Category: Work

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I Had to Do It

I have to laugh every time I install the SAP client on a PC at work, because the image above is from the installer's splash screen. Having been in that situation at work—trying to get something done while ignoring the yammering user who is right in my face—more times than I care to recall, I know exactly what the blond chick is thinking. So I had to make a little addition:

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I'm Ashamed to Admit…

…that I totally unaware of "ze" and its variations.

This was from a required diversity training at work. I was surprised to learn things I hadn't known previously and scored 100% on the final test.

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There's a Lot Of Freedom In Not Giving a Fuck

From Sixbears in the Woods:

How much of your activity is constrained by following stupid rules? Quite a bit, I bet.

I used to work with a fellow firefighter who was an inspiration. They guy liked driving the ladder truck. He was good at it and enjoyed that level of responsibility. With that in mind he never went for promotions. The guy also didn't care about impressing the officers above him. If he didn't want to do something he didn't do. For some reason the officers feared him. My coworker never abused that power, so the few times he used it stood out.

The Fire Chief made a rule that nobody could wash their car at work. That was something that usually happened on the night shift when times were slow. On a quiet night sometimes someone would bring their car into the basement and give it a quick hose down. My ladderman buddy never washed his car -ever. That is, until the rule against it was made. He pulled his car in front of the station in the middle of the day and washed it in plain view of everybody. The chief looked at that and quietly asked him to wash his car in the back from now on. That ended the no car wash rule.

My friend wasn't afraid of getting fired so those threats had no hold over him. He had a pretty enjoyable employment and stayed until retirement. The man taught me the value of living without fear and not giving a F**k.

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Training

The boss's boss (whom I not-so-affectionately refer to as Ephalba) has a lady boner for Professional Development and ongoing training. When she first came on board a year ago she made it quite clear that our department had been very lax in that regard and that things were going to change. So, within a matter of weeks, a new edict was handed down that we were to all sign up for training (of some kind) at least twice a year going forward to "grow our careers."

I think I let out an audible groan.  Bitch, I am 28 months from retirement.

The more I thought about it, however, the more I thought I could definitely use some improvement with my Adobe Photoshop skills, as well as learning Illustrator (I've always been fascinated by it but never had the time or—to be completely honest—the level of concentrated interest to actually sit down and learn it. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do both.

I presented my proposal, and while my immediate boss was all for it, the Wicked Witch shot it down. "These classes need to be job-related."

(a) You said any training, and (b) what about this whole "grow your careers" bullshit?

My boss argued that this was a skillset that could be used across the organization and—should I choose to move to a different department at some point—they would come in handy.

Ephalba was having none of it.

It's no wonder that before she took over the department I actually looked forward to going to work (albeit from home, but that's another story), and now I dread it.

So I looked through the offered Microsoft classes and thought, "What can I skate through and get that bitch off my back?"

And it screamed out at me: MD-100 Windows Client

Yeah, software I've been using since version 2.1 on a IBM XT clone running DOS.

While I"m sure she would've preferred I take something like Sharepoint or Powershell classes, she didn't balk at this. After all, I am Desktop Support.

The class (all online, thankfully) was two weeks ago. It lasted 5 days. And I hate to admit it, but I actually enjoyed myself. Did I learn anything I didn't know before? Actually yes—because while the class ostensibly was for Windows 10, most everything was done in the Windows 11 environment, of which I'm only just now becoming familiar, having loaded it on my work laptop a couple months ago. (Something by the way, I'm shocked as hell that main ITS hasn't chastised me for.)

The instructor was good. He was funny. He was engaging. And while a lot of what I learned couldn't be used—either because we aren't officially on Windows 11 yet, or because main ITS has our environment so locked down that all the cool stuff can't even be accessed—it was a worthwhile experience. And it kept me home for the entire week and suspended all my usual work tasks.

In fact, I enjoyed this instructor so much I signed up for his next online class, MD-101 Managing Modern Desktops, in December, which will be another week-long reprieve from my usual crap…and fulfill Ephalba's "two classes per year" requirement.