Humidity and Starbucks

I didn't sleep as well as I could have last night. It was so humid overnight that I woke up all sweaty. It's still humid outside and I appreciate the air conditioner. It's effective.

My usual Starbucks is a five-minute drive away. As of late, I don't enjoy going there. Staff keep on saying, "So, it's just the iced green tea?" What's up with just? I tore two baristas by telling them to drop it. I don't want to buy anything else and my drink matters to me.

I actually said to one of them, "You aren't just a barista. You are a barista."

I also don't enjoy going there right now because it is out of iced peach green tea.

My third-closest Starbucks is my new favourite place. When I order iced peach green tea, they never ask whether I want lemonade in it. I don't. If I did, I would have specified lemonade. They get it right.

This place also has plenty of iced peach green tea. It's now my go-to cafe for a cold drink on a hot day.

Having video on a work call should not be mandatory

I have a love-hate relationship with my manager. Ever since we have all been working from home, he has been on my case to have my laptop's video camera on when we have meetings.

First, my Internet connection was horribly slow for the last two months. It wasn't until I called my Internet Service Provider and got a new modem that I have seen a huge improvement with my connection.

Second, I don't care much for having video on. A colleague thought that I was shy. I'm not. I choose not to. I am comfortable that way. Always have been. Always will be.

This conversation has surfaced from my manager at least four times. Every time, I have made it clear that I prefer not to have video on. I hate that I have to go through it every time and that he has poor listening skills.

His manager insists that his team have video on. If she were my manager, I would say the same thing. It is not mandatory to have video on all calls. It is a choice. My manager said in a sentence that we "have to." I shot that down immediately.

I have a feeling that he misses seeing me, but can't express it. Well, the more you pressure me to turn my video camera on, the more I will resist. It should not be a forced option.

I feel like he has no respect for me. Is he that slow or thick that he doesn't get it?

It has been a long week. I want the weekend to start now.

Banned from the office for travelling to the States

My manager has given me a work-from-home sentence for travelling to the States. The way in which he did it wasn't nice.

To put things into content, I returned home from the States last Tuesday. I then got food poisoning. I worked from home last Wednesday, and took last Thursday and Friday off as sick days.

My first day back in the office was on Monday. I was tired from all the throwing up and not eating much, but I was fine otherwise.

Yesterday, I worked from home. I received an e-mail from my manager with two questions:

• Did I travel abroad while I was on vacation?
• Where did I go?

Without any context, getting personal questions about where I went on vacation was odd and really none of his business. Without having a chance to respond to this e-mail, he pinged me on our company instant messaging app to reply to his e-mail. I didn't like that approach, either.

I asked him whether his line of questioning was due to COVID-19. He said yes and that it was travel policy. Interesting. Our travel policy has not listed the States as being a place where you need to self-isolate immediately when you arrive back in Canada.

So, I let him know that I was in the States. He wrote back saying that I was to remain at home for fourteen days from the day that I returned. He actually wrote, "DO NOT come to the office."

What annoyed me more was his tons of questions about who I came in contact with and for how long. I wrote back and asked whether this was truly policy. I then had lunch at 2 pm.

He wrote back and said that it wasn't a formal policy. It made me think that he was being cautious and paranoid simultaneously. He saw my car parked in the lot at work and put this association together.

He then pinged me on my instant messaging app and said that I needed to respond to his e-mail immediately. I'm sorry, but I had a ton of work that needed attention. He claimed that his request was top priority and a response would take "a minute" after I said that I needed some time. I finally put my foot down and said, "Not, it does not. Again, I need some time."

He is a jerk who has no compassion. I wrote back an hour later, indicating that having some context would have been nice.

I talk to a lot of people at work. It comes with the job. He decided well before my response to send my intern home. My intern and I had lunch together on Monday. I frankly think that my manager took things too far. I don't have any symptoms of COVID-19 and he made me feel like crap.

I let my intern and a friend at work know about this situation just after it happened. I'm glad that I did. My intern figured it out and let me know that he was sent home. My friend has been there for support since this situation occurred, which I appreciate.

I don't mind working from home. I get to save time and gas. I just don't like how this decision was delivered to me and his approach.

Nearly sideswiped by a woman who did not check her blindspot

One of my biggest fears is driving next to someone who does not check her blindspot. It happened to me last night.

I was driving home and a car moved into my lane, almost hitting me. I moved into the middle turn lane and honked at her for a long time. My car has a decent whiny, annoyed tone that she finally moved over. It was scary. It made me angry.

I finally got to take a look at the person as I managed to pass her several minutes later. She was an older woman with silver hair. She looked embarrassed and didn't look at me.

I do wish that folks would take the time to do a shoulder check. It can save lives. It can also make them better drivers.

When I got my car, one of the features that I wanted was as much of a clear view around me while driving. I didn't get that when I tested the C-HR. I love that I do with my Corolla hatchback.

I am a bit rattled, but I'll be okay.

Hacked account on POF

I signed up for a Plenty of Fish (POF) account. I wanted to check out how the dating scene works again.

Well, my account got hacked last night. The person changed my profile photos. I became a black woman with a height of 5'5". In reality, I am Asian and am five inches taller than that.

I noticed a number of POF notification e-mails coming in about men being interested in me. I didn't get it. It wasn't until I signed into my POF account where I found out that some, but not all, of my answers in my profile were changed.

This person cannot write for beans. It is likely why my profile description remained the way that it was. This person was likely trying to get credit card information. I have a free account, thankfully.

I actually saw conversations between the fraudster and other men happen right before me. I changed my password immediately. It took a while for the other person to be kicked off the system.

To be certain that this person wouldn't be able to hack into my account, I changed my password again a few hours later. The crazy thing is that my original password seemed pretty secure. Obviously, it wasn't.

I will wait a couple of days before logging back in. The notifications have since ceased. After this experience, I'm not sure if I truly want to go back on this dating app.

More aggravation with the incompetent colleague

The incompetent colleague continues to prove that she is not the brightest tool in the shed. I had had it with her on Monday.

On Friday, she asked a manager for information. He responded that same day. She asked the same question first thing on Monday morning, which made him respond by saying that she didn't need to ask so soon. Before all of that, I had indicated the same thing to her.

She cannot think for herself. She can't assess any situation. She just sees a task on a checklist and does it. Ugh!

What annoyed me even more was that she proceeded to ask the same manager for a different set of information. I had explained that I had all this information for the last two team meetings. It means that our entire team has all that information. She doesn't pay attention. She continues to show everyone that she cannot comprehend simple things.

And, she constantly talks without listening. I had a short fuse on Monday and told her to stop it.

She is to be let go. The problem is working at a company that has tons of procedural nonsense that needs to be done beforehand. It's at my manager's manager level. It likely means that it will take another month before she leaves the company.

I am surprised that I am not committed at a mental institution by now.

She also is indifferent when it comes to emotions. I've never met anyone like that. There is no compassion there, which is odd to me.

O is for odd customer service #AtoZchallenge

I am going to use customer service loosely as a term in this post.

On Friday, as I was driving home from work, I received a phone call on my cell phone. I picked up. I have bluetooth in my car, so the call went to my speakerphone.

This woman said that she was calling from an eye program. This program is a part of the drug used for my eye injection. The first injection is covered by this program.

I asked what the nature of the call was. She repeated herself by saying that I had my appointment on April 7th and that the injection was paid for by this program. Okay, I got that information the first time. It was obvious that she was reading from a script. I asked her specifically what she needed from me.

She said that she needed to ask me some questions. I asked her how long would they take. She said ten minutes. I told her that I needed to pull over and park. I was also starting to get annoyed with her constantly repeating April 7th (she is now at the fifth mention of my appointment date) and talking over me.

I was parked. I was getting so annoyed. I asked her point blank what information she needed from me. Clearly, my ophthalmologist gave her details about my date of birth. She was asking for my drug plan information. I fired back by asking whether she had it, as my ophthalmologist would have forwarded all information to her. She first disputed my claim, but then backtracked.

She then decided to call my insurance company and patch me in. I knew exactly what she was up to. She wasn't upfront with me.

I know that in Ontario (I don't know if it is Canada-wide), medical folks who need to know what coverage patients have on their medical insurance for whatever category cannot get this information directly from the insurance company. Patients need to either call and relay the information to the medical folks who need to know, or in my case, this woman decided to have me on the line, which would allow her to get the information that she needed by calling my insurance company.

She didn't get my consent. She just called. My drug plan covers 90% of the cost of all injections. I could have told her that.

We disconnected with the woman from my insurance company. This woman proceeded to explain that, should I get approved, this program would cover the remaining 10% of the cost, provided that the 10% does not go over $500 for each injection.

I basically let her have it. I gave her this feedback:

• Right off the bat, you should let me know that this program would pick up the cost of my injections, depending on my drug plan and my eligibility in this program that is sponsored by the drug used for my injections.
• You should point out that you need to know whether my drug plan would cover this drug. You should ask whether it is okay for both of us to call my insurance company to figure out what percentage is covered.
• You should then let me know that a decision needs to be made as to whether the remaining 10% will be covered by the program. That decision should take another week or two.
• When you call me, you do not need to repeat April 7th a grand total of seven times during the call. I am fully aware that I had an appointment with my ophthalmologist on Friday, April 7, 2017. I do not need it repeated seven times. Once is good enough, especially when this call is being recorded. Repeating this date so many times does not add value to our conversation. Perhaps your demographic is geared towards older folks, but it is patronizing and is not helping me relax when you won't tell me what information you need from me or exactly why you are contacting me right off the bat.

I flat out told her that I am going through enough stress that I don't need some woman to beat around the bush. Get to the point, so that I can get on with my life and you can get the information you need to continue processing my coverage.

This call, which would have taken ten minutes, ended up being 25 minutes. I vented. I told her that no patient should deal with such customer service. I am going through enough. I don't need added frustration from a woman who is reading from a script. 

I even told her to stop talking over me. This call is being recorded? Good. Let's hope that someone is monitoring it and she actually does indeed provide my feedback to her supervisor. I have worked in a call centre in my past. Often, it falls by the wayside.

She assured me that she would forward my feedback to her supervisor and apologized again. Well, thanks for delaying my drive home, making my blood pressure boil, and wasting so much time when all of this aggravation could have been avoided.

Frankly, I am at this stage where I don't care much about the 10% cost. Being stressed out isn't worth this company paying for it. I am perfectly fine with not dealing with the stress and paying for the 10%. I should be covered, but we'll see what would cause me not to be accepted in this program. My tearing a strip off her? If that happens, I'll be back again to file more grievances, even though I should focus on my health and not dealing with annoying small potatoes like this woman.

My favourite line was this woman repeating her name at the end. I told her that I already got it when she first introduced herself on the phone and when she did the same to the woman at my insurance company. Frankly, I want to forget your first name. I don't want to deal with you after this ordeal. Let's hope that I do not need to call and speak to you again. Ever.

Blogger changes, contractor woes, yummy sweets, and gym trips

I see that Blogger's user interface has changed. It gives you the look and feel of a Google application. So far, I haven't come across any bugs. Naturally, there is plenty of time to find one!

With the annoying contractor at work, we had a talk and I gave him a piece of my mind. I was firm, but not to the point where I was bashing him to death. Part of me wanted to, but I am too polite to do that in front of his face. I felt better. He hasn't got a clue.

I told my guy about my interactions with the guy. He laughed at the fact that this guy is socially inept and started firing work-related questions when I first walked into the office. As usual, my guy told me to hang in there. After all, this guy will be gone in a month's time.

My manager and I had a venting session on Friday about this guy. We both agreed that his contract will not be renewed next year. He advised that this guy will not pass probation.

My guy and I had a good chat on Tuesday evening. Unfortunately, my new cell phone provider's signal is weaker than my previous one when it comes to talking in the basement. I need to do some research on cell phone boosters in the home. I was fine holding it up in the air, doing my best impression of the Statue of Liberty, which made my guy laugh.

Anyway, my guy is travelling to Egypt and Moldova in over a week's time.

"What would you like me to bring back from Cairo?" my guy asked me.
"How about those honey sweets that you brought back a few years ago. They were yummy," I replied.
"Sure. Yummy goodies for a yummy girl."

We chatted while we both worked out. I was on my glider. My guy at the gym on a treadmill.

"I was planning to go to the gym yesterday, but I didn't. I was dressed for it," my guy admitted.
"Hey, that's progress. In the past, you would just say no and climb back into bed without changing your clothes."

He chuckled. He knew that I was speaking the truth.

Frustration with a contractor - ugh!

I enjoyed blogging this past weekend. Frankly, I miss the weekend already. I was relaxed, happy, and cheerful.

All of those sentiments faded away when I got to work on Monday. I have to vent. 

It has been a while since I have felt so perturbed over a co-worker's actions that it makes me feel sick.  I felt tension in my neck and forehead. I could feel heartburn creeping in. My stomach has been queasy. I have felt this way for several hours now. Luckily, a nice, relaxing warm shower has got me in the mood to write.

At work, we recently hired two contractors. The first one is male. The second one joined a week later and is female. I don't have an issue with the latter.

The male is problematic. He constantly yawns throughout the day. He doesn't take notes. I actually had to tell him to take notes. Funny how professors never truly tell their students to take notes. It's implied that you do. 

He isn't a quick learner. He doesn't do what I have asked him to do and his work suffers. He takes constant breaks. The list goes on and on.

The first incident happened last Thursday. I came in to work and he attempted small talk. He asked me whether I was thrilled about not having a 07:00 meeting. It was an uninteresting one-liner, but I give him credit from trying. I simply told him that these meetings are part of the job.

I still had my coat on. I still had my lunch bag strapped across my body. I had yet to take my laptop out of my bag. He started asking me work-related questions.

I don't work that way. Let me settle in. I told him so. He is 27 years of age. He doesn't act it.

I finally got my coat off and started logging on to my laptop. I grabbed my mug to get some hot water for my tea. Apparently, my bluntness wasn't effective enough. He started again with another work-related question.

"I am getting hot water. Are you serious? Let me settle in. Your question can't be that important, can it?" I asked him, practically rhetorically.
"No, it can wait."

As much as I like helping people out, I don't like starting my workday with countless questions and have yet to sit down to do work. Let me answer my e-mails and log in to all applications that I need. Let me breathe.

Then, there was Monday. I met with him to see how he was doing with a fairly straightforward writing task. Well, I thought that it was straightforward.

"Did you start a [documentation] build?" I asked him.
"No, I forgot," he replied.
"We need to start a build, so we can see what the documentation looks like from a reader's perspective. Often, I will catch issues that I don't see in our editor," I stated.

Well, my words of wisdom backfired on me. I asked him to start a build. I had yet to review his work.

My manager and this co-worker had a one-on-one meeting Monday afternoon. They came out of the meeting with my manager asking that all three of us talk about some work items that they had discussed.

It turns out that they reviewed the documentation build output that I had yet to review. Sure enough, this co-worker managed to make a guide that is supposed to have the same content in two different software products look completely different. He messed up bigtime.

I pointed out that it was the reason why he needed to build our documentation -- to review it. My manager also asked him the same question.

I was probably more perturbed that I had to explain what he was doing to my manager. This guy obviously cannot communicate what he is or was working on.

I also wasted even more time talking to him. As usual, he has a bunch of questions and does not try to retain any answers that I have given him on countless occasions. I sound like a parrot. I don't get any treats, though.

Oh, did I mention that we have a deadline for this Friday to have all our documents completed? It's not going to happen with this incompetent contractor.

I was steaming in frustration for the remainder of my time at the office. I haven't felt like that in a while.

My working out helped. So did the shower, as I have just mentioned. Blogging does, too. It's therapeutic.

I do wish that my guy could be with me right now. He's always good at hugging me, kissing my forehead, and telling me that things are going to work out. They always do. 

He's right. I just miss that reassurance from him.