Secular Confessions

[Gwenn]

Yeah, I came in late a fair amount (minutes, not hours) but I usually stayed 1-2 hours past time to go home.

[missychrissy]

That is something I kinda worry about with the job I just interviewed for. It's clearly posted as hourly, but there's also rotational off hours coverage that I'd be expected to do "infrequently" I'm not sure what 'infrequently' is to those people and I don't know how my hours would be adjusted to accommodate that if I did have to go in at 2:00 a.m. I know Cornell doesn't like paying OT, but maybe they make exceptions?

I've been rolling around different ways to inquire about those things and yet be tactful. I don't want it to sound like I'm against being on call, but I don't want to do it 'for free' either and lately I'm getting a bit sick of being taken advantage of. I have to be careful that I don't look for issues where there are none.

[demigraf]

Chrissy, am saving a response to your post about in-over-your-head for a time that I can sit and write at length. For now, try not to worry.

For now,'I just want to share that I burned my cleavage on my soup just now.

[missychrissy]

Chrissy, am saving a response to your post about in-over-your-head for a time that I can sit and write at length. For now, try not to worry.

For now,'I just want to share that I burned my cleavage on my soup just now.

I can't wait to hear your take on it, because I'm sure you know full well what I'm experiencing. Not that the others don't, but it will help to hear from someone else in the geek field...especially another female.

And I'm sorry...but I lol'd. You have been my bright spot this afternoon. I hope it wasn't significant enough to leave a mark, then I'll feel bad for chuckling.

[Cosmosmom]

So the two guys in my dept who do all the av type stuff are hourly. No way would they want to be salaried! Sometimes things come up and one will do a thing on a weekend or at 6:30 at night. What they do is just adjust the time they come in or leave early on a Friday. Whatever it takes to not go over 40 hours. They used to get OT but that is super frowned upon since the economy fell apart.

Ouchie Myles! Well at least that is one thing about working somewhere with a conservative dress code....cleavage stays covered up. Never really thought about from a safety standpoint before.....

[daylilies]

At least you guys have cleavage...

[missychrissy]

I bought mine Kate

[missychrissy]

[Cosmosmom]

At least you guys have cleavage...

Wish I had a bit less (course DH feels differently! )....DDD's are heavy! And it's not easy to find cute bras because the cute ones usually have too thin of straps...I need thick cushy straps.

And no clue where I got them from. My mom is a barely A and my sister is a perfect C.

[daylilies]

LOL Chrissy, I've entertained the thought of buying it.

[missychrissy]

Can I just say, I wish we could have a password protected room. You all are my bffs and I feel restrained from saying what I want to say. It's a bummer. That's all.

[Cosmosmom]

There is the room on FB..........

[daylilies]

There is the room on FB..........

I was going to say this.

[missychrissy]

If I start posting all my vents there, we'll have to rename it "Chrissy's whining room" or something

But yeah, good idea. I totally forgot about it actually.

[Gwenn]

I have to work pretty hard to pretend I have any. Lol... For years I wore an A cup and was always complaining that my bras never fit. One time a year or so ago my sister said something to me like "I don't know if you were small in high school" and I laued hysterically and told her I was still an A. She kept saying I didn't look like an A and she couldn't believe it. Well, not long after that I decided to buy some lingerie to surprise DH and the A just didn't fit. What do you know - turns out I'm a B and I've been buying the wrong size for years! I feel like a new woman - instant increase in cup size! But I still don't have much cleavage.

[missychrissy]

That happened to me too, Mandy. I was an A cup till I was 28 or so, then I suddenly realized I was a B. Then...by magic, I'm now a large C/small D heehee

[Gwenn]

Wow, it's magic!

Now I have that Cars song in my head.

And i want to say ... I love that fb group but I feel there are too many people in there. I think we should have a secret whining room with just us girls who post in here regularly.

[AmeriBrit]

I just bought a few new bras and they said they had gel in them to boost the cleavage and they do! I have cleavage now b/c they're all pushed together...lol...very uncomfy but they look good. I'm just a 34B and I like it like that...hehehe.

Myles, I hope your soup was worth it!

[Gwenn]

That's what I am. You like the gel bras? Might have to give one a try.

[daylilies]

Haha just as long as it really is private. I made a post in a group on my fb that I thought was private and suddenly all my friends were commenting on it...it wasn't something personal but what if it had been? Actually I think some of you might have commented on it, it was about the weird bug on my shrub outside.

[AmeriBrit]

That's what I am. You like the gel bras? Might have to give one a try.

Yes! They do the job!

[Cosmosmom]

Wow, it's magic!

Now I have that Cars song in my head.

And i want to say ... I love that fb group but I feel there are too many people in there. I think we should have a secret whining room with just us girls who post in here regularly.

I would be ok for that!

[Cosmosmom]

Haha just as long as it really is private. I made a post in a group on my fb that I thought was private and suddenly all my friends were commenting on it...it wasn't something personal but what if it had been? Actually I think some of you might have commented on it, it was about the weird bug on my shrub outside.

LOL I was one of them. I forgot to mention it but I think you should google hummingbird moth.

[Gwenn]

Yeah, I saw that one and saw another group post from someone else ... Maybe Chrissy. Kind of creeps me out wondering what people can and can't see.

[daylilies]

Yeah I think it was a hummingbird moth Jennifer. I really can't look at a lot of pics of bugs without getting creeped out but from what I glanced at, it looked similar.

[missychrissy]

Yeah, I saw that one and saw another group post from someone else ... Maybe Chrissy. Kind of creeps me out wondering what people can and can't see.

Are you on the progressive political group I'm in? I'm also in a Liberal Mommas one (can't remember if I shared that one with some APA friends or not) Anyway, if you're a member of either, you'd see my posts there. But they're both supposed to be set to Secret now.

[Gwenn]

I can't remember but it definitely wasn't the secular one.

[demigraf]

Don't worry about venting, chrissy. I've told a couple of my IRL gfs about you guys, and when I mention how much I share with you guys, they start to look envious...until I explain to them that most of what I share is the minutiae of my day-to-day that I normally don't take their time with, and then they don't seem to feel so left out anymore. LOL. But yeah, that's what we're here for, and I'm happy to listen because I know it's reciprocated. I don't know why I'm not self-conscious about sharing my personal details on here, and maybe I should be. If, for example, DH saw the stuff I said about him and complained about it, I'd say that I feel justified in sharing my frustrations with my friends here, and it's all towards the goal of having a clear head to deal fairly with him anyway. I just think nothing in my life could be THAT interesting to give more than a minute's thought to, and I wouldn't share anything that could come back and bite me in the butt at a later time anyway... that is, unless someone thinks scalded decolettage is ****ing character evidence.

On the new job front, chrissy, first I think I missed a post about "salaried vs. hourly" that seemed to upset you, so I'm sorry that I can't help you there, but hugs all the same. But on the subject of feeling over your head, again, don't worry too much about it. One manager of another team that I used to work with once told me that you never get any good at something in the business until your feet are held over the fire to get it done. More importantly, from my experience, IT is such an ever-expanding field that it's guaranteed that you won't know everything, or will have dealt with a technology in its practical application before. I think that goes for even the most seasoned pro. Also, even if you do have had experience with something, it's always implemented/configured uniquely in every environment you will work in, and so you will have initial questions about how that particular technology integrates with all the other moving parts at your job. I always manage to sneak in some questions to get in some training for myself while I'm asking about the specifics of their implementation.

My main point is that there is always going to be a level of uncertainty on the job, and I've realized it's considered a desirable skill to be able to come across something you haven't seen before, admit it and just nod your head and say, 'ok I'll look into it' with a tone of voice that says you'll take ownership of it and figure it out. Then go away, get whatever background info you can, gather your questions for the right person, and be able to come back and describe whatever roadblocks you're coming up against without sounding like you're freaking out. Every boss I've had has always appreciated when I take away from their stress, and not add to it. So if it means taking a problem, unsolved, and saying 'I'll take on this puzzle and come back when I can fill you in with my solution', it means even more to them than when they can delegate something that's very straightforward that they know you both already know how to do. Does that make sense?

And you know, if you find that you made an error because you broke protocol or something, it's always a good opportunity to point out where their process can be improved. You can say, here's this loophole that makes the process error prone, and here's how we can implement something better to prevent this from happening again.

I don't know. Those are my 2 cents anyway. I've always tried to treat my job like a clock-in/clock-out type of gig anyway. And the only way to do that is to train myself to be comfortable with the fact that I'm always going to be "dumb on the job" to a certain extent. I do hope you get it. You may not feel like it right now, but with all you have going on, you are growing and stretching yourself immensely, and you're going to be that much stronger and wiser once the dust has settled.

[missychrissy]

Wow Myles-your advice was very helpful. I think I'm going to copy it and save it to reflect back on whenever I start have doubt. Thank you so much. I really, really mean that. You're awesome!

[Cosmosmom]

Myles that is excellent advice! I didn't even think of it that way but it's certainly true about technology. I know just going from library to the one I'm at now...that the circulation program we use is the same BUT it is set up very differently. And with other programs we use, just when you are nice and used to it, they freaking change it all up on you. I know one database I greatly preferred the way one vendor set it up. It got sold to a different vendor, with a much different interface and it screwed up my searching skills for a few months (and of course it was the index for nursing and allied health which accounts for a large number of searches I do). The best part was right after the switch occurred, I was supposed to be teaching to a group of nurses!

there has really been so much change in my field in the last 10 years with moving towards mostly electronic journals and waiting for e-books to become more user-friendly. Add in all the web 2.0 things and waiting to see if iPads go big (right now our IT won't support apple products and are really really picky about devices because of HIPPA privacy laws....I can't even use my own flash drive at work because of that and I don't even have access to anything patient privacy related). I would love an excuse to get an iPad though!