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I woke up this morning with a raging headache.
Not good.
I haven’t even gotten to work yet, and as of yesterday afternoon, still no solution.
I talked to Cary last night, and he says he’s taking calls, but he’s asking the callers to hold three or four minutes at a time while he wrestles with the interface and Jaws.
Completely unacceptable.
We can’t afford to keep doing that.
I don’t understand why they had to kill the link in the first place.
If they have to upgrade, fine.
But if they’re not going to involve us in testing the thing to make sure it’s accessible, then don’t kill the link.
It’s that simple.
I know I have a lot of sighted readers, but this is one of those times when sighted people really prove how inconsiderate they can be.
To the ones who have been helpful, I sincerely thank you.
But to the rest, please stop making my life difficult.

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I want to know exactly what these people who have managed to get promoted according to the level of their incompetence are missing that would make it sink in that Jaws 7.0 hasn’t fixed the current database interface problems, and isn’t ever going to fix them.
We’ve already tried the upgrade, with no difference in usability, I’ve submitted all the accessability information, and everything was done in vain, because I was just told to try to take calls for the next hour or so and see how it goes.
I even illustrated, by turning on the monitor and literally letting the operations manager watch as I have to go in and out of forms mode in order to navigate the drop-down box in order to pick an option to use when searching.
He still says take calls.
I’m so pissed.
I’ve got half a mind to go to the client’s minion’s makeshift office, and yell at him, even though I know that wouldn’t accomplish anything but getting me fired, or at least in some real trouble.
I can’t believe he’s actually that stupid.
Or that he just doesn’t care that much, and is interested in forcing this God-forsaken new design come hell or high water.
I told the operations manager that we had a working link, and that theasiest way to fix the problem is to restore access to the link.
He says the client isn’t willing to do that until they see that the new version isn’t working, which has already been illustrated numerous times.
I really don’t know what to do anymore.
I’m sick and tired of pounding my head against a wall for nothing.

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I never thought I’d say that about my job.
Stressful, exhausting, demanding, unrewarding and unfulfilling, definitely.
But never boring.
Then this week happened.
When I got to work this morning, I performed my now ritualistic walk to the operations manager’s cube and asked if there was any news.
I think after Tuesday’s melt-down, he’s been avoiding me.
Basically, after my post deploring the extreme lack of logic inherent in attempting to take calls when the system still wasn’t working, I attempted to convince myself to get on the phone, and ignore the fact that this wasn’t going to work, and just take calls and feed everybody a line of crap while I fought with the system to try to get it to work even though I knew it wouldn’t, but there was no convincing.
So I decided to take the course of action that wouldn’t get me in to trouble: talking to John about it instead of the more desirable yelling at the client’s minion.
John managed to get the management pukes to leave off having me take calls, but there’s been no information since.
So when I went to the OM’s cube this morning, he said he’s going to “push some buttons” today.
And what exactly has been going on all this week?
I seriously considered not coming in to work today.
It was raining, 30 degrees outside, and I would much rather be home, getting stuff done and watching Star Trek.
What makes it worse is that the OM said he actually probably would have aproved the request for paid time off.
This whole thing sucks.
This is an open trackback post.
You know what to do with it.
Send me a trackback, and link to this post, and you’ll be linked.
Enjoy.

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Not that I want to bring it up again, but the execution of Tookie Williams has, due to its media attention, rekindled the debate on whether capital punishment is a just penalty for crimes like murder.
Both sides seek to bolster their claims by citing Biblical passages, and it seems the favorite of the opponents of the death penalty is the following: ” … Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord … ” (Romans 12:19).
The verse quotes, (or rather, paraphrases), Deuteronomy 32:35, part of the well-known Ha’azinu.
It is used in the Christian Scriptures as support for the position held by Paul that Christians should not take vengeance against their enemies, and reassuring them that God will do the avenging.
But can this verse be used as a prooftext against the death penalty?
It is my aim, throughout this article, to demonstrate that this verse has nothing to do with the death penalty, and that both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures distinguish between vengeance and state sanctioned punishment of criminals,

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I am definitely not looking forward to going to work today, only to do the same thing I’ve been doing since the 8th.
I shouldn’t even be able to put any time limit more than a couple of days on this, yet it’s turning into a two-week, possibly longer, phenomenon of stupidity.
I’m going to call in again this morning and see if I can get any information, and the permission to just stay here instead of going in and sitting on my can.
I’ve got a ton of laundry to do, and even if I didn’t, I could spend at least part of the day watching Star Trek, which is infinitely more interesting than watching the antics that go on at work.
They should be lucky I’m not world dictator.
All the idiots would be gone in one fell swoop.

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I just came back from talking to the HR director.
I asked him if there are any other positions available in order to get out of this accessibility rut I’m in, and keep finding myself in.
He says there aren’t any in the local center, and that I can always apply for some other position in some other ConUs center, but that ConUs doesn’t relocate agents, so that would be my problem.
I’m supposed to talk to the upper management this afternoon.
Basically, I’m going to go back to the bigger management cubes, and then the upper manager here is going to call his boss, and we’re going to sit and talk about how the client doesn’t want to set up the mirror to the old interface, because that would cost too much money to maintain for two people, and we’ll be back at square one.
We’re going nowhere fast, and what worries me is that this will be used as an opportunity to tell me to have a nice day.
It’s definitely the path of least resistance, and right now I’m in the middle of a fight between two corporate whores who are more concerned about maximizing their profits, and could care less if one or two cube-dwellers get trampled underfoot because of something that was never their fault in the first place.
I’ve been yelling (figuratively) about this accessibility issue for the last three years, and it’s getting me nowhere, and looks like it may even signal the end of the line for me at this job.
Cary isn’t really helping matters.
He’s content to just follow the directives of his supervisor, take calls, then call the support team to do the work after clicking around awhile, and making the caller think he’s actually helping.
His justification is that they’ll monitor him eventually, see he’s screwing things up and then fire him, and then he’ll be out of the situation.
He’s taking it one day at a time, so that it doesn’t encroach on his sanity.
Whatever floats your boat.
Personally, I’m a fan of self-preservation.
I hate this job, but I can’t afford to lose it.
If I could afford it, I would have quit long ago.
So I’m interested in not only fixing the current crisis, but preventing future ones so that I can save myself future headaches.
I don’t think that’s too unreasonable.
I’d love to be able to just sit back, not worry about all this, and just wander aimlessly throughout life.
But in order to do that, I’d have to have no ambition, or even a desire to keep from slipping into the multitude of blind and visually impaired people who are unemployed.
As much as I hate my job, being unemployed is infinitely worse.
I detest having to rely on the charity of others, regardless of the level of sincerity.
It’s not that I wouldn’t be appreciative, and it’s not that I think people are incapable of giving wholeheartedly.
At this point in my life, I want to be able to provide for myself, without undue stress, and without having to worry about whether or not my livelihood is going to be jeopardized by some company’s pet technological abortion that lived.
Is that really too much to ask?

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I met with the upper management type at around 2:30 this afternoon, and he gave me the “I want to help” motivational speech.
I’m not totally sure whether I should believe it or not.
I’ve heard from other people he manages to get things done, but I heard that about everyone who’s ever occupied any upper management position here.
He recommended that we test out all known browsers, so we did, and none of the others tested worked.
Firefox, Netscape, and Opera were all no-goes with Jaws.
Back to the drawing board.

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Looks like I’ve got my answer about the upper management type I mentioned in yesterday’s post.
He spouts just as much BS as everyone else around here.
He fed me a whole bunch of crap about how we need to maximize my potential, and how he wants to find a way to put my many talents to good use, and how he’s talking to his people, who are talking to their people … and they’re supposed to have a solution sometime tomorrow.
He tells me he’s going to get them to rewrite the whole damn interface.
Right.
And I’m Jesus Christ.
This guy has told me everything except that he lives in a van down by the river.
I’m starting to choke on all this.

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I’m going to work this morning, and John, the upper management type, and I are going to have a chat about all this, specifically the counting my average handle time against me.
I’m going to explain that that battle’s already been fought and won, and then I’m going to ask why there’s a need to rehash it.
I’m also going to explain why my AHT isn’t being counted in the first place, and I’m going to explain, in detail, the legal ramifications of all this, namely that the company has backed itself into a corner with this, and that if they can’t get the interface fixed, then they’ll have to put me in another position, even if that means creating one in the local center.
They can’t ask me to move to take another position somewhere else, and they can’t ask me to even apply for it.
Since they created this problem, it rests on their shoulders to fix it.
I’m not going to be threatening about it, I’m just going to explain the facts.
I’m going to explain that I’m not going away.
They can’t fire me over this, and I’m not quitting.
All of my dealings with this individual make me very suspicious, and seem to justify my being so jaded.
He gives off the creepy corporate vibe, and It is my belief that all this about my AHT came about out because they’re grasping for straws.
I’m thankful that I have people like Ze’evi, who have been through this before, to give advise.
He’s never proven to be off the mark on this sort of thing.
I just wish I didn’t have to deal with any of this, and that I could just do my job like any “normal” joe.
I’m not looking to create a storm here, but since I’m already in the middle of one, I might as well make sure I don’t get trampled by it.

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This morning’s meeting with UM never happened.
He’s been in and out of the office, and is supposed to be out all afternoon.
John’s busy doing monitorings, so he’s unavailable too.
I went to UM’s office at around noon to see if there was any news, but there was none, and he sent a message to his boss, and said he’d come to my cube and let me know if anything comes up.
I didn’t think it would have been a really good idea to go back there and start trying to lay down the law without listening to what he had to say, if anything, first, and it turned out he didn’t have much to say at all.
I went to lunch around 1:00, and ate chicken, green beans and potatoes, and had tea to drink with it.
The chicken was a little burnt, but not very much, and the potatoes and green beans were awesome.
The tea was like concentrated sugar.
I could definitely use a nap right now.
I put my name in the drawing for a huge TV they’re giving away.
It would be funny if I won it.

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It’s only just a little after 11:00, and I’m already so tired of this place it’s ridiculous. 

Not that I wouldn’t be tired of it if I was actually working, but not working makes it even worse. 

i’d really love to be at home, in the recliner, watching TV. 

OK, Star Trek isn’t on Spike today because of the James Bond marathon, but I’d find something else to watch. 

Either way, I wouldn’t be here, doing nothing. 

 

Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

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Yes, you read that right, I’m playing hookie. 

Why?

Because I just can’t bring myself to pay for a cab to go to work and sit. 

After paying all my bills, I’ll have over $200 left, and the only thing coming out of next week’s pay is the rent, so I can stand to miss the pay for today. 

I just can’t handle going in there and sitting all day, and paying to do it. 

Not motivated isn’t the right word for it. 

I’m way past that point. 

I won’t get to watch Star Trek today, but at least I won’t be sitting in a cube, doing what I could be doing at home. 

 

Originally published at Customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.