The Chronicles Of…

Today I dealt with a group of people who were so unpleasant, that I honestly don’t think I can bring myself to feel any sort of “love” towards them whatsoever. Although I want to be all nice and Christian and loving, and pray blessings upon them, I fear that it’s just “the right words” that I know I’m supposed to think/do, and that I really don’t want any sort of good for them at all.

Obviously I won’t speak about their identities in any way, but not a single person who had anything to do with any of them seems to have anything positive to say, and they are responsible for so much misery and frustration for so many people, that I just want them to go away.

To a desert or a rock in the centre of an ocean, or something.

And that’s me being particularly gracious after hours of calming down.

I really worry for myself, in that I just don’t know how I can get past this.

I don’t have access to the statistics right now, but I think that I remember reading some time ago that you were far more likely to be killed or injured on a building site than you are as a soldier or cop. Of course, it tends to make “better” news when the fatality is one of the latter, because it usually suggests that there’s been some sort of action.

This morning a bloke who works in one of those industries went to work. I don’t know if he had a chance to say goodbye to his (reportedly six) children or his partner, but I hope that he did. A few hours later he was dead. I’m sure that in time a lot more details will be revealed, and that someone will be blamed. There will probably be a raft of new safety lectures and policies introduced for the organisation that he worked for. I dare say that a lot of talkback radio hosts will be baying for someone’s blood… just whose, will depend on a few of those details, or at least the ones that get reported.

But before we have too much of a chance to play the blame game, I’d just like to state that I truly hope that this bloke made a point of saying goodbye to his family, and I hope that he’s happy with the decisions he made during his life as to his stance with his Maker. I try to always make a point of kissing my loved ones goodbye before I leave the house to go to work (no matter how early in the morning it is), and I believe that old saying about not letting the sun go down on an argument is a fairly good rule to live by.

Obviously I’m slightly more interested in this particular matter than many people are, but it doesn’t matter what you do with your time, we never know what’s around the corner.

Sorry for the downer.

In case you were wondering, I’m still waiting on results for my interview/exam.

I was told that today was their last day of interviews, so results would be out by this evening, but still no word as of midnight. Most people are left to sweat for 12 hours or so. One bloke found out by the time he’d travelled back to our office from the place where the interviews are held. I’ve been waiting over a week.

I have no fingernails left, and my stomach is turning.

Yay nerves.

Today was a very big day.

We started with a huge bit of luck that gave us a great result in a job that we were under pressure with. We were following up one possible line of enquiry, when a person who was completely unknown to us happened to be in the room. A short time later someone was very unhappy, and our bosses were extremely satisfied.

From there I went to my exam. While I was driving there I noticed someone who we wanted to chat to. A quick phone call later and some colleagues were on hand. The gentleman decided that he’d rather not chat, and made himself scarce. In the meantime I’d had to quickly drive a few suburbs for my interview/exam. Being late wouldn’t do. As I was arriving, I received a phone call telling me that the interviews were running ahead of schedule and that I was now required inside on an urgent basis if possible.

The actual interview/exam went reasonably well, except for the fact that I completely froze on a couple of occasions, and forgot the answers to some very basic questions. The panel were very generous and gave me a few prompts that assisted greatly. Despite that, I think that it went fairly ok, and the panel seemed positive as I was leaving. I vaguely remember them using some positive sounding phrases, but beyond that I can’t be certain (everything was a bit of a daze). The results won’t be officially published for another week or so, but hopefully I’ll get some good news then.

I arrived back at work and heard that the gentleman who we’d been wanting to speak with was still managing to avoid us. A few moments later I heard one of my colleagues speaking to us via a wireless communications device, mentioning that the gentleman had been seen running away from a person’s house (where he had apparently been hiding) after being located by some residents there. A rapid car journey later and I was able to see the gentleman being ‘spoken to’ by a large canine who also works for our organisation. It turns out that the gentleman had been unpleasant to both the canine and his human friend and was now paying the penalty for his incivility.

I don’t believe in karma, but occasionally a little bit of balance/justice is brought back to the world (this is not the sort of gentleman that you might want to bring home to meet your mother, unless you were particularly unfond of said mother).

I was slightly buzzing by the time I finally left work (after the usual unpaid overtime). I was even able to leave the massive study guide folder at work instead of dragging it home to make me feel guilty for not putting in sufficient hours of study for this exam. Phew.

The decision was therefore made for pizza and wine, accompanied by an episode of QI.

Now I just hope the littlest one decides not to scream again tonight, and let us all get some sleep… for tomorrow we work on house foundations. My days off are probably never going to be relaxing, are they/.

I sure do know how to par-tay.

Tomorrow afternoon I have an interview panel type exam, which will determine whether I get a permanent job doing the role I have been acting in for the past few months. They’ve changed the time/date for it a couple of times now, so I’m already feeling slightly uneasy, and now I find out that I won’t get the result for another week or so.

Very, very nervous.

Tomorrow morning I go back to work after having a month off with the newest addition to our family. I’m already nervous about how much work I need to get done after having all this time off. There are assignments for a course that need to be completed, as well as plenty of other items that need to be actioned. Of course, all of that is in addition to the normal day-to-day things that come along.

I found out the other day that they’ve re-booked me onto a course that I didn’t want to do. This is after they also told me that I wasn’t eligible to do it, and that my boss would never allow me to go. When I told them that I hadn’t applied to be on it in the first place, and that I was glad that I wouldn’t be going, they somehow decided that I must be playing hard to get, and confirmed the booking. In doing so, they screwed around my roster for the next two weeks (I still don’t know when I’m working this week, except for tomorrow), and also dropped someone off the course who was eligible to participate, and who actually wanted to go. I’m so glad that our organisation is so efficient.

On a similar note, it seems that while I was away they had an awards day, and that my name was read out for one of the awards. The person who organised the awards (and invitations etc) asked me (after the fact, at a social function) why I hadn’t been at the ceremony. When I explained that I hadn’t been informed about the ceremony or my award, they seemed surprised, and asked me who should have told me. Yep, that’s right. This would be bad enough, but it turns out a few people had been called in to work at the last minute (on their day off) to attend the ceremony, then did not receive any awards. Again, stellar administrative skills from a person who apparently wanted a ‘desk job’ instead of what they had previously been doing. You’re welcome, people of our State. We deserve a payrise, though, right?

If it sounds as though I’m slightly disgruntled, I’m not, I just find the whole situation slightly amusing. I’m still very happy working for this particular organisation, and genuinely enjoy my job. There’s a fairly good chance that my job is changing slightly at the end of the month, when I am told that I’ll be taking a different role. This will mean I get to wear a suit and tie to work each day, instead of the same clothes as everyone else. It also means that I have to do a lot more study over the next few years, but I’ll be working a lot more regular hours for at least the short term.

In family news, the boy is doing very well, and is still surprising me with how competent he is at sleeping and eating. Even if I had hoped he would have learned a few more tricks by now, at least he’s doing his core tasks to a reasonable standard. I’m grateful for the time I’ve been able to spend at home with him in these early days, and I’m a little bit sad that I won’t get as much daily interaction with him now. I know that there are many people who have to work jobs that don’t let them see their family for weeks or months at a time, so I shouldn’t complain too much. I just want to be a part of his life, especially in these formative years when he’s changing so much on a daily basis.

Anyway, I suppose I should eat something and get an early night, right?