however, something else made me very sick -- those C*ck-Sucking, F*dge-Packing B*STARDS at ''DELL Computers!!!'' Not only are these D*ck-Eaters ''geico-ing'' my ass relentlessly by sending their unsolicited catalogs to my address, but they've been sending them to my ''physical'' address where I'd ALREADY told them was NOT to be used as my ''mailing'' address! And despite the fact that I had spoken with no less than two different people a couple of months ago to demand that both my name and address be taken off their stinking mailing list(s), I still received three (3) of their slime-slurping catalogs since then! (Four, counting the one I received just this afternoon when I got back from my shopping.) When I came in this morning I recalled that I had gotten another of those things before or during the weekend, and it made me so pissed & furious that I searched frantically for that latest copy of their dog slop. And, for some reason, being unable to find it, I decided to get the ''contact information'' from their website. By this time, however, I had simmered down enough to where, instead of giving whomever took my call the proverbial ''earful,'' I decided to ''turn-it-around'' on them!
''Turn-Around'' is a new practice I've decided to institute when, for the last time, I had decided that I would no longer sit sheepishly for a request to be fulfilled and then complain about it after the fact. This began when I went to one of our fast-food eateries on Dillingham St. about a month and a half ago and I had waited about 10 or 15 minutes for the order to be processed and they had completely ignored it. Doing what I should have done on that same street's ''Jack In The Box'' 10 years ago (when they refused to allow me washroom access so that I could wash my hands before eating), I went up to the counter and asked for a full refund. (Actually, what I said was that I couldn't keep waiting for the order to be expedited and that I had to go.) When the cashier tried to make my order ''to go,'' I stated simply but firmly that I couldn't take it with me. (Of course, I could have taken it with me, but I felt that it would not have gotten the point across effectively.)
So I decided to try something ''similar'' in the DELL situation -- rather than getting ''confrontational'' with them, I decided to see if I could (politely) ''redirect'' them, while at the same time slyly expressing my extreme frustration with them. Rather than requesting that my name & address be ''taken off'' of their mailing list, I instead requested that they be ''placed on!'' -- But with certain... ummm... ''modifications.'' Rather than having them retain my true full name, I asked that they instead address it to Adrian ''Roseson'' (i.e., "Son of Rose" or "Rose's Son," i.e., the reference to the movie ''Rosemary's Baby'' -- I told the woman on the other end of the line that the name was going to be different because I was ''taking on my husband's name''). For my ''new address'' (since the one they currently had on file was ''no longer going to be my address'' ...at least not for them!) I gave them ''312 Pianiu Pl.'' Since one way of saying ''3'' in Japanese is ''mi,'' I intended it to mean ''Me'' or ''I''; the ''12'' is phonetic: ''one, two'' -- or ''one to.'' ''Pianiu'' is also phonetic: ''Pee On You!'' ''Place'' was in reference to DELL Computers base of operations. Finally, I gave them an apartment/suite # ''4-L'' -- ''for 'ell'' or ''for hell.'' Ergo, the entire thought I was expressing was: ''I am one to pee on you (and) your place of business, for all the Hell you bastitches keep putting me through!'' I'm somewhat doubtful, but we'll if that finally gets me taken off of their list.
Finally did this morning & afternoon what I had intended to do yesterday before I got sick, which was to snatch-up some more various Japanese snack crackers and to scout around for whatever Asian market in ''Chinatown'' stocked China Black Lichee Tea (loose-leaf in the metal tins), and to whichever merchant that carried it I'd also double-up my purchase by also picking up a tin of the ubiquitous ''Jasmine Tea,'' however much it cost. I went inside nearly every market in the area-- the vast majority of which being the very first time I'd ever been inside any of them despite having lived here on the Island as well as in the immediate vicinity --looking for the stuff (including a couple of stores which used to carry it), and everywhere I went I kept coming up empty -- one store said they would order it. I was about to give up all hope until I stepped inside a store named Bo Wah Trading Co. on Maunakea St., right next door to the Chinatown police substation. And even though I could have gotten my Jasmine Tea elsewhere for quite a bit less, I kept true to my word to purchase both items together at the same location if I found them both together. ''Bo Wah'' helped me to became one 'happy camper,' because now I will no longer have to resort to tearing open ''FooJoy'' brand teabags and pouring their ''tea dust'' into an empty container -- I can now use REAL loose-leaf tea!
The Jasmine Tea I purchased along with my Lychee Black is to send to my mother, along with the assortment of Japanese snack crackers I purchased today -- I had included a package of Asian snack crackers along with the fruitcake I sent her in June and she said she enjoyed them very much, so I thought I'd introduce her to some of my favorites.
The last item on my list-- Glico ''Pocky'' --I went looking around for, trying to find someplace that sold them for under $2/box. I finally purchased several boxes at the former Daiei for $1.79 each.
22:00, Hawaii Standard Time.
December 9, 2006 (Saturday)
Just received another ''show of appreciation'' from my job today.... Last week I tried to alert those who should know about a door we kept finding repeatedly unlocked, even after we kept going back and locking it and despite the fact that it would often occur at times when nobody (with or without a key) was ever in the building where it was happening. I explained that I figured out what was going on and described how it was happening, even explaining that I tested the theory out myself so that I would not just be ''guessing'' at its validity. Well... came back this weekend only to have a note waiting for me asking me how I knew what I was talking about and how I tested the theory (in other words, telling me that my report was never really read), then completely deflating me by telling me that I should ''report only 'FACTS','' with the coup d'grace being that I should have actually SEEN someone in the process of doing exactly what I described as ''proof'' of how I had explained everything! So once again I'm beginning to wonder why I even Phukken try, let alone 'give a damb'!
13:00, Hawaii Standard Time.
December 15, 2006 (Friday)
Went into the office this afternoon to turn in a report I was asked to file concerning my major blow-up Sunday evening to a couple of our office workers when they kept refusing to pass on the instructions I gave them to forward to the people who kept calling into the office because they all thought that they were totally locked inside the gates. On that evening in question I had to practically shout at two different office employees, instructing them MULTIPLE times to simply inform the callers who were waiting impatiently at the lower gate that the upper gate, though shut, was unlocked, and that all they had to do to leave was to simply swing that gate open and drive out. The real problem, in the final analysis, turned out to be that the people calling into the office proved to me once and for all that Americans are (1) stupid and/or (2) lazy, because they all kept insisting that the upper gate was locked simply because the 'padlock' was facing them unobstructed, and they were too lazy and too stupid to do a simple little thing like getting off of their fat lazy asses, leaving their comfortably air-conditioned gas-guzzlers, walking up to the gate and ''trying'' it! Throughout the half-dozen or so argumentative confrontations with the office workers fielding these complaint calls, I kept repeating this simple instruction and explaining the reality of the current situation-- namely, that I was in the process of training a brand new person who was totally unfamiliar with the area and that we were both on the opposite side of the campus, so there was no one else available who could be contacted as ''back-up'' to respond in any sort of a timely manner, especially since those of us who are assigned out there are still ''on foot'' almost a year after being promised that we would be mobilized --while I let it be known that IF those lazy idiots kept insisting on waiting to be let out at a ''locked'' gate when an ''unlocked'' one was only a block in the opposite direction, them they were just going to have to wait until we arrived there to meet them with the key which we had to retrieve from our office on campus. (At one point, one of the jackass callers threatened to call the police. I so wish she had -- I would have loved to have seen what they would've expected the police to do about any of it!)
Tried tonight to see the Raimi/Shimizu follow-up to the Americanized remake of ''Juon''-- i.e., ''The Grudge 2'' --but not only was the line long and slow-moving (which I didn't mind so much, since I knew I would be missing all of the pre-presentation commercials in the process, but unfortunately also most if not all of the 'previews') but the Honolulu Star-Bulletin movie listing webpage indicated that start time would be 19:30 (7:30 p.m.) when, in fact, it was listed in the box office window as starting ten minutes earlier than that, and I calculated that I would not even get to the ticket window until close to a half-hour after the start time, and I refuse to enter a movie once the feature presentation has already begun ... even if it is only for one dollar. So, on my way back to the apartment I stopped off at the gas station across from the ''kmart'' on Nimitz Highway to put a little touch of extra air in my bicycle's front tire, only to get hit with the shocking discovery that they have now converted their air/water station to a ''fee based'' system -- but the worst part about it is that unlike other locations that do likewise, which charge 25 cents for their use, this station arrogantly insists that use of these services should be assessed a charge that's twice as much!
20:50, Hawaii Standard Time.
December 25-28, 2006 (Monday-Thursday)
Found myself dealing with an unusual... illness? this past week.
My initial thoughts were that the leg cramps I began experiencing Tuesday morning were directly connected to my running throughout the entire KCC campus the previous morning, and that the slight cramping in my arms were also a result of the same. However, this could not explain the full body fever with chills I was experiencing, the somewhat painful tightness in groin and anal regions, the lightheadedness, and the frequent but extremely low volume urination. It all reminded me of similar symptoms I'd occasionally get hit with in the temperate climates; it especially reminded me of a time when I was renting my trailer home in Lawrence, Kansas. But that is where any and all similarities end, for aside from these rather discomforting (and sleep depriving) symptoms, there were no other accompanying signs of illness of any kind -- no headaches, no nausea, no runny nose, no sore throat, etc.
All of these symptoms seemed to clear right up the next morning, so I could keep my promised engagement with one of my co-workers who said he wanted me to help him set up & learn how to operate the new computer he had just received (his first ever).
Well... let's just say I am not about to offer my help again to someone with the attitude of a could-care-less ''know-it-all'' whose middle name is ''impatience.'' Not only did he decide to give me the bump by calling on another former co-worker where he once held a second job, but he had called him the same morning I was supposed to have gone over to help (he and I had agreed to our arrangement Saturday morning, and I had called both Tuesday night and Wednesday morning to confirm). So by the time I was ready to head out, my co-worker suggested we reschedule for next week, since the other guy had managed to hook up the hardware and set up user accounts, but had no idea that software for accessing the internet was already preinstalled on the system. Then it was 'gotta run some errands with the kids' time, so what I had anticipated as maybe a half-hour of nap time at the most turned into an additional four hours. Pairing the lateness of the day with his insistent refusal to believe anything I tell him, EVER! (in this case, that he could get on the Internet right away), he wanted to call off again. In retrospect, I suppose I should not have been so stubbornly insistent on fulfilling a promise, especially one I had been working so feverishly to keep, but I convinced him that I should come by anyway.
It was not until I had actually gotten there and began going over things and preparing to be 'good teacher' and all that I realized that he had no real interest in learning anything about the machine -- his whole time was taken up playing playing a game console football game, and he was expecting his wife to be the student amid all the noise and distraction. Worse yet, he felt that I was spending too much time trying to explain the basics and intricacies of using a computer; his whole attitude was 'I want internet access, NOW!' So when we finally did get around to trying to establish an internet connection they could not get connected because neither of them had either of the mandatory methods of ''billing'' which ''AOL'' claimed it didn't require -- ergo, no credit card, no checking account, no way Jose!
Even so, I still tried to show some of what could be done even without internet access-- as well as what could be accomplished by means of the Internet --by bringing a disc I [wasted time, effort & money] burning, particularly to show him how to work with media players for listening to music, watching video clips, etc., showing that webpages can be download and that photographs can be uploaded and that even voice recordings could be made. But any time I tried getting him interested in any of these things, they proved to be too much of a distraction from his daily dose of stupidity in the form of the ''Fox News Channel'' -- which of course means that the Keith Olbermann clips, the
''Tweety'' Matthews
clip where he makes John ''BONER'' squirm like a little bitch (until the very end, when Matthews, after lambasting his own Republican masters for the mess their policies made of Iraq, blames the Democrats for not fixing it), and the radio program clip where a Muslim family retells of the hell they went through after all of the ''September 11'' hysteria which I included on the disc were all a major waste of my time/effort/money!
I could go on and on, but why bother. The only thing I can say coming out of all of this, which is indeed nasty on my part, but I honestly do hope that he screws something up on that new machine of his so miserably that it'll require diagnostic utilities and whatnot to clean up the mess... his extreme impatience and lack of attention to the process almost demands it! And I won't be there to bail him out! I simply should have figured it out months ago with this guy: ''You can't teach anyone who refuses to learn!''
So after all that, the very symptoms I was experiencing Tuesday which subsided most of Wednesday came rushing back to hit me Wednesday night and lasted through to Thursday night. By this time, I had already decided that I was either not going to go in to work or that if I did go in I would cut it short.
''Week in Review''
December 29, 2008 (Friday)
I asked to be checked out of work about 5 hours early, even though I did not really feel miserable enough to call off so soon; in fact, I was actually beginning to regain semi-normal physical condition. Came back to the apartment, went to sleep after taking in a couple of streaming OTR radio dramas, then awoke before noon with a painful headache (eyeball ache, to be specific, which is in fact mostly what I'm referring to nearly overtime I use the term ''headache'' to describe my own experience).
Later in the afternoon I decided to finally go down to the post office to collect the ''package'' my mother said she had mailed to me (along with an ''identical'' package to my sister in the midwest) during a phone call she made to me last week. I couldn't figure on what would be contained in such a small package, but when I had to sign for it and noticed that it was an ''insured'' item, I quickly deduced that it had to be jewelry of some sort, most likely a necklace, which is what, in fact, it was. In the note she included, she explained that she had taken some old gold jewelry of hers (rings, unmatched earrings, & the like) and had them melted down and formed into two separate nugget pendants. Although I've never been much of one for wearing jewelry, I could try to adapt as a sort of appreciative gesture for her method & the uniqueness of the gift and all that.
After returning from the post office, I decided that ''Princess Lynette'' was way overdue for a bath, and that it would probably be a perfect time since all the raining that was going to take place had already occurred earlier in the day. I also decided to clean up & organize her holding compartments at the same time, and it was during this time that I had come across my registration renewal sticker still attached to the renewed certificate! I had been riding around for almost two whole months with an expired label -- and the even scarier part of that is that on quite a few occasions I had been riding around not realizing that I had not had my operator's license in my possession!
Rounded out the night by riding out to ''Star Market'' for the first time since only God can recall, spurred on by the enticing supermarket flyer advertising frozen king crab for just $7 per lb. I went crazy and bought three packages (over a pound each), along with a package of bay scallops and pack of frozen maize cobs (they had none in the fresh produce section). What nearly infuriated me was when I learned that the item our local ''Safeway'' supermarkets stocked for about a month then unceremoniously discontinued, which forever earned them my ire-- i.e. ''Pasta-Roni Primavera'' --was well stocked at this store, and even though it was what 'they' called ''on sale,'' I still had to pay close to two dollars per box, but I did so anyway (I think more out a sense of revenge & vindication than anything else really).
23:45, Hawaii Standard Time.
December 30, 2006 - January 1, 2007 (Saturday-Monday)
This is the entry I've been dreading & putting off for a few days (it is actually Wednesday morning as I am writing this), because I am still overly awash with mental and emotional anguish over these most recent events... in fact, I don't think I'll ever be quite the same again as a result.
I have just learned the penalty for trying to be a fair, honest, hard & loyal worker for a ''family owned'' nepotism-filled business for over ten years.... Of course, I have always seen and heard-- and in not just a few instances experienced --the realities of such maltreatment (which resulted in my progressively giving less of myself and my abilities), but now this company has taken it to an entirely new level -- one which is going to have consequences, both 'immediate' and 'projected.'
In the ten years I have worked for this operation, I have requested to excused from work no more than five times, if that... even though there were many instances in which I could or should have -- and in each case except one, almost exactly three years ago, was I ever confronted about it and made to feel as though I had committed some grave error. (see journal entries dated 'February 2' and 'February 3, 2004' in the ''Winter 2004'' archive page) During that incident I had called in seven hours ahead of scheduled arrival time to inform them I wasn't going to be able to work that evening; Rather than thanking me for not leaving them in a last-minute hole and/or wishing me a rapid recovery, they instead showed their appreciation of my wanting to be in healthy & alert condition on their behalf (in light of the many screw-ups and ne'er-do-wells they had working at that particular location) by ''writing me up!'' Recalling that sickening event (really, no pun was intended), I made the decision to go in Thursday night, despite the fact that I really wanted to stay in and get well rested -- erroneously believing that if I gave it a go and actually showed up for work and tried to stay on a few hours I could avoid any similar hassle.
Flash forward! Saturday Morning....
I arrived at my alternate job site with the intent of getting back on track with the remainder of my regular work schedule, only to find someone else has assumed my role, and when I called into the office to inquire about it, I was told that it was in response to my having asked to have a relief worker cover for the remainder of my shift Thursday night. The office worker on the other end of the line and I got into an argument about whether or not I should have called to let someone know that I was well enough to begin work again, but he let it be known that whether I had ''updated'' them on my condition or not would have made no difference whatsoever, because as soon as I called in requesting the cancellation they unceremoniously purged me from the remainder of my work schedule and let it be known that I would not be reinstated until I returned with a ''doctor's note,'' which would have accomplished nothing anyway, since the office was ''officially'' closed for the long holiday weekend. Realizing I was in a ''no-win'' situation, I ask the person on the other end of the phone what procedure I had to follow in order to get them what they needed so that I could come back in to work later in the day, because in the ten years I had worked for this company I had never had to go through this hassle; He claimed he did not know and that I would have to figure that out on my own.
I met up with my co-worker elsewhere on the site and explained to him what was happening and how it was infuriating me. He suggested that I call on his own family doctor, and that I get the number from his wife. In the meantime he would call the office and explain that I was really needed there on site, etc., and that I would be bringing in that paperwork later in the morning, so I could get reactivated right away.
It did not go that smoothly. First off, my co-worker's doctor was on vacation (yeah... big surprise there!), so I did the only other logical thing I could think of, which was go to the clinic where I was having my other major medical issues looked into, ''Straub Hospital.'' I was told by the reception desk that such exams were not conducted at that clinic; instead I was referred to their ''walk-in'' clinic in Waikiki. I spent what felt like over an hour inside their ''Doctors On-Call'' facility only to be told during the examination that I had been misinformed by the referrer and that no such examinations for 'return-to-work' validation were ever conducted at that site! (Needless to say, I'm getting ''pee-ode'' to the Nth degree at this point!) I took what I had-- a yellow 'customer copy' of the request for examination paperwork I had signed & dated --and took that to the company's back office which is occupied 24/7.
According to my co-worker, he had been given the impression from the guy in the office (by this time a different person) that if I brought the paperwork into the office right away that he would put me right back on schedule, so I could start work again later that day. This again turned out to be a situation of 'such was not the case....' After all of that rushing and racing and being sent off on misdirections & misleads, the guy in the office explained that once they had shoved me out the remainder of my work schedule for the week and replaced those times with other persons I could not be allowed to reassume those times and had to stand by until the next regular scheduling cycle rolled around, but that I might be used in an ''on call'' fashion if they needed to cover a location elsewhere. Now I'm really angry, but there's nothing I can do when nobody will budge. So even though this office worker, who had the authority to adjust the schedule, found what I turned in from the clinic to be sufficient for restarting work, he said he couldn't put me back on schedule until either somebody didn't show up elsewhere or had made some sort of late request.
I said that I would return to my regularly scheduled worksite and that I would stand by, intent on working, in case either or both workers (re)scheduled for that time failed to show up. For a period it had appeared that I just might be working after all, but the second person arrived 20 minutes late.
I managed to hang around through the entire shift anyway, engaging in long conversations with the man they had called in to replace me when they took me off schedule. During one of our conversations I reflected again on the torturous adolescence I'd endured, which was responsible for molding me into the borderline psycho and full-time cynic I've become -- and for the first time in my life I could not contain all of the pain from the lies, deceptions and abuses that I and my mother had to experience and the ways in which it affected and impacted on me in the ugliest ways imaginable, so that I finally just broke down and wept like someone who had lost someone very close and dear to them.
I had also discovered something very significant while I was hanging around on the jobsite. In my criticisms of the company's targeting its best workers with their inconsistent acts of reprimand, I had shown him an instance where I had shown my level of dedication by working through a shift on a night when I was feeling absolutely horrific (see journal entry dated 'September 11, 2006' in the ''Autumn 2006'' archive page for details) -- but in so reviewing this information I was reminded that I had similarly called off early on into my next workshift, where I was allowed to go home upon the arrival of another worker to cover in my stead, and had been given absolutely no grief whatsoever about any requirement to supply a physician's ''return-to-work'' notice, NOR had I been excised from scheduling!!!
As a result of all of these stresses and hassles and conflicts, I am now set to go to war with this company! AND... I'm ready to fight VERY dirty! But a nice long conversation with my mother, who called Monday morning as I was working to get my personal surroundings clean and in order, helped me to put things in the best perspective regarding my pending response(s). There are any number of ''worst case scenarios'' which can and may arise from this most recent conflict, but I am almost certain that I have a potential to hurt them more than they can hurt me --- or, at least, about as much. I am merely in the ''planning'' stages as of this point, granting them sort of a ''probationary'' period, if you will. Unless they have still kept me off of schedule for this upcoming work week, I will take no immediate action(s) against them. Then I will continue to work with them, but I will be monitoring VERY closely and carefully for certain things to take place... or not. It will not be until I see something ''major'' that I am anticipating within the next six months either ''take place'' or ''fail'' to take place before I can determine the next action I take -- and one of those options ain't pretty at all!
''Holiday Weekend in Review''
January 4, 2007 (Thursday)
Well, those ''bastitches'' at the office did it to me again!!! This time it was one of the main office managers -- and, ironically, the daughter of the same woman who put me through this horse$#!T the first time three years ago! First, she waits all this cursed time (right on the day I'm expecting to go back to work on my regular schedule) before calling me to let me know that what I left for them was not sufficient enough for them and that they wanted me to do more pathetic running around to get an actual ''sign-off'' note from a physician -- and again, no amount of appealing or explaining the situations was going to make them waiver. At least this time they informed me of a couple of places I could go to -- one requiring an appointment (with a backlog of two weeks) and the other with an answering machine which seemed to suggest a schedule was required, but I could not find out for certain until either they called me back from the message I left or upon my arrival during their operating hours of 16:30-19:00 (4:30-7:00 p.m.).
Of course, when I arrive at the latter and begin filling out the paper work in order to get checked out, I get hit with another of those unique doses of ''happy news'' when they inform me that they cannot proceed with me any further because I was ''insured'' and that they, as a ''free clinic'', were restricted from working with insured patients! The physician on site, however, rather than just turning me away as everyone else has done thus far, invited me to his private practice and promised that he would make an effort to see me in the morning.
I am now so fed-up with this company and its operations that I am SERIOUSLY considering cutting my projected ''time extension'' with them! Or... if I continue to stick with them past my promised ''10-year'' main goal (which was already reached two weeks ago!), I will drastically alter my work ethic to more closely resemble that of the larger group of half-asses and ne'er-do-wells! I am so tired of the crap!
And the worst part about it all is the fact that I was told by someone in the office who works on the schedules that I could have avoided all of this madness if I had simply said what was actually closer to the truth that night I called off, that I was more accurately ''tired'' from sleep depravation than from illness! What kind of voodoo Bull$#!t is THAT????
That's quite alright.... I'm cooking up a ''nice'' surprise for these JAFOs when my 'countdown clock' for these assholes starts clicking the final seconds of my presence in their midst! (Don't take that to mean anything too ominous... I'm not planning anything 'violent' or physically 'destructive' in any way... it'll all be perfectly 100% LEGAL... and it'll send them into a major panic. I've just first got to make sure that I can even execute such a thing, given the nature of the company I work for and the type of business it operates. If I can get it to go, it'll be my perfect little ''going away'' present!)
Helluva way to welcome in the ''New Year,'' huh?
23:20, Hawaii Standard Time.
January 8 - 12, 2007 (Monday-Friday)
Finally went back to work Thursday, which I had deliberately rescheduled as my reactivation date, since I was in absolutely no mood whatsoever to restart work with these clowns ... and even then I was debating whether or not to actually go in.
I could have started back last Friday, when I went in to be seen by the physician at the ''free clinic'' who had promised to see me at his regular clinic, but I had requested that the return date be set for this week instead, then waited until Tuesday before finally turning that worthless slip of paper in to them, because after all that hassle & horse$#!t the company put me through I so wanted to have as little to do with them as I possibly could at that point. But, sure enough, no sooner do I get 'put back on schedule' that the phone calls start flooding in from the office, asking me to ''help them out'' at several of their locations. Of course, I said no ... I'm not ever ''helping'' these bastards out ever again! Go choke!
I'd also requested Tuesday for this to be my final week scheduled at ''Honolulu Community College'' and I made sure to confirm that this morning. But because of that request, the scheduler now has this idea that I'd like to be assigned someplace else to make up for the loss of hours. I'll admit that originally that had been a plan, but after what they just put me through I just want the time off, period!
''Week in Review''
February 10, 2007 (Saturday)
For years I have said that I would try to hang onto this suck-ass job of mine until I had reached the ''10-year'' mark with this company, but that once I had actually achieved that goal I would be making absolutely no guarantees to continue with the company beyond the fact that I would try to hang on for an additional two years (maximum), and that should I ever at all feel 'shit upon' by the company at anytime during that gracious extension (which would not be at all hard for them to do) I'd drop them like a very hot rock. -- Welcome to the fulfillment of that somewhat 'prophetic' prediction! (Sometimes this uncanny 'foresight' ability of mine almost scares me. I'd be most interested now in finding out how well it continues to hold up, at least as far as this company I work for is concerned, since I have also made the prediction that-- barring some 'natural calamity' or our oft-anticipated 'divine cosmic overhaul' --this company would fold completely within the next 15 years... and I've been saying that now for at least the past 3 to 5 years, which means [according to my prediction] it's only got somewhere between 10 to 12 years of life left, if that.)
Anyway, the scheduling staff have decided to diss me out again. After all the cow dung they dragged me through already this past month or so, they decided to do a repeat of last week, when they altered my schedule to have me work Saturday overnight, which I've told them forever & repeatedly is a schedule I do not accept. I decided to cover the time last weekend (even though nobody ever contacted me ahead of time to inform me that they were going to tamper with my regular schedule). I then called the office the very first thing Monday morning to inquire about it, whereupon I was told that it had been a mistake on their part, and I was assured that the error had been corrected. So this morning, when I complained to the weekend person in the office that I would not do a repeat of last Saturday's overnight and that he would have to find a replacement to cover for that time, the asswipe insisted that I come in and work 'according to schedule' or he would take me off of the rest of my ''regularly scheduled'' times as well, and even went so far as to threaten to remove my name from the work schedule completely!
Again, like I said, the timing could not have been more prophetic (less than two months after my 10th year ''anniversary'' with the company), but it also could not have come at a more inconvenient time (just three weeks prior to my major surgical procedure)! I really could care less about my stinking job with this company, and I'm already desirous to flush it all down the toilet where they're concerned (I could go an entire year and then some on what I've currently got squirreled away before I'd even feel any uneasiness about not having a job! - God Bless!), but Iam feeling the nervous tension & pressure as it relates to the 'when' and the 'how' of the whole matter -- I'd like to be able to scrape them off the bottom of my shoe at a time and in a fashion that would be most advantageous to me but would at the same time be the most inconvenient for them.
* Update - (23:00):
08:45, Hawaii Standard Time.
Well... those ''bastitches'' at the office went and did it to me yet again! (This is getting to be a very aggravating oft-repeated refrain!) So they stuck true to their threat and removed me from the rest of my work schedule! (I'm telling you, there's just got a lawsuit in here somewhere!) I'm still not entirely certain how to respond or what to look for in all of this, but one thing is certain... I have entirely had it with this shit-ass company!
February 12, 2007 (Monday)
I almost completely forgot my surgery request form signings this afternoon due to being so upset with what I've been dealing with over the weekend.
I went to the office to pick up the paychecks I still had over there and to lay my issues all out on the table with the 'operations manager,' but instead the new 'office manager' (formerly the primary scheduler) spoke with me. I let it be known that because of the actions and results of what took place Saturday I was all but ready to sever the umbilical. She kept reassuring me that she would readjust my work schedule to the way it was, but I placed strong emphasis on the fact that if this disruption in my schedule would result in my losing my medical benefits (especially since I'm scheduled to undergo surgery in two weeks, which I finally made known to anyone in the office) it would be the final drip that caused the tub to overflow. She later went to the accounting/payroll department and came back to me with the assurance that my medical benefits would not be disrupted. I left it at that, acknowledged the return of my regular work schedule, then went to renew my motorcycle insurance.
23:50, Hawaii Standard Time.
February 21, 2007 (Wednesday)
After my appointment to get clearance for surgery, I went to purchase a new AC power strip to replace the one I blew out two nights ago and wound up purchasing a new electric frypan as well. Shopped for a few ''rain check'' groceries and a few additional items for the ''snack mix'' I plan on concocting right afterwards.
I also called the property manager's office to inquire about having an assessed ''late fee'' waived, since it could be shown that a check had been sent on the first Tuesday of the month (the 6th) and that it had apparently gotten lost somewhere in transit between the mailbox and their office.
Finally, I called a former co-worker to return his call yesterday and to also ask if he wouldn't mind driving me back from the hospital after Monday's surgery, since the medical staff are not too keen on the idea of my just wanting to take the bus back to the apartment.
23:55, Hawaii Standard Time.
February 26 - March 2, 2007 (Monday-Friday)
It's been a week now since having undergone the knife for my cataract surgery: I was amazed at how well it took. It will be quite some time before my eyes have adjusted to ''work together'' well enough so that there is not so much strain -- it's very distracting to have one eye functioning at ''20/40'' while the other is still stuck in (worse than) ''20/300'' mode. Popping the lens out of the operated-on side of my eyeglasses helps some, but the distortions are really annoying. I've been mostly resting and trying not to exert myself too much, apart from still trying to chase out these dambed invading cockroaches and ants, despite having spit-shined this apartment like a 'white tornado'....
''Week in Review''
Winter 2006 (Dec-Feb) /
Spring 2007 (Mar-May) /
Summer 2007 (Jun-Aug) /
Autumn 2007 (Sep-Nov) /
Winter 2007 (Dec-Feb) /
Spring 2008 (Mar-May) /
Summer 2008 (Jun-Aug) /
Autumn 2008 (Sep-Nov) /
Winter 2008 (Dec-Feb) /
Spring 2009 (Mar-May) /
Summer 2009 (Jun-Aug) /
Autumn 2009 (Sep-Nov) /
Summer 2010 (Jun-Aug) /
Autumn 2010 (Sep-Nov) /
Winter 2010 (Dec-Feb) /
Spring 2011 (Mar-May) /
Summer 2011 (Jun-Aug) /
Autumn 2011 (Sep-Nov) /
Winter 2011 (Dec-Feb)
