Hubris!

Forgive me while I take a moment to step away from the thrilling writing about nodes and Access Grids in which I am currently immersed for work reasons. I need to rant creatively. Actually, I simply have gossip to share.
You may have read the June 30th blog entitled, "Gasp!" Well, this is the rest of the story - so far. The two individuals at the top of the decision to arrest the retiring administrator are now themselves retiring. The CFO and the guy over Public Safety are being allegedly forced out due to their less than wise decision to make a public spectacle over a private embarrassment. The CFO was thought to be untouchable. Now, thanks to hubris, he is gone. What this means for the reorganization of this fine institution? I can only speculate (probably in a later blog that I will entitle "Musical Chairs"). I do know that someone out there knows exactly how it will play out. He is keeping it mum.

I Could Cry But I Am Too Busy Laughing

I should be working on slides for the upcoming event we have planned here. Instead, I am taking some time to rant about stupid people. ARGH!!!!!!! There. Now I feel better. I think I have to admit to being stupid in that I grossly underestimated the stupidity of others. That is my bad. I never should have confused you by including in a different font the contents of the phishing attempt that was circulating. However, I thought it was clear with the use of bold and dramatic red coloring that this was indeed the fraudulent message that should be looked out for - not responded to. I was wrong. You do not read and comprehend the words.

I have been fortunate to have more than one example of gross stupidity. Friday morning many of my colleagues and I were delighted to read the "retirement" letter from a dumb ass. Now, I am including the letter w/ minor edits to protect the innocent and the delirious. Please DO NOT get confused and think that I wrote this! I am including this separate letter not written by me only for educational purposes. I am not announcing my displeasure or retirement - merely including the letter someone else wrote.

HERE is where the other person's text begins:
______________________________________________________________________________

August 6, 2009

Ladies and germs,

For all intents and purposes, on August 17th 2009 I shall be considered officially “retired” with my 10 years+ of state service. Notice that it is “retired” and not “resigned” as I am not quitting I am leaving for better opportunities as this one has long run out. After starting 10+ years ago (and in reality, 15 years ago) as a temporary student worker it’s been the proverbial ‘long and winding road’ to get to this point but it’s time to do something with my life that rewards my unique skills and efforts a little more than just being "the" lowest paid employee in the NOC after the past 5 years here at XXX specifically. Obviously hard work, assuming (implied) future responsibility and general honesty are not recipes for success here. I want to specifically thank XXXXXX for being a type who doesn’t keep his words and apparently has rampant memory losses when it comes to things he says he’ll do or when I personally get “framed” irrationally for making work related mistakes that upper management themselves created on at least 3 separate occasions he has no “previous instance experience of and/or recollection skills” to apply to repeated situations thereafter. As the end user of that for a good 2-3 years, I can’t tell you how frustrating it was to repeat the same bogus scenario many times over with the same nonproductive outcome. No growth, no common ground, no attempts at making real peace or solving problems. I felt like the adult dealing with toddlers, but having to wear the diaper. Fact is, on all of those 3 specific occasions to railroad me you were WRONG and I was RIGHT again so I guess the truth does sort of lend itself a hand sometimes. Each time and again, just DUMB and DUMBER on your part. Probably a product of an absentee landlord work ethic. The “I have no idea what’s going on cause I’m never here” approach that you always used as your argument trump card is really lame in retrospect. You’re the director, its your JOB TO KNOW. Not a lot of brainstorming needed to figure out what’s really going on there with a 3 person mismanagement crew that can’t get it right the 3rd time either. Just remember that much of what you accomplished and maybe you will have learned something after all. You’ve definitely given me great examples of what not to follow, each of you uniquely, as I would never allow myself as you have to be negligent or abusive in my professional duty in the management of others in which YOU get paid very well to (not) do on the fat taxpayer dime. “We” aren’t getting our money’s worth, obviously. Some of the managers here aren’t even fit to run the local McDonald’s. I know, because I worked at McDonald’s for the first two years of my working life. Overall, better management skills found at a McDonald’s in my opinion. I do know this much, a manager that can’t solve office disputes with 2 other managers around and only one employee (me) to manage using simple communication and follow through should be working the fry machine somewhere. As it sits in that way, we have to hold hope that the people are real hungry for fries. Anyway back to the point at hand, as I don’t want to waste any more time being reasonably nice about it. I am now reenrolled full time at Southeastern and start back on Aug. 20th towards my Psych degree, which is something that I am genuinely interested in and have been for a while now. I am sure I can draw upon my many colorful dealings with corporate mismanagement figures in the future of my field work study somehow. Either way, I’m just excited to finally be moving on and leaving this nonsense behind me where it belongs. *flush* It’s a great feeling that I’ve waited too long to know again. I have many side projects and aspirations that have been on hold for a while now that I will also finally be getting kicked off, just like I said they would over a year ago. As respectable men keep their words true, disrespectable ones do not. (ahem) In closing, there is no doubt that I have nothing but kind thoughts and words for some of you that I'll miss here but for the rest of yas I do bid adieu and bons débarras!

(please excuse my ‘French’)

Dumbass McDumber
IT bottom rung placeholder 3

_______________________________________________________________
HERE is where the letter ends!!!!!


Now I am back writing - me - Sadie. I did not write the letter that is clearly blocked off and in italics. I AM writing this now. I know. It is confusing.

The point of this exercise is to share with you, gentle reader, this tale of stupidity and let you read a poorly written career-stomping letter of resignation. Don't do what Dumbass McDumber did. If you do not like your job, simply go and get a better one. If you feel that you must spill your guts publicly, get someone to proof-read. There is nothing worse than a gut-spilling filled with poor sentence structure and verbs that don't match the nouns.

Priorities

Football is king at our school. This is followed closely by basketball and baseball. We are an SEC school and we value our athletics program. Since if you google the institution or search YouTube for material about the school, you will find football and then some other sports-related material en masse, it makes sense that you would align university relations with Athletics. Obviously they have been doing something right in terms of marketing. It is sort of the "if we can't beat them, let's join them" mentality. If people are going to say we are a football school (and they always have but we are no longer a top 20 party school) then let's give up on pretending any differently. Athletics is a key part of the university experience so now we have a vice chancellor for athletics. That means that we are being honest in our priorities. Well, actually we would make the football coach our chancellor if we were being truly honest - but he wouldn't like the pay cut.

EQ

A few weeks ago I participated in a three day seminar on Emotional Intelligence. I took a test and my results demonstrate that I have room to grow emotionally. Fortunately I already knew that. I also feel quite strongly that the value of EQ cannot be easily dismissed. Sure part of me has the same reaction as many of you - what are we going to talk about our feelings, hold hands and sing? However the other part of me - the more emotionally grounded and mature side (the side I keep very well hidden)recognizes that being emotionally savvy is what leads to success. Many of you wonder what we talked about over three days. Mostly we talked about you. Actually we discussed the ill effects of toxic people on work environments, understanding the role that emotional baggage plays in communication, and opportunities for individuals to grow and become more savvy in their communications. For instance, it is not a good idea to treat a complete idiot like you think they are a complete idiot. Sure they are dumber than dirt and it pisses you off that you have to deal with them. However dumb people don't like to be reminded of their failures. Really they should be admired. They have gotten by on shear luck and their ability to convincingly deflect their inadequacies. The dumber someone is, the nicer your tone should be (not condescending and keep all frustration out of your voice). What keeps people from succeeding is not a lack of talent or smarts - its their inability to properly filter what they say and play nicely with others. Certainly I am infamous for some of the truths that fly out of my mouth. I had to learn that there is a time and a place. My filter is firmly in place at meetings with external folks. In fact I seem like a totally different person (to me at least). Packets of my wisdom only pop out when I want them to for strategic reasons - that is a function of EQ.

Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before

I have very few fears in life... rats, blinding poverty, rats, and winding up like a few other women that I know (did I say rats?). I've been to therapy so I no longer fear becoming my mother. I am way too much like my father for that to happen anyway. And I am working to not grow up to be quite so him. There are a few women in the office that I am like, "please god, strike me down with an anvil immediately" if I become like them. They are the busybody, the spazz, and the lost one. I take care of myself (okay, my roots are getting scary) for the most part and I am trying to live a healthy, happy life so hopefully I won't end up like the spazz. You should not be able to smell me coming and want to gag. I shouldn't become the lost one. My mind is wonderfully intact. Yes, I admit I have my retarded moments (I could not find bubble breaker on my new device because I forgot to look under games) but they are generally cute, right? Its the busybody that I mostly fear becoming. You know the one that likes to impose rules and enforce them like a 2nd grade teacher? See, I have the inclination to get into everyone's business and provide valuable but unsolicited advice. I need to not do that so often, I think. I like some rules, but I don't like stupid rules. Why for instance does the "fire door" downstairs have to be closed and locked? I'm pretty sure that "closed" would suffice per fire codes. But I am not the keeper of these rules and regulations. Instead, I get to complain about them. And while I know that the same people leave gross stuff in the fridge for months at a time - I am not out to "get them" for breaking rules. I just think they are dirty and gross. I have no need to share my findings. I like knowing. Its my secret and their shame. So as long as I keep stuff to myself, complain and don't enforce - I should be safe. Right?
PS... roots will be gone on Saturday.

Yes, I have a problem with that

I do not like getting needlessly confrontational emails especially ones that are broadcast to the entire organization. It pisses me off for an entire week. So a certain gentleman decided to get serious about our need to recycle. We have apparently not been doing this properly. Fine, send out a friendly reminder about the process for recycling. Do not threaten to "take names" - I'm like, so? Oooh... I am going to get into trouble if I throw away a box instead of flattening it and placing it in the recycling bin. What exactly are you planning to do with this list of names? Tattle? To whom? What supervisor is going to deny a promotion or lay off someone because they failed to properly recycle a box? Should I expect this as part of my regular employment review? Am I going to get a talking to? Do I care? If it is from you... well I have the finger ready. Perhaps there will be a shame list placed on the lunchroom's bulletin board? Again, big deal. I am now likely to not recycle simply to see what you will do. I dislike being threatened. It gets my hackles up and unleashes the petty 16 year old rebel inside me. And she can cause a lot of grief. Fortunately the ability to send out threatening broadcasts can be taken away......Like how I end it in a threat? Doesn't feel good, does it?

A poem? Ode to the puddle

Oh mystery puddle
how do you do?
Did someone's inability
to aim make you, you?
I don't understand how
you came to be
Between the door and the seat
is nowhere to pee.
And yet there you sit
taunting all around
But you're still better
than shit right there on the ground