See the Signs

Battle of the Faxes

Today, I was defeated at the fax machine. I had just blasted off 5 faxes to Australia, which take a little longer to process, owing to the distance of the destination. One of the girls came in, as I left, to fax her papers off. When I sat at my desk, the other girl got up and headed off, empty handed. My spidey sense goes bezerk.

They return together, and one of them has a confirmation report for me. It reads 'stopped,' and I'm thinking, "those bitches, they fragged my fax." They explained that some guy came in, and was faxing something, but his paper jammed and he kept hitting the cancel key, canceling my fax. Now, now, I thought, I shouldn't just jump to conclusions like that. I needed a plan. I needed to figure out how to expose them.

Anyway, I went back to the fax machine to re-fax the stopped fax, and watched as the machine spat out a confirmation, 'ok,' for another aussi fax. This is good, I thought. Now, I can watch the progression of confirmation reports, and see if they're lying or not. I re-fax my stopped fax, and used that as an excuse to wait around and check the confirmations.

Low and behold, there isn't a fax report for my mysterious fax stopper. It's circumstantial, at best, but I have a pretty good idea of who's fucking with my work. Luckily for me, they're none too bright, but they wasted 5 minutes of my time, and I'll pay them back ten-fold, I promise.

-d

Smug little victory.

Y'know that feeling you get when you win by taking the high road? That smug rightous feeling of making someone feel guilty for being underhanded? Thats me. Right now.

So a new opportunity came up at the meeting today to expand our roles and responsabilities. "Come see me if you're interested," the boss said to us. So, the girls decide to cut me out and go to the boss without me, to go grab such an opportunity. So sorry, the boss is in another meeting, check after lunch.

The only problem with this little scheme is that I'm always aware and suspicious of my peers, simply because they do stupid things like this. I know what's going on because I'm in the next aisle of cubicles evesdropping, and chatting with the boss's right-hand. No particular reason to talk to the second in command, just needed to listen in and know what was going on with my girls.

So, I have lunch with the girls, and when we head back to our building, I head straight for the boss, and tell her that everyone's interested in this new opportunity, and propose that all the co-ops get trained simply to make our experience here more diverse. Boss agrees, "consider it done."

Anyway, I go up and ask the girls if they're interested in this new opportunity. "Maybe..." "I don't know yet..." "I have too much work already..." So I say, "Oh damn, I lied to the boss. I told her that you guys were all interested... I guess I should go down and set her straight." Haha. I have never seen someone change their minds so fast. +1 for me bitchas!

Offices spaces

THe hate is building again. This last week hasn't been too bad, because one of the girls who sits next to me took a day off to do some ethics course. She's actually my classmate, and I have to deal with her next term. With her gone, the office space seemed so much better. I know now that she's the petty little bitch who's been plotting against me. Really, she hasn't pulled anything off intelligent so far, and all of her actions against me (perceived or real) have been overt and petty thus far. She's 26, and still acts like a high school kid.

Yesterday, I received a puro-letter from an applicant, and I went to work, separating the waybill from the envelope. It's in our SOP and we were trained to do it. She watches me do it, waits for me to finish doing it, and then with a smug look, tells me that the waybill is no longer a requirement in the file. I activate my primary defense mechanism, and just shrug my shoulders and say, "until I've heard otherwise..." She laughs at me and says, "ha, ha, you just wasted your time." Yeah. I got it already. She sits on my right, and I was so tempted to just backhand her in the mouth.

Just today, she wrote a note to the other girl and then tore it up into little pieces to throw away in my garbage can. I mean, what IS that? It's only the three of us in our cubicle, so if it couldn't be communicated in a whisper, it was clearly not meant for me to know. Making a big act of ripping it up and throwing it away was clearly meant for me to see. If it were me, and I needed to communicate without letting a third party know, I would have used the internal email system. She hasn't thought of that, and thank GOD. So long as she doesn't figure out to send through email, I can at least be forewarned that something is amiss.

That brings us to why I need to be forewarned. She doesn't pass along information (as described above) that I might need to know to do my job, until the very last minute. Luckily, a lot of that information I can survive without. I only wonder what will happen that one time where I miss out on the info that I absolutely DO need.

I'm out of my element right now, I've got no moral support in my immediate environment. I'll wait until we're back in Toronto, and then I can humiliate her properly.

-d

I remember, when I was naught but a teenager, I could hear my dad get up at 6am in the morning to go to work. I always thought to myself, "Oh god! I have no idea how he can drag his ass outta bed that early, especially after going to bed so late!" And now I know. My radio is set for 6:30am every weekday morning, tuned to CHEZ 106.1 Classic Rock. I always catch one song before the weather report comes on, followed by "the Dish," which is a daily report on Hollywood gossip, and the right wing radio hosts making fun of the stars. Right after "the Dish" is when I get out of bed to do my morning routine, right around 6:45.

I guess being able to get up this early with no adverse reaction is a sign that I'm getting old. Older, rather. I'm not old, yet.

-d

VG '06

Oh, for Pete's sake!

The Army's Vigilant Guardian Website

Seriously now... Why can't we just use that IT money to buy more night-vision-goggles and infra-red laser sights, or even personal role radios?

How to visit me in Ottawa.

By Car:

Take Hwy 401 Eastbound (that's EASTbound, haha)until you reach Belleville.
Take exit 544 to Hwy 37 North.
Take Hwy 37 North to Hwy 7 (~50km @ limit 80kph)
Turn right onto Hwy 7 Eastbound
Take Hwy 7 to the Hwy-417E/Rte-417E ramp to Ottawa (~137 km @ limit 80 kph)
Travel East on Hwy 417 to the "Ch. Pinecrest/Greenbanks Rd." exit(~16km @ limit 100kph)
Travel South on Greenbanks (a major road) and prepare to make a left turn at the next set of lights "Lisa Avenue"
From Lisa Ave., turn right at the stop-sign onto Pinecrest Road.
From Pinecrest Road, turn right into the lot for the two massive buildings.
Call my cellphone or buzz V. Chan, who was the previous tenant, and hasn't had his name removed yet.


By Greyhound:

Take the TTC to Dundas Station, and take the underground path to the Metro Toronto Bus Terminal, located at Bay and Dundas, just a little bit north of the intersection, on the west side. There's an underground connection between the TTC and Bus Terminal. Buy bus fare to Ottawa, present your student card, if applicable, or your military ID, also if applicable. The discounts don't stack, and student fare (~$98)is cheaper than military fare (~$125). There are no discounts during holidays(~$140). By far, the best deal is buying tickets 14 days in advance (~$87), if not 7 days in advance (~$94). The tickets you buy are valid for travel anytime during the following three months.

Seating on the greyhound bus is first-come first-serve. Be sure to arrive an hour to 45 min early to secure your preferred seat. 30 min before the scheduled trip, the driver will perform a headcount of passengers in line. If necessary, another bus may be ordered. Rest assured, they will not leave without you. If you arrive after the headcount, you don't count, and if there isnt' room for you, there isn't room for you.

For the trip, bring headphones in case there's a movie or two. Greyhound Customer Service charges $3 for a pair of cheap headphones that you may or may not decide to keep.

When scheduling your trip, go to the Greyhound website and use the online ticket booking to check prices and schedule of busses. Pick an express bus (~4hr 55min), and click on the trip #. Pick a bus that stops at Pinecrest/Greenbank at hwy. 417. That's your 'special service stop.' When boarding the bus, tell the bus driver that you want to get off at that special service stop. Ensure you have only carry-on luggage, and that it is with you, and not stowed in the baggage containers under the bus.

Call me when you arrive. I'll meet you at the stop.