Monday, July 26, 2010

News, bad and sad

See the comments.

8 Comments:

Blogger Shira Salamone said...

See the next comment.

Thu Aug 26, 12:39:00 PM 2010  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

Sorry, please keep going.

Thu Aug 26, 12:39:00 PM 2010  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

Leaving some room.

Thu Aug 26, 12:40:00 PM 2010  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

Last one 'til the good stuff.

Thu Aug 26, 12:41:00 PM 2010  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

This is yet another one of my (in)famous "hidden" posts, hidden in the comments so that my colleagues would have to actually click to read them. I don't know how much of a secret it is to my office-mates that I blog, but I can't afford to be too obvious, especially when writing about the office.

This post was actually written on Thursday, August 26, 2010.


Skinflint, sexist, or both?

One of the supervisors has a bad rep when it comes to giving proper recognition to his staff. A reliable source once told me that, years ago, when one of his office staff members retired, he left it to other staff members to make a farewell party, and refused even to contribute, on the grounds that he wouldn't have time to attend. Yet he somehow managed to take a minute out of his busy schedule to snitch some of the food that he hadn't paid for.

Now, we have a similar situation, made worse by the fact that the person retiring is a much-higher-level staff member. As in the previous case, she's also been on staff and reporting to this supervisor for over 20 years. Yet everyone else seems to have made a party for her except for her own supervisor. How tacky, stingy, and/or sexist can you be?


The walking wounded

One of my office-mates was injured a few years ago, and seems to have suffered some long-term effects. She's been in and out of physical therapy.

Yours truly, as you may recall, took a tumble and broke both wrists about a year and a half ago.

Meanwhile, the poor senior assistant has filing that has to be done, and is much too busy doing an essential assignment to do it herself. As a non-profit organization, we often avail ourselves of local-college-student office interns who get paid on a per-hour basis to do filing, photocopying, envelope-stuffing, etc. between classes. The work doesn't stop between semesters.

The result is that yours truly, despite my aching wrists and despite being the oldest secretary in our office by at least 10 years, now has the privilege of getting down on the floor and doing the filing unless and until we get a new intern. Yes, I do mean getting down on the floor--how else can I reach the files at the bottom of the cabinets?


Baruch Dayan Emet

I knew she was sick, but I guess it wasn't clear how sick she was--one of the secretaries in another office passed away. Rumor has it that she wasn't much younger than I am. What a shock.

Thu Aug 26, 01:10:00 PM 2010  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

September 19, 2010 update:

I may be posting less frequently until next summer: We're expecting a new local-college-student office intern to start tomorrow, so I'll have another person sitting within viewing distance of my screen even when the colleague who sits behind me is out to lunch.

Sun Sep 19, 03:28:00 PM 2010  
Blogger Larry Lennhoff said...

I'll miss your posts. We'd love to have you out for Sukkot, but Sunday is booked and everything else either requires you to stay with us for 3 days or is a workday for me. :<(

Mon Sep 20, 01:50:00 PM 2010  
Blogger Shira Salamone said...

Good news: The ungracious boss has finally made a retirement party for his subordinate.

I decided that it doesn't matter whether the intern sees me posting, as long as the co-worker who sits behind me doesn't catch me in the act.

Thu Oct 21, 04:38:00 PM 2010  

Post a Comment

<< Home

<< List
Jewish Bloggers
Join >>