August 2023 Project Life

This was a very momentous month for me.  A major life change - I RETIRED !!!  I could have retired 5 years ago will full benefits, but I just wasn't ready and honestly, I enjoyed my job (for the most part) and the people I worked with.  But I finally took the plunge after a LOT (and I mean a LOT) of prayer. 

I traveled a lot too - I was in 8 different states this month!  I visited mom, and my friend Susan and I took a trip to Graceland, but decided to see a few other things while we were out, we stopped by the National Quilt Musuem and Laura Ingalls and Almonzo Wilder's home.  That was so cool!  I would love to travel out that way again.  There was so much to see and we since so much was kind of "on the spur of the moment", we didn't really get to spend as much time as I would have liked in some of the places we visited.  We had really planned for Graceland and boy, we had a blast!

We had record heat this month - whew!! The highest day, was 106 ° F.  I just don't tolerate heat very well, but it was worth it. 

Click on the photos to enlarge. 

Office Pet Peeve

As I said in my last post, I have some office pet peeves.  We all do but after working for 40 years (am I that old?) I have developed my fair share of them...

Today's Office Pet Peeve ..... Unresponders

I do get annoyed when I send someone and email or leave them a voice mail and they NEVER get back to me but that isn't today's pet peeve, exactly.

Today's is when someone sends you an email, you immediately reply back and ask a follow up question and then they don't reply. 

(This bugs me with text messages too)

Example:

Person:  Will you tell me how much we paid Vendor XYZ
Me: (Responds the second I get the email) - Yes - for what date range?
Person: 

I mean I replied the second and I mean the second you asked me the question, it would only take you another 2nd to reply back with Fiscal Year 20, or for the month of April or whatever.

How can I get you what you want if you don't reply back and you JUST sent the question so I know you are at your desk or with your phone....

Of course that person will never respond and 2 or 3 days later say "I still haven't gotten the information I requested" - upon which I will have to ask again "for what date range?"

I've had similar things happen with a friend.  She will text me and say "Do you want to meet for lunch tomorrow" - I reply back the second the text is sent and say "Yes, what time and where?'  and then 4 or 5 hours late she will reply back.

You JUST sent the text, YOU asked me a question, you must be waiting for my response and then you don't have the decency to reply back to me? 

I just don't understand these kind of people.

Office Pet Peeve of the Day

I admit, I have several office pet peeves, I am sure everyone does.

Today it involves managers.  I, myself, am a manager - I even manage managers.  This isn't about anyone on my staff but rather someone else that I work with.

I do not like what I call "power authority" managers or what I consider down right "lazy" managers.

Case in point:

This manager will call her employee to come see her in her office.
Employee gets up and goes to manager's office
Manager tells employee "Go down the hall and ask Debra XYZ"

Employee walks down hall, comes to ask me the question
I give employee answer
Employee goes back down the hall and relays answer
Manager says "Go back and ask her ABC"

Employee walks down hall, comes to ask me the question
I give employee answer
Employee goes back down the hall and relays answer
Manager says "Go back and ask her DEF" (These are follow up questions to the answers I had given)

This goes on and on for 30-40 minutes.

WHY CAN'T THE LAZY MANAGER, JUST PICK UP THE DARN PHONE AND ASK ME THE STUPID QUESTION HERSELF?

WHY?  Because she wants to push her employees around and show that she is in charge and she likes getting people to jump at her command...plus she is to dog gone lazy to get off her sorry butt and walk 50 steps down the hall to ask me herself.

DRIVES ME BATTY - it is disrespectful to your employees and disrespectful to the person you send the employee to (me!)

Today, this particular manager isn't in the office.  Instead she calls the employee (who I have never even met) and tells the employee to see if I am in and then ask me a question.  A question with a simple answer that (a) the manager could have called and ask me herself or (b) the manager could look it up in the system herself - seriously!!

Office Pet Peeves Week - Day 4

The "Quick Question"

If I had a nickle for every time says "Can I ask you a quick question" - then I could have retired about 10 years ago.

I honestly do not mind answering questions, if they pertain to my job, I really don't.  I am very happy to help someone that needs it because sometimes I need assistance too.

However, the pet peeve is that although your question may be quick, the answer and solution isn't. 

Example:
Employee: Can I ask you a quick question
Me: Sure
Employee: Can you give me all the revenue collections for the past 8 years broken down by tax type and by month?
Me: Uh.....I can but it will take me a while to put all that together
Employee: Okay - just send it to me when done and I need it for a meeting with the president of the company in 1 hour.
Employee: Walks away

All questions are quick, right?
Question: Will you explain evolution?
Question: Will you tell me the name of every US President in order?
Question: Will you give me directions to Kalamazoo?

All of the answers are quick - but the answers (other than telling them Yes I will or No, I won't) but the solution to the question is not quick.

The biggest annoyance is though is that they won't wait for the answer. 

For instance, today someone asked me for a telephone number.  I don't have 1,000 telephone numbers memorized.
I said "It is on this website, let's look it up"
While looking it up, I see the website had been modified so I was having trouble finding the number
The employee didn't want to wait around 30 seconds for me to locate it so said
"Just email it to me when you find it" and walked away.

Now, I am spending MY time looking for a phone number, that he needs but HE is too busy to look it up himself but yet it doesn't bother him that it interupts my work day or takes time away from my schedule.

If you ask me a "quick question" - at least be decent enough to hang around for the answer -  no matter how long it takes.

Office Pet Peeves Week - Day 3

The closed door pet peeve

I rarely close my office door - if  my door is closed there are 3 reasons for it
1) Someone is in my office and we are having a confidential discussion
2) I am on a confidential phone call
3) I am extremely busy trying to meet a deadline

98% of the time, my door is open.

However, it never fails that when I shut more door the following happens

Scenario 1:
Rude Employee: * knock, knock *
Rude Employee: opens door before I say "come in"
Rude Employee: Proceeds to ask me a question or tell me their problem even though they can clearly see I am in the middle of a meeting with someone else because the other employee is standing right in front of me.

Scenario 2:
Rude Employee: * knock, knock *
Me: No reply because I am on a phone call
Rude Employee: * knock knock knock knock knock knock * (and louder)
Me: No reply because I am talking on the phone
Rude Employee: opens the door anyway (although I didn't say "come in") and says "Oh, I didn't know you were on the phone" - I will just wait
Rude Employee: Sits down in my office and leaves the door open.
Me: I have to tell the person I am speaking with to please hold, then tell rude employee that I will see them when I am done with my call
Rude Employee: But I only have a quick question.

There are many others I can list but these are the 2 main issues concerning closed offices doors.

Office Pet Peeve Week - Day 2

Today's Pet Peeve is called the long e-mail add in

Two or more people have been emailing back and forth for days (or sometimes weeks).  You are unaware of this email or the subject matter at hand.

Suddenly, you are brought into the chain by one person that says "Can you answer Tom's question?"

You have to read through 18 pages of emails to find out what Tom's question is about and when all is said and done, it is something as simple as "When is the deadline for submitting XYZ report?"

Why didn't the person just send me a separate email (or pick up the phone for that matter) that said "Can you tell me when XYZ report is due?

Simple...but no, I guess it is much easier for THEM to have ME read through 18 pages of stuff to answer a single question.

So...when you loop someone into a string of emails that has been going on...summarize for the person FIRST - don't make them read the entire chain.

Office Pet Peeve Week - Day 1

 

I am sure if you work in an office, if you are like me, you have quite a few Office Pet Peeves.  They are not major things in the scheme of life or in the scheme of work but they are just little things that happen over and over and really bug you...or at least bug me.

So I thought I would dedicate a week to them. I actually think I could write a book about them, but pretty sure no one would buy that - haha!!


Today's Pet Peeve happened before I even arrived at work for the day.

Last week, I had to set up separate, individual meetings with over 20 people....so 20 different meetings.

We are supposed to keep our calendars updated.  I set up meeting requests LAST Wednesday - WEDNESDAY!

Of course I checked everyone's calendar, and as you can imagine, it is tricky to schedule 20 meetings based on (a) each person's availability and (b) the meeting room's availability.  But I managed to schedule them over several days.

Friday night - at 8:30 pm (2 days after I had scheduled the meeting) - someone replies "I'm at a conference next week, can  you reschedule?"

Here is the a triple pet peeve.

1) Your calendar indicates that you are in the office all next week and that you even have a couple of meetings scheduled - how was I to know you were going to be out all week, if your calendar doesn't indicate that?

2) I set up the meeting Wednesday, yet you wait 2 days to tell me you are not available?  Rooms book up fast so if you told me 2 days ago, I may have been able to find a room, now I have to scramble to find one.

3) You notify me of this at 8:30 on a Friday night, when you know the office is closed, when you know you are going out of town Saturday morning and it is clearly outside of business hours.

UGH! 

So now I have to schedule the meeting again, work with the other 2 people that are in the meeting and adjust according to their schedules, and the room availability.....and all of this extra work for me could have been avoided very simply, if only you had just DONE YOUR JOB and had your calendar up to date.

My Office - Day 9

Next to my business card holder, I keep some Germ-X (needed especially during cold/flu season).

More importantly, I keep my baby lotion.  My skin can get very dry in the office, especially in the winter months so I have to keep some lotion on my desk...I am sure my co-workers think it is odd that I don't have some fancy-smancy lotion but I love the smell of baby lotion and it works great!

Bonus: After I put some on, I get many compliments from people saying that I smell good 😀

My Office - Day 8

Anyone who knows me, knows that I a huge Osmond fan.  So of course I have to have a little something to show my Osmond pride.

I had a magnet made from a photo of Donny & I.  I have a magnetic folder holder for projects in progress and I have the magnet sticking on it.  I get to look at Donny's face everyday, made even better since I am standing right next to him!

My Office - Day 7

My business card holder is very, very, very special to me.  It isn't actually meant to be a business card holder, as you can tell since the cards are in there sideways but as with most personal items found in my office, it comes with a story.

I had a much beloved boss at a previous job and she used to keep this on her desk with her business cards in it.  I always thought it was so pretty and so feminine - just like her and it just fit her personality so well.

She left to move back closer to her hometown and I was helping her pack her office up.  She said she wanted me to have anything in the room to remember her by.  The first thing I thought of was her business card holder which she gladly gave to me.  She said that it actually came from a former (much beloved) boss of hers...so I told her that I couldn't accept it and she insisted that she wanted me to have it.  She said he had kept this on his desk for years and it was actually meant to hold cigarettes (which he did keep in it - back in the 80s/early 90s, you could actually smoke in your office believe it or not).

He had given it to her when he left.  I still was kept saying that I couldn't take something that was special to her and she still insisted saying that she wanted it to be special to me...and it is!!

I look at it everyday and I think of her.  Sadly, I lost contact with her over the past couple of years (she isn't replying to the email I have for her and when I call her phone it is just a generic message that I don't think is her number anymore) - I hope all is okay with her, she was a great boss and mentor and I learned a lot from her.  She is also just a great person!

My Office - Day 6

I don't really know what you call these things - Pin Frames??  I'm not sure - they are tiny little pins/nails and you press it and get a shape - in this case, my hand....

What makes this so special that I am giving it a blog entry?  It was my brother's!  It makes me think of him and my sister-in-law.  He always kept is sitting beside his recliner at home.  After he passed and I was helping my sister-in-law pack the house, she gave it to me.  I know it is just a novelty but when I look at it, I think of my brother.  I know he touched it and played with it many times.  It is nice to have something of his sitting in my office that I can look at every day.

My Office - Day 5

My friend and co-worker, Tammy, gave us all little stuffed animals. They used to belong to her kids and she was downsizing a bit...she gave me Terk!  Tarzan is one of my favorite Disney movies so Terk was a perfect choice for me (voice in the Disney film by Rosie O'Donnell).

Tammy still works at our company but is in a different division (movin' on up!) and so I don't see her as often as I'd like but whenever I look at Terk sitting on my shelf, it reminds me of Tammy and her wonderful sense of humor!

My Office - Day 4

I am not a coffee drinker but I love hot tea

I have a couple of mugs and get a lot of joy drinking out of them.

One of them is my Little Red Riding Hood Mug - so cute!!  The Big Bad Wolf is holding a red umbrella over her head and the umbrella is removable and is actually a lid to help keep your tea warm while you are not sipping it.  This is great for a busy office worker, trust me!

The other mug is a more recent purchase.  My favorite show is Grey's Anatomy.  I have watched it from Day 1 and will watch it until the very end - I still love it ! It is one of the shows that I look forward to each and every week.  The fictional hospital in the show is called Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.

Here is what the back of the Red Riding Hood mug looks like.  Super duper cute, right? (Note, it includes the strainer inside)

I think I paid $6.99 for this mug and I recently looked it up and it is going for $3,000!!!  Wow! Guess I made a good investment in this little mug, huh?

My Office - Day 3

I have a couple of pieces of art in my office and I love them both (otherwise I would have them, right?)

The first one has a kind of funny story to it.  About 20 years ago, my sister started working at a new company and in their office space, was this painting.  It is hand painted but someone named "Hill"

I believe it was there when they moved into the office space and no one at her company liked it AT ALL...they disliked it so much they put it in an empty office and it was just propped up on the floor against a wall (turned facing the wall). 

When I went to see my sister's new office, she was giving me the tour and I saw this and picked it up.  I said "Why is this beautiful painting sitting here - it should be hanging up for all to see".  She said "You LIKE that?"  I said "Yes", she said "Well, you can have it!!"

I was thrilled!  I guess beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.  I loved the colors and the scene - it makes me feel like I am in Greece or Italy walking along the edge of the Mediterranean Sea.

I promptly took it to work and hung it up (in my former office) and when I moved to my current job, it came with me.  I love looking at it...it is calming and pretty and whoever painted it is very talented (at least in my eyes).  I wish I knew who it was so I could tell them how much joy their painting has brought to me over the years.

(Just so you know, in general, I love paintings/pictures with boats)

The other piece of art is very special to me because a former co-worker painted it for me.  He is quiet talented and gave some of his original paintings to a few select co-workers and we are all lucky to have them (he has since retired - good for him!)

Most of his paintings are of mountains, forests and streams - but mine is the only one that is a bit different from his usual style.  He knew, from my other painting (above) that I like the water...so he painted this beautiful stormy lighthouse for me.  Whenever I look at it, I think of the time and love he put in this painting and of course, I think of him.

I added the frame myself.  I think the art is beautiful.

My Office - Day 2

Around my workplace, most of the guest chairs in all the offices are the same (because the previous boss liked consistency) - Generally, I am the same and like consistency.  However, there is one thing that is different in my office from the others...my guest chairs.

There are a couple of reasons for this.

1) I like these chairs a lot...they are just the right size - my feet touch the floor perfectly, the width is comfortable and the back is high and supportive.

2) They remind me of my former boss (CFO).

My former Chief Finance Officer was a great guy, he felt like a brother to me and I just thought the world of him.  He used to be the Budget Manager but was  promoted when his predecessor left to go to another agency.

Eventually, he decided to make the office his own and got some new furniture. He asked if I wanted the guest chairs that were in his office and of course I said yes!  They are beautiful and comfortable and they remind me of him.

When we all got new (consistent) guest chairs, I asked to keep these and was able to....whenever I look at them, I think of my former CFO and my friend (who has since moved on to other things) and it makes me smile.

I miss him a lot but I still have a memento to remind me of him.

Blog Series - My Office

I spend a great deal of time in my office - as I am sure most office people do.  It believe, in general, people that work full time, spend more waking hours at work than they do at home.

So...I decided to start a little blog series called..."My Office"

Each day I will post about something in my office - basically what makes my office special to me.

Here is a wide shot of my office just so you get the idea of it.  Before I got this desk, I had my old desk turned the other way with my back to the window.  When I got this new furniture about a year or so ago, my friend/co-worker helped me re-arrange it so it would look the best, provide the most space and allow me to look out the window AND see the door of my office.  I like this set up.

Come back each day for a little peek inside for the week or two for a little peek inside.

Note: I am on the 14th floor, but technically it is the 13th floor since our office doesn't have a "Floor 13" as most office buildings do not. My office overlooks the parking lot but I am near a small airport so I also see planes coming in all day.

If can also see the King & Queen Buildings from my office window.

(click to enlarge photo)