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The Saga About My Raise

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The short version is that last Friday, I was told that we would FINALLY discuss my raise/evaluation (which was technically due in November). As I predicted, they were too busy to get to me and other things got in the way—even after John said (around noon) “We haven’t forgotten about you. We will get to it this afternoon.” I know they’re busy, but to me, it sort of implies “We really don’t care that much and your raise isn’t important to us.”

The long version is really long—get ready.

So in the work world, you typically get a review and/or raise on your anniversary, right? You’d agree that’s commonplace? Okay, so on my one-year anniversary (which would be November 2005), nothing happens, nothing is said, no review, no raise, etc. Well, actually, John or Sue might have made some mention, but it was small (so much so that I obviously can’t remember), but I just thought/assumed that after the holidays Sue would get to it. Well, that is right about the time that things got crazy at Coldwell Banker and we were talking about moving and then we did move to the new office (March 2006). STILL nothing had been said about any raise—and we were already four months beyond my anniversary. I was ticked, to say the least. I mean, they kept telling me how great I was and how much they appreciated me—but they apparently couldn’t be bothered to give me a raise. (Now, I know they were busy—even crazy busy at times, especially with the opening of our own office—but you just don’t mess with someone’s raise.)

So one day while John and I were out shopping for the new office, it came up that I hadn’t received a raise. He was surprised, saying that he thought Sue had given me one back in November when it was due. Nope, nada, nothing. At that time, I made the comment that I sort of had an offer to go elsewhere (I hadn’t officially had an offer, but our good friend Roger had suggested that I might come work with him) but that they [John and Sue] had been good to me and I wanted to stay true to them. John appreciated me telling him that, and said he’d have a talk with Sue. A few days later I got that $2.50 raise. Since it was so much, I didn’t really feel I could complain about not having gotten it on/around my anniversary four months prior. (Of course, I still didn’t think it was what I was worth—but honestly, who ever does? 😉 ) But I was still thrilled with the raise.

Fast forward to November 2006, my second anniversary—technically only eight months since my last raise, but remember: my last raise was technically four months late. So, again, no review, no raise, no mention, nothing. Before I left on vacation, John did mention something about it, but of course nothing ever happened and then I was gone for three weeks. Upon my return, nothing was said FOR 2 WEEKS. Finally John brought it up or I mentioned it and he said he was “still working on her” because she feels that raises should now be based on WHEN WE OPENED THE NEW OFFICE, as opposed to WHEN I ACTUALLY STARTED. What the hell? He blathered on about how that’s just the way she thinks and she “just” gave me a raise in March! WHAT THE HELL? was my first thought. I mean, do they not remember that the March raise was technically the PREVIOUS NOVEMBER’S RAISE????? And he said…it’s easier for her to budget if the new girl and me are on the same schedule (which apparently means that the other girl will get her raise two months early, since she started two months after we opened) and something about tax-wise it’s easier and how she just has a hard time thinking about hourly wages because she’s so used to commission.

Needless to say I WAS PISSED. Now, I realize she doesn’t have to give me any raise at all, ever. But with how much they say they love me and how great I am and how they couldn’t live without me, you’d THINK they’d show a little more appreciation. John said something about “How would you feel about $12 an hour?” Yeah, great, that’s another $1.50/hour (a great raise in and of itself), but I think $12 is still SHIT for what I do for them. I joked that I could quit, charge them my regular fees for such things as design, website stuff, etc., and I’d be able to work half as much while making the same amount. They just DO NOT realize how much I do and how hard it would be to find someone who could COMPETENTLY do what I do if I ever left.

To add to this saga, whenever we get together with our friends, the conversation always ends up at real estate…and they ineveitably have to listen to me bitch. And as good friends, Roger (the agent I mentioned above) wants what’s best for me, so he is trying to help me get a raise—and he is the one who pointed out that since we left Coldwell Banker, we have TWICE as many listings (i.e. twice as much work for me)…meaning I should get a raise just for the fact that my workload has at least doubled. Add to that we now belong to three MLS boards (not just our local one) which means an additional 2x the amount of work on 2x the amount of listings as we used to have. The actual saga comes when I mentioned these facts to John, and happened to say that Roger was the one who actually pointed out that information out to me. Well, let’s just say there is NO love lost between the two…so right away, John thinks that Roger is trying to steal me away again and makes a comment to me [to the effect of] “I know how you play us against him.” WHAT? I did that once, and it was not really even playing one against the another—I was being honest and saying that someone else might offer to hire me and left it at that. (That said, I am not sure I could work for a friend—I mean, technically I could, but I would hate to chance ruining our friendship.)

So a week ago Friday I emailed everyone in the office to let them know I was going to be taking Thursday off (when Tom left). It was going to be unpaid, as I have no vacation left. (As a semi sidenote, Wendy and Jennie were completely AGHAST that Sue wasn’t going to give me the time off and I just shrugged it off—technically she doesn’t have to do anything, but I agreed it would have been a nice gesture.) So Wednesday afternoon, I think it was (maybe Tuesday), John emailed me to say that I could use my banked hours for Thursday and then have the remaining time off with pay…and that we’d talk about my raise Friday. Wow, I was completely surprised about the day off, and of course was geeked about my raise.

So, as mentioned earlier, Friday comes and goes with no raise. I did get a call at 8:30 that night (voicemail, actually!) saying “We just realized we forgot…we will do it Monday.” Again, making me feel extremely UNimportant.

And that’s the story.

As I was writing this post, it was 4:30 on Monday afternoon. I had actually written:

Stay tuned, I’m sure the meeting (whever it actually happens—it’s 4:30 today and it hasn’t happened yet) will be a doozy…

Then I got called into the office at about 4:35!

Long story short, I sat down, John basically said “How about $12 like we said?” and Sue said she did appreciate me, even though she doesn’t say it enough…and John agreed with her. We chatted a bit, and that was it! So I have a raise, effective immediately, and all future raises will be March 1.

Thursday is D-Day

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So the time is drawing near and although logically I know what’s coming Thursday, I still can’t really believe it. I’m not sure when it will finally hit home—when he’s packing the car, when I drop him off, when I get home to an empty house, my first night sleeping alone, the call in the middle of the night when we gets wherever he’s going, the first morning he’s not there when I wake up, the first day I don’t get a call from him at work (we typically talk at least twice a day, if not more often), the first time I have to do something around the house he normally does…okay, I have to stop, because I’m at work and I don’t want to start crying. 😥

This just sucks, period. 😥

Some people…and some people’s kids.

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I just don’t understand crappy parenting.

We just had a family come in the office with a small child—say, four years old. She was bothering the parents/agent, so we offered to take her back into the lunchroom where we turned on the TV so she could watch cartoons…and honestly didn’t think anything of it. Then we started to hear the trash can open and close. And open and close. Upon going back there, we discovered she was opening sugar packets and dumping them on the floor!! 88| She also helped herself to the bag of chip-clipped chips that were on the table, finishing the bag! 88| Another agent went back there and STERNLY told her to STOP with the sugar packets—and I think it was after that she moved to the chips.

What the hell? I mean, obviously the parents can’t know what she’s doing, but I’d hope that my kids would have the fear of God in them should they do anything wrong when out of my sight—and heaven help them if I found out they were acting that way.

So then the issue becomes, do you say something to the parents or not? We let it slide, but I really REALLY wanted to say something like “Your daughter may have spoiled her dinner since she polished off a bag of our chips back there. Oh, and she wasted about 20 packets of sugar by dumping them on the floor.”

I’m just flabbergasted.

Our Office Christmas Dinner

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Our Christmas dinner this year was at Port City Chop House—a premier steak house in neighboring Wilmington. I had actually been there once before, in 2004, for a Builder Appreciation dinner when Tom was deployed…and was eagerly anticipating returning with him. The food there is TO DIE FOR.

We started with a few bottles of wine and (I think) five appetizers, including two orders of Oysters Rockefeller, Baked Crab Dip, Sashimi Tuna, and a Crabmeat Cocktail. And more wine. And soups and salads (I had Fresh Mozzarella and Tomato). And more wine. I think everyone got some form of steak, and a few of us got Tide & Tundra, which included a Tristan lobster tail (I think the waiter said it was Australian), and it was the biggest lobster tail I have ever seen in my life!! I also got an Oscar accompaniment. And then we had more wine. And then four “desserts for two” including the Mile High Chocolate Suicide Cake, Colossal Carrot Cake, New York Style Cheesecake, and White Chocolate Créme Brulee. And more wine. 88| (At one point, I asked the waiter just how much wine they stocked, as we were on our [I think] fourth bottle of a particular Reisling and the waiter said they had one bottle left!)

Let’s just say the bill for our table of eight, with tip, was a hair over $800. We would go back by ourselves for dinner (chicken or pasta only) with no appetizers, drinks, or desserts!!

We had a great time, though—we exchanged our gifts and shared a lot of laughs. There are some pictures, too…but we won’t go there. Thankfully Jennie was our designated driver so the ride home was fairly uneventful (except when her husband gave Sue and John a bare moon doing 75 down the highway).

I hate going on vacation…

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…because at work, the weeks leading up to my vacation completely suck. I am steadily working on all my to-dos through January 1, but of course that isn’t good enough. Suddenly, about 30 listings come out of the woodwork. They’ve been on our “coming soon” list for three months and I’ve been asking about them for the past month—but now that my vacation is one measly week away, it’s time to list ALL of our coming soon houses. WHAT THE HELL?

There is really no way I can get all the listing paperwork done PLUS enter all the listings in the MLS in one week. Well, maybe if I didn’t have anything else to do like answer the phone or work on my other to-dos. The stupid thing is that if I was going to be here, I’m guessing I wouldn’t have all those to do—I’d get a few here and there but nowhere near 30 in one week. And it’s not like we don’t have any inventory right now, so these would be our only listings. And it’s not like this is a busy time of year. And it’s not like this vacation was a surprise—they’ve known about it for two months now…

So, in addition to having to complete three week’s worth of activities over the next week, I will also have a month’s worth of listings to do in the same week. Someone shoot me.

Oh! And on top of all that, a 20-minute what-should-have-been-a-painless project turned into a FOUR-HOUR project. 88|

You know, I wonder what they would do if I ever had to be gone spur-of-the-moment for that long? I think they would survive just fine…so why the rush with all this work?

Should I get paid more for the IT work I do?

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So as you all know, I just LOVE my job ( 😈 ). There are so many little issues that make me crazy, I won’t even begin to go into them all. That said, I just have a question.

I was hired as a real estate assistant/secretary. To me, that means things specifically associated with real estate like paperwork and phone calls, etc. To me, the pay I was told I’d get is for the work I was told about.

Well, as it happens, I also know a little bit about computers (such things as web design and email, etc.)…so of course, I quickly got sucked into doing those things, as well.

Now, I know that all jobs come with duties that weren’t explicitly stated … and new things pop up that need to be taken care of … and stuff along those lines. But it seems as time goes on, I’m becoming more and more responsible for anything computer- and IT-related. Just because I’m the one that knows the most—even if I have no clue, it becomes my job to figure it out/solve it.

So, where does it become the end of my initial job duties/being a peon and having to do everything the boss says…to getting paid more for doing stuff that really shouldn’t be my job or wasn’t in the original job description? Meaning that I was hired as a secretary, not a computer or IT person; I was hired with a secretary’s pay, not a computer or IT person’s pay. (I know I don’t deserve like $30k for computer/IT work, because that’s not my entire job—but some type of additional pay would be nice.)

I just think that she is lucky I know how to do this stuff, and I should see some sort of compensation for it. If I didn’t know how to do it (i.e. had my boss hired some yahoo who didn’t know how to do ANYTHING), she would have to hire someone else (at a much higher rate) to come do this stuff (as it is, she pays Tom $20/hour for networking stuff that I know nothing about).

So, do you think I should I get paid more for the IT work I do? Or should I just suck it up? Of course, I’m thinking about this now because I just had my two-year anniversary a week ago and haven’t heard ONE WORD about a raise. 😡

It’s going to be a loooooong day.

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Sorry, I have to bitch about my job/office again today. 😡

I am so sick of the arguments about the air/heat. Yesterday it was a gorgeous 70° outside but they had to turn the A/C on “because it was so stuffy in here.” Okay, neither of you had been in the office all day and everyone who WAS in the office had NO problem with the temp, so what the hell? Again, we got told “THE A/C ALWAYS STAYS ON! We can’t have our clients walking into a furnace.” Okay, what-ever. I personally don’t think 74° is a furnace, but what do I know—I’m only a peon who HAS to sit in the office all day. So I guess we can all freeze all day ON THE OFF CHANCE we have clients come in the office (and if we DID have clients that were not just running in and out, we’d turn it down!). And they complain when we prop the door open because all we have is a cement block and they don’t like how that looks. They’ve said a few times we can get something pretty to prop it open, but it never happens.

And this morning? There was a smell in the office, so their solution was to turn the A/C on to get rid of it. Huh? How about opening both doors and getting a cross breeze? GRRRRRRRRRR. (Did I mention it’s only 60° out?) So my boss asks if I’m cold and I say it’s a little chilly now that the air is on…thinking she might say “Oh, well then let’s turn it off” — HA! HAHA! — no, she tells me to open my blinds and let the sun in so I warm up!! OH MY GOD SHE DID NOT JUST SAY THAT!!  😯  I’ve only told them about five times that I cannot open the blinds in the morning because the bright sun shines right in my eyes and gives me a headache.

And on top of all this, my desk/chair situation is still bad and I am in pain. I am supposed to be getting a new/different desk but of course that hasn’t happened yet. (Long story, one of our agents is bringing in her own desk, which means I can get hers, but it has to be trimmed first to fit in my space and no one is making any moves to make that happen even though they were GUNG HO about telling me it was going to happen.) For the past few days, I’ve had my chair up higher so that my knees weren’t bent awkwardly and didn’t hurt, but then my wrist hurts because it’s too high for the mouse. So today I finally moved my seat down so my wrist didn’t hurt [as much]…but my knees are now scrunched and it feels like my ass is dragging on the ground. AND MY WRIST STILL HURTS!

And I have a headache, even with the blinds shut.

It’s going to be a looooooooong day.

Nope, my boss doesn’t care.

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So, this morning, as I was being blinded by the sun yet again (see October 11 entry), I said “We really need blinds for the front door!” My boss, who was standing behind me at the copier, asked why. I sat right in the line of fire (per se) and said “Because I get blinded every morning for about an hour. I cannot sit in front of my computer!”

She turned to see the sun in my eyes, laughed like “Oh, isn’t that funny” and suggested that I “move my desk so I’m facing the corner.”

Gee, thanks for your concern and your valid suggestion. 🙄

I hate sunshine in the morning.

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At work, that is, when I’m at my desk.

You see, the sun shines DIRECTLY in through the glass front door DIRECTLY into my eyes when I’m sitting where I normally should be. So, to avoid the BLINDING sun, I have to scrunch/lean to the left and throw my back out of whack.

Of course, my bosses don’t care about this at all since they don’t have to sit here and be thoroughly annoyed (or blinded) by it. Similarly, they also don’t seem to care that I have to have the blinds shut otherwise I have a headache after about an hour—I have a huge window right at my desk…which sounds nice, but it’s extremely bright and annoying. I’ve mentioned it time and again and have actually been told yes, something needs to be done (since they don’t like the blinds closed) but has anything happened?

I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

I am tired of my job.

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I know you all know I don’t like working, period. 😉 But this is different. At this point, almost two years in, I am really just tired of my job.

Just. Plain. Tired.

Tired of the same paperwork, the same forms, the same phone calls, the same questions, the same emails, the same faxes, the same irritations…in short, the same routine hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month. Mondays are the worst, of course, when things that shouldn’t bother me bother me MORE than they should and every request from anyone makes me want to scream.

I feel bad because I do like my boss and the work is easy…but I am just tired of it. I would love to do something new, but unless I can make more money, what’s the point? At least here I have a co-worker I can vent to, the office is close to home, and it’s a very casual atmosphere.

Tom’s horrible new work schedule!

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Tom’s work schedule has been horrible! This past week was the beginning of his 7-day work weeks—12 hours a day during the week and six hours on Saturday and Sunday. And what makes it worse? He has to be in by 5am! Which means he gets up around 3:30—3:45am. Which means he either takes a two-hour nap when he gets home OR he stays up and goes to bed around 8:30! On the weekends it means a 3-4 hour nap once he gets home—and then the day is practically gone. It really sucks. REALLY.

Hopefully he only has to do it for a month. I say hopefully because that’s the current schedule—but you all know how the USMC likes to change plans midstream (or just plain change their minds).

One good thing is that I think Tom told me a new guy is starting so that means everyone will get one day off a week…or maybe that’s my wishful spin on things and it’s really everyone will get one day off between now and the end of the time frame (mid-October). Yeah, that’s probably it. One day off between now and then. :'(

Dell can kiss my ass!

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We have a $50 Dell Gift Card that came with a previous purchase. It doesn’t expire for another eight months and is branded by AmEx. I tried to use it online last week to purchase an APC surge protector, but there was no place to enter a gift card—only coupons. I tried entering it as a coupon, but it said it was invalid.

So I tried the website listed on the card and the site isn’t there.

So I call the 800 “call to order” number and… the rep can’t use the card, either (he only has a coupon entry spot and he also gets the invalid error). He has NO idea what to do and suggests I call the other 800 # on the card.

So I call the ‘other’ American Express 800 Customer service number, explain what happened, and the rep says something to the effect of “you need to talk to Dell regarding this card, here is the sales number.” She doesn’t care I was just talking to them and they sent me to her.

So I call the Dell 800 # she gave me and am routed to sales, where I get another Dell rep that has no clue. She suggests I call back again to hopefully get a rep who will know how to deal with it! Of course, each call requires me to go through the phone number/name/address confirmation.

So I call again and…you guessed it, another Dell rep that has no clue about the gift card (“Are you sure it’s not a coupon?”). This rep suggests I need to talk to Dell’s customer service and NOT sales. She forwards me.

So now I’m waiting to talk to customer service and I’m very irritated at this point. And guess what? The customer service person says I need to talk to Sales. NOOOOOO! I told her “I’ve been with sales (home and business) multiple times and they are clueless and gave me to you!” Okay, she says, let me put you on hold and I will get a new number for you to call. Fine, whatever. Minutes later, she calls and gives me the number… to the AmEx customer service line that I called in the beginning!

How can NO ONE at Dell or American Express have any idea how to redeem a gift card?

On Monday, I decided to try my luck ordering online again. Imagine my surprise when there was now a spot to enter a gift card! Interestingly, there was apparently $100 credit on my “$50” gift card (my purchase was approximately $90, giving me a $10 remaining balance). Because this paid for the entire order, I did not have to enter a credit card.

When my boss received the confirmation email, it showed we had ordered THREE Back-UPS units for a total of $290 (although the gift card was still listed as the only payment). Of course, this was one of the only times I hadn’t printed out the final order confirmation screen… so I had to call Dell and they say “Why yes you ordered three” and I say “I did not” and I was told that since they hadn’t been invoiced yet (or wherever we actually are in the ordering/billing/shipping process), it was possible to alter the order. By the end of the call, the rep said it was too late to alter the order so we would be receiving three items and we should send back two. She gave me a case number and said she would call to check up on the items’ arrival and return.

I then learned that someone from Dell called my boss last night to say the shipping address didn’t match the billing address… Interesting, since we didn’t technically have/use/need a billing address due to the gift card. But even so, we’ve ordered from Dell multiple times with the same shipping/billing information, so why the problem now? Anyway, the rep said something to the effect of “You have ordered three items for a total of $290” and my boss said “No, we didn’t, plus we used a gift card.” He said “Do you want to use your preferred account for this?” No, we wanted to use the gift card. So he was clueless and was supposed to call back, which he never did.

Then we get an email saying that “While processing your order, we were unable to obtain credit card authorization from your bank or credit card company for this purchase.” Well, it wasn’t a credit card transaction, but I called the CC processing center to try and fix it. Of course, since it wasn’t a CC transaction, she transfers me to the gift card section. Of course, the gift card rep can’t help me (since I apparently have to redo the order, only ordering ONE unit), so she transfers me to sales—except somehow I can’t get sales or get put on hold and I hear this (after 10 minutes):

We’re sorry, we cannot continue to process your call. Goodbye.

Of course, each transfer requires me to go through the name/address/billing information. And when I called the regular 800 number back to get sales, I had to go through everything again. I told the rep I wanted to change the order to one unit. Fine. I want to use the gift card. Fine. Except that—are you ready?—he can’t get the gift card to work. He tells me he can place the order, but I will have to call the gift card people to get it working/figured out, and then I will have to call him back. And he tried to give me a case number.

At that point, I lost it. I told him to cancel the entire order and I would not be ordering.

Is it too much to ask that Dell teach their customer service reps how to use gift cards? Or to ask that reps could handle all issues, instead of being transferred eight times—and still not getting a resolution? What is the point of handing out Dell Valued Customer gift cards if it’s impossible to use them online and no one knows how to use them?

My boss (whom I was trying to order from) loves Dell, but after this experience, we will no longer be ordering from Dell. We certainly don’t feel like a valued customer after this experience.

Evil Lemonade

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Oh my god.

So we had some “diet” Tropicana lemonade in the work refrigerator. I was there when it was purchased, so I knew it was diet (i.e. low-carb) so I could drink it. We actually bought two kinds, including Minute Maid 2-liters, but the Tropicana is BY FAR the better of the two. So I’ve been drinking the Tropicana all along and today, just out of coincidence, I happened to set the bottle down with the nutritional information facing me and…27 carbs per serving. WTF??? WTF??? WTF???

Turns out another employee bought some more Tropicana that WASN’T diet—and didn’t mention it—so with one lemonade I’ve been drinking TWICE THE AMOUNT OF MY ENTIRE DAILY LIMIT of carbs!!! Yes, I should have paid more attention, but if that was all that was in there, why would I even think the bottles would suddenly be something else?

The girl who bought them said “I saw you drinking one the other day and I was going to ask you if you were still on the diet but didn’t want you to get mad.” I told her she definitely should have said something!!! So, it’s been one per day each day this week. That’s 54 carbs a day x 4 days… and my limit is 30/day.

This is soooooo disheartening…

Whew! Finally!

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Another entire day without the internet at work…it’s amazing how much we rely on computers! (And it’s amazing how little we can do around the office without the internet.)

Not only was our modem blown, but we discovered that the router was ruined with the power surge as well. Tom came in and reset everything (including buying the new router) and got us back up and running around 4pm. Then it was a mad rush to get some stuff done before the end of the day/the end of the week.

An entire workday without the internet.

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Wow, a whole day without the internet at work. THAT SUCKED. There was a cable outage in the area, and then we never got back online. After 45 minutes with tech support, they determined that it’s a bad ethernet port in the modem…and of course they couldn’t manage to get a replacement to us by the end of business. So, my coworker and I literally played computer games all day—everything we do in our office is internet-based so we couldn’t do anything but answer phones.

No matter what you may think, it’s hard to waste a day playing Freecell. Trust me.

Web design just sucks me in.

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Today at work, I was updating our website, and before I knew it, it was 5:30. Whoa! I am always out the door at 4:59—I totally couldn’t believe it when I looked up and it was 5:25 (I thought it was 4:25!).

Then after dinner I started working on a client’s site and before I know it, about two hours have passed.

I really should have gone to bed then, when Tom did, but I thought “I really want to mess around with my new site a bit” and one little project leads to another and I’m just gonna fix this one last thing and oh wait, I see something else I can change quick and before you know it, it’s 1:29am and I’m still up!

OH MY GOD! I am going to be dead tomorrow!!

Raising Temperatures

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Short Version

We fight over the temperature at the office. All the time.

Long Version

I think 72-74 is perfectly acceptable, but honestly, most times 72 seems too cold and I’m sitting there shivering because I’m so cold—and I can’t type because my fingers are too cold. But I swear, John would keep it at 68 if we’d let him. What gets me is that he and Sue are often out of the office for HOURS at a time, so why should we keep the office freezing the whole time they’re gone? So I usually end up turning it up a few degrees. And then John comes back and about 10-15 minutes later, he yells out “Why is it so damn hot in here?” Of course, the rest of us are comfortable.

So today, he left about 9:30 and about 10 or so, I bumped the thermostat up to 74. And it was still a little chilly, but tolerable. And the three of us in the office (the only ones all day!) were actually comfortable for one. I warned them to watch—when John got back into the office, he’d pitch a fit about it being soooooo hot.

Fast forward to him returning to the office about 4:00. By 4:15, he was yelling from the office: “What happened? Why is it hotter than blazes in here?” Hotter than blazes? Really? Maybe if it was 90+ outside and we had no A/C at all… So then he stomps out to the thermostat, sees it on 76 and totally blows his lid:

THIS THERMOSTAT SHOULD NEVER GO ABOVE 72. ESPECIALLY WHEN WE HAVE CLIENTS IN THE OFFICE. THIS IS RIDICULOUS!

Okay, calm down. You haven’t been in the office ALL day and the three of us who WERE here were freezing…so we turned it up. And there were no clients (we’d turn it back down if there were). We tell him this, and he “just can’t believe it.” Whatever. Like we’re lying about being freezing cold? (Sometimes it’s just chilly, but most times it’s really cold.)

So he and I went around and around and around with this—like we do each and every time he leaves and we’re freezing and we turn the thermostat up a few degrees and he comes back and it’s not an artic blast when he walks in the door.

It’s frustrating to say the least.

Edited a few weeks later to add: We now set the thermostat to 72 consistently. Why? We all have heaters at our desks. 😐

Workplace Pros & Cons

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So if you’ve been reading along, you know that my boss finally went out on her own. It was a move that really needed to be made—and for the most part, it’s been good for me, as well. But there have been some trade offs…some of which I am none too happy about.

PROS

  1. The office atmosphere is much better. (We are away from the annoying/loud chatter of agents and the drama of a 25-person office.)
  2. I got a nice raise (although I still don’t get paid nearly what I’m worth for what I do around here!).
  3. I have a window.

CONS

  1. I am now the receptionist. (They told me we would be hiring someone for the job, then it turned into we would be hiring a property management person who would sit up front, and now I’ve been told I will be the receptionist until further notice. Unless something major changes, I also anticipate that this means I will have to do property management tasks like accepting rent, because I am the only one at the front where people walk in.)
  2. I lost my desk. (At the old office, I had recently gotten a new desk that I picked out. Over here, it didn’t fit at the front desk so it’s at the back—where I was going to move as soon as we got a receptionist. Except now it’s going to be the new girl’s desk. So I have a desk that I hate and is not very user-friendly.)
  3. We are next door to Curves—which means all day long we hear the THUMP THUMP THUMP of their exercise music. (I try not to let it bother me, because if I let it, I would be insane every day…but sometimes it DOES get to you.)
  4. I can no longer go to lunch with the bosses—we cannot close/lock the doors for any reason and someone always has to be here to answer the phone. (While I understand it from a business perspective, it’s not like we have a steady stream of traffic through here. If someone has to drop something off, there’s a drop box. If someone has to get in touch with you, they can call your cell like they always do. If someone calls, they can leave a message. If someone stops by, I am sure they will be understanding that you are taking an hour lunch break. And it’s not like we went out all the time—but it was a nice treat to lunch together every so often.)
  5. If you’ve been reading along, you will also know that I rarely get to take an actual lunch break. (Since there is no one to officially cover me, I end up eating at my desk and generally end up taking phone calls and/or working.)

And once again…

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So it’s 12:45 and I’m eating lunch at my desk because no one is here. They were gone from probably 10:30-12:00, popped in for 45 minutes to eat lunch and quick do a few things, then left again. Of course, I was busy the entire time doing stuff for them since they were only here a short time. So, seriously, how do they expect me to take a “real” lunch if no one is here????

Yet another work annoyance.

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Long story short, I am going to be stuck as receptionist until further notice. Bah humbug.

All along they’ve said “We’re going to hire a front desk person!!” And then it turned into “We’re going to hire a property management person who will also be the front desk person!!” But today I found out it has turned into “Well, the property management person isn’t going to be in the office all the time, and we still can’t afford to hire a front-desk-only person…” So I’m stuck here. As a receptionist PLUS all my other duties.

Logically I can understand, but emotionally I’m pissed off. They knew I didn’t want to be a receptionist, they told me I wouldn’t have to be the receptionist, and now they’re changing their minds and I have to continue to be a receptionist.

GRRRRRRRRRRR.

Why I rarely get to take an official lunch break.

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So, long story short, I have been told that I don’t need to eat lunch at my desk (not that I can’t, but I don’t need to) and that I should feel free to go to the break room (or whatever) and take my half hour and they will answer the phones (so I don’t have to). Okay, fine. Oh, they’ve also told me that it should be no problem to take my lunch when others are in the office (so they can answer the phones, etc.).

Okay, it sounds logical. But the very FIRST day they told me this, everyone was out of the office from 10:30 to 3:30. So, apparently I need to eat lunch at 10 or 4. (I don’t think so.) And honestly, about half the time, they’re out of the office during normal lunch hours, so I sit and eat at my desk.

So the first day I actually try to take my lunch, I am not back there for more than a minute when the phone rings. It was answered, but guess what? It’s for me, so they yell to me to take Line 1. As I’m walking up to get the phone I say “This is why I eat at my desk!” John says “I can put it in your voicemail. Do you want me to do that?” Well, what’s the point, considering I’m already up here?

So the next day we were really VERY busy so I was eating and working at my desk. And they knew that. So the phone rings and… no one answers the phone because they’re apparently waiting for me to answer it because I’m sitting here. Grrrr.

So today I leave my desk and am eating lunch in the break room. The phone rings, someone answers it, and… yep, it’s for me. So I have to go up to my desk to answer it and deal with it. WHAT HAPPENED TO ME TAKING A REAL LUNCH BREAK?

I think they might get an earful if I hear one more word about not eating at my desk…

Today must not be my day.

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First, the dog and my shoe (see previous entry below). Then, dinner didn’t turn out quite as expected (new meatloaf recipe). Not BAD, but not great—alterations must be made for trial #2.

But the worst thing JUST happened. To backtrack, I’ve been carrying around my paycheck and another check (both from my boss) in my purse all weekend. We tried to go deposit them Saturday but the drive-thru lines were each like 5 cars long (including the ATM line) and the inside line was about 20 people deep. Fast forward through tons of running errands yesterday and today. This afternoon we go to Staples and I physically remember seeing my check—in the same spot in my purse where it had been all weekend. Fast forward to just now, when I go to retrieve the check to give to hubby to deposit and…it’s gone. Disappeared. Not in the purse pocket where it’s been for three days. Not anywhere in my purse. We emptied the car—nothing. It had to have fallen out at Staples, but if anyone would have turned it in, they would know who I was (since I did work there) and they would call me. So I can assume if it did fall out, no one turned it in. I’m assuming no one can deposit them since, although they’re signed, they do have “deposit only” and my account number on them.

I’m scared what the rest of the night might bring…

CHECK UPDATE: Tuesday

Long story short, someone did turn in my checks at Staples. The manager tried to call me Monday, but apparently not hard enough as to actually leave a message anywhere… so I didn’t find out until Tuesday morning…after we’d already put a stop payment on the checks. Oh well. At least it shows there are still good people out there!

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

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I know I’ve said this before, but we are still CRAZY BUSY. We have been selling things as quickly as we list them—I think this week we had eight listings and six sales, some of which sold in a matter of hours. I swear, I barely have time to catch my breath during the day.

Tuesday—I barely have time to eat lunch and have a huge stack of work to get through.

Wednesday—Lather, rinse, repeat (i.e. I barely have time to eat lunch…)

Thursday—Lather, rinse, repeat….

Friday—Lather, rinse, repeat…except I stayed until 6.

It’s Official – We’re Open!

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We officially opened today! And it was so crazy busy all day long that I almost forgot to eat lunch (when I finally did, it was at my desk, working while I ate) and I stayed until 5:30. I am dumbfounded at how busy we really are—I literally worked every minute—and the day went by SO quickly it was amazing! It’s funny—in the morning, I think “Of course I will get through this stack on my desk!” but at the end of the day, the stack is just as big and it feels like I didn’t do anything—except I know I did!

I have to admit, though, that the best thing is that we don’t have our phone lines hooked up yet (because they were already hooked up at the other office, so we’re waiting for them to change them over) so I don’t have to answer the phone! I think I would be going INSANE if I had to answer the phones on top of all the other craziness.

Crazy Busy Weekend

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I’m not sure exactly how many hours we spent at the office, but it was most of Saturday and most of Sunday.

We moved everything into the office and started rearranging furniture (long story short, Sue bought most of the guy’s furniture and decorations so the office was mostly filled, we just had to arrange it like we wanted). Then Sue and I went shopping to look at refrigerators and artwork (we didn’t get anything, but got some ideas). We unpacked files and got computers set up and Tom worked on getting everything networked and protected (a major chore). He also ended up putting together quite a few pieces of furniture (later in the day, Sue and her mom went shopping and came back with chairs and tables). I think we ended up leaving around 8 or so.

Sunday we came back to do more odds and ends, doing whatever we could to get ready to open for business on Monday morning! There was just SO much to do, and every time you thought you could take a break, there was something else to do that you had forgotten about.

The good thing that happened to Tom? Sue gave him $140 for all his work. It was great because he was just doing it to be helpful and wasn’t expecting anything in return.

The good thing that happened to me? Sue gave me my raise—I was stunned. I was expecting something smaller, so $2/hour made me VERY happy. I thanked her for the generous raise and she commented that she was very grateful for the work I do…and that there will certainly be more to do now! (Of course, I still think I’m worth more, but I am thrilled nonetheless.)

Now…are we ready for tomorrow????

Crazy Busy

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So, we worked out of the bosses house Thursday and Friday and it was CRAZY BUSY. Not only doing actual real estate-related stuff, but getting all the new business stuff ready (name changes, website updates, business cards, car signs, yard signs, office supplies, utilities, etc.). It was neverending. And I was busy pretty much every minute of the day (except when they brought pizza home for lunch!). So, by Friday night, we were all a little frazzled…and more than ready to celebrate our first few days as a new company…so Sue took us out for dinner again! Dinner was great (as usual) and we had a great time (as usual)! We said goodnight, knowing we’d see each other tomorrow (yes, Saturday) as the guy was moving out and we had to move all our stuff in!

Coldwell Banker: Buh-bye

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Long story short, my boss has been contemplating going out on her own for some time. Within the last two months, it became more of a reality and we had actually been working “behind the scenes” (i.e. in secret) trying to find a new office and whatnot. We had a specific date in mind that we were thinking of leaving—timing was of the essence as my boss would take a HUGE pay cut on any properties that closed after we left, so we tried to time it so that the majority of them would close before we left.

Well, we left a little early. As in this afternoon. It was just a few days earlier than planned, but it still came as a major surprise. Here’s what happened.

The owner of Coldwell Banker scheduled a meeting with my boss and her partner for 1pm today. We were all curious as to what exactly was going to happen at said meeting, but we knew it surely had something to do with us leaving. Not that anything was ever said out in the open, but you know rumors… So, about 1:15, they came out and said “Start packing. We need to be out by 5:00.” WHAT?!?! Long story short (sorry, I like that saying!) I guess the owner had heard some rumors or was making a logical guess and she basically said “You need to leave today.” Sue said okay, we’ll leave after hours so we don’t make a big scene and the owner said “No, the locks have already been changed. You need to be out before the end of business.”

Oh my. That wasn’t quite how we thought it would go. The owner—who up until this point had been friendly and had even asked my boss at one point when she was going to go out on her own—was quite bitter and rude about everything and it just was. not. good.

Needless to say we were thrilled to leave… but oh my god, where do you even start? Computers had to be unhooked, files packed, furniture moved… I immediately called Tom to see if he could come help (he knew he’d have to help whenever it happened, so the call came just a few days earlier than anticipated). Luckily he was there and could leave work.

So we started packing and moving. We had no boxes or anything, so it really was a scramble. And, interestingly, we were moving everything to my bosses garage! Why there? Well, we did have a lease at an office across town…but long story short (!) this morning my boss received a call from a local businessman saying he had someone who wanted to break their lease…in the very office building she dreamed of relocating to!! (Since there were no openings when we were looking, she was waiting for him to build the next section of offices and she was going to get one of those. The other office we leased was only ever meant to be temporary.) So…instead of moving all the office stuff to the currently-leased location, then moving it all again in X number of days (when the new office space was vacated), we just moved everything to her garage! Between our three big cars and her dad’s van, we moved everything in a few loads.

As a thank you and as a celebration, my boss took us out for dinner to Outback—where we had a great meal and more than a few drinks! In short, we had a great time! Then I said “Um, where do I show up for work tomorrow?” It was decided we’d work out of her house until we could get into the new place. We weren’t quite sure when that would be, but we knew it would be soon. (Long story short, when my boss talked to the guy, he said he could be out by the 31st. She said “How about this weekend?” and it was determined he would move out as soon as possible.)

It’s going to be a big change at the new office… For starters, I am going to be the receptionist, as well as doing what I normally do. (I am not thrilled with that, but I know it’s only temporary because they’ve already said they are going to hire a receptionist within a few months.) And it’s just going to be different altogether since it will only be us three. (Eventually they want to bring in another agent or two, but for now, it’s just us.) But on a positive note, they told me I now have a window! A WINDOW!

Black Friday 2004

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Look what I found while cleaning off my desk?

2004 Staples Christmas

I actually just got this a few months ago. We were at Staples and talking to Jobe (a manager—front row with glasses, pronounced Joe-bee) and I said I never got a copy of the picture, so he made me a color copy on the spot. I took a bunch of pictures of us all dressed up the following year (since it was my last day) but somewhere along the line the CDs were lost.

Don’t we all look like big dorks? :>>