Reddish Musings

I really hate doing data entry.

Maybe it's just the specific kind of data entry I'm doing (insurance forms), but I'm sorely disappointed by how it has turned out.  I envisioned a cubicle with stacks and stacks of papers that I would go through and enter information from, verbatim, until I was blue in the face.  That, menial as it may sound, actually appealed to me.

Instead, we have this technology that allows you to scan in all those stacks of papers, and it tries to read them for you.  And it fails, miserably.  But it becomes my job to skim every unique form for useful information, all the while double-checking what the computer has assumed it was trying to say (and it is hardly ever right in its assumption).  I guarantee my job would be done faster and more accurately if they would just let me erase everything and type from the beginning.  Instead, I make mistakes, because I made the error of assuming that the "helpful" technology was actually going to be right with any manner of consistency.

It's infuriating after long enough.  Every form turns into a maze of useless information, while I skim and probably give myself eye strain out the wazoo trying to find the little tidbits of alphanumerical data floating around on the pages (and each form looks entirely different from the last).

The days drag on, and on.  If it weren't for amusing podcasts that keep my brain active, I probably would have put my 2 weeks in already.  Today was hell, though.  

It's just incredibly frustrating to have a job that should, by all rights, be entirely repetitive and tedious and boring, but is instead always teetering on the edge of those things. It's boring enough to make me tired, but it's not repetitive enough to allow me to get into a "flow," and let the work go fast and easy.  Every new form is like a new stumbling block, with a different layout, and different crap I have to remember to pay attention to or completely ignore, based on utterly arbitrary standards that I was never trained on in the first place.  Having never had testicles, I can't say for sure, but I imagine the perpetual feeling of almost getting into the swing of things are what blue balls feel like.

So, I'm trying to focus my brain on constructive things instead of letting it stagnate.  I'm focusing on my future school decisions, my future career decisions, amusing blogs I can come up with in the future, and so on.  I don't know how long I can keep this up, though.  Can I survive the Summer?  Tune in next time. 

So I don't really dig this tactic of group cohesiveness and competitiveness. I've been working there all of 2 weeks, and my name is topping the lists of what is done each day, and I hate it. I've gone so far as to try and slow my pace down and goof off a little in order to avoid being recognized.

Unfortunately, I cannot work slowly. I cannot work sub-par. I make mistaks, as I am human and often full of foibles. I ask a lot of questions to ensure those mistakes don't happen again, however, and they normally don't. There is absolutely no way that I have found to make my brain stop working at the pace it's used to, and the same goes for doing computer work in an office. Even when the goal is "slow down and make each task last longer" I find myself clicking and alt-tabbing just as efficiently as before.

It's a curse, I swear.

I just realized this is like my "I hate making good grades" rant from high school - there is no way to discuss this without sounding like an arrogant jerk. Oy.

At any rate - office drama. Everything from memos to emails to refilling the coffee maker can offset some kind of office rage in your standard cubicle worker. The funny thing is that everyone in an office tends to express their issues the same way - passive aggression. Very few people in a quiet, sedate office environment, where everyone stays in their little cages, are going to start yelling and punching others in the face.

No, we resort to tactics like post-it notes, messages on the dry-erase boards, intra-office instant messages, talking behind each other's backs at the coffee refill station, and, the topper of all passive aggressive moves - CCing the boss on an email exchange.

The BossCC tends to indicate that you are not only frustrated with someone - you want their supervisor to know about it. You think they are at fault for something, and should be punished. You think they are in trouble for what they've done or failed to do, and you are not content to merely sit on your hands and let it wash over. No, you want the boss to hear about this!

It's childish.

But what if something has happened the boss does need to know about? What if the system has hiccuped and is duplicating assignments and making 2 people work the same task, for example? What part of CCing the boss while you contact the person you're accidentally sharing a task with (to let them know of the mistake, nothing else), is passive aggressive? There's not ANY kind of aggression in that email, and yet.

It was not a bad day, just an interesting look at how people prefer to handle things. There originally was no blame to be had for the system being stupid, but somehow it turned into my fault to the other person, and he'd prefer if we just handle it ourselves next time, okay? No need to bring the boss into it!

/eyeroll

The world does not revolve around you any more than it revolves around me. I'm the new girl, what could I stand to gain by throwing someone under the bus for something that very obviously is just a technical error? What could possibly be garnered from an email of "Oh whoops we're both working this and I finished mine, have you finished?" full of smilies and an explanation for what's going on, could indicate that I was trying to get someone in trouble?

Meh. One of those situations where you have to shrug, guess they were having a bad day, and move on, I suppose.

This is an enlarged X-Ray of my thumb joint. See that little sun icon on the picture? That's the cursor the doc was using to move the image around, so I'm not that strange of a mutant. But just to the left of that on the picture? That little orb that looks like what those ghost hunters get so excited about?

Yeah, that shouldn't be there. But it's not the FIRST time this has happened to me. It is the first time it seems to have happened for no reason, so I guess my body is learning to use its powers without any catalyst. I don't know how I feel about that.

The first time this happened, as far as I know, was in response to a sprained or possibly chipped elbow bone. The sprain happened, at this point, 11 years ago, and I could never straighten my arm out or use it for much support from that point. The folks and I always figured it was because I didn't do enough of the "exercises" the doctors gave me.

Turns out, the real problem was this monstrosity:

That is my left elbow joint. And the circled object is the egg-shaped growth that was keeping my arm from being functional for NINE YEARS. By that time, the doctor was wondering if he should even bother taking it out, but my question was: A) It probably didn't start that size, right? And B) What if it keeps growing?

Never mind the arthritic possibilities of keeping that in my joint.

So it looks like the new pain in my thumb could stem from the irritation caused by the new activity I was doing at Target, what with lifting and carrying boxes pretty often. I'm hoping that it'll die down as the activity does.

Some people would suggest carpal tunnel as a possibility. That makes a lot of sense, as I've been a heavy computer user for most of my existence. However, I use the computer less now than I did a few years ago, the symptoms weren't anything like any carpal tunnel symptoms I could find on the internet, and the pain only started after the Target job did.

Which leads me to my next segment:

I quit!

I quit without working out the last of my two weeks! I feel horrible for it, but I also feel some strange gratification for making a decision that makes me happy and makes life easier for me.

The main conflict arose when I realized first I'd be working 50-60+ hours a week for a couple weeks, for no benefit to myself. My new job is double the hours and double the pay, and it's perfect for me. Sitting around typing all day with people who like me and who I like back.

The kicker really came when the HR manager came by after I had given my initial 2 weeks notice and tried to make me feel GUILTY for leaving, and then tried to tell me I should stay longer while they have to go through the arduous process of finding someone to replace me.

I'm sorry, Target. I really didn't want to make life harder on the girls who actually work in the Bakery, but when the management tries to make me feel guilty for moving on, and tries to manipulate me into staying longer than I'm contractually obligated to, claiming that it's hard to find people to work in this economy?

The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. So I left. It means I won't feel comfortable shopping there anymore, which is sad because I like Target, but it also means I won't be completely exhausted by working 7 days a week for a while.

So, yes it's unprofessional. Yes I burned a bridge. But I only worked there for a month before I left, and I think, if something awful comes to my current job, judging from the hits I got on my resume online, I think I'll be okay.

In celebration of freedom, I'm watching Office Space. This should both prepare me for my office job, and let me be happy that I no longer work somewhere I don't really like.

Toodles!