9780195783292

9780636071827 9781415400241 9780521694537 9781919769462

Translation: I don’t think I can see another 13 digit ISBN number. I have done pages and pages of quotes, with pages and pages of 13 digit ISBN numbers. It’s all I can think about. I don’t even have to look at the keyboard anymore. My fingers just automatically know where to go.

*Gnome wonders if this newly acquired skill might become her claim to fame somewhere in the future… “Gnome holds the Guiness World Record for the longest list of 13 digit ISBN numbers correctly typed, without looking at the keyboard”… *

So we’ve been thinking about what to do for our office Christmas Party. It’s always such an issue. You need to do something that will please everyone. Some people want to get together with our colleagues from Durban for a braai. Others just want to have a quiet dinner. Others don't care, but just want to drink. Others think that we should do something fun and exciting – eating together seems like a rather boring endeavor to them.

And this with only 6 of us in the office. What do big companies do? Somebody probably just makes an executive decision.

I don’t particularly mind what we do for the office Christmas Party, I just hope that I will find someone to have a decent chat with. Not that I don’t get on with my colleagues, but that’s really all they are to me: colleagues. We work together and that’s about it. I’m not sure how to handle “social interactions” with them… I guess I’ll have to worry about that when the time comes.

That’s my trial philosophy for the week (still seeing if it works…). “Worry about it when the time comes”. Turns out there’s quite a lot to be concerned about at the moment. We’ve been planning our January 2008 holiday for months now (it’s our 1 year wedding anniversary, and a friend’s wedding). We’re heading to the Garden Route. We’ve booked accommodation (paid a deposit and all), saved up diligently every month, and are seriously looking forward to our first real holiday together.

But now it seems that January is out for taking time off. It’s the busy season. Plus the shop might close in December, for which our carefully saved up holiday days will be sacrificed. Seems like there’s not much choice in the matter. I’m not sure why I’m so calm… I pleaded with my manager who said she will see what she can do. I have decided that I will take unpaid leave if necessary. Come hell or high water, we are going on holiday. And it’s gonna be the best holiday ever.

So yesterday I was watching some of the survivors of the military disaster speak out. A lady who had lost her arm was being visited by a senior officer. She asked him what had gone wrong. When he didn't have an answer, she said (a bit in despair): "Look, I have lost my arm!" With a cold expression, and a shrug of the shoulders he said: "That’s the nature of our job."
How do you say that to someone who has lost their arm…!?!?

My mother-in-law is visiting at the moment. Contrary to usual monster, uh, mother-in-laws, mine is just wonderful. And she doesn't mind doing the dishes. And she is a marvellous cook. And she loves buying me earrings. And she raised a wonderful son.

All in a day's work

So one of the big bosses was here for the past few days. I've quite enjoyed it - all of a sudden everyone was keen to work for a change. We all managed to find something to do for 3 days and somehow feign a stringent work ethic. Now it's back to slacking. Oh and we heard that Facebook activity gets monitored by the company, and if you're on it too long you get a letter of warning... No skin off my back really. I'm on Facebook maybe 5 minutes of every day. But I guess with my luck it'll be exactly the 5 minutes they monitor me...

As long as they don't catch me for blogging too much.

For some strange reason the big boss has taken a liking to me. Maybe because I help out his Direct Sales Consultant a lot - I process her orders, invoice out her client's books, check if her orders have come in etc. He kept saying to me how much potential I have, and that I shouldn't be here, I should be looking for greener pastures etc. Now, don't get me wrong, I really appreciate that he said that - it's nice to know that my potential is something tangible for others, but at the same time I feel like people just don't understand. I have chosen this road (as much as I have denied it in the past, this was a choice), and I really don't see the point in starting something new when we are moving away from PMB early next year anyway - I think it'll just look bad on my CV - chopping and changing companies every few months. Plus I think I am actually happy at the moment. Yah - probably in a bit of a comfort zone, but I do have a plan. I don't think I am being unfair to myself and my potential by being here right now. It IS teaching me something. I think I just get a little uptight when people don't seem to respect that.

Anyway.

We got a letter today from a guy in Ghana. He was applying for a job. It was really quite sweet. He had quite a broken English, and a rather crude handwriting. He claimed to have enclosed "testi monials" and school grades, but there was nothing. What was really hilarious, though, was that he had written this letter on July 1 2007, responding to an advert for a post at the shop dating back to 26 February 2006... I know this is Africa people, but damn. This gives a new meaning to "African Time". Does he really think the post will still be available after a year and a half?!? Even though we had a good laugh at this bloke, I did feel a little sorry for him. He did seem quite desperate...

All in a day's work I guess.

Job irritation

Why is it ALWAYS that when you do something brilliantly for months you NEVER hear any praise, but as soon as you make a single little mistake you are reprimanded? I think I do a brilliant job with the cash ups every day, I have NEVER made a mistake. For 6 months now. And today I get an email reprimanding me for one little error.
Isn't there something in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act against this sort of thing?!

I'm not sure if people think that we get a share of the company's profit or something, but ever so often we get people accusing us personally of the ridiculously high prices.
"Why do you charge so much?"
"You should give poor students a discount, you make so much money already."
It's note ME dude, I just work here. And definitely don't make money. In fact, I probably earn less than your parents give you every month.
Next time I am going to say:
"If you're concerned about the cost of education, try the cost of ignorance."

Performance appraisals

Don’t you hate rating yourself? It’s performance appraisal time again. We have this system where you have to rate yourself for the different tasks you do. In itself not so bad. But what’s really crap is that your manager rates you too, and I find it pretty embarrassing when she rates me less than I rate myself! I am always so careful that I don’t give myself more than I think I deserve, but obviously not careful enough… This time around I at least know what to expect, and I definitely think I have improved since the last rating.

Do you have performance appraisals at work? How do they work and do you love/hate them?

Fuming

I guess I should have expected a curve ball. It's come in the form of another stock take.

What?

Yip. You read right. We did a MAJOR stock take just 2 weeks ago (1 September). But now our company was sold to someone else, and we have to do another stock take. Not even sure why. They're not even telling us. This means we have to do the whole spiel again. Pre-count (TEDIOUS to say the least), scanning every single item in the store, and then checking for variances. This takes a whole day. In itself it is just ridiculous to do another stock take when one was done just mere weeks previously.

What really gets my goat is that the stock take falls directly during the time that my mom, sister and aunt (from Germany!) are visiting. This is the first "holiday" (it's not even that, just a few days off with work in between) that I have taken this whole year. The Saturday in question is the day that my family is leaving and rightfully my off Saturday. I have taken the Friday off and was hoping for a long weekend (I nearly had that Friday taken from me this morning, but I refused). I can't even spend the last few hours with them and drive to Durban to see them off.

No one here seems to understand why I'm so upset. I'm not sure I understand it myself. I think it's just that I feel a bit violated. I will be working all but one Saturday in September. That's 4 Saturdays instead of 2. This stock take has just been thrust on us. No one cares if your family that you haven't seen in ages is visiting. No one gives a damn about your feelings. I am powerless to stop this.

I HATE feeling powerless. When I feel powerless I always have to do something that helps me take my power back - like cleaning the house (guess what I did last night...) - I have power over what it looks like - or blogging - I can say what I like - rant on and on about how I am just one of a lot of employees that are pawns for the rich (helping them get richer).

Sigh.

Wow. I really do feel better.

Mixed post attempt #2

This is the 6th time I am attempting to start this post. 2 of my colleagues are engaged in an in-depth discussion in Zulu. It sounds really fun - they're laughing. It's cloudy and miserable outside, all students have left for the weekend.

My crazy colleague (N) has just invited me to a mega party at a stadium this weekend. But alas, my party days are over. There just seems to be no need for these things when you're married. Or maybe I'm just getting old...

Had a wonderful dinner with friends last night. We had the most scrumptuous curry while sipping wine and talking (mostly) crap. I've noticed that in our (and our friends') relationships, the men do most of the cooking. They seem to enjoy it more than the women! It's great. Is this how it is nowadays or is it just us?

I'm having another one of those delicious German cappuccinos. And a rusk. Even though I just had lunch. My emotions have really been a little extreme today. It freaks me out. A little thing can set me off, and then once I've lashed out I can't understand or remember how or why it was so upsetting in the first place. And then I get upset because I freaked out about nothing. At this point my husband is looking at me as if I'm from Venus (and he's from Mars), and then I just wish that the whole situation will just go away like a bad dream.

Aaah. The joys of PMS.

I realised something weird this morning. When I have to get up early in the morning (weekdays) I am always so tired and reluctant to get up. But when I don't have to get up early in the morning, I wake up early and am not tired. Huh?!

I'm actually glad that Dezi is finally gone from 7de Laan now - it was really dragging on and on and on and she was giving (miserable) Jan-Hendrik false hope. And what is up with Livia (Isabelle - whatever her name is) not telling Ryno that she got her memory back etc. I mean DUH. Listen to (motherly) Karien dammit. I HATE it when people in soaps don't tell the truth.

STILL haven't watched Bourne Supremacy. Hubby and friends really want to watch Bourne Ultimatum, but I refuse to go until I watch the 2nd one.

Enough RAMBLING!!

I'm off to have a great weekend. Hope you do too... :-)

Close call

So I had a close call with the colleague in question (the one I always complain about). I was busy trying to formulate a fax and was having trouble with the wording. So the colleague in question said:
"Well, if you have trouble with it, then no-one can help you."
(I took that as a compliment for my writing skills but was a little worried... How does he know how I write...?)
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Well, you forget. I have read your..." (He hesitates.)
(I panic!! He's read my blog! Oh crap. He knows exactly what I say about him! GULP)
"...Your weekly minutes for our meetings."

WHEW.

(Note to self: STOP writing about irritating colleague in case he one day stumbles onto my blog)

I'm back (for today anyway)

WOAH! What a week! It's been really hectic here. People have even been saying to me:
"You guys must be really busy because you haven't blogged in a while..."

Even though it's been so tiring at work, it is rather nice to have a forced blogging holiday once in a while. It allows for you to clear your mind, to come up with fresh ideas, and allow life to just happen to you for a little while. There is a sort of pressure involved in blogging - long after it's become a habit, it becomes somewhat of a necessity. You have people counting on you now! But luckily during these days I have realised that it doesn't feel that bad not to blog for a day or two. It's even somewhat... freeing. It's like when I realised that I could actually stand the feeling of hunger, and that I didn't need to eat all the time (this might sound weird to some, but I think I once had a "fear" - if I can call it that - of feeling hungry).

I realised this past week how important friends are to me. Even though (if I had to classify myself) I would put myself more into the "introvert" category, I am by no means a loner. The last six weeks have been university holidays, and the absence of friends and acquaintances was really beginning to take its toll on me. It surprised me how much an evening with friends can perk me up.

This post seems a little... disjointed. Probably cause I have so many thoughts in my head about what's happened in the past week and am now trying to fit it all into one post.

Whew.

Exhausted

I'm starting to wonder how I managed to survive the first 2 months in this job. I'm really taking strain at the moment! If I'm not doing the banking or getting change or fixing the float, I'm writing minutes for our meetings, or answering phonecalls or answering queries for accounts or giving books prices to demanding students... Whew.

Students are strange creatures. I know - I have been one. The majority of them are financially challenged. The first few days of the semester students stream in here looking for prices. By the end of the day I know the most popular titles' prices off by heart already. One surprised and seemingly impressed student asked me today (after I had given him 4 prices off the top of my head): "Do you know ALL the prices of ALL the books in the shop?!"

After students have enquired about the prices of the books they need, they trod off, contemplating whether to spend the money given to them by parents or bursaries on the "right things" (books) or the "wrong things" (junk food and booze). Some clearly need to soft soap their sponsors first. But inevitably, they have to come back (some complaining about how the books are more expensive than the course itself) to buy the books from us.

One good thing about students is that most of them do not want to be on campus after 15:00, giving us some well-deserved time to rest our tired legs...

Swamped

With the start of the second semester work is getting really hectic! This is the first time today I have had a few minutes to spare. This is (unfortunately) what it's going to be like for the next 2 weeks (if not a little longer). So please be patient if I don't write as often as I used to. Will write when I can!

I'm right

I'm not one of those people who needs to be right all the time. But I can't stand it when I KNOW I have said something and people contradict me outright. When we source books from another branch, there is always a courier fee involved. I make sure that I inform the customer of this, and get here consent. I remember a particular case where a customer was desperate for the book. I suggested us ordering the book directly from the publishers (which would take 2 weeks) but he said he needs it desperately. The only alternative is sourcing it from another branch. I told him about the courier fee and he said it was OK, he would pay anything as he needs the book urgently. I phoned 3 branches before I finally got lucky at a branch in Joburg.

So today he comes in and wants the book. When my colleague T wants to charge him the courier fee, he puts up a fight. T calls me and the customer says that I never told him about the courier fee. But now it's my word against his. I try to remind him, as politely as possible, how the situation played out, but he just won't hear it. In the end I give in and he doesn't have to pay extra. It's just so unfair though! I know what I said! I just don't have proof. And of course: the customer is always right.