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

So far, no response from the operations manager.
The little jerk could have at least written back and said no.
He hasn’t even come to say anything about it.
Man, if all you have to do to be an operations manager around here is spout crap, I could do that in my sleep.
I’m so tired of the people around here.
Today’s not going to be very nice.

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

This really sucks.
I still have overhalf the day left.
Nothing new has happened.
I’ve brought some books to read, and I’ll probably read for a little while.
This has gotten completely ridiculous.
I’m starting to wonder if there’s ever going to be an end to it all.
It’s been over three months now, and still no changes.
Am I going to be condemned to coming in here every day and just sitting around for as long as I’m here?
Last week, when I asked Mr. Frodo about the admin position again, he asked about my ability to go and pick up things from the store if needed.
I still haven’t been able to get in touch with the other blind employee.
Every email address I’ve managed to dig up has failed.
John’s apparently lost several members of the support team within the last couple of days.
One is an in-team trainer, one got fired for reasons I won’t mention on this blog for fear of one of the corporate pinheads seeing this and my geting fired for speaking out as a result.
And the final losses were promoted to supervisor positions on the new project.
Other than that, nothing special, except the New Blog Showcase.
This week, however, it’ll be a little different.
I’m combining it with this week’s Open Trackback post, which means that only blogs three months old or younger should trackback.
If your blogging platform doesn’t support trackbacks, you can use the Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger.
There will be another OTBP on Thursday, as usual.
You’ll also want to check with Random Yak, as that’s the next stop for the Blog Showcase.
Confession: I really don’t have the hang of this.
But that should be clean enough for True Confessions Day.

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

I just spent the last half hour or so cutting up vegetables for what was supposed to be a nice, big salad for tomorrow’s lunch.
It turns out I don’t have any plastic bags around, (you know, the ones you get from the grocery store), and my lunch box is too small for the container.
So that nice big salad will be tomorrow night’s dinner.
It’s got lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, cheese, and turkey, and I’ve got some Ranch dressing in a separate container.
So all I’ll have to do after work tomorrow is come home, get a fork, and eat.
I suspect that something will go wrong tomorrow at work, and I won’t feel like cooking anyway.
I really do hate to have to be that pesimistic about my job, but for now, it’s just the practical thing to do.
I hope everyone’s had an enjoyable weekend.

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

It appears as though, in a bid to keep the prohibition against homosexuality in place, the executive committee of the Committee on Laws and Standards within Conservative Judaism secretly passed a ruling last summer that raises the number of votes needed to canonize a minority oppinion from six to twenty.
According to those in favor of lifting the ban on homosexuality, the ruling was enacted specifically to prevent their oppinion from becoming law within the Conservative movement.
They claim that the ruling was passed without their knowledge, and that they only found out about it last week, during discussions concerning the ban.
All of this tells me that the Conservative movement is running like a well-oiled corporate machine.
If we want to keep from acknowledging what we all know is the majority oppinion anyway, then we’ll just come up with new criteria for voting in new oppinions, and classify it under “Needs of the Movement”.
Kind of like “Needs of the Business”.
This is the official way of saying, “We’ll do whatever we want.”
Not that I disagree with the outcome that the traditionalists are trying to achieve.
They have a situation in which precedence has already been established allowing legal decisions to be influenced by what the layity thinks, based on personal oppinion instead of consideration of Halachic sources.
The only problem is, now you have to live with it.
Conservative Judaism is supposed to be committed to the Halachic approach.
If that’s the case, then there’s no way you can honestly not forbid homosexual unions, and you definitely can’t allow active homosexuals to be ordained as clergy.
The Torah is very clear about the prohibition of homosexuality.
There’s nothing ambiguous about it.
While I find the use of strong-arm tactics reprehensible, especially in what is supposed to be a religious setting, I find the end the traditionalists are trying to achieve the right one.
But what amazes me more is that Eyton Kober is so worked up about all this.
He goes out of his way to heap sarcasm where it’s pointless.
It seems to me as though he expects the Conservative movement to just discard the prohibition, rather than allow that some in the movement might actually be in favor of letting the prohibition stand because the Torah says it should.
This beggs the question.
There are Orthodox Jews who abandon the laws of Lashon Harah.
Does that mean they should abandon Halachic observance altogether?
After all, the argument seems, “Since you don’t observe all of Halachah, then you should just quit observing it altogether.”
Is that what you’re really after.
Yes, the tactics are wrong.
But it seems to me that they’re trying to work within a system which already stacks the deck against traditionalists anyway.
And, more to the point, why do you care?
You’ve already written the movement off.
To say that you haven’t written off each individual Jew within the movement is an argument of symantics.
That would be like someone who has written off Orthodoxy saying they’ve written off the movement, but not each individual Jew.
It wouldn’t carry much weight with you either.
So, since the movement is of no consequence, (in your book, it’s not even Judaism), Why do you care what goes on in its committee meetings.

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

I have a meeting with Mr. Frodo this afternoon.
I have some news for him, and it doesn’t have anything to do with car insurance.
I’m letting him know that he’s got a week before I take this situation to the media.
I’m tired of screwing around with this entire company, and I’m not prepared to put up with it any longer.
What’s he going to do?
I mean, yeah, he could threaten to fire me, but if he does fire me for this, then it gets a whole lot bigger.
And I can’t sit around afraid of being fired for doing what I know needs to be done, and probably should have been done a long time ago.
It’s not like they’re going to have a change of heart, and just all the sudden stop jerking me around.
They’ll do that as long as I let them get away with it.
They’re not going to fix the situation, and there’s no reason for me to believe anything they say about it.
I’ve done that for the last three, going on four months, and it’s done nothing but bring me more disappointment.
So I figure, what the hell.
I asked about the former support team member, the one who got fired a couple of weeks ago for speaking out about business practices we all know are inethical.
She’s apparently landed on her feet.
She has a new job, and she’s better off than she was while she was working here.
That helped a little to crystalize my final decision.
I mean, I was intent on coming in this morning and letting Mr. Frodo know the deal, but knowing that my former coworker landed on her feet after the crucifixion she received from the thugs in power sort of cemented my resolve.
And then I thought about the fact that I have someone who’ll catch me if I fall.
He helped me out of a really bad situation financially recently, and is behind me regarding the crap going on at work.
I told him last night that I was going to drop the media bomb, and he didn’t advise against it.
I have to add that I always take his advice into consideration, not because I’m incapable of making my own decisions, but because I’ve never found it to be wrong.
If he’s not sure about something, he won’t give advice on the subject.
If something happens, then he’ll be there to catch me, because he knows I’m not doing this because I want to be an idiot.
I’m doing it because someone has to put an end to this, and it’s not going to be the thugs that run this place.
They could care less.
The only reason they haven’t let me go before now is because they know they can’t.
And there’s no reason why they should be allowed to just continue letting things go on like they have.
I sat at the same table as Mr. Frodo while I was in the break room eating lunch.
I felt a little guilty about being nice to him knowing what I’m going to tell him this afternoon, but then I considered that it would really do any good to be a wench.
After all, business is business.
I can’t say I don’t relish the opportunity to put the fear of God into him, because he’s a rube, and he needs something like that to happen.
For months now, he’s sauntered around here, trying to level the playing field every time he talks to me because he’s intimidated by me.
He always gives me the run-around, and pretty much just brushes me off, while not saying anything derogatory in order to avoid an HR issue.
To say I haven’t imagined what it will be like to see him squirm, however slightly, would be a lie.
But it’s not going to bother me if he doesn’t.
If he wants to call my bluff, then fine.
But either way, something needs to happen.
I can’t just sit here and allow myself to be pushed around.
To those who might say I should be greatful I’m getting paid, and that I have no choice but to take it, I respectfully submit that you’re very wrong.
I’m still being paid due to the fact that I can’t be fired for this, not due to any graciousness or generosity on the part of my employer.
And besides, people don’t have to accept the short end of the stick just because that’s all that’s offered.
Sure, they can, and I’d never fault anyone for doing so if that’s what they believe they need to do, because God will reward them for it in the hereafter or something.
But at the same time, it would be seriously disrespectful to myself to accept the short end of the stick without question, or to just take it when offered, mumble my thanks, and then bitch about it later.
Coming back to my former coworker, I think that maybe her finding a new and better job so quickly was her reward for being willing to speak the truth, and even going so far as to act upon that willingness, even if it meant losing her job.
I’m not saying that’s a surity, just a possibility.
And coming back to the person who’s been here supporting me through all of this, and every other time I’ve been knocked to the ground by this company, sometimes I wonder if he’s not been the answer to all the prayers I’ve prayed every time I end up in a bind.
I’m not saying that he’s being micromanaged by God or anything like that.
That would be too simplistic and foolish.
But he’s always been there to extend a hand when I needed it, or a shoulder, or an ear.
He’s been a true companion through all of the ups and downs I’ve been through over the last several years.
And he’s done more than just be there, he’s acted as well, before I even had the chance or urge to ask.
Surely he’ll be there once more if the need arrises.
OK, I’m done waxing philosophical.

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

I think Mr. Frodo needs to add a new specialty to his resume: Pointlessologist.
Allow me to explain.
I went into his office, and he was already in a defensive mood.
He definitely didn’t want me in there, and he definitely didn’t want to hear any of my objections to the current travisty I call my worklife.
I explained to him that I have nothing personal against him, (OK, I really do, but that’s beside the point), but that this situation has gone way past inappropriate.
He cut me off, asking what I was trying to say.
He should know me by now.
If I say something, that’s what I mean.
And that’s what I told him.
I said exactly what I meant.
He got up from behind his desk, walked out, and brought the html specialist in.
She was on the other side of the cubicle, and since he didn’t say anything to her, he must have signaled, and I’m sure there was a lot in that signal.
There usually is.
Anyway, she came in, and he asked her if she had a date on when the next pilot of the db_interface is supposed to be released.
She called the on-sight client rep’s boss, and he says next week.
We’ll see.
After Ms. Specialist left, I gave Mr. Frodo the name of the other blind employee, and he typed and sent an email, although I don’t know where he got the address from, as he’s not listed in the directory with an email address.
He didn’t read the email as he typed it, but he mumbled as he wrote, something about career pathing.
Then, I got some blather about how he could put me in an admin position, but that he feels I’m just too talented for that, with a lot of lathered on something-or-other that I think was supposed to be passion about the subject at hand, namely making sure that I live up to my potential with the company.
He really worked hard to stroke my ego.
He told me how talented I was, and expected me to agree with him.
Like I’m that thick.
He also remarked, (after misspelling Windoweyes), that I have a “slang” accent.
That’s just a nice way to say I’m trash.
Talk about inferiority complex.
I made it a point to let him know I’m disgusted in the communication situation, and I also made it a point to let him know I’m skeptical about next week’s supposed pilot release.
In the end, I never got to mention the media.
That doesn’t mean I won’t contact them by next week.
And in the final analysis, I was one hundred percent right.
Mr. Frodo is a pompous, arrogant bastard who’s so intent on being politically correct he’s tripping over his own two feet, while screaming to the world with his actions that he’s never dealt with blind people, and probably hasn’t dealt with anyone else with any other disability either.
He likes to do whatever he can to level the playing field, even if that means bringing others into a meeting in order to back up his position.
I could have pushed the media issue, but the situation would have descended very fast.
He was hoping I’d say something that could be construed as unprofessional, or insubordinate.
He was very passively aggressive, and I think the best thing to do was to not mention the media, get whatever information I could, and go ahead with that anyway.
Time will tell if the pilot gets released, and whether or not any of the issues will be fixed, although I have my doubts.
I was going to give them until next Wednesday.
I’ll give them until next Friday.
The following Monday, I’ll say go as far as the media is concerned.

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

It looks like my skepticism was once again proven to be intuition.
The pilot for the db_interface isn’t going to be released next week.
Now, it’s going to be released on April 14th.
Mr. Frodo did make it a point to communicate though, which is good.
I won’t call it a step in the right direction, because he could, and probably will, regress back into the depths of rudeness and corporate idiocy.
He has a meeting with the other blind employee tomorrow, which I unfortunately can’t be a part of.
He says he’ll discuss with me afterwords though.
Once again, we’ll see what happens.
Mr. Frodo says the guy seems to be “genuine and honest,” which could mean anything from he actually is genuine and honest, to he’s really good at the corporate spin.

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

Shirah Schmitt finally brings reason back to Cross-Currents.
And so, it seems, has Ismar Schorsch.
in Shirah’s case, I’m glad someone has decided to call for an end to the mockery going on.
It’s all fine and well if you don’t agree with the derech chosen by the Conservative movement, and as long as you express your disagreement in a civil manner, I have no problem with that.
But being smug and sarcastic isn’t going to win you any supporters, nor is it going to win your form of observance any supporters.
The liberal movements cannot be expected to show you the respect you deserve if you don’t return the favor.
By being sarcastic, you only encourage more derision, and that derision isn’t going to stop unless either side recognizes that there’s no need to express disagreement by descending to the level of rudeness.
Derech Eretz is a mitzvah too.
I also agree with Rabbi Schorsch when he says that the past shouldn’t be discarded lightly.
And what is this with folks going to seminary to become rabbis in order to push their own agenda?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but a rabbi’s job isn’t to push a personal agenda.
It’s to lead a congregation, and/or make Halachic rulings, emphasis on Halachic.
If you think the Conservative movement is twenty years behind Reform, then join Reform.
Activist rabbis are like activist judges: We don’t need either.

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

I swear, on a stack of Bibles, I’m not making this up.
Apparently, some enterprising souls have decided to make the all-out accommodation to laziness: A really huge toilet.
I could rant about the idiocy involved here, but I think David does a much better job than I could.
I do have a question though.
What happens if a really skinny person visits someone who has one of these installed, and has to visit the “smallest room”?
Or better yet, what if Joy visits.
Does she get a harness to make sure she doesn’t fall in?
For those reading this who don’t know who Joy is, suffice it to say she’s about four foot 6, and really tiny.
So first of all, she’d probably have to have a ladder to get to the seat.
Then, she’d have to have a seatbelt or something to keep her in place.
Ponder that while you’re having your morning coffee.

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

I’ve got a serious migraine.
I took three Excedrin earlier, probably around 4:00 or so, but it hasn’t helped.
I also went outside to get some air, because it’s nine hundred degrees in here, but that didn’t help either.
I hate it when things get like this.
Mr. Frodo came by earlier, and asked me to try logging in to the Portal interface, which I did, and have been doing, although he wouldn’t have known that.
It works.
I’m not sure what he wanted me to do that for, but we’ll see.
I got the information I was supposed to send, or rather, he was supposed to send, to the blind employee, (known from here on out as Ya’akov, just because continuously saying “blind employee” is too much to type, and I think a tad disrespectful, given that he’s really manifested concern over this situation and seems to be genuinely honest), and copied Mr. Frodo on that message this morning.
I didn’t see any need to reinvent the wheel.
Other than that, not much, but it is sort of some progress.
I like the fact it’s staying light for longer and longer.
I’m not a big fan of short days and long nights, especially when those nights are cold.
It’s supposed to warm up later this week.
I hope it stays that way, or at least most of the time.
I’m here an extra fifteen minutes tonight, so that means fifteen minutes of overtime.
I’m going to go home and do laundry, despite the headache.
It needs to be done, and it’s not going to do any good to put it off.
I have no idea what I’m doing for dinner.
I had a salad for lunch, so that’s most likely out.
Probably just a sandwitch.
I’m not feeling like a full meal.