Tag: frustration

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“Pack Your Things” in Nature

I really didn’t expect today to play out the way that it did.

I made it to work a little early this morning, expecting rain, and then not expecting rain. I started to go to the high school to work with Jacob, but stayed at the shop to do those same tickets since it’d be easier there anyway, and Jacob didn’t really need me to hold his hand.

Diane at Crawford messaged me with badge printer trouble again, so I ran across town to take care of that. I was there just long enough for the storm to roll in, but that wasn’t all. Judy emailed Jeff and me that she needed to have a disciplinary meeting with me at 4:30. Everyone knows it’s no good to have a disciplinary meeting after hours. I knew they were terminating me right away.

I got back to the shop and told Zach, and then Tammy, and then Ryan. I felt like they were all as stunned as me, and we all kept going back and forth on whether it really was a termination or a writeup. It just didn’t make sense, but I could play it out either way in my head. I’ve heard of more and more distrust lately, and frankly I think it bit me.

I asked Zach to be my witness, and then asked Greg and Justin since they were there as well. For a moment I thought I’d actually have a group to support me.

Nobody else was around, so Zach and I went to Arby’s for a nauseating lunch, only on account of my anxiety. I was glad I ate though, because not eating would have made the long night even worse. We made it back to the shop, and I tried to be useful until quitting time. Gary and Thomas had been at training all day, but came back in the afternoon.

When it came time for me to walk across the street, I went to say some goodbyes, and Thomas hugged me and said he didn’t know what they were going to do. I figure that was an untruth at best, because I’m pretty sure he’s the only one that raised the flag at Central Office in the first place.

Justin beat me to the office, and we went in to find Judy. She was running all around, and was acting lighthearted enough that I sort of got my hopes up. Jeff was just solemn-faced the entire time though, and we sat down at the table in his office. Judy said not to read too much into the timing of the meeting, which prompted me to ask if they weren’t terminating me. She replied that she didn’t say that either, and I felt yo-yoed around. In the end, she presented me with a page that accused me of purposefully hitting an employee with my vehicle on school property.

I kept it together and took my licks. I think she was trying to help me at least a little bit. We left and I spoke with Justin for just a moment before going back to the shop where Thomas and Gary were talking. I was pretty sure Thomas was shocked to see me badge back in, but I don’t know who else would have disabled it. He offered condolences and help, but I figured it was too late for that. Both Judy and Thomas said it was fine for me to have badge access all night to clean out my office, which seemed very out of the norm. Very little of the afternoon made any sense at all.

I went home and talked to Ben while I waited for Summer to get the kids home. She beat me to Gardner, so I ran back across town and we got to work cleaning out my office. Then Brody called me and we talked while loading the car. It was big stuff first, and we made two trips back to the house. Kevin called me to get the scoop as well, but didn’t have a whole lot to add that I hadn’t already heard. After we unloaded the second time, we went to Chick-fil-A for some dinner. Then I let Summer take the Montego home while I went back for one final load of little stuff that had to be boxed up. I was out until well after midnight, but I got it done.

Once I had my nightly routine finished, I headed up to Summer’s to crash for a few hours until it was time to take the kids to school in the morning.

Seriously, could you have whipped that pen out any faster?

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Parenting 401: Teenager Wrangling

Thomas had a meeting with some of our guys right outside my door this morning, so they shut me in. It didn’t seem like anything too serious, so I didn’t really get the whole shutout thing, but it was fine. Afterward I went to Crawford to take care of a couple things before lunch.

I tried to get Dale to come to Taco Tuesday with us, but he said he couldn’t make it. Allen happened to find us there though, and he had a lot to say. The food was pretty good today, which was an improvement over last night.

When we got back, I spent some time with Special Services, but couldn’t actually get their signature pad working for their application. Apparently the documentation specifically calls out that they do not support signature pads, so we had to take the “L.”

The rest of the afternoon was pretty quiet, but relatively steady. I cleaned up some old tickets, but I’ve got some more important ones that I really need to wrap up. Most everyone left right at quitting time, so I rushed Tammy out, and then went to my parents’ house to help Dad put the gate back together.

We chatted for a while, and then I finally made it home to swap cars before heading up to Summer’s. She made salmon and Brussel sprouts for dinner, and then Eaddie started on some homework. Autumn was supposed to be at a basketball game, but I caught her driving around to the back side of the high school again and finally convinced Summer to catch her and Adam in the act.

We loaded up, and I dropped Summer off at Autumn’s car. Autumn immediately freaked out, but Adam calmly got out of her car and into the Murano with me so I could take him home. The drive wasn’t too awkwardly quiet, and the conversation with his father was probably a little too easy. At least we didn’t catch them actively doing anything too bad. I told them I understood just wanting to hang out with some peace and quiet to talk, but that if they say they’ll be in a public place for an event, they had better be there.

The girls met us back at home, and we talked to Autumn some more. Who knows if it will do any good, but at least there wasn’t any screaming by the time we got back. All things considered, she seemed to be in fair spirits. By that time, it was off to bed for everyone.

It’s clobberin’ time!

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Tank You

I got up this morning and started making some fresh refried beans in the Instant Pot. They turned out a lot spicier than I expected, and I think I need to come up with a new recipe. They’re not bad, but they’re just not what I ever expect when they’re done.

Suzanne texted out of the blue and asked about a fish tank, so I told her she could come and get the 55 gallon from Summer’s. She showed up about two hours later than she said, which pressed the rest of our afternoon. Summer went to the gym and Autumn took Eaddie to Gavin’s for a day hike. I ended up going home to dig out the aquarium hoods and lights for Suzanne to eventually show up.

Summer was summoned to Conway to chat with some girls from work, so I let her take the Model 3 for practice and fuel savings. Then as soon as Suzanne and Trent left, I headed to my parents’ house to help Dad mend his fence.

The fence was in pretty rough shape, but I guess Dad’s just not ready to do much to it. We pieced it back together the best we could, and left the gate for another day. I headed back home, expecting Summer to be back about five hours earlier than she did. I took a shower and just killed time at the house until she got there, and then we got gas on the way to her house before going straight to bed.

No tanks.

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Too Stressed Three Me

I went to bed really early, but it was still a really rough night of tossing and turning. I went in to the office and mostly stayed quiet in my room, trying to solve the puzzles they pay me to solve. Tammy sent me to the main office to set up a scanner, and I happened to catch up to Gary on the walk over. He lent a hand, and then chatted with me about the witch hunt on the way back to the shop.

Zach had been out of the office most of the morning, but came back for lunch. He, Gary, and I went to Foodies, which was tasty but extremely slow to present our meals. Zach had never been, so it was a nice change to try something different.

In the afternoon, I finally got around to talking to Thomas about what happened on Monday, and he seemed upset that I didn’t specifically incriminate myself in writing. I just explained to him that I didn’t see any other way out of it, and that this kind of documentation is never going to be used to benefit me. I sent the email, and then worked out the day as productively as I could.

After work, I stopped for a cold and windy car wash before going by Superfast to visit Summer. Then I stopped by her wash to vacuum out my car. I thought I’d go by my parents’ house, but never made it. Instead, I backed up some videos from Sentry Mode on my car and tried to relax at home.

Summer had a meeting at the ATCC that ran a bit late, but I met her up at her house when she finished. We ate some leftovers, and then I had already taken care of most of my nightly tasks, so it was easy to get to bed.

If you’re going to believe every off-the-cuff remark I make, your mother’s got some explaining to do.

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Nothing Happened

Gary came by early this morning and told me to go spend the day with Kyle. I actually had quite a bit to do, so this was pretty frustrating to hear. I still barely made it over to the junior high before lunch, because I got stuck trying to get a signature pad working for support services, and then had to run by Crawford to pick up some headphones and, bizarrely, try and help Kevin set up an aim bot for Call of Duty.

When I actually caught up with Kyle, he seemed to be more or less under control. I expected him to have a bunch of nonsense backed up, but it was mostly repairs and he didn’t really need my help with anything. He suggested Quiznos for lunch, but I ended up going back to the shop to pick up a crew for Wendy’s instead.

I went back to the junior high after lunch, but kept having to field high school questions from Jacob. He was clearly frustrated by devices not behaving with SCCM as he expected, but we’ve just been such a revolving door that there’s not much history at the high school after I left the building.

I finally made it back to the office at the end of the day, but then Thomas walked into my dark room and asked me about what happened with Zach after work the other day. I told him I felt terrible, and he seemed sympathetic, but like he was still caught in a position of having to file paperwork. He asked me to email him my side of the story, and I spent the rest of the night fretting over how not to incriminate myself or anyone else. I figure it’s none of anyone’s business what happens after work.

Eaddie had walked to my house to ride her bike, but she was back home by the time I made it there. We left for her house and stopped at Sonic for some cheese sticks along the way. Then I made them burritos for dinner, and drank mine. Autumn came home nonchalantly after an alleged study night at the mall. Eaddie went to bed early for all-state over the next couple days, and Summer was in bed by her usual, early time. I managed to make it to bed over two hours early myself.

Ignorance is bliss.

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Caught Between Two Cranks

It was rainy again for most of today, but I spent most of it in my office working on some Adobe troubles. It seemed really quiet otherwise, aside from a couple walks to the Support Services building. We had our usual Taco Tuesday, where a couple of the maintenance guys had beat us there. Then we saw Melinda and Matt come in as we were leaving.

I wasn’t much more successful in the afternoon, and it dragged on a little bit until quitting time. Summer said she should be out of work by five, so I thought we could visit with Mom and possibly take them to dinner. When I got to Superfast, she said she still had some work to do and that Eaddie changed her mind about going to a basketball game.

By the time I made it to Eaddie, she had changed her mind about three times, and then wanted us to take her to New China with Gavin. We were alright with that plan, but then the restaurant was closed and we wound up at Stoby’s.

We eventually made it to my parents’ house, but Mom was dozing on the couch, not feeling well. We made it to my house to trade vehicles, and then up to Summer’s where everyone wound down super fast. Autumn was out late with her boyfriend, and I called her out for parking on the opposite side of the campus during the game. I didn’t want to be up when she made it home, so I wrapped up quickly and hit the hay.

The problem is, we’re much smarter than you.

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Out Came the Sun

I got to work this morning, and the maintenance crew had stuff laid out to tear up the ground around the basement. I thought I’d leave and work from the high school again, but since they weren’t actually doing anything in our office and most everything was dry, I ended up sticking around. I kept reasonably busy, and the time just flew by.

I took Gary, Zach, and Thomas to Wendy’s and tried some new chicken sandwich with a fried mozzarella patty and marinara, and wasn’t super impressed. I kind of just wished I had gotten a burger. Then it was back to the shop where I spent most of the afternoon putting together three pages worth of meeting minutes from Monday.

I ended the day at Crawford to try and clean up a few work orders, but only actually closed one before quitting time. I went to see Summer at Superfast, but then she sent me to Walmart to pick up pork chops, broccoli, and cauliflower. I went home briefly, and then met her at her house where we remembered that the girls actually had a quiz bowl night at Zaxby’s.

Dinner was good, but Summer kept getting irritated at anything I said. Easily the most frustrating part about our relationship is that she often seems incapable of accepting any form of constructive feedback. Eaddie eventually showed up, but disappeared into the bathroom after saying that Autumn would be later. She had to take Adam home, after evidently being gross in the Zaxby’s parking lot. Between that and the mysteriously leaky bottle of Fireball, we just want her gone.

Eaddie and I ended the night with two more episodes of Breaking Bad. The drama has gotten so heavy, but there’s still so far to go. I remember there being a lull at some point, but I don’t think it ever got bad.

F is for Frustration!

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I Forgot My Floaties

There was a line of cars in front of our shop this morning, but I didn’t quite put it together why they were there. Our office had flooded again, in a bad way. Of course my office got the worst of it. Gary sent me off to the high school instead to work with Jacob, though he never actually showed up until near lunch time.

Just as I was getting ready to go back to the shop for lunch I got a text from another Jacob, evidently the primary Tesla mobile service tech for the state. He was on his way to work on the Model 3 in the rain, so I went to the bus shop to see if I could borrow a bay to keep out of the weather. Dale was just leaving, so he let me pull right in. Just a few minutes later, I spotted the little Tesla service van across the field and called to direct him to me.

They were two really young guys in full Tesla rain gear, and they confirmed my issues and got right to work testing the doors repeatedly. They adjusted the door bumpers, then pulled some trim and checked some wires. It took a little bit to warm up to me, but then we got to talking a bit while they worked. Jacob had a broken shoulder from mountain biking, so TA was there from North Carolina to help. Jacob said he was actually from Heber Springs, which surprised the heck out of me for a Tesla tech that covers the whole state. We had a good chat, and a laugh about how bad Enhanced Autopilot is. Then they were on their way.

I went back to the shop for a minute just as the others got back from lunch. They were still pulling tons of water out of the office, since it had been raining all day. There was no end in sight, as we watched the water line drift right back out away from the wall as it seeped up from the ground. I went to KFC to get a bit of lunch and relax, and then headed back to the high school to finish out the day.

Summer wanted to go to Walmart, so I met her there right after work and we picked up a bunch of random stuff. Then I went home to change before going up to her place. That was when I started having trouble charging my car. I spent quite a while digging out my charger and moving it to different outlets. The two most convenient ones were reporting no ground connection, but inside the house, the mobile charger appeared to be fine. I finally got to my third outlet in the garage, and was able to get charging again.

When I got to Summer’s, Eaddie was baking brownies. Summer finished up her TV show and then went to bed since Eaddie wanted to watch Breaking Bad with me. We watched two episodes, which got me to bed a bit later than I wanted, but it was just getting really good. I should probably take some time off tomorrow anyway, to investigate my rogue outlets.

I wander’d off by myself
In the mystical moist night-air
And from time to time
Look’d up in perfect silence
At the stars

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Forced Urgency

I was a couple minutes late to work this morning for some reason, and I walked in to the team talking about going to all of the schools to cut laptop chargers out of the carts so the kids could take them home. It was an unnecessary reaction to a threat of inclement weather because they didn’t have the forethought to make a plan.

I rode with Zach and Travis to Sequoyah, Oakland, and Center Valley where we met with Kyle and Jacob to complete the work. We didn’t actually remove chargers, but we cut zip ties to make it easier for the teachers, who ranged from unfazed to absolutely panicked.

That took most of the morning, and then Thomas took Zach, Greg, and me to Quiznos for lunch. Afterward, we met back up and went over a chat support system that Thomas had implemented in case we could work from home. A little later, Tammy was worried about verifying inventory for some touch panels we received a week or two ago, so Zach and I went to the maintenance warehouse and talked to Chris for a bit, and then counted our touch panels.

School let out a couple hours early, which really wasn’t necessary for the precipitation we had. Instead of having an AMI day with all of the newly liberated devices, administration decided it was best to just call Tuesday an inclement weather day that would have to be made up at the end of the year. It would seem that AMI days should always be used first, since we have them, but I guess not everyone was prepared for that.

I made it home and loaded up to go to Summer’s for the evening. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to burn a sick day for what probably should have been given to us regardless. Summer was feeling much better, and quite chatty. Then I settled in for some Breaking Bad with Eaddie until bedtime.

They have an incredible talent for making things much worse than they have to be.

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Sleepy Sunday

Summer made corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast this morning, and then everyone disappeared to their rooms while Summer either watched TV or fell asleep on the couch. I bounced around a little bit, and broke out my Steam Deck to play a little Don’t Starve for a bit, but it didn’t last long.

Autumn left to go shopping with her grandparents while the rest of us collectively rolled our eyes at their enabling her generally being a shitty human. She’s absolutely insufferable, and we’re all tired of feeling guilty for thinking so.

I cleaned up most of the stuff for spring rolls for the remaining three of us for dinner, and then Eaddie and I watched some more Breaking Bad until bed.

VapoGrease