pseydtonne: Behold the Operator, speaking into a 1930s headset with its large mouthpiece. (Default)
[personal profile] pseydtonne
Yesterday morning I was standing in the shower thinking... and yes, the water was so fucking hot. (If you don't get the reference, there's a song by Jane's Addiction called "Standing in the Shower".) I had slacked at work on Tuesday and given a bunch of other people some of my sales. Somehow, I wanted to do something more effective with my last days at Comcast.

I got to work and started to pretend the sales mattered. I still had a hard time believing it. Then one of my favorite coworkers (Mike, who would've fit in back in Malden really well) handed me a copy of the Compensation Guidelines. It turns out leaving the company is a special case for comp and that I may still get some kind of commission for the February incentive. All of the sudden I was interested in my job again. I was into it! Then again, I wasn't stressing because I knew it would only mean a drop in the bucket compared to my future pay. However, it made the day tolerable.

I went over to [livejournal.com profile] tkitch's place after work. He's laying in bed recovering from surgery on his bum. How bored is he? He's playing Zelda Windwaker from scratch and has made serious progress. I can always sympathize with a person that had something done to his ass because I once had a giant skin tag removed from mine. The dermatologist made some really rotten jokes while he was cutting. You know, I miss that dermatologist -- he was one of us.

I think I've drafter Kitch to work with us on the Internet Room for next year's Arisia. We got to bouncing ideas for cheap dumb terminals. When I explained how [livejournal.com profile] hakamadare had come up with the X client querying the the larger server, his eyes lit up. I love it when us geeks synchronize our brains.

Vaguely related ass story: My dad, one of the healthiest guys in America, once had an abscess (or fistula) in his rectum and was laid up in the hospital for the first time in his life. He had to lie on his stomach for a week. Another buddy of his (actually, a buddy of his father's) was in the same hospital for some kind of cancer treatment and came by. "Cheech!" he exclaimed (that's what they call my dad in Utica). "Oh my god, you must be in such pain." This from a guy getting chemo? I guess it's the idea that it must be hard to relax into your pain if you can't sit down. Other folks were feeling sorry for him and he'd say "why are you guys worried about me? I can't sit. I'm bummed I can't go out jogging right now." I remember going to visit my dad with my buddy briAn and bringing him a piece of wood because it was cut so evenly that it formed an equilateral triangle. He got it, but he left the log behind at the hospital.

Four days left at Comcast. I'm up half an hour before the alarm clock. I want to start an exercise regimen but I know I'll have too little time until next week. Perhaps I'll walk around more during the work day.

-time's up next task, Dante

Addendum: I totally lost track of my original topic on all of this! The alarm clock had gone off and I jumped in the shower without thinking to finish this.

Kitch and I were bouncing ideas about what I could do for my last day at Comcast. He suggested I bring six cans of silly string. That's not my style. I was thinking of showing up in my bathrobe or taking random calls in French. I was even thinking that so many people assume we're going to be offshore call reps in India that I'd answer the phone "Thank you for the calling of Comcast. This is Petey but my real name is longer. How many I be of the helping of you?" I'd ask callers what snow is and tell them a cow held up traffic. That wouldn't be nice, though.

I'm not good at slacking. I can avoid but I'm not able to screw up without feeling exceedingly guilty. I've gotten better about it but it's still a place where I don't always take care of myself. I'm working on a couple documents for fellow employees that will simplify a couple work tasks. After that, they're on their own. It's tempting to say "hey, you could've hired me to do this but someone else got the chance." It's tempting to figure out why we have all these damn Support Specialists that don't make these documents for us.

I think I'll just show up in my new jeans, work a normal day, disappear early. I will work on not worrying. I'll make sure my last call is a pimp of a sale. I want them to remember what they're losing. Then again, they won't.

Date: 2005-01-27 03:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dobrovolets.livejournal.com
Somehow I had forgotten that Uticans call your dad "Cheech". Every time I hear it I'm reminded of Vitale.

Date: 2005-01-27 03:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pseydtonne.livejournal.com
Oh dude, I'd forgotten all about him. I wonder which way he went...

Date: 2005-01-27 04:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dobrovolets.livejournal.com
No idea. Occasional googlestalking efforts have yielded a techie from Minnesota, a mortgage consultant from Australia, a college wrestler from Pennsylvania, an owner of an Australian Shepherd dog named "Bear," from New Jersey, a high school soccer player from Illinois, a doctor from Pittsburgh, and the former bassist of Orange 9MM. The only one of those that has half a chance of being our boy is the last, and even that I doubt. (Wasn't he more a pianist?)

Date: 2005-01-27 05:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kestrell.livejournal.com
Oh, good, someone else who feels compelled to write help docs for no pay, there's a kink few others possess. Jus yesterday a friend sent me an email asking if I had written any help docs for blind students using the distance learning software at my previous university, and while part of me was muttering, Of *course* I wrote that help doc, but do I ever get *paid* for this stuff?, another part was just giddy to be able to answer in the affirmative.

So have you ever announced loudly that you were going to stop working now and go do something relaxing, only to end up writing some long explanation to someone else's technical question?

Date: 2005-01-27 06:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] metahacker.livejournal.com
Yes.

And somehow [livejournal.com profile] galaneia made it her job to write out training procedures for the person who next got her crappy job. Hurrah for selflessness...

Date: 2005-01-27 10:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] teddywolf.livejournal.com
I wrote a few of those when I was at RCN. I wondered sometimes what the hell Training was doing about these subjects, then reminded myself, Duh! Nothing!

BTW, Dante, I take it that even with all the people going away in the workforce that they haven't dropped any of the 6 SPSes?

Date: 2005-01-28 06:13 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pseydtonne.livejournal.com
Well, you see... bureaucratic overhead is more useful than anything. Right?

I suspect one of them (and probably the least competent one) will get to be a supervisor. Goulding will be taking Taylor's seat, so someone has to get stuck with 2:30 - 11 pm. Starter supervisor, anyone?

Now, if you'll excuse me. My cable modem keeps losing sync and I'm getting increasingly angry about it.

Date: 2005-01-28 06:10 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] pseydtonne.livejournal.com
Have I? That desribes much of my time at Textron. Notebooks full of stuff.

By the way, you intrigue me. We seem too synchronized about the process of expression.

expression

Date: 2005-01-28 06:48 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kestrell.livejournal.com
By "process of expression" do you mean the content (references, influences, etc.) or the mode (as in that wacky overstimulated overcaffeinated "whatdoyoumeantalkingtoofast delivery style)?

A side note...

Date: 2005-01-27 07:09 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fangirl715.livejournal.com
Dude, you and [livejournal.com profile] cthulhia are in the Weekly Dig this week, on page 54! (It would be on the "slag heap" page on the web site--and why they'd put you guys there, I have no earthly idea...who do I need to bitchslap for that one?--but they haven't updated it yet from the baseball players with suggestive names one from last week.) So now my coworkers know about both of you since I squealed "OH MY GOD! I KNOW THESE PEOPLE!" in the middle of lunch. ;-)

Re: A side note...

Date: 2005-01-28 12:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] grace-of-gemini.livejournal.com
yup!
I have it up on my door!

On another note...weight loss = fewer hemorhoids.

Date: 2005-01-27 10:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dimers.livejournal.com
Put alcohol in the coffee last day. =)

Date: 2005-01-29 01:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tkitch.livejournal.com
*seconded*

Date: 2005-01-28 03:59 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] michigansundog.livejournal.com
If you skip out early you might miss the surprise going away party.

Date: 2005-01-28 05:32 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] starphire.livejournal.com
I like the "simulated offshore Indian call center" idea, myself.
If you could get away with it at work, I think it would really have that effect on some callers, and they'd think "I wonder if they know what cable TV and Internet are in India?"

Date: 2005-01-29 01:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tkitch.livejournal.com
no rotten jokes, although I *did* hear her get asked about getting lunch while she was working.

And she didn't miss a beat.

*twitch*

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