My own personal Carlos Danger

Although I think of myself as old and fat and ugly and well, ya know I am not thrilled with my looks right now, I am attractive to a few. Yes, I am getting the glad eye. Since at least 2 or 3 of them are normal I am okay with admitting I am too hard on myself and just enjoying an occasional nod. 

Until I met Carlos Danger II. 

He is in his early 50's probably. He is not fat, otherwise what I would call average. He is about 6 foot. Here is where it gets squeegee, he does not have a soul patch-he has a soul rectangle. He wears jeans and a tee shirt where no one else would dare and swears like a sailor to Director level persons. He has a "Members Only" type jacket with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows. And the best part, he wears sunglasses indoors while watching the builds. Yep, there he is indoors, looking at cars go down the line with his sunglasses on. 

I ignore him because, first I do not ever want to talk to the customer engineers-nothing good ever comes from that-, second he is an asshole, third I don't have to. Well, that was apparently too much for Carlos, he sought me out today to discuss bad parts. I had to follow him to a vehicle and I was appalled to discover that he wears patchouli perfume. I almost fell on the floor. It was that nasty. 

As we were walking he asked me if I had a yo-yo. I knew that was a measuring device, but as a normal person I told him no, I had a tape measure. We got to the car and he asked for the yo-yo. 

Big Daddy tells me this is a real old fashioned term for a tape measure. Oh my. 

I need some wine tonight. 

The more things change . . .

So, we were supposed to build pilot vehicles today, these are vehicles built to prepare for a new model coming out. Except they had to cancel the pilot builds because of a manpower issue. This means no one came to work today. I asked around and Mondays and Fridays are still the worst days for attendance issues.

Guess all those people that got jobs still don't want to actually come to work. And yes the union is protecting their sorry asses.

So, I will have to wait until tomorrow to see if The Powers That Be are still really unhappy.

The cookies went over really well.

No longer a newbie

I feel settled in and comfortable at work, I have an idea of what they want and what every person considers their personal "nut". This is hilarious as I guy I used to work with at my old job, and currently work with at this job, just gave notice. He and I do the same job and always have and he was offered a job by the customer. In effect he will be in charge of the shit he used to ship in. I have a feeling my old company will rue the day they let him go and my new company just won't get it. He is younger than I am and still looking to be a valued employee of a good company. My current company views us as expensive and necessary evils, but we will never be valued employees, more like hired guns. Which is fine with me, I don't want to go to the company picnic and Christmas party. I also get insurance through my husband. My colleague wanted more and the customer offered him a job out of the blue. I say good for you and I will be entertained by all the reactions.

My boss believes that managing people is correcting emails. He likes to add additional information that he thinks enhances the content, I just think he is one of those people that must change everything. Whatever. He also takes 3 times longer to order lunch and eat it than anyone else in the world. Hey, as long as I know the rules I am fine with this.

Monday I need to take a grocery sack full of cookies into the materials launch area as those guys are getting real tired of seeing my face asking them for favors. Favors such as "we have sent you in a new iteration of fucked up parts and can we swap them out again"? This of course requires 3 guys and a Hi-lo. WTF.

Got a pedicure this morning, picked up my dress from the dressmaker, and unwrapped my underwear order. Bare Necessities is the best, they carry the best brands at a discount and I have used them for years. Besides the stuff I needed I found a Calvin Klein nightshirt on sale. Now all I need is a bag for the wedding.

What does she do all day?

That is the question my customers are asking about me. You see, they have enormous problems with my parts and they are quite distraught. They think I should be sitting at their feet and while I give them foot rubs and make sure they have drinks and snacks-my total attention should be focused entirely on them and their problems.

Here is the deal. This plant builds multiple vehicles and I have parts on every car including the one they are trying to launch. At what moment in time could anyone possible think that my company is so bad that the spawn of the devil would not work with us and alternatively believe that every other part I ship into this joint is pristine and problem free? Dudes I am one busy bitch and it is my job to make you think that I am not busy, but again I do not need assignments like go measure shit with Popsicle sticks. Geesh.

Some asshat put sponge tape directly on the painted body of one finished vehicle to try and hide a gap. I agree this is the ugliest ass thing I have ever seen, but really at this point in time it is more funny than anything and there are people sending out emails as if Iran fired a nuclear warhead at Israel. There is a reason some people can make money building cars and some cannot.

I am still waiting on underwear for the wedding and I need a handbag. I have no time for this.

The lost weekend

Sunday evening and they are still working.

Friday evening we had a thunderstorm. Sunday evening about bedtime out electricity finally came back on. We did not have fun this weekend. It was hot and sweaty and sleeping was horrible. We were the last sector to have the power restored.

We found out Big Daddy really hates paying for Starbucks coffee when the clerk makes fun of him for not knowing the size of the containers. We then switched to gas station coffee. We have the cleanest refrigerator ever as we had to throw most everything out. We are out of clothes.

I got the ugly shoes for the wedding, I got highlights for my ugly hair and I am getting my dress hemmed for the rehearsal dinner. I have to check on the truffles for shipping and I have a couple deliveries I am waiting for.

All my appliances arrived and I am in heaven. My Razr phone is great and works in the plant and a little better than my Sprint phone at home. I have a Jet Pak for Internet and a juicy thing for charging. I also have the phone synced for the car and I love it.

Gotta get home and start laundry, then I can tell you fun stuff next time I can post.

A first for me

I worked 1.5 hours overtime and will get paid for doing so. I am so damn pleased. I used to work all the extra hours for the same price as working 40, and this feels so much better. I keep humming that Money, Money, Money song. I would look it up and post it, but I am exhausted.

I bought a new phone over the Internet yesterday, my Sprint phone does not work at the house and at the plant so what good is it? I am getting a Razr (sp) from Verizen with a bunch of toys. We will see if this works out. Verizen is overnighting it to Big Daddy's work as his admin will sign for it. And he promised not to do more than just charge it up.

I have shoes and underwear for the wedding so I believe I am done shopping. I need to get a dress hemmed and that is that.

The Mormons are slowly trying to move back into the fire house, we have new Slavs and otherwise the neighborhood is quiet.

Need to eat dinner and start it all over again tomorrow, with less drama I hope. I will have to describe the nightmare at work, it is really hilarious.

I am home

I cannot believe I did not take one picture. Except that I forgot to take my phone charger so I was quite stingy with the phone time, my boss borrowed a charger for me once, good but that only went so far.

Knoxville was the same, hot and humid. It was quite green but they are under flash flood watches. Only rained the last day where we were and late in the afternoon so it was not too bad. I had to watch what I ate after the food issue last week but I did get to finally try Chick-fil-A and it was great. Best fast food ever and I don't eat fast food.

Delta and I got along fine as it was not really a Delta flight, just a Delta Connection. The Hilton at the airport was acceptable, the best part of that hotel was the bar. The a/c was the loudest I have ever heard and the sound-proofing was non-existent.

Can't say much about the plant except 10 hour days in 110 degrees and it is no wonder my pants needed pulling up all the way home. Of course maybe they just stretched.

Big Daddy got me a new car while I was gone so will have to look at that tonight when he comes home. He is driving it one last time to make sure it is okay for me, yea right. Then I need to take it in for the remote start to be installed and my phone to be sync'd up. Also looks like a clip is not engaged in the side of the console.

Yowza, and I am flying Chiquita Banana airlines

You know everyone says some of those Asian airlines are the cat's ass, I just never bought into it. I mean as much as I despise Delta the grey haired but young looking guys up front give me a bit of confidence that the plane will make it to the destination in one piece. I flew Chinese airlines domestically and felt that whatever will be, will be. But one thing that always gave me pause, these people cannot speak good, solid, understandable English. Makes you wonder if they are hesitant to take on the busy US air traffic control with their poor language skills. And losing face. Unlike the pilots on Chiquita airlines who do not seem to notice when they are losing face. Sometimes I wonder if the kids can spell airline. One Christmas day our flight was carrying a large group of stranded Pinnacle pilots and I heard one of the pilots tell a part time flight attendant that she made more money than he did. Does not give me confidence.

So anyway, tomorrow I take off for Knoxville for another work trip. This one should be fun. Big Daddy is dropping me off and picking me up at the airport mostly to save me time when I get in. Getting picked up at the curb versus taking the shuttle saves about a half an hour and we are arrive mid evening.

Punkin Head called and we have finalized the menu for the rehearsal dinner, biggest hurrah will be the shrimp and grits. Also a wild mushroom risotto so everyone should have something to eat. We are only serving 2 white wines and beer. PH says a nice Pinot Gris  and also a Sauvignon Blanc should cover it. Then a coffee and brandy, along with the chocolates in the bar for the old folks after. It should be fine. Oh, and I made an appointment with the hairdresser for uglier than shit hair I now sport, let us hope she is talented.

This is going to be a fast month, I leave Monday, The Fiancee leaves Monday, when we get back Punkin Head flies to Portland, Oregon for a job interview, the next up is the wedding. I need shoes.

The day after

Well the fireworks were mild in my opinion, although it is an opinion formed by the exuberant fireworks in Shanghai. Sammy was restless but not too bad although the noise continued well after midnight.

My road trip went well and my boss talked a lot about how things are handled and how support works so well worth my time. He also alluded to Mr. No Fun getting on people's nerves with his weird attitude. If it is not happening to you it is hilarious and he did a fantastic mimic of him.

I think the Big Boss has been neglecting some duties and I was sent the long discussed contract to sign and return. I was pleasantly surprised to see that anything over 40 hours is time and a half. That is the worst part of this job, there is OT and it is random and almost always a surprise. Now to be able to sit/stand/whatever and repeat the mantra "big money" will make it so much more pleasant.

I spent over an hour talking to my Sprint representative explaining that I have between one and no bars on my phone. We went through the zero value added rebooting and adding and all kinds of bullshit and at the end I still had zero to one bar. At one point he tells me to get next to a window. I did not blow and tell him what a ridiculous requirement that would be to be able to use a phone-I told him I was next to an 8 foot doorwall on 2 sides and it was the biggest window in my house. So at the end of the day he has declared that my 1 year old phone from Sprint is a piece of shit and I need to go to the Sprint store and get my face slapped for wasting his time. I am hopeful Verizon will be better and the transition will be somewhat painless. That will be next week or next month.

For today, rain, rain go away.

It was only a matter of time

Yep today there was a prison break, Sammy the Spanky Dog made a quick getaway and hid out in the Family Room pillow pile. It looked like he took the gate down by an aggressive act of bumping into the frail architecture. I have not been using the super sturdy feature and that is my fault.

Punkin Head offered up a good rework idea of using moleskin on the ends of the plastic bosses and Big Daddy thinks he can shim the bosses.

Sammy Dog will be back in the pokey soon.