overworked, overwhelmed and underpaid

comic from: http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/

The past week at the new job has been exceptionally trying and exhausting. I have been thrown into the pit to so to speak and have been extremely overwhelmed. I don't have a problem working with the patients, I just am still not familiar with exactly what tests to do when and things like that. They are teaching us stuff but everyone does things differently and certain docs prefer certain forms/tests/ways of stating things. I really feel like Peterman from Office Space. I have found that the technicians that work alongside me do all the work and basically bring in all the money, but we don't get jack in return. We have those stupid morale/teamwork building meetings too. BOOOORRRIIINNNGGG. We even have our own Lumberg except there are two of them. Chris and Barbara. One is the gum nazi and the other is just a bitch. Neither of them works "the floor" or deals with patients. They are basically paper shufflers. They both work upstairs, wear suits, have nice offices and drive nice cars. They are the ones making all the money that should be ours. I found out yesterday that we have to stay late 3 times a month and have to come in EARLY too. Come on folks, I have to get up at 5:30 just to get there by 8. I seriously doubt I can get up much earlier and keep my sanity. Conversely, I get home at 6 even though I get off work at 5. Just what I want is to stay another hour at work!!! The pay seems virtually non existent once I fill my gas tank. I haven't made this kind of pay in over 10 years. I also didn't have nearly the workload, commute or stress. I think I am going to continue looking for jobs elsewhere. One of the new girls that started the same day as me shared some interesting news. Apparently "the test" to move up one notch on the ladder, will max out our pay at 12.50 an hour. Again, really not a lot of pay for all that the responsibilities and drama. She and I both had been at jobs that paid quite a bit more than now and we both are making commutes of at least an hour. It is funny how when I interviewed they made the job sound so much better. Enough griping about work...it is the weekend.

Back to the toe-lio, The bruising has oddly migrated to other areas of the foot through the week. After a full week on my feet, yesterday morning I noticed that toe was itching. I took off my sock and was shocked to realize it had swollen and looked like a vienna sausage. I vowed to stay off it as much as possible and keep it iced all weekend. Of course my new health insurance policy won't kick in until I am "off my probationary period" at work, which could be up to 90 days depending on how they think I am doing. Unfortunately because of this, I can't go to the doctor and have it looked at. I was supposed to go watch the Bama game today at a friends house but backed out to spend time with my foot up.

I even attempted to do some exercising this afternoon and realized how bad I am out of shape YET AGAIN. I am now only able to workout 3 days a week and with toe issue it makes it more difficult and I can only do pilates in the floor. I guess I will go back to being a lard ass.

On the crafty side, I haven't made much of anything lately. I did make a pair of earrings the other day to wear to work, but I have been so tired after work I have just want to eat and go to bed when I get home. I am contemplating pulling out some crochet yarn and get to hooking. :)

I noticed this morning that "little" Disco (aka Gigantor) grew overnight! We were weighing her on our bathroom scale. The last time we weighed her (with SH holding her in his arms), the scale wouldn't register. I assume it topped out. At last weight, she was 80 lbs. She is only 8 months and I think she will go through one more growth spurt. I can only imagine what the rest of her litter weigh since she was the runt.

Rant rant rant rant

I have been fuming about this all day, so I will rant a bit about the parking situation at my part time job and the general issues I have with this place that I want to expose. I wish there was a way to get this information out where there would be ramifications for the university, but that will never happen. It would get covered up somehow.

I returned to work in the Archaeology Department at a local university (Troy University at Troy to be exact). They have been doing everything in their power to become a major player in football over the past few years. This spring, they built 4 new dorms on campus and moved our department to another building so they could have our old building for some other random purpose (that is a completely different rant). Well since the school has been expanding, they have increased student enrollment. What they have failed to do is increase parking to accommodate these new students. I heard through the grapevine that the university sold twice as many parking permits as they have available parking spots. As a result, students are parking in our assigned faculty spots, the grass and even right in the middle of the freaking road! On the first day of school, SH and I were on our way in to campus and saw a tow truck towing away several cars that had parked in the road. Not on the curb but in THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!! I understand parking is at a premium, but what makes you decide to just stop where you are and park?!?! Anyway, this morning SH and I drove around for 30 minutes looking for a parking spot. He finally dropped me off at our building so I could go ahead and go inside. I was LIVID. It so pisses me off that the place is only interested in how they are viewed by outsiders. They don't give a rats ass how their faculty is treated, or the conditions in several of the buildings. The commercials for the school make me want to blow chunks. I have been told over the years that some of the practice fields that are used by the band and the intermural sports teams are basically made of sod on top of barrels of toxic waste from the lead plant nearby. I have also been told that Troy has an extremely high lead content in the city water (we never drink water straight from the tap 'round here). I have also been told that the building we were moved from contained asbestos. If you were to ask someone in a high position about this matter, it would be denied. One of our maids was so concerned about it she went so far as to take a sample and have it tested at her cost. Guess what, ASBESTOS!!! SH and I worked in that building for years. The repairs that we asked to be fixed were never done, the handicapped doors worked 15% of the time, you could see sky through the brand new roof, AND we didn't have a working bathroom. All we had was "the dungeon" which was never cleaned and looked like a bathroom from a horror movie. We were the department time forgot. But in the meantime, there was a brand new shiny football stadium going up across the road. There were new wrought iron signs put up at all the buildings, the quad was completely renovated and several of the buildings were refaced, but we couldn't take a pee in a clean facility. Now, during this move of our department, we were split so that our wet lab would be located off campus (in a building almost as crummy as the one we just left). This presented yet another challenge since we previously had access to all our equipment for the field as well as laboratory. We now have to schlepp stuff from one place to another and each place isn't very well equipped for our needs. Imagine that! This location off campus is a mixture of offices and two what look like airport hangers. This is where they put all the "trash" from the university like marble gateways, surplus and other stuff. SH told me that another employee at that location was told that her office area used to have a mold problem. You know how the university fixed it? Well they just covered it up with sheetrock and slapped a new coat of paint on it. Problem solved! The things that go on here just chap my hide and I am so glad that I will be leaving it for good soon. SH is still looking for a different job so hopefully my little family will soon be clear of this place forever.