NO! For The 13th Time

Yeah - NO! Which part of NO didn't you understand? N or O?

Sigh! It's always a best effort when you are on notice with your current employer, they pretty much know your a short timer just marking time, yet they always try to slide one in on you. I guess I can't blame them, USUALLY it never hurts to ask, but when your dealing with someone like myself; the answer will most likely make your head hurt.

Through a supream series of cluster fucks and lack of giving a shit on the part of others a problem at work has gone unattended to for about 2 weeks now. Now I know full well that the problem is a matter of import, not that the world will end, the user is making due; but it should be taken care of. Yesterday the problem was to be taken care of by our floater team while out in the far reaches replacing machines. Well it got forgotten and thus pushed off again. My boss sends me an email, like I'm going to do something about it. Normally I wouldn't blow off work stuff but let's get real here. It's a 3 hour drive one way to get to this users site, it should only take 30 minutes to fix the problem (if our theroies are correct)then 3 hours to drive back, day done user taken care of game over. Most folks would jump at the chance to blow off a whole work day and get paid to only do 30 minutes worth of work. The problem once again is the drive. To get to the site at a resonable hour to get the work done as well as have extra time incase it doesn't go as planned one would have to leave at 5:00 a.m. meaning I'd have to be up at 4:00 a.m. I stopped being a morning person a long time ago. Anyway if all goes well that puts one out at the site at about 8:00/8:30 lets say all went well and your out the door by 10:30, stop for a bit of lunch (or in my case drive thru and eat on the road - stopping for lunch with a long drive ahead makes me cranky) So now I'm looking at about 1:30 to 2:00 p.m. before I'm back in town, then another 30 minutes drive back to my house which i had already passed on my way back into town. So let's call it at 2:30 p.m. I'm back home. Normally I'm off at 4:30 p.m. and home by 5:00 p.m. So this little bit of fun has cut 2 1/2 hours off my normal day, right? WRONG! Quitting time is 4:30 p.m. doesn't matter that I was in at 5:00 a.m. (a full 3 hours before my usual start time). So here in lies the problem, make the blitz to get back to the office so I'm not fighting road fatigue or retruning to the office and trying to suffer through 2 1/2 hours of trying to look busy. Since overtime is not paid, your reward for all of this is comp time, 3 hours worth. But you can not leave early on that day. So say you take it as go in 3 hours late (bad deal the world comes unglued first thing in the morning)or leave 3 hours early. I know your saying none of this sounds bad. BUT...

Look at it from this senario (if I were staying, now that I'm leaving it's sort of moot)I've wasted a whole day doing this run, plus another that must be done as part of the usual routine. Two days worth of driving with nothing to look at a mind numbing experiance. So far now we have gained 6 hours of comp time for these two runs. Pretty much a day off. But now consider I've been away from my primary duty for 2 days to make the runs, then pretty much take another day off in comp time. Still sounds pretty good good huh, only having to work 2 out of 5 days in the week. Yeah guess your right it is pretty sweet, except you've lost 3 days from your primary duties that have dead lines which do not change because you were out doing something else or taking comp time. A twist to the tale! So yeah I've had projects and what not miss their deadlines and while everyone says no big deal at the time, you know when you sit down for your review that you are gonna get hosed for missing deadlines.

Yeah yeah so what makes my job so different from anyone elses? Not much really but do you clock over 700 miles a week in drive time and then your expected to do your normal 80 hour work week in roughly 2 days? I don't know about you but I'm just not in the mood to end up as road kill on some eastern Colorado streatch of highway because I'm totally shagged out and stressed out.

So to the point of my post (knew it was coming didn't ya), with all of the above in mind and only 6 more working days on my current job. my boss comes to me and basically asks me to make 3 of the above runs in my remaining 6 days. which would boil down to doing one a day next week Mon, Tues and Wed (this week is shot getting things in order for my replacement). So with my math that would be 3 times the chance to end up as road kill BUT 9 hours of comp; Thursday is my last day (8 hours)so I get jabbbed for a free hour of time. Now if it were your last week would you do it? Not me brother, so all i could possibly say was... NO! for the 13th time.

Heaven help the man that said,
"Help me, I think I'm dead,
but wait a while, I'm not completely sure."
But then he didn't speak up
so we buried him 6ft underground,
so what on earth did he think his mouth was for?

Don't talk to him about life and death,
we know a part but he knows the rest.

Hat's off to the man that said he could,
when he couldn't.
But he didn't get away with it,
never hurt anybody but his face did fit
the frame in which he was set up.
Running out of time, running out of luck.
So what on earth did he think his mouth was for --- ?

Don't talk to him about truth and lies,
if he's 6ft tall he's half the size.

And damn the man that said he was right, (I'm right)
(not quite)
Hairy arms and sweaty palms
never had no trouble turning on the charms.
Heaven help the man that said,
"I know it's in my head,
but wait a while, I'm not completely sure."
But I know what's mine's me own,
and what's your's is mine.
And I'M telling you NO,
no, for the 13th time

NO! For the 13th Time - The Wonder Stuff