College Lawsuit

I came across this interesting story today. College hit with age suit. I remember Lynda and the stress she went through as she was pretty much forced out of her position. The last time I met up with her to fix some computer issues in the department she was stressed out with no real help to figure out what direction she should go. This pretty much mirrored my own situation where I tried to no avail to have the problem of the IT Tech area's moldy leaky roof addressed by anyone who might care. I went to the union, but they appeared to be disinterested in the situation as their hands were tied for safety enforcement.

I finally brought the complaint up officially and the following things occurred. Sent a guy in with a mold sensing device who "certified" that there was more mold outside than in the office. (The mold was crawling out of the ceiling and he didn't even put the device near the areas). The ceiling leaked when it rained. The facilities department cut a chunk of the ceiling out (probably spreading more mold around) and placed cardboard over the hole. They put some kind of instant cement over an area upstairs that they thought the water was coming from.

Then rains came and still there were water leaks, next to the power conduits no less. Next thing I know water started building above my head and bulging the ceiling underneath my desk and work equipment. I moved everything to my workbench so I wouldn't come to work one day and find all my papers and computer flooded. I stopped complaining at that point, because it was obvious that no one cared beyond doing the legal minimum to address the problem. One of my co-workers had a trash can specifically for catching the water above his desk. It was surreal.

So I have to say that I side with Lynda. If you aren't within a specific clique at the college i.e. making more than $100,000 a year, you're pretty much hosed. I remember when I was working on getting new computers out for the instructors, and I was pulled off the job to help the President of the college set up some hardware in her office. Priority was never given where it belonged. In the case of this lawsuit, I hope it goes well for Lynda. I know it won't change the mentality of the college administration, and small-minded people will complain that she's only out for the money. But at least one person will benefit out of the non-caring administration that has become the college.

As for Al Alt and his cracker jack diploma, people might not be so critical of you if you knew how to do your job instead of fighting against the people you're supposed to help. The college truly knows how to take the word human out of human resources.

Jobs I've worked at

What is it that we spend more time doing than waiting at stoplights (unless you are a truck driver)? Sleeping? Spending time with your family? Work! Okay so work times may vary from person to person and their career path, but to me its felt like I spend more time with people at work than I do any portion of my family.

Taco Bell:

First Position: Crew member
Duties: Cook food for a million people, then clean up after them.
Best known for: Slipping on the floor and messing up my leg.
Life lesson: Variable shifts suck, and not having a weekend off sucks even more.

Second Position: Shift lead
Duties: Making people do all the stuff I used to do.
Best known for: Parking lot races and sour cream fights.
Life lesson: No matter how important you think the tie is, it doesn't save you from digging goop out of the floor drains.

AM/PM:

Position: Clerk
Duties: Carding people for alcohol when I'm not even old enough to drink.
Best known for: $20 on 10, $20 on 5, $20 on 6!
Life lesson: Nothing rocks harder than working a graveyard shift with no one around, surrounded by food.

HP Printer refurbishing:

Position: Assembler
Duties: Clean metal plate, rinse, wash, repeat.
Best known for: Everyone yelling out lunch all at the same time.
Life lesson: When you do something all day for 8 hours, it's hard not to dream about it when you go home.

Second Position: Process lead
Duties: Didn't really change, neither did the pay.
Best known for: When you start on a new product, beware the sharp edges. Then buy band-aid stock. Wrapping myself in bubble wrap.
Life lesson: Responsibility doesn't pay.

Third Position: Graveyard Shift Lead (Building supervisor)
Duties: What a bizarre time in my life. Laughing while I tell people they should not pack themselves in boxes to spy on me.
Best known for: Having "lunch" at 3am
Life lesson: Graveyard rules, except when you try to go home and sleep during the day.

Fourth Position: Swing shift lead
Duties: Work three times as hard as the day shift lead, while trying to avoid getting in trouble for it.
Best known for: My impressive line tours for potential customers.
Life lesson: No one likes a productive person when it makes them look bad.

Fifth Position: Project/Process coordinator
Duties: Way too many to list quickly. Helping to make people's jobs easier.
Best known for: Fixing printers that everyone else couldn't.
Life lesson: I learned so much here under my boss. One of the few people who actually took the time out to help educate me.

Community College

First Position: Data Processing Technician
Duties: Everything that no one else wanted to do.
Best known for: Being practically invisible for three years.
Life lesson: If you do your job well, you'll be stuck doing that job forever because they won't want to promote you.

Second Position: IS Specialist
Duties: One step up from everything that no one else wanted to do.
Best known for: Winters dripping rain water next to electronics and electricity. Spring, water dries out and creates smelly mold.
Life lesson: Never trust the dangling carrot, and everyone is out for themselves and won't bother to help you.

Super Secret Job

Position: It's a secret.
Duties: I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.
Life lesson: Never sign an NDA if you are a blogger.

Fall is on the horizon

As I was driving to work this morning a brisk wind kicked around some leaves on the street. Dry dead leaves. I tilted my head back and took a deep breath, not quite the start of Fall but its getting close. Fall is my favorite season here in California. The days alternate between cool and warm, trees stop dropping leaves and if you stop to listen you can hear the wind and leaves work together in concert to create a crackling and scraping movement of relaxation.

Some see the coming months as death as bears begin to prepare themselves to sleep, and the trees shed their green canopies. I view the season as a time of relaxation, our land falling asleep so that it can come back in the Spring to start the cycle anew. Not to mention I greatly dislike the summer heat and this is an early promise that things will be cool for awhile.

Fall marks my Birthday, the start of school, new series on TV, and most importantly Halloween! That time of the year where we can pretend to be evil (instead of actually being evil), watch scary movies, and eat candy until our stomachs bleed. There was no defining moment when Fall became my favorite time of the year, my planet didn't turn, and I didn't have some sudden earth-shattering realization. There's just those things in life you know feel right to you, and this is one of those times for me.

Greeting from technology

I've ditched my old blog software, after a considerable amount of time trying to figure out how to disable anonymous comments. Apparently annoying spammers have no shame. At the same time I came across some awesome features from blogger including the ability to consolidate my two accounts. What else? You may ask. I can update my blog via email, which means that I can add posts whenever I have my phone with me. I like it. Thank you idiot spammers!

Welcome

Hi everyone!