My spirits have been sufficiently trampled

So I'm on the phones today. As usual. And my Team Leader comes up to me w/ a list for a team potluck next week, and he's like "We'll try not to miss you for this meeting." He's a nice guy so I don't take it any other way, like oh say "we want more people to bring food". Anyways, after much thought, and the possibility of a SLR potluck in December also, I decided to put down the easiest thing, which is soya chicken, which is currently in the freezer. It's a whole unchopped chicken, so they won't be able to tell. Not that I think it'll matter for authenticity. Anyways b/c I'm on the phone, I can't run over to give it to him. So one of the Operation Managers walked by, so I go to him in a joking manner, "Hey, can you deliver this for me?" He gives me this look and keeps walking past. So like whatever, I got a wandering Team Leader to give it to my Team Leader.

Later on, another Team Leader comes up to me w/ an envelope and then quickly backs off. I open it up, and there's a PFO letter. In other words "Please F*ck Off". As in a rejection letter for a position I'd applied for. Completely qualified for, but didn't even get an interview. The position went to a bunch of Team Leaders. While my pride is slightly assuaged by the fact that no regular reps got it, it seems w/ the turnaround time between the posting and announcing of who got the position(less than a week), that it was a load of horsesh!t for any kind of competition. And the other thing that pisses me off is that another TL came up to me in the washroom and said that previously mentioned OM was looking for me earlier. Well he was the same OM who signed off on the PFO letter, and certainly didn't approach me later when he knew where I was sitting. So basically the coward handed off his bag of dog poo to someone else to deliver. Knowing that I wouldn't shoot the messanger.

So basically I've been telling everyone about my PFO letter. I was talking to another TL (who came up from Floor Support level) about it, and he's like "it's probably b/c they didn't want to pay an extra person a salaried wage, so you should apply to be a Team Leader." So I tell him that I didn't bother to apply for the last opening b/c my spirits have been sufficiently trampled by the managment there. And he agreed that there's a lot of spirit trampling there but that I'd make a good Team Leader. Which I appreciate, but man, I'd rather be on the phones for the simple reason that I can study my Japanese characters and chat w/ my friends.

Read this article on Japan Today. I highly doubt a scam like that could work in North America or Europe. Quite frankly most of us have so many fake email accounts that we'd just switch to another one and abandon the one that got the threatening email. Or we'd call the cops or get an attorney. I think the Americans would go the attorney route easily. You don't wanna know how many times the caller's told me that they're going to get a lawyer. And maybe 0.000001% of them have any possible case for legal action. The rest are blowing smoke, or that their case is that they were too mentally incompetent to have understood the T&C they agreed to. Guy today was screaming at me saying that Cingular had put a product into his computer w/o his permission and he was gracious enough to agree to an ETF for $125 when he didn't want to use the wireless internet anymore. When I told him that the ETF is $175 and he misheard the other rep and that's what's stated in the T&C, he freaked. Apparently he also doesn't understand that he didn't need to buy the computer w/ a wireless card and svc offered by Cingular. He also didn't seem to understand or want to understand the analogy that it's just like buying a TV w/ the package that offers satellite TV. Well whatever. His own fault for not reading the paperwork. That's usually what most of the customers are, just won't admit to their own screwups and take responsibility for them.

I thought it was a discussion, not a trial

So I finally got my Performance Appraisal. Approximately 6 months after it was supposed to be delivered. In fact, I'm supposed to get my next PA also.

We had the SLR potluck dinner, and only 3 of us actually made something. Everyone else bought theirs. And not a single person commented on my chive decoration. Food heathens!
Anyways, before after getting stuffed, my SLR TL told me she wanted to talk to me for 10-15 min afterwards. So it's like okay, probably about PA. And after everyone cleared out, she's goes we'll wait for the SLR OM. Uh... alright.

And then they turned off the main lights in the room and left only the potlights on, so we were in semi-darkness. Shoulda also brought in a bright light to shine in my face b/c then they started basically guessing on why I got a Quality Plus Contributor rating. ( It's just one step down from Key Contributor, which is the highest rating.) They started off by saying that it wasn't good that I was in my OM's cubicle crying b/c I couldn't handle how my team was doing or negative feedback. When I started to say that I was just upset b/c of the stress that I was going thru, they suddenly stopped me and said that they didn't need to know b/c it was personal. Then they started to say that I had problems handling my team when I was an Acting Team Leader and that must've been why I was upset in my OM's office, which I told them was bullpatties b/c I did better than the TL I took over from and maintained the results. Then they said that maybe it was b/c I had problems receiving feedback from my OM, which I told them was also bullpatties b/c my OM did provide useful feedback and basically addressed the problems that I already knew about. Well at this point, they were really digging for anything, so they said that I had a couple of complaints in my journal. So of course, I go "like what?" So they bring up the HR incident (see Nov 16/05 for account), and by this point the methane is building up so much, this was the spark that was going to set it off. And I'm not even bothering to maintain the yes-man mask, and I just lean back in my chair and go "...ok". So of course they go thru the rehash of what happened, and unless I said Bitchpoo flipped me off in her cubicle which is why no one else saw, they were just going to listen to see where they could nail me.

Which they did. On the comment that when I told Bitchpoo that I couldn't wait around for my stuff b/c I was on my break, I should've instead phrased it as "I'm sorry but is it possible for me to drop by later when I'm on my lunch break?" Aside from the fact that my lunch is around 6 pm when HR is closed, like WTF?! That is the most stupidest shit I've ever heard. I'm supposed to apologize for their incompetence? And while I didn't directly tell them that, my attitude definitely said it and all I said was *sideways glance* "...all right." Although it would've been fun to just laugh in their faces.

Anyways I think after about 15 min of this farce, they switched tactics and asked me why I thought I got a QPC rating b/c I did previously mention that I expected it but just wanted to be sure on the scoring. So we went into how a TL is evaluated, and that went by lot better. They still gave some cockamamy answers but some of them were reasonable. But I still insisted on seeing the actual scores. Which meant a trek to her computer, where I proceeded to question the 75% for Knowledge. Which they said teamwork was part of the score, so w/ the HR crap and July 29/06 incident (which wasn't on that PA but will inevitably come up on this current one) lowered my score. But she was stretching again. Heh, just thinking of when she commented that I have a problem dealing w/ authority. I don't have a problem dealing w/ competent authority, but I treat people like the idiots they prove themselves to be.

Anyways, the rest of the extremely slack day (it's nice to work on an American holiday) was spent chatting w/ my friends, trying to help T w/ his Japanese, getting a Brit who's as dumb as an American but much more polite about it, and getting a girl in trouble b/c of some secret d/ls that ran up her parents' bill.

Also ended up watching "The Quick and the Dead" and "The Elephant Man" tonight. Q&D is one of those movies you laugh at b/c of the cliches, camera angles and takes (thank you Sam Raimi!), and pretty much enjoy for the pretty fluff. I wonder how she stuffed so many clothes on her horse. Leonardo was so cute and had the most personality. I like the scenary and art direction in Elephant Man. And yes, I looked up the Elephant Man on Wikipedia. Looking at his skull is very scary b/c it's so completely unlike all the other skulls I've worked w/. It's completely covered w/ knobs and protrusions, and must've been so heavy. His skeleton is also quite interesting.

Quiz: What Flavor Pocky Are You?

You Are Strawberry Pocky

Your attitude: fresh and sweet Comforting, yet quirky ... quietly hyper You always see both sides to everything

What Flavor Pocky Are You?

Sweet. Strawberry Pocky is tasty goodness. I like to grind down my pocky. Or let it sit in my mouth until it's kinda soggy, nip it off, and then move the next section in. Strange how tiny breadsticks became so obsessive for people.

Today will the be SLR potluck. Myah kept asking me what I was bringing b/c she had to put together the list, and I was like Salmonella! Tapeworms! Plain White Rice! Anyways, I'm bringing rice w/ chicken, tomatoes and mushroom. Added too much pepper though so it has more bite than I like. Anyways, broke a stick of chives over it so it'll look pretty. Hah! Guess who watches the Food Network! Anyways, b/c I only use the meat from the drumstick, I cooked the thigh in the rest of the tomatoes. Amazing how much fat comes from the skin. Literally the oil was popping up so hard it was covering the pan lid like steam. Scary. Put it on a bed of rice, and surrounded the rice w/ the squash/carrot/broccoli dish I made last night. And topped it w/ a chive. It was pretty. And the chicken was sooo good.

Yeah, I'm so not bragging when I say that I can get better food at home. I don't know why D would think I was referring to his cooking when I was telling him that I said that to everyone who wanted to know why I wasn't going to the Gala. Although my wrists aren't tough enough. I had to chop off the rind of the squash, and b/c I was using a butcher's knife, my wrist and hand were so sore w/ only 1/4 the squash I had to stop and rest. So sad. Must build up my stamina for cooking. Graaaaahhh!! Was watching the Food Network Challenge, and it's just amazing the chefs will spend 7 hrs working on sugar sculptures. Although overall I think I need to work out or something. My back is so stiff. I can hear my sternum crack when I stretch.

Clean Desk= More Figures

Well over my vacation I ended up cleaning up my desk. Gone are the piles of paper (tossed into recycling/shredding container(which is a UPS padded envelope that was taped just right to stand up by itself)), bags of candy (moved to top of computer), unopened mail (lots went into previously said recycling) and layer of dust. Fixed the base of Saito so he should stand up for more than a few days. Reorganized my IKEA CD wood shelf so Beast is being admired by the KOF women. And of course, this also meant that I found new areas to put figures.

So I bought an already built figure of Iruka for $5. I think it came from those random figures sets that you can buy. But whoever built it glued all the pieces together, and the prob is they didn't make sure all the seams were tight. So it's a bit of a pain to see gaps (I'm not a huge figure freak (just ask my 2 still unbuilt Level 1 figures) but I'm pretty detail-oriented), but oh well. So now I have 2 Naruto things, my Iruka figure and Iruka mousepad (which is more where I put my glasses so I can find them in the morning).

Anyways, I think b/c I go grocery shopping every week, I just don't feel like shopping anymore. Went to WEM and it's like blah. Really was trying to look for Xmas stuff. My brothers and dad will probably get gift certificates. D asked me what I wanted (since I got him a guitar pedal), and I'm like, geez, probably the usual: books, games, DVDs. Guess that's kinda sad that I'm so materialistic.

5 days vacation

Is actually about the right amount. I was getting so burnt out at work, ready to pick a fight w/ the stupid customers. (the ones that were genuinely clueless were okayish) Yeah, I argued w/ the idiot on why the company can't put how much he'll pay in taxes on the website when he looks at plans. Oh, and someone else who was arguing over getting $20CR every month for 2 years and I hadn't even finished looking over the notes. I think the guy knew that if I went further in the notes, he'd get everything removed.

Anyways, now I'm not bored to be at home(w/ PS2 and computer games, DVDs, massive amounts of manga and comics) but I'm not totally at the point of eating spoiled food when thinking of going back to work. It also helps that I only go back for 2 days and then get another day off.

I do need to be more diligent on my Japanese. On my vacation, it's been limited to reading my grammar book while watching wrestling, and reading the sound effects in my manga. *sweatdrop* I know that's sad. Should be reviewing my kanji. I've gotten to about 60 kanji I should know. I repeat "should know". Some I'll know the Chinese and Japanese word for it, some I'll just remember the meaning, and some is like..."it looks familiar?".

Anyways, I should go back to cleaning my bathroom. I spent the first day of vacation as a neko, 2nd as an inu(fetching my manga), 3rd day I went shopping, so I guess that'd be tori, 4th day was actually some housework, so uma. And today...guess I'm a person(jin).