Month: 14 Sivan 5764 (June 2004)

Hey all:
It’s been an incredibly long time since I’ve posted, and read, for that matter. There’s been a shitload going on here. Work’s extremely hectic, and there’s a ton of baby-mama-drama to go with the rest of the work-related chaos. We just took on 800 more companies, one of which is Tricare, which handles all the insurance for the Department of Defense. Our system’s been shakier than an epaleptic man in an earthquake with Parkenson’s disease for the last two days, and that has resulted in our being in cue constantly for that length of time. We haven’t dropped below 150 the whole time. When I left work today, we were 198 in cue. Last night, the record was 297. As far as the chaos goes at work, let’s just say that the HR manual is a joke. Jerry knows what I’m talking about. Also, let’s just say there’s been some “fraternization” between members of the chain of command, within a direct hierarchy. Jerry, if you’re interested in the gossip, get in touch. I think you’d find it quite Jerry-Springer-like. It involves one of our favorite people. I worked some overtime last week, and that pays $12 for every hour of over time. I worked six hours. More pay is good. I watched the Austin Powers movies this weekend, and saw Gold Member for the first time. It started out good, but ended really badly. Oh well. I think we’re done with the Austin Powers saga, although I have to say I liked the part where Britney Spears turned out to be a fembot, and that part at the end when she asked Minime if the kick-stand comment was true, and then begged for his cell number. Made a couple of friends at work: Crystal and Andrew. Andrew’s hilarious. He’s always making up some song, or joke, or something like that. And there are nicknames for everything: For example, fundamentalist Christians are known as “churchers.” Headaches, (which I’ve had a lot of lately, some pretty bad ones), are “Convergys cramps.” Well, I’m going to go for now. I can’t say when I’ll post next, because for the foreseeable future, the only thing that’s coming up on the agenda is work, and more work, and more work. If you have something to say, leave it in the comments. Bye for now.

It’s almost five in the morning, and since I’m not asleep, I figure I’ll post. I’ve been extremely busy. I’ve worked my normal hours, as well as putting in my share of overtime to try to stem the cue. We haven’t been successful at doing that until this week, and even at that, we still haven’t managed to go more than thirty minutes without fluctuating between cue and sane call volumes. The pharmacists are pissed at Express Scripts for taking on the tricare and Triwest contracts, and are petitioning the government to take those contracts back. I don’t thinkit will happen. As a result, I’m thinking of renting my cubicle at Convergys outright. I spend more time there than I do here. I get home after midnight, so by the time I unwind, it’s two in the morning, so I go to bed, and don’t wake up till noon. Which doesn’t leave much time to get anything done. They’ve asked us to voluntarily work our lunches and breaks to try to stem the cue. Right. I’m not in to putting in charity time for Convergys. They screwed up my pay check again, but this time, my supervisor admitted it was his fault. Progress? Probably not. Anybody who’s ever been a Convergys bitch can simpathize. Feel free to share your Convergys horor stories here.

I was listening when the news broke. Paul Johnson, after being abducted by terrorists, was beheaded. The video has already been released to Al Arabia, and will probably be on the ‘Net shortly. There are also pictures. This is sick. But the fact that, not only his family, but tens of Saudi Arabians and other Muslims pleaded for his release, (one Muslim man even going so far as to take Johnson under his protection and guarantee as a Muslim, even though he wasn’t officially a Muslim), was extremely heartwarming. Kind of makes you stop and think. We all get carried away with our individual squobbles. But Paul Johnson’s family has to start dealing with the fact that they’ll never see their loved one again, until they meet him again in Paradise. I think anyone who has any amount of sense or decency should stop and think about that for a moment, at least for today. May Paul Johnson’s family, along with the families of Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl, (both of whom died in the exact same fashion), be comforted among the mourners of Tziyon and Yerushalayim.

Finally got a chance to catch up on the journals. Sorry I haven’t been around for a while, but it seems you’re all doing relatively well. I remember telling myself that I’d probably post more when I started working, because there’d be more to tell. That hasn’t happened, do to my extremely screwed-up work schedule. I’ll have to get used to doing this again. Is there any way any one of you can tell me what email address you use to post via the email gateway, as well as how to cross-post between journals? Thanks, and, I’ll try to write more.