Out of the mouth of a boss

Actual quotes from real-life anal, OCD, narcissistic bosses. These are scenerios that happened in an office environment that I witnessed.

• (Boss in the office kitchen yelling to the receptionist sitting at her desk) Could you pull out the paper towel rolls to the front of the cupboard so I can see them? They were shoved to the back. (And why can't you take the few seconds to do it yourself?)
• "After putting each check in an envelope, walk to the mail drop with it. Don't make a stack of envelopes on your desk to take all at once to the mail drop." (Can we say ineffecient?)
• "Could you bring me a cup of coffee?"
• "Check your calculations on the calculator three times." (Is three the magic number?)
• "Run the dishwasher every afternoon, even if there is only one cup in it."
• "Please don't write on the desk without having something under your piece of paper."
• "Don't run the envelopes through the postage meter. Use the blank stickers provided by Pitney Bowes and run them through the machine."
• (on the phone with a Wendy's manager) "Your Wendy's burger gave me food poisoning. I want to file a complaint."
• "There is too much of a time delay before someone can leave me a voicemail after hearing my greeting." Phone technician says, "There is nothing we can do about that. The length of time is standard."
• "Order the Hinckly Springs bottled water cooler service. Make sure it is spring water. I can tell the difference. No mineral water."
• "Let me see the address label on the envelope to see if it matches the invoice address before you seal it and put it in the mail." (Do you think I am that incompetent?)

secret music

Does the sound of silence ever drive you insane? I never thought that it would but it has recently. Since our company moved into it's own office space, it has been extremely quiet. There is just three of us in the office. My boss is out of the office for the majority of the day. My co-worker and I decided that we needed music or something so that we wouldn't go insane.

Dust gave me the idea of using the Windows media icon to listen to the radio by internet. For the last few days, I have been listening to .977 the Mix. The best of '80's, '90's and today. My coworker has been listening to a "boomer" radio station. We haven't mentioned this to our boss though. He is very controlling and anal and most likely would not let us listen to anything.

Today, my boss left and said he would be back in 30. I immediately turned on my radio station. It had only been 20 when he came back. After he passed my office, I quickly turned the volume off on my speakers. I keep the volume down so low that you would have to be inside my office to hear it. It has been fun keeping our music secret. My co-worker said, "We are so bad."

test results

I came home from work today and saw that we had a message on the answering machine. It was my doctor's office. They gave me an 800 number to call to retrieve a message from my doctor. I guess doctors can't leave medical information on patients' answering machines anymore. I was a little nervous.

The doctor said that my glucose levels came back normal but the test showed that I was anemic. She said she could call in an iron prescription or I could just buy an over-the-counter iron supplement. I'm going for the over-the-counter option.

No wonder I've been so tired lately!

woes of pregnancy

I am trying not to talk about baby stuff on every post that I do. My pregnancy does consume most of my thoughts and actions throughout the day, though. Last night I had a hard time sleeping. I woke up at 2 am and found Dust still awake with the tv and laptop going. I was having heartburn. The baby is putting a lot of pressure now on my rib cage and sternum. I also haven't been able to sleep on my left side. My left hip really hurts and it makes my leg numb and tingly when I sleep on my side. I have decided that I can't sleep in the bed anymore like it is. I have tried two pillows but I don't think it's good enough. I am going to start trying to sleep on the couch or recliner and see how that works.

Monday morning I have to take the glucose tolerance test. I am not looking forward to it. I have always struggled with blood sugar problems. I am a little nervous about the outcome, but I know I can deal with it.

Our last childbirth class is Tuesday night!! We are going to talk about caesaren births. Last week we talked about epidurals. An epidural scares me a little. I do want some kind of pain medication though. I have a lot to think about. I have been doing a lot of reading about the subject.

Sequels

I recently watched the Prince & Me. It starred Julia Stiles as a pre-med major that falls in love with the Prince of Denmark. Dust started out watching it with me, but then got annoyed with the movie. I am always a sucker for the teeny bopper chick flicks. Someday I am going to have to grow up and stop watching them.

So, I received the sequel, The Prince & Me: The Royal Wedding. It was next on our queue at Blockbuster. It didn't even star Julia Stiles!! Why would you even bother with a sequel if the original actress is not in it? The chick that played her character was lame. I kept thinking the whole time that I liked Julia Stiles playing Paige Morgan better. This other chick couldn't pull of the "edginess" that Julia brought to the character. This chick was too "barbie doll." Now that I think about it, I don't remember the sequel in the theatres. It must have gone straight to video. That tells you something about the movie.

Topeka Trip

Dust and I took a trip to Topeka, KS this weekend. We needed to get away before we have the baby. Dust is also doing a post on our trip but don't worry it won't feel like a repeat. We are doing different pictures and stories. On Good Friday, we toured the KS state capitol building. There were two groups of elementary school students there on a field trip. We felt kinda weird being with the kids tour group. I usually blend in with groups of kids, but my pregnant belly distinguished myself apart from them. The guide talked in a little kid voice and taught them songs. We decided to leave the group and walk around on our own.

Saturday, we went to the Topeka zoo. All the animals were out and about. I think the weather made them all stir crazy because there was a chance for rain. There was a tropical rain forest exhibit inside of a dome. This blue peacock like bird flew out in front of me and landed. I screamed because it startled me. There were a couple of toucan like birds flying around also. It was a cool experience.

We were able to get really close to all the animals. I thought this picture of the hippo was neat. He had been floating around in the water and just decided to get up. Overall, the zoo was really small. We walked around the entire park and was done in an hour and a half. We even went around some areas twice to make sure we didn't miss a pathway to something else. We took our time also. I sat down on at least four benches throughout the park. I liked this zoo more than the KC one. I hate doing a lot of walking. : ) I will let Dust talk about the other things we did. I was very pleased with our little weekend vacation.

birthing video and massage

Last night was the "birthing video" night at our childbirth class. I was so thankful that they were not that graphic. It went through the story of three couples. All the women were covered up for the most part. When the baby was actually delivered, the camera was back far enough that you didn't see too much detail. None of the women were on a surgical table with stirrups. That was always my image of giving birth taken from television. The women were allowed to walk around and change positions frequently. And sitting on the toilet seemed to help some with the pushing part.

After watching the videos, we did some floor work. I sat down on our sleeping bag and Dust sat in a chair behind me. The other two couples there did the same thing. The instructor lead us through various massage techniques that the husband gave to his wife. It seemed a little weird after awhile. Kind of like a guided group make-out session without the kissing. We have been laughing about that situation since last night.

new foods

Last week I tried a food that I had never had before. I never grew out of my kid phase of thinking if the food looked gross it probably tasted gross. I had mentioned to my brother and his friend that I had never tasted shrimp before. I think all seafood looks gross. I was dared to try it and I usually give in to dares when pressured. The shrimp tasted like fatty chicken to me. Eating shrimp wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. Next, my brother's friend dared me to try squid. I told him no because it looked like an octupus. He said how about trying junior octupus. He pulled up a smaller version of the first one off of his plate onto mine. With some more pressure from my brother I gave in and ate it. I didn't quite care for it. I made a face and quickly ate something else to cover it up. I am proud that I tried both of those dishes. Who knows, I might order some shrimp at a restaurant in the future.

country music

I was craving some new music this past weekend. For some reason I have been getting into the music of Johnny Cash. When I told Dust, he said that he liked the song "Hurt." He showed me the music video of the song on his laptop. After seeing that, I bought the Legend of Johnny Cash CD.

I get excited to watch American Idol every week. I learn something new about music every time I watch because I was sheltered from "secular" music as a kid. I am learning what singer wrote/sang particular songs. The theme was country music this week on Idol. I have a question for the country music buffs out there. What does "walk the line" mean? I heard the lyrics, "Any man of mine, better walk the line." And of course the Johnny Cash song, "I walk the line." Does it mean going down the aisle and getting married?

I am planning on renting the movie "Walk the Line" soon.

proof of who you are

I have been considered an independent contractor at my work for the last two years, but now I am going to become an employee. I filled out my W-4 form. Dust asked me if they took a copy of my drivers license and social security card. He said that at every place that he has worked at they have made a copy of his drivers license and social security card. Not one of my previous/present employers have requested a copy. I could be lying about who I am and what my social security number is. It is either very trusting or very dumb that no employer of mine has ever asked me to prove who I am. Maybe if I looked foreign they might have requested ID.

I was just curious about everyone else's experiences. Have you had to show ID when starting a new job?

Visiting

My parents and my brother came to visit today. My brother's birthday was a few days ago and he wanted to go out to eat with the entire family. My mother doesn't want me to travel in a car to come see them until after the baby is born. She was very excited to see the size of my belly.

When my brother comes to see me, he also goes and visits a friend. This friend is in the nearby prison facilities. His friend, "Jon", got busted for drug dealing. He took a longer sentence in order to be in a better facility. My brother is doing a great ministry by visiting his friend in prison. I keep thinking about the verse about the sheep and the goats in Matthew. "I was in prison and you came to visit me." "Jon" was a close friend of my brother's in high school. My brother noticed that "Jon" had an A/G quarterly at school and went to talk to him. They were co-speakers together at their H.S. graduation. "Jon's" life really went downhill after that.

My brother always wants to eat at BD's Mongolian BBQ when he is here. That is also my favorite restaurant so that works out well. I enjoyed the visit with my family. We had some good laughs and good food.