Milwaukee or Bust!

Well, ladies and gentlefolk, I’m going to Milwaukee this week, and I’m super excited. I’m a little nervous simply because I’ve never visited a previous unvisited major city by myself, but I think those butterflies will pass. I’ve found out that I’ll get to have Friday afternoon, and all day Saturday to play around on my own (that means a trip to the zoo, and the art museum…and maybe a couple of other things if I’ve got the time and funds). My flight back home leaves early Sunday afternoon, so I’m not going to plan much for that day aside from packing and checking out.

Unfortunately, while I may be super excited, I’m also super stressed at work. I’m only going to be in my office for two and a half days this week…one of which has already passed (damn time). I’d normally be excited about the time out of the office as well, but with the work load I’m trying to handle right now I’ll probably go bonkers first. I told Loren (one of the two reps I’m contracted to) that I’m swamped right now and that my turn around time is going to be delayed signifcantly…and what does he do? He gives me even more ‘URGENT’ and ‘Due this afternoon’ items for attention. I’m still holding onto things that I was given back in June. They just keep falling to the bottom of the pile because they aren’t ‘URGENT.’ Then I feel like crap when he comes by and asks for status on one of the neglected projects. Granted, he’s never done this before, and he’s probably a bit out of his mind with his wife being obscenely pregnant with their second son (she’s due this Friday); however, it doesn’t change the fact that I feel like I can’t keep this up for much longer.

I guess that’s part of what all this home office training stüff is all about. The powers that be know that keeping me shackled to my desk for basic administrative work 35 of my 40 hours a week is not the best idea for me or for them. I’m much much better suited to a training intensive job, and that’s what they are working to create. This will be a very good thing for me, I’m sure. I just need to stick it out for the rest of the time I’m stuck doing what I’ve been doing. Now, all of this is not to say that I don’t like my job anymore. Oddly enough, I still do. I’m just much more stressed of late than I’ve been in the two years I’ve worked in this office. I’m supposed to be spending 30 hours per week working for Loren, 5 hours a week working for a new member of our office, Sean, and 5 hours a week being a trainer (for reps and administrative staff), student (of office related stuff), administrative staff for all of our office’s reps under 3 years, and general fount of knowledge.

That last chunk of duties are fortunately split with other staff members. Unfortunately, my departmental team has been doing a bunch of reorganizing and hiring. We just brought on two new ladies. One I’m going to love. The other, I already have started to loathe. Mandy is our newest addition. She’s a newly wed, a mother of a ten year old, a former gymnastics coach, and a general ball of sarcasm wrapped in a cute, innocent, little package. I can tell you now that she may well become a favorite coworker. Jennifer started about a week or two before Mandy. I’m about ready to strangle the ever-loving crap out of her. Every other comment is "Wow, that’s so intense!" I hate to disagree (who am I kidding??), but the company’s client database program is not intense. It is simply software with a lot of moving parts most of us don’t need to know how to operate. Studying for exams that you are not in a time crunch to take is not intense. It’s actually kind of nice. The fact that our office has spawned 14 weddings and 11 pregnancies/births in the two years I’ve worked here is not intense. It’s a little unnerving (and definitely makes me consider drinking bottled water instead of whatever those other folks have been drinking), and rather cool in its own way, but it isn’t intense. If you thought blondes had a bad name for being stupid already, you haven’t met Jennifer. Thankfully, I know I’m not the only one to react to her in this manner, so I feel a little justified in my high levels of impatience and annoyance.

*deep breath* Now that I’ve purged myself of all that ick, I think I’ll make my way to an early bedtime. MOrning comes early, and I’ve been having troubled sleeping for the past few days.

I hope all of you are doing well!