Team lunch and a budget

In a couple of days, I am having a team lunch. I haven't seen many of these folks in person in 1.5 years.

I look forward to seeing most of them. There are a few people that I could do without, but you can't win 'em all!

I had a one-on-one online meeting with my manager yesterday. He asked if I could pay for our entire meal. It was an odd way to make a request without my follow-up question. I asked whether I was to expense it, too. Yes.

Here's where I put my foot down. I don't think it should be my responsibility to put the charge on my personal credit card. Frankly, my manager doesn't have a backbone to charge and expense things himself because it goes to his manager for approval. He'd rather hide that fact and have me do it. I have a budget. This request was unplanned in said budget. I'm not dipping into my emergency fund. It's not an emergency.

I suggested charging it to my corporate credit card. He indicated that he went out with his management team and two people had their corporate credit cards declined.

My thought is that there is a limit for charging expenses on this card for restaurants. I called the credit card company to ask what limit was established. I had to answer eight questions, with some of them being ridiculous, to get an answer to check with my plan administrator.

Not helpful. I tore a strip off this guy. He said that he asks many customers for a verification ID and none of them know what that is. Neither did I. So, why not get rid of that question?

Asking for my work phone number is also ridiculous. I don't call myself. It's a virtual number. Why not ask for my cell phone number first?

Finally, asking for my employee number, when I feel that providing my name, date of birth with the year, my cell phone number, and mailing address are sufficient to verify that I am who I am for a single question about my account. I do not want an interrogation when I call. Posing eight questions is excessive.

Anyway, I had to open a ticket at work to ask what my limit was on restaurant transactions on this corporate credit card. We'll see if I get an answer later on today.

It's painful trying to get an answer to what I believe is a straightforward answer. Things shouldn't be so complicated.

Blocking an annoying friend

I have a friend who has been getting on my nerves for the past few months. I have decided to block him on Instagram.

The latest annoyance was my sharing the good news about being fully vaccinated. He went into technicalities after congratulating me that to be fully vaccinated requires the vaccine to be in my body for fourteen days.

I am fully aware of that fact. Why do people need to put a damper on a momentous occasion? I will hit fourteen days. I told him off and then blocked him.

His wife and I get along. It'll be interesting if they compare notes down the road where he can't see any of my posts and she can. I don't care at this stage.

He is the same guy who constantly asks me questions as if it were an interrogation. At least that has stopped that nonsense for now.

Knowledge and getting shelled with questions

I am one of those breathing fountains of knowledge. A while back, the diva on our team nicknamed me the data bank. I don't mind it.

The downside to being fairly knowledgeable is that people often fire questions at me and forget that I'm a person who doesn't enjoy constant interrogation. How about saying hi first, for instance, before you start firing your questions at me?

I have one friend who has been doing that online in direct messages. It's always a question that he poses.

The weekend, I had proudly mentioned that I got my vaccine shot in a public post. He congratulated me on said post and then privately asked me what vaccine I got.

I decide not to respond. It was the first time that I felt good about not replying. It's always a question. It's never how I am doing or a simple hello. I had had enough.

I am still training a new member of our team from India. Although he is good at asking me how I am doing, I find that he asks questions that are too advanced for his current understanding. It's not horrible, but it means that I have to explain the same concept twice. The first time is a basic version until we get to the actual topic in training where I need to explain it in more detail.

On Monday, I learned that his questions that he had about late last week's training sessions were off, meaning that he had either forgotten or he is the type who isn't the research-on-my-own type.

I have him working on an exercise on his own. We'll see how he does when we meet later on today.

New winter tires and shuttle driver comparison

Wednesday was a long day. It was also a good one.

I finally got my winter tires installed on my car. It makes a huge difference. I'm glad that I got them.

I had to get a shuttle ride home and back to the car servicing centre. I had two different shuttle drivers.

Some drivers need to work on their conversational skills. I felt like I was being interrogated by the first driver.

"What's wrong with your car?" he asked me, pulling out of the service area.
"There's nothing wrong with it. I'm getting winter tires," I replied.
"Are you parents Chinese?" he asked me.
"Yes," I replied.
"How long have you been in Canada?" he asked me.
"All my life," I replied.
"How long is that?" he asked.
"I'm not telling you. I would be revealing my age," I said firmly.

The interrogation stopped. I turned the table and asked him about cruises that he has been on.

On the contrary, I enjoyed chatting with the driver going to the service centre to pick up my car.

"Hi there," I said, getting into the van.
"Hello. Cold, huh?" he asked me.
"I used to live in Winnipeg. Today is a good day," I replied (-14°C).
"You must be a good winter driver," he concluded.
"You do learn how to drive in winter conditions when you are in Winnipeg," I replied.

We ended up talking about his winter driving experiences in Tokyo and more. He had one other customer to pick up. We all ended up chatting about being a mail carrier (this customer's mail carrier had just handed him his mail while he was walking towards the van).

When I was doing paying and getting my paperwork, my service advisor shook my hand, and wished me a happy Christmas and 2018 to come. He's a good person.

I drove home happy with my new wheels.