Returning to the office with more questions

Yestterday, I got official word from my employer that the office will be reopening to employees who are fully vaccinated on April 4. I have more questions than anything.

On a good note, I have taken April 4 off as a vacation day. I am doing a working vacation the previous week. It will likely be my last one working remotely.

We will be adopting a hybrid work model. It's supposed to be a 5-50 split being in the office and working remotely. Considering that it takes me an hour to drive into work, I want to see if I can make it more like a 60-40 split in favour of working from home.

I'm not sure how it will be organized. What if everyone wants to go into the office for work on April 4? I don't think the office can handle that capacity.

There is no organization or detailed planning. Do we sit where we used to over two years ago? Will my badge to get security clearance work?

Anyway, we'll see how things are communicated over the next few weeks.

Stop contacting me!

People are interesting creatures. I wish that they wouldn't contact me sometimes.

I have a contact on one social media platform who decided to message me on the weekend. He noticed that a business listing that he had created had changed to something else. I continued checking into said place. He basically said that it looked like I was checking into a government site.

So, what's the purpose of your contacting me? I told him that I was fully aware that I was checking into said location and treating it like the original. He wrote back and said that he knew that, but the new location was further away from where he was.

Buddy, why are you contacting me? If the listing is wrong, go report it. I had already done that, but I didn't want to break the news to him, which I think is what he wanted me to do or was simply clueless.

Folks are not clear with what they are trying to accomplish. Don't complain about it to me. Do something about it yourself.

The diva contacted me about an apparent issue. She inherited part of my workload over two years ago. She still doesn't get it. I couldn't tell whether she didn't understand how document revisions worked or if she didn't understand how to interpret document numbers.

Woman, you have taken over the job for over two years. It was such a basic question where she included our manager that she now looks like she can't comprehend the work that she is tasked to do for a while.

Don't bug me. I've got work to do.

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.

Working with a diva who loves putting files into folders

I work with a colleague whom I have nicknamed Diva over the years. She is one.

It's crazy that she recently celebrated eight years with the company. I trained her.

From the moment she set foot with the company, I noticed her thing for putting files in folders. It is to the point where it's overkill and an obsession.

For over a year, she wanted to put files in a repository into subfolders. She was the only person who complained about the setup. I explained why I put everything in a single folder. I set up all documents. I need to make sure that they are all there in a glance. I also assign document numbers to them. It takes me a week to do all that work for each major software release that we have. It would take more time if I had subfolders to switch between views.

Well, she went ahead and did her folder thing. That's fine if she wants to waste her time and claim that it'll reduce errors made by her. It's more because she has a folder obsession. I'm wondering if it's OCD.

It's not a showstopper to me. She will live with or without putting files in folders and subfolders.

This week, she faced an issue and couldn't solve it herself. She goes with asking people first. I'm the complete opposite. I'll try and troubleshoot it before I poll people. I normally don't poll folks on my team because, often, no one has the experience. There are finally a few people who do. I went ahead and ignored her. She needs to put in some effort, rather than taking a shortcut by simply asking first.

She is a diva. She expects everything to be done for her. Thank goodness she did her folder thing herself. Such a waste of productivity!

Profile and business write-ups

A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to fill out a questionnaire for an upcoming profile feature that I'll be a part of on Instagram. It's related to the review recognition that I wrote about in my previous post.

The other part of this exercise is to feature five businesses that I love, and write a brief blurb about them, along with including a photo for each of them. I finally got it all done yesterday. It's nice that I can focus on such activities on my vacation.

I don't have anything adventurous to do on my vacation. I'm just taking it a day at a time. It's nice so far.

Starting a conversation with a condescending tone doesn't get far with me

It's interesting dealing with various departments and people to get things done. Well, sort of done.

Let's start with getting my retirement savings accounts (RRSPs) transferred from one bank to another. I need to open two new accounts with my primary bank. One is a regular RRSP account. The other one is a locked-in RRSP account where the money can't be touched until I retire.

I had to deal with another financial representative who called me after I was done work. The conversation did not start off well.

"Do you know that you have a locked-in retirement (LIRA) account?" he asked.

"Yes. I don't appreciate your condescending tone," I replied.

The day before, I had sent two completed forms back to my bank. One was for my regular RRSP account. The other for the LIRA. I knew exactly what I was doing. He had all forms in his position. He was just too lazy to look at them. 

I did a questionnaire a couple of days ago to determine what type of LIRA account would suit my needs. He did the same thing again, but did a cross reference between my answers over the phone and a previous one from a week ago for my regular RRSP account. I didn't get it. Wouldn't you want the get the results for the LIRA questionnaire that I did recently, as they are for this new LIRA account? It didn't make a whole lot of sense.

I was civil. I did say that we should get things over with by doing this questionnaire and thanked him at the end. He did apologize for being condescending. I think he let up when he asked me how much was in my LIRA and I told him right down to the cents.

I have more to unleash about my manager and our human resources department. I'll save that for tomorrow.

Trying out my Google Nest Mini

I have been chipping away at little projects around the house that I have put aside. It was a combination of not spending a lot of time at home and not being motivated.

Two months ago, I got a Google Nest Mini for free. I received in the mail and kept it in its box all this time.

Last night, I decided to give it a whirl. It plays my music fine. I can ask it to play my music and tell me what the weather forecast is. It works like my Alexa speaker.

It would be interesting to pit them together and see if they can converse with each other.

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.

Figure it out!

I worked from home on Wednesday. I realize that a number of my colleagues can't figure out things on their own. They simply ask questions and hope that someone like me will hand them these answers on a silver platter.

I am tired of this mentality. I figure out answers on my own. Why can't they do the same thing?

My manager is a part of this group. He can't do work himself. It is that part of management that I don't want to aspire to. I don't want to look or be incompetent.

Anyway, that's my little rant. I'm off to bed, hoping that Thursday will be happier and far more promising.

Interviewing skills and conversation

Last Thursday, my manager and I had an interview with a prospective intern. He is from my alma mater, which is a first.

He was polite and knowledgeable. My manager conducted the first half of the interview, as he had to leave to attend a meeting. I took over after that.

I like honing my interviewing skills. I don't like firing question after question, or going into a huge soliloquy. I'd rather have a conversation, which made it more comfortable for both of us.

When I asked if he had any questions towards the end of our time together, he truly opened up. I like when folks are comfortable with me, and vice-versa.

His writing and editing skills are superb. He'll do just fine.

He accepted the offer. I look forward to working with him soon.

Six months before my car lease is over

I have a leased car. The lease is six months away from being over.

Apparently, I can take my car into the dealership to get a complimentary assessment on how it is doing and options that I have, including buying it. I also have the option to break my lease and get a new car without any penalties, depending on the car that I choose, I am guessing.

This process is completely new to me. I have never had a six-month-before-the-lease assessment in my life. It must be recent, as I have leased a total of four cars in my life, including this one. I can only guess that it is to retain customers.

It seems like the trade would be from my Scion iM (it has been rebranded as the Corolla iM) to the Corolla Hatchback. I don't know whether selecting a different car model is eligible for breaking a lease and keeping my payments roughly the same. We'll see.

If you have any insight, please let me know. It's all new to me as I continue my research on cars.

Stressful Monday morning, but better in the afternoon

Ah, Monday. Either it's horrible or it's okay. I got a mix today.

A new employee joined the company. She is hopefully going to take over a bulk of my work. The problem with her is that she asks a ton of questions without doing much research. It also didn't help that her laptop wasn't available until two hours later.

As I was trying to look up information, I got a ton of questions from her. Ugh. Such a bad time to be asking ridiculous questions.

She brought her laptop home. We never covered how to connect remotely. The answer was on an information sheet that she got with her laptop. Again, more questions. Double ugh.

I got annoyed. Thankfully, things turned around as the day progressed.

My guy sent me a text in the afternoon. It was bad timing, though. I let him know that I was training a new writer and was stressed out.

"Sorry to hear that. Please ping me when you're free. Hope I'm still up," he texted.
"It'll probably be late. I train until 5 pm. I'll give you a try. Miss you," I replied.
"Same here," he said, sending a kiss emoticon.
"You're sweet," I replied, reciprocating with a kiss emoticon.
"You, too," he replied.

He makes my day when I need some cheering up.

Departing colleague who thinks I'm Yoda

Another colleague in my department has decided to leave the company. She has been with us for 1.5 years.

I have been pretty busy at work with various software releases. She had a question for me and wrote an e-mail. I answered it a couple of hours after she had sent it, as my team was still trying to get our deliverables out the door.

In my response, I decided to wish her the best with her new job. I indicated that I was going to miss working with her, while still happy about her moving up in the world. She is the person who did not properly lock a washroom stall that she was in and I walked in, thinking that it was free. My guy still teases me now and again about it. It's funny, but we both have moved on from that odd moment.

My colleague wrote back and expressed pretty much the same thing -- that she wished that she could continue to work with me. She went one step further by saying that I am her Yoda. It's sweet, as she feels that I have an answer to any question that she has.

Another colleague and I are organizing her farewell lunch. I am also collecting money towards her parting gift. It's nice that we are all a thoughtful bunch and we get along.

Thoughts being an interviewee

At work, I conduct a number of interviews. I tend to make interviews a conversation rather than an interrogation. I want the interviewee to be comfortable, which allows that person to open up. I then get as much information out of the candidate to determine whether that person is a good fit.

It has been ages since I went for an interview. It's strange to be the interviewee.

For a while, ever since this job opportunity was plopped into my inbox, I have been mixed about the position. I like the idea of being in a new work environment, being closer to home, and having the challenge of learning a new field. However, after being interviewed by four different people on Monday, I still don't feel that it's my dream job.

The person who could potentially be my manager reminded me of my current manager. Both have been in the industry for nearly two decades. Both don't have a good command of the English language. Both aren't good at listening.

I respectfully butted heads with this person. I saw the passion that came out of me. I didn't back down. If they didn't like that about me, so be it. I'm actually pleased that I took a stand.

This person basically said that this position would be a drastic change for me. He felt that I was doing more of a management role than a writing role. He went on to say that at my workplace, there are tons of writers. You lose one and you're fine. At this company, it's smaller. You lose a person and you feel the impact.

I completely disagreed with him. I have lost a writer a year on my team for at least the past four years. Thanks goes to my micromanaging manager. My team loses a writer. I feel the pain of picking up the slack and doing the job of two people. It is my current situation.

He completely dismissed the fact that I am in the trenches, writing daily, doing the grunt work. I hammered that point. He didn't get it. He's stubborn, just like my manager.

Is it worth taking a pay cut to be at a different company with a manager exhibiting similar personality traits and deficiencies? I think not.

I did feel good coming out of the interview. I got along with the woman with whom I had my phone interview. It was good getting back into the interview scene again.

As much as it would be nice to escape my current job for another one, this open job opportunity doesn't feel right to me.

Interview preparation

I finally have my interview later on today. I am probably more prepared than I have been for past interviews. I even have my questions written down.

I'm still not sure whether it's my dream job. It doesn't hurt to attend and give it a try.

Paddling and having anal sex on a Saturday morning

My guy and I got into the bed and cuddled. It always feels good to be in his arms.

He helped me take off my panties and shorts, along with my cold shoulder shirt.

We intertwined our legs. He caressed my left leg and got aroused.

I groped his buttock. He liked that. So did I.

"Where are the paddles?" he asked me.
"They are on the table," I replied, pointing at the table.

He got up and headed over to it. I continued admiring his naked backside from afar.

I brought two paddles with me this time. One was leather and the other was wood. He opted for the former.

"Turn around," he said, returning to the bed.
"But, I'm a good girl," I replied.
"You never are, sweetie," he said.

I turned onto my stomach. He proceeded to smack each buttock with the leather paddle. At first, I was okay. Then, each smack got harder and my butt was getting pretty sore. Several smacks later, he had another question for me.

"Where are the condoms and lube?" he asked next.
"They are in my luggage," I replied.

I am pretty organized. He appreciated it. He found my luggage and rummaged through it. He placed a condom on his hard member and applied lube.

Anal sex doesn't intimidate either of us anymore. I did have one flashback to our first time. This time became pretty close to my head bashing into the wooden headboard, as was the case our first time trying anal sex. I pointed that out and we moved further away from said headboard.

The sex was amazing. I came and became pretty dopey. We cuddled some more.

"I love your butt," my guy said to me, kissing my forehead.
"I love yours, too," I replied, groping is bare buttock.

I love starting a Saturday off right with him.

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.

Training, questions, and dynamics

At work, I have been training for most of the week. The new hire told me that she appreciates my training her, which is nice.

I am still trying to gauge how she ticks. She's nice, but she asks questions that have nothing to do with the task at hand, at times. It's odd.

As an example, she asked me out of the blue whether we have hired students as full-time employees while in a training session about the writing tool. She is also fixated on another tool that our team will be migrating over to in six months.

I have another colleague that I am training on another aspect of my job. We get along well. She, on the other hand, asks questions that are work-specific. I like that!

It's an interesting mix. The good thing is that with my team of new folks, including my student, we all get along. Here's hoping that the trend continues.

My entire team thinks that it is amazing that I can talk all day. I guess that my guy and I are so chatty that it makes sense that we are trainers!

Back home -- sick, tired, and happy

On Sunday night, I returned safely home from my vacation. The flight was rather long. It wasn't the smoothest trip.

I didn't realize that you can't pack nail polish in your checked-in luggage in Shanghai. Sadly, I had to surrender three bottles of Formula X polish that I had brought with me. I just found out that this entire line of nail polish is being discontinued at Sephora. It's a bummer, for this polish works well for me. It stays on for a long period and I love the colours.

I also had a can of dry shampoo. Apparently, it is okay to pack that in your luggage. I also had a bottle of water with me. You can bring that through security. I don't get it, but what do I know?

For the first time, I left my passport at security after my carry-on belongings and I went through the scanners. I normally hold my passport in my hand, but the guy tossed it with my laptop. So, I didn't fetch it until five minutes later when I realized that I didn't have it with me.

I didn't sleep much on my fourteen-hour flight back. The three folks in front of me were constantly yakking for the first four hours. The guy in the same row, separated by the aisle, had his reading light on the entire time. I also flew back with a cold and an annoying, mucus-abundant cough, so that wasn't fun either.

And, yes, my flight was delayed by forty minutes. Customs in Toronto took forever. I managed to select one that was interrogating every little thing with folks who could not speak English and needed an interpreter. Wonderful!

When she got to me, my interaction with her took a minute. I didn't mind the wait, as I was sweating so much from dashing here and there that I needed to cool off.

I do like the express walkway. That helped a ton.

I took a limo taxi to my office. My car was still there after over two weeks.

When I was driving to my workplace to ultimately catch a taxi to the airport back then, a stone hit my windshield and chipped it. By the time I had arrived at my workplace, it was a good four-inch crack. On Sunday, it was much larger. It was a swirl. Sadly, I will need to get the entire windshield replaced. Ugh!

There is a silver lining, though. I went into the office after the taxi had driven to my car and had offloaded my luggage. On my desk, my guy had left two boxes of Turkish delight, which made everything better.

Being late and asking for directions to the restaurant

My guy relies on a GPS, either the unit in his car or his GPS app, to get to where he needs to be. Saturday night was no exception.

He originally thought that his flight was at 17:00. Instead, he texted me, indicating that it was at 22:30. He asked if we could do dinner before my driving him to the airport. I was good with that suggestion.

He left his place and called me.

"Are you running late?" I asked him.
"Yes, a bit. I'm late guy," he explained.
"I'm nearby. I'm punctual girl," I replied, which made him chuckle in agreement.

We are opposites when it comes to directions and punctuality, which may be one reason why our relationship works. We accept each other for who we are.

We chatted as he drove over. He was only eight minutes late, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. He had an unexpected change to make, so he ended up forgetting to bring a few items, like his pyjamas and dual-SIM phone. Still, they weren't crucial items. He can always buy the former and he still has his regular cell phone that is unlocked.

My guy asked an interesting question as he drove along.

"Which exit do I take to get to the restaurant?" he asked me.
"You'd use the same exit as you would to get to work. It's the Druxy exit," I replied.
"What do I do next?" he asked me.
"When you exit off the ramp, it's Druxy. At the lights, turn left. On Druxy, you need the far left lane. Find the street on which our workplace is and turn left. At the next set of lights, turn right. Then, you should see the restaurant on your right."

He is good at listening to me. He got to the restaurant. I arrived a bit after he did.

We have never had dinner at our usual Chinese place on a Saturday night. It was busy. However, we were promptly seated and we finished dinner in an hour, just in time to drive him to the airport.

While we were eating, we chatted. He never feels uncomfortable telling me about his challenges with directions.

"I never exit off Druxy," he admitted. "I normally take the exit after that. Your method is much faster."
"Oh, I didn't know that," I replied.

I then remembered using my GPS to get to work from southwestern Ontario. It gave me the same directions as what my guy got. Everything made sense to me.

"For some reason, GPSs tend to tell you to go to the next exit and wind your way back to the office. It's not the most efficient route, but it still gets you there. Yes, use Druxy instead. See, you learned something today," I remarked.
"I always learn something from you," he said with a smile on his face. "I'm both directionally and technologically challenged."
"You're sweet that way. It's who you are," I replied.

He continued smiling at me.