anyone want an update?

[ms. bing]

what i've been doing since my college vacation ended:

i got a shitty job for shitty money at a local small town paper. by local i mean in the same area code, since i'm driving about 45 minutes a day with NO stoplights and NO traffic.
i started shitty job entering classified ads because, as i told the incredulous woman who interviewed me, everyone has to start somewhere.
now, a little more than a month later, i am:
entering classifieds
handling accounts recieveable for said classifieds
answering phones
learning to do closeouts on the register and accounts recieveable for all departments (which i hate)
learning to do editing (which i love)
learning to do the website (which i am indifferent to)
i have taken writing tests to do writing after the crazy bitch who runs the local paper for an even smaller adjacent town finally either leaves or succeeds in one of her many suicide attempts
and i am basically the pass-off girl for everything everyone wants done but doesn't want to do themselves, including the publisher.

right now the two bosses, the woman who heads the accounting and sales dept and the publisher (man) who heads the writing, editing and publishing dept are fighting over who gets to keep me. and as i am the only bilingual person in the building, i am handling everything that needs to be done in spanish, whatever that may be.

i smell a raise.

[SimpleSimon]

Sounds good. Hope you got good tires on that toyota.

[skalie]

Toyota's seem to be pretty reliable, for jap-crap, that is.

What model? Diesel?

[MuffyTheVampyreLayer]

Glad to hear it's working out for ya bing. How's Eva coping with having a working girl as a mother? :)


My update: I'm currently investigating a double amputee who we're paying weekly compensation to for a lower leg injury (that happened after the amputation). I just finished an administrative review for someone who was given extra iron as the doctor thought he was anaemic but really he had hexachromatosis (too much iron) and now his liver and kidneys are shot to hell and he needs constant venesections (blood cleaning type treatment thing) and sexual dysfunction aids. His file got mixed up with someone elses and sent to that persons lawyer, then the press got wind of it - that was fun. I recently spent 3 hours on the phone telling a cancer patient why I had declined his claim (we are the accident compensation corporation not the terminal illness compensation corporation). Last week I settled an administrative review where a claimant challenged one of my decisions. The review was going to cost work 2 thousand dollars regardless of whether we won (we would have won) but I was being challenged over a decision I made not to pay fourteen dollars. The claimant then wanted to review the letter I sent him advising that I had overturned the decision in his favour. Yes, life working for the government is grand. The bureaucracy is astounding, the claimants annoy the fuck out of me, and the politics are just scary. Day by day I feel myself becoming more of a wanker, yet I don't seem to care (which is probably the wanker in me), yet for some odd reason I really enjoy it.

I also got to help a kid getting sexually abused, restore a battered woman's former beauty, prevent a family who had just lost their parent's in a car crash from being stuck with the $3k an hour helicopter bill and beat several other governement workers over the head for being insensitive wankers (it's ok to be a wanker so long as you're not an insensitive wanker IMO). So I guess that's probably why I enjoy it.

Doesn't leave much time for posting though. Nevermind, you guys all seem to be getting along like a bunch of first graders at recess time (I just read the barbie v kayla thread). I'm glad to see that you're all keeping well.

[skalie]

Just spent a while in your country Muffs, the place is bizarre.

Loved the story in the local rag about the guys who escaped out the emergancy exit of the police van.

[MuffyTheVampyreLayer]

Just spent a while in your country Muffs, the place is bizarre.

Loved the story in the local rag about the guys who escaped out the emergancy exit of the police van.
Which part in particular do you find the most bizarre?

Did you hear about the guys who got thousands of dollars in compensation for not being allowed enough fresh air and exercise while in prison? *snort* Fucking whiners. They're supposed to be toughened crims but apparently they missed the buttercups and swallows so much while they were locked in their cells that it was considered a violation of their human rights. Next thing they'll have to issue them with satin comforters and goose down pillows so they don't get booboos at nappy time.

[Skeet]

Don't make me turn this into a Subaru > Toyota thread. I'll fucking do it.

[skalie]

Which part in particular do you find the most bizarre?

Gisborne was a highlight, secondhand gumboots at Cash Converters.

The breaks between hula's at the Pacific Island festival......."To win a free Warrant of Fitness test who can tell me why we have Warrants of Fitness?"

Puzzled looks all around.

[skalie]

Don't make me turn this into a Subaru > Toyota thread. I'll fucking do it.

Clocked any of those Lexus models Toyota put out?

[MuffyTheVampyreLayer]

Gisborne was a highlight, secondhand gumboots at Cash Converters.

Well we did spawn the classic Fredd Dagg song -

Righto, kick it in the guts, Trev... Gumboots, they are wonderful, gumboots, they are swell 'coz they keep out the water and they keep in the smell. And when you're sittin' round at home, you can always tell When one of the Trevs has taken off his gumboots.

If it weren't for your gumboots, where would ya be? You'd be in the hospital or infirmary 'coz you would have a dose of the 'flu, or even pleurisy If ya didn't have yer feet in yer gumboots.

Now there's rugby boots and racing boots and boots for drinkin' rum. But the only boots I'm never without are the ones that start with "gum". I've got short ones and long ones and some up to me belt. I'm never dressed 'till I've got on me gumboots.

If it weren't for your gumboots, where would ya be? You'd be in the hospital or infirmary 'coz you would have a dose of the 'flu, or even pleurisy If ya didn't have yer feet in yer gumboots.

Whenever I sing at the opera, my gumboots are a must. They help me hit the high notes, and protect me feet from dust. They keep the water well away, so me voice won't get no rust. You will not never see me without me gumboots.

If it weren't for your gumboots, where would ya be? You'd be in the hospital or infirmary 'coz you would have a dose of the 'flu, or even pleurisy If ya didn't have yer feet in yer gumboots.

Now Rob Muldoon and Rowling, they haven't made a hit. They're ruining the country more than just a bit. If they keep on the way they're going, we'll all be in turd. So you'd better get yer feet up yer gumboots.

:)

[skalie]

Indeed, Muffs, indeed, had that very song in my head for days after seeing them, although I didn't know there were verses.

You still in Dunedin? We must get together for a Speight's Old Dark one day, I'll probably be around that way in 2008 or so.

[Torque]

We just dont know how lucky we are, fred.

[Skeet]

Actually I rode in one the other day. Felt more like a Toyota than a Lexus.

Clocked any of those Lexus models Toyota put out?

[MuffyTheVampyreLayer]

You still in Dunedin? We must get together for a Speight's Old Dark one day, I'll probably be around that way in 2008 or so.
Yep. I'll pencil it in my Diary. :p

[ms. bing]

wow, while i am in the U.S. and not in good old N.Z., i'm still part of the media that muffster hates so much. right now we are doing an investigation of a local natural gas company. earlier this month i edited a press release from said company stating that they were lowering their gas cost adjustment portion of their bill. not knowing any better, i edited it and stuck it in the front page of the paper because it sounded like good news for all. then locals started calling in saying that 15% decrease in that tiny portion of their bill could get fucked, because the main part of their bill had more than doubled in the last four months. a woman with a gas water heater as her only natural gas appliance was charged $175 for the month of january. turns out she's on the city council. so now we're investigating the gas company for fraud, and they have been turned in to the state railroad commission, which for some reason also regulates natural gas delivery because in someone's world that makes sense.
whatever. i just edit the crap as it comes to me.
if we were in the same country, muff, you could be fighting me off your claims with a stick, too!

[MuffyTheVampyreLayer]

Yep. You'd also be one of my claimants (by virtue of living in NZ). Makes for a nice conflict of interest really.

[Mudflap]

Centerpoint?

[Koliedrus]

Two of the strongest-willed people I know here are standing their ground?

*GASP*

Muffy and Bing have earned respect from long before they made mention of their experiences for the likes of us.

No matter how small or great their achievements seem in their own mirrors, from my perspective I see Grand Mentors.

Now, If I can only get Muffy to dress up for me:
http://www.planetquake.com/polycount/info/quake3/attorney/attorney.shtml

[MuffyTheVampyreLayer]

Hehe - I found an entire forum dedicated to hating the place I work at. It's actually quite freaking disturbing, and very well organised :(

http://www.accforum.org/

Edit - there is even a section which seems to be a staff hit list -
http://www.accforum.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=349

Anyone you recognise skalie?

[Koliedrus]

That's some rough stuff, Muffster...

Re: vic sinclair
I can attest to what a piece of work sinclair is if anybody wants proof I can supply it.
I want this Mongrels guts for garters and I will get them through the courts.

Hard to believe that people would post shit like that in public but there it is.

Edit: Oh, for Muff's sake... ;)

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[skalie]

Anyone you recognise skalie?

Bad with names me, maybe with pics.

[ms. bing]

here's an update to my update:
i'm doing very well at my job and have become quite well-thought-of. they even gave me a slave (everyone gets one at some point. this is texas, you know.)
that being said: i hate it. let me illustrate.
one day around noon a call came in about a fire in town. a reporter and a photojournalist ran out to cover it. when it came back, it turns out two children died, a boy age 3 and a girl age 1. when the fire started they ran into a bedroom and jumped on a bed to get away from the flames in a panic the way young children do. their mother ran into the bedroom to get them out. just as she reached it, the mattress exploded into flames and burned the mother's face and arms, and both the children burned to death right there as she was being dragged out of the room by firefighters. the reporter followed the helicopter to a nearby town to get the story, and the mother was in critical condition and both children were pronounced dead at the scene. the reporter interviewed the grandparents, who were waiting for word on their daughter.
when she (the reporter) returned, she was bragging about how fast she got the story and got back, and that she was able to cover tragedy and still get back in time for her city council meeting at 1:30. she was joking about it.
i can't do that. what kind of heartless bitch would you have to be? it went on the front page and sold lots of copies. it dawned on me that the free press is far from free, it sells lots of papers and makes somebody very rich. we benefitted from the deaths of two small children who died in each other's arms, terrified. i had a very bad night's sleep in which i dreamed that my daughter was burned to death in her school, and when i found the body i carried it through where they were rebuilding and told the directors that we have to work very hard to make a safer place for our children.
i woke up and went to her school, where they've been bugging me for three months to consider getting certified to work, and asked if the offer still stood.
last friday i went back to my university and set an appointment to register for my teacher certification.
what i do right now helps no one except a group of undeserving asshats. i thought i would be ok with that, but i'm not. i can't profit off the misery of others, and people only like news when it's bad and happens to somebody else.
i'm waiting for clearance from the state and to get a classroom built, and then i'm going to be teaching preschool. i haven't told my current bosses. i don't think they'll understand.

[MuffyTheVampyreLayer]

That's some rough stuff, Muffster...

Smeg! You should hear some of them on the phone :eek: Actually, I fully support their right to bitch when things go badly but I think many of the complaints are completely unjustified and due to ignorance. But fuck, that's true of most of society no?

I recognised a couple of names - I'd have to say that the ones I recognized were bloody lovely people - just their bad luck that they happen to be in charge of determining big entitlements. The more you tell someone they can't have the more they hate you.

[MuffyTheVampyreLayer]

i'm waiting for clearance from the state and to get a classroom built, and then i'm going to be teaching preschool. i haven't told my current bosses. i don't think they'll understand.
Good for you bing! I think a certain amount of ruthlessness is needed in your current profession. I don't think I could do it either.

[skalie]

Friend of mine picked up the morning paper to see a photo of a guy who had just committed suicide, as in shot himself in the head.

Spent all day wondering if it could have been his brother.

It was.

Gisborne Herald as it goes.

[ms. bing]

i got state approved. should be no more than 6 weeks.
left work early today. whole family has strep throat. my bosses really love that.
that's ok. i brought the muffins today. eat the breakfast treats of disease, assholes!