stick a fork in me

I'm done...

I am pretty irritated at the moment.

Why do people ask me questions, and then not follow instructions, then tell me it's my job to straighten out the mess that ensues? Why the fuck don't they just do what they want to do in the first place, and leave me out of it? I want to know where in my job description does it say that I need to straighten out hotel reservations? Last time I checked, that was NOT MY JOB! I had lots of snarky e-mails that I started writing back to this manager after he told me that I needed to straighen out the billing, after he approved an employee's expenses without checking to make sure it was an appropriate expense. Finally, I just wrote: "I am done with this." and I will leave it at that. If the employee gets reimbursed for an expense he did not incur, it is a problem for that employee and his manager. Breathe. Accept that people can be incompetent boobs.

On another note... it is day 15 of journalling everything. Both on paper, and on line. Turns out WW does not support my particular model of Palm Pilot at the moment. I bought the thing 9 months ago, I wish they would keep up! I also stepped on the scale this morning, and as of right now, it looks like I am down a couple of pounds.

Yesterday was an interesting day. I had said something about my friend with the pottery shop in my previous post. Well, she is a small business owner. She has one part-time employee. MN OSHA is currently doing a project to eliminate silica exposures, and since she has a business that falls under one of their "target" categories, she got inspected, and was issued some citations with fines. I helped her draft the documents to contest the citations, then they scheduled an informal conference with her to negotiate a settlement. That was yesterday. The letter they sent her asked to let them know if she was bringing legal representation, and she left a message for them that she would be "represented." So they were there with their legal council... thinking I was her lawyer, when in fact, I was just a friend with knowledge of the safety regulations. Long and short of it, they offered a reduction in fines (40%) and an extension of some deadlines, if she agreed to go to a free one-day safety course for small business owners. I made some good arguments that they should lower the fines more, so they offered a 50% reduction, which was what we had pretty much asked for in the contestation letter. And since she is a retail business, and the holidays are coming up, she does not have to attend the course until after the first of the year. Never take their first offer!

Funny thing is, their lawyer told me at the end of the conference that I argued better, and made points better than a lot of the lawyers that come in to represent people. Made me feel good. I guess the debate competitions and negotiation training that I have had the opportunity to do through the Jaycees is paying off. I think my friend was happy with the outcome. It was probably better than what she would be able to do on her own. The OSHA guy also told her that she was quite lucky to have a friend like me to help her out. The sampling I did last Friday alone would have cost her more than what the OSHA fines were. It just makes me angry, because stuff like this is why small business owners have such a hard time making it. If you are a one-person show, how on earth can you know everything you need to to comply with all of the governmental regulations?

Anyway, I guess I have some stuff to wrap up before I need to get on the road. I get to travel to the exotic locale of Portage, WI tonight. A glamourous life, I do not lead!

~a