A Jorb Well Done (new job thread)

[diesel_powered]

In my experience, it's more or less the same thing. I guess it's a question of whether you like your exhaustion in little manageable chunks at the end of the day, or a big mass that takes days to get over.

[Maaik]

Okay, so on Monday morning, we're interviewing a bug expert in conjunction with a piece we're doing on a museum exhibit.  This woman is bringing--and I have to be in the same room as:

•   Tarantula

•   Madagascar hissing cockroach

•   Tailless whip scorpion

WTF I will scream like a young woman.  This is going to be all I'm gonna be able to think about all weekend.

[jm]

Oh my god that sounds so awesome.

[bethany_m]

I have personally held all of those except for a tarantula.  It wasn't bad at all.  Deep breaths!

[peacocks]

coool!  Can I fill in for you?  You can sit safely at my desk doing a spreadsheet.  You MIGHT have to collect water from somewhere.

[mixed cats]

We used to have pet hissing roaches. The first one was Garage, and the second one was Mothra. Then Garage had babies, and Mothra was like, "well if you're going to do it then I am going to do it too," so there were more babies. We gave them all away except for three - one was named I think Hildeborg or something, and the other two were Mary-Kate and Ashley.
They are totally harmless and not at all scary.

Tailless whipscorpions are also totally harmless but they look pretty terrifying, due to their gigantic mouthparts. SCARY FACE!

[Maaik]

GOD CHRIST FUCK WHY DID I LOOK AT THAT

[jm]

holy shit that is pretty hideous

[Maaik]

MAN I ALREADY HATE THE DAY I WILL HAVE MONDAY.  Not cool at all.

[milesofsparks]

I have not interacted wit the other two, but I held a tarantula in 5th grade.  it was only scary because if you dropped it, it could die (they are pretty fragile, or maybe they just said that so the 5th graders would get all rambunctious and throw it or something).  we also had a boa constrictor for awhile.  I wonder what ever happened to Billie Jean...

[what whale]

Tailless whipscorpions are also totally harmless but they look pretty terrifying, due to their gigantic mouthparts. SCARY FACE!

This and davy's giant hornet thing from the other day should duel for Worst Fucking Thing in This Life.  Fucking Christ.

[Good Intentions]

Well, it was going to happen eventually -- a student handed me an essay where he claimed that we can't make an argument for [view under discussion], because it's possible that we are all just brains in a vat which are fed signals in such a way as to imagine an external world. Sigh. At least he didn't mention The Matrix, and at least this is a draft so I have time to try to impress on him that this is the shittiest argument that has ever been shat.

[DCDave]

Is that better or worse than objectivism?

[Good Intentions]

We can never truly know the answer, because it's possible that we are fed all of our sense-data and, in that case, whatever evidence we might use to answer that question can't prove anything.

[mixed cats]

We've been working with this engineer for a few years now, who did all the specs for a wire brace that we use on our machines. We needed to get the brace re-fitted for a new version of the machine. In March or May we sent him parts to do the new specs and send it out to the fabricators.  Now we really, really need the new wires, we don't have the contact info for the fabricator, and the engineer hasn't answered an email or phone call in over two weeks - the last time we spoke with him, he told us they would arrive in a few days. AERJKHAFKSGF.

We did have a new person start today who is going to help us out, and we bitched about how the town I live in really sucks.

[DCDave]

Travel schedule for work (except for Athens and Australia) for the rest of the year:

Aug 28-Sep 4: London
Sep 14-Sep 18: San Fran, CA
Sep 23-26: Aspen, CO
Sep 26-28: Boston, MA
Oct 8-10: Athens, Ga
Oct 10-13: Seattle, Wa
Oct 15-22: Singapore
Nov 13-22: San Diego, CA
Dec 8-Jan 18: Sydney, Australia

[Trousers and Pat]

In about an hour I'm going to have to actually put a shirt on and go to work. They demand so much of me...

[Antero]

Out of the three Motions To Suppress that I've written this month, two of them resulted in the prosecution dismissing the cases entirely without filing an opposition.

BLAOW.

I love this shit.

[Maaik]

Oh shit!  A small but not-insignificant bonus!  Well well, it looks like someone's going to have a fine day at the racetrack.

[milesofsparks]

nice!  bonuses are fun, even when small.

[donblood]

Bonuses are for buying things that you will use over the next five years, minimum.  That's my rule.

[Thermofusion]

One of our customers operates an ancient fueling depot on Radio Island near Morehead City, which may or may not be in the path of Earl. There's a massive, hulking, structurally deficient-looking canopy overhead that's rusted and warped all to hell. Just last month, I was doing field work out there and watching it sway precariously under moderate gusts. Contractors have been advising the customer, for years, to tear the thing down and/or put up a new one.

Anyway, today I started a little office pool as to whether or not it gets obliterated tomorrow or Friday, with an optional side bet for if it takes out part of their building too. Bets have to be in today, while the tracking for the storm is still laughably uncertain. Already got $140 in the pot. I'm a terrible person.

[DCDave]

I'm having an "impostor syndrome" sort of week in life in general

[jebreject]

I've been sick the last couple of days. I called in yesterday and did the same today. I slept really poorly last night. Thing is, today, so far, I feel well enough that I probably would be okay at work, other than the sleep deprivation. I just--I can't stand the place any more. And the worst thing is, not working today puts me below my minimum hours requirement because I only had enough PTO left to cover yesterday. (We have this stupid thing where they can't decide whether to treat us like hourly or salaried employees). That means I'll get written up. I feel like I'm watching myself be incredibly self-destructive but I just can't stop myself. I've gotten to the point where I seriously hate this job. I dread getting up in the morning because of it. But there's not really anything else out there. Not that pays as well/offers benefits/is full time/etc. Not for someone without a college degree.

Actually, there's this place where I've been wanting to work for a while now (I have some friends there), and they're hiring, but it'd be a fairly significant paycut (like, more than two dollars an hour) and I mean, I could deal with that, because I think I'd be happier, but the thing is, M is applying for the job they posted, and she needs a new job more than I do--currently she's part time and this new thing would be a pay raise for her and offer much-needed benefits as well. It's also a bit more relevant to her interests than mine. I don't want to compete against her for a job, and I certainly wouldn't want there to be any sort of weirdness or resentment if one of us got it over the other. It just kind of sucks, because I really, really need to get out of where I am.

I think the most frustrating thing is that there's nowhere else for me to go. Any moves I could make within the company would be lateral. I'm as high up the ladder as I can get, without my direct supervisor quitting/getting fired/dying, none of which is likely to happen any time soon. And I mean, I don't even know that I'd want her job. I really can't stand the way this company is run; the chances of me being able to affect any change on that count is pretty close to zero, so I just want to get out.

I don't know. My head is a mess today.

[jebreject]

Sorry if that's a bit angsty.