Ξ December 13th, 2009 | → 14 Comments | ∇ work |
One of the girls at work had been dying to start playing Christmas music. Back before Halloween she mentioned wanting to turn it on at the office and the rest of us went nuts, insisting she wait until the day after Thanksgiving. I knew it was killing her so mid November I said she could play Christmas tunes. Softly.
The day before Thanksgiving was rather slow so that afternoon I asked if she wanted to help me put up the 6′ tall pre-lit tree I had purchased a year or so ago (only 20 bucks!). While I am not a fan of multicolored lights on trees, the tree looks pretty darn decent and full and happy so I really am warming to the not all white lights look. Since the tree comes in three pieces it was up and properly fluffed in mere moments.
We stepped back to admire our work when my coworker said, “The tree looks sad” just as I was thinking how sweet and happy the tree looked. When I inquired as to what made her say that, she told me that a tree with lights and no ornaments seems sad.
My pack-rat self had an ornament in desk drawer so I quickly produced it for my coworker to hang on the tree. Then I laughed and observed that the tree was now incredibly pathetic. Back to desk drawer for a good sized metal star that some crafty person glued crap to…it was a perfect fit for the top of the tree, but didn’t do much to take away the pathetic nature of the tree that seemed to long for decorations.
Another trip to my desk and I found two camouflaged beanie baby bears, one wearing the American flag, the other with a British flag, plus a German shepherd with an American flag, and shoved them into the tree. They actually didn’t look all that bad.
I smiled and said, “OK, we can do this. Go to your desk and get all the fun crap you can find. This could be fun and the tree certainly won’t look sad anymore!”
In less than 20 minutes that tree was full. Like I don’t think we could even put more stuff on the tree if we tried. Our little gypsy tree had character and personality…a flying monkey, a magic 8 ball, mardi gras beads, a bottle of aspirin, a tiny crucifix, a small Steelers football, a slinky, a metal tin of Pirate band aids, an Optimus Prime figure, a dinosaur fighting pen, a golf bag tag, a beer bottle coozie, figures from the last two Avitaween gift bags, a handmade ornament of my friend’s kids from years ago, a Wendy’s straw, lots of key chains, a space suited monkey, memory from a computer, a shot glass, a mini plunger, fuzzy dice from Vegas, fans from Benihana, even an angel from Hawaii…still, it wasn’t quite right. Then it hit me…I had a green blanket in the vehicle. A quick run outside and I returned with our tree skirt.
Damn tree makes me so happy, even if it is nontraditional. 
Ξ November 4th, 2009 | → 21 Comments | ∇ work |
In my last post I mentioned one of the things making me not all WAHOO about writing over here is the fact that Midnight Cliff was mentioned in a lawsuit. Although I probably shouldn’t talk about this here, I can’t imagine that anything is especially private so what the hell.
Basically my incredible company had one not white, female employee who gave both women and blacks a bad name. She would only do her job and never lend a hand with anyone else’s overwhelming workload. Even when doing her job she would cut corners or provide crappy service. When I started here almost 11 years ago she worked with a certain attitude that is so against everything I believe in and it never changed. While I won’t go into everything, let’s just say that I am surprised she kept her job as long as she did.
One thing I will mention is that no matter what normal stuff happens in her life she files a lawsuit (teen aged son got in a fight at school and she sued the school, used car had mechanical issues and she suited the dealer or mechanic or whatever…I never wanted details). The owner of my company owns the building we are in and in the winter we all take turns shoveling, salting, etc. Not this employee. In fact, if I notice it is getting slippy I say to myself, “Oh shit, someone had better salt before Bad Apple falls down and sues us.”
She is just that kind of person, going so far as joking about when we all hit the lottery’s Powerball she is going to sue us for more than her share even though she put in the same $2 we all did. You have no idea how much I hate that type of attitude.
ANYhow, the company terminated her in late September and it was no surprise that she filed a lawsuit. From what little I know she claimed racial bullshit because we kept two women who are white and haven’t worked here as long as she had (guess what…they are hard workers who take on multiple roles at the company!). Also claimed sexual harassment because the company knows about my blog and “encourages” me to post naked images of myself for customers and vendors to look at. (SUCH A LIE! None of my supervisors ever told me to post anything here…sexual or otherwise. I do my best to avoid talking about this site with coworkers and supervisors.)
I mean, I almost threw up when when I realized that because of her suit the big, important folks at my company now know of Midnight Cliff. While I always am all sunshine and rainbows about my job, this site still isn’t something that I wanted to share with executives. I mean, my bare breasts are on here! Aaack. Not cool that because of her they now know about it (because to the best of my knowledge they didn’t before the papers were filed!).
This blog is SO not something that I ever made Bad Apple look at, not something the company endorses. Midnight Cliff is MY little slice of the internet, not a corporate space. I’ve never mentioned my company name, never said a bad word about the place. And wouldn’t, because i love my job. When I write about a trade show I sing the praises of the location, the people, my job, etc. and might post a photo that was taken at the show, but never something that was taken while I was on the clock, never something that involved company logos of any type.
I just am so mad that Bad Apple was grasping at straws and pulling me into her bullshit. It isn’t like I ever asked her to give me HNT photos or anything, why would she trash me and risk my job in her anger at being let go? I mean grrrrrrrrrr!
So you guys asked about the lawsuit. That is pretty much the gist of it. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. Yinz are stuck with me.
Wednesday morning I found out that a coworker sent an email to the big, big bosses that painted two of my other coworkers in a negative light. While I understood the idea behind the email, the manner in which Steve went about trashing the other two was incredibly unacceptable to me.
Which means I lost my shit. Damn nastygram email flew from my fingers. Naturally that led to a reply from Steve.
Annnnnd then I again went up one side and down the other of the poor man. His reply didn’t stand a chance and finally one of the big bosses stepped in with a firm “ENOUGH!”
I knew I hadn’t lost that one and was immediately willing to forgive and forget. So were the coworkers who had been trashed (thankfully grudges don’t last long in my world).
Next thing Steve knew was his printer fired up on its own and generated the following message:
hehe. I love my Cinderella Christina. Man, I’m gonna miss her. That drawing was the perfect way to end a crazy day. (Yes, we let Steve know that we set it up so she can print to his machine.)
I arrived safely in Vegas only to check into the nicest suite I have ever stepped foot into. The damn thing has more square footage than my house does. There are two Jacuzzi tubs…one in the Master bath and then a huge one for parties in the other wing. Also in the Jacuzzi party room? A massage table. Not even shitting you.
I have a rather large wet bar, a massive living room with two full size couches in front of the floor to ceiling windows, a full sized dining room, a full size kitchen with a regular fridge even though the bar has a mini fridge. That doesn’t include the mini bar fridge in my bedroom. Did I mention that my bedroom has its own couch? Yeah.
What the fuck? Someone made a major mistake. I am not supposed to have this incredible room.
Did I mention the entire thing has floor to ceiling windows? Part of the suite overlooks other casinos and the other part offers a nice view of the pool, one of which is clothing optional. Where is my zoom lens??!?!
Before the dinner meeting I took a soak in the little Jacuzzi. All I could see through the windows was mountains. Just gorgeous.
Maybe Vegas is trying to get me to not hate it so much?
(Photos will arrive soon…too drunk and tired to screw with downloading pictures now.)
Last February I had the pleasure of an all expenses paid trip to Cabo San Lucas. It was amazing. There is plenty to tell, but instead I just want to focus on my favorite part…the swim with the dolphins. All my life I had wanted to have such an adventure, but Pittsburgh doesn’t exactly have such things readily available. When I did find myself in Florida or Hawaii, I either didn’t have the time or the money.
But in Cabo it was paid for. One of my lifelong desires, handed to me.
I smiled the entire time…to the point that my cheeks hurt about an hour after I left.
The above photo original sits on my desk at work. Wish I could get the CD that I purchased to open the other photos. I don’t mind as much because I still have the original print, but still, there were some great fun moments captured.
Nobody escaped Iowa for a week, but unfortunately got stuck several miles south of Pittsburgh proper. Without a car. Poor guy! We met the other night at The Sharp Edge Creekhouse (my favorite beer emporium) and agreed that I would play Tour Guide Becky and drag his ass all over Pittsburgh. His coworkers are not exceptionally fun people, a fact made evident at the Sharp Edge the other day, so he ditched them and I picked him up. Drove him through the tunnel which opens up like a window to my city. Blam, there’s Pittsburgh! He was kind enough to humor me with a “wooooooooooooooooo” that was appropriately timed.
Plenty of driving around, looking at stuff, then I went up to Mt. Washington and made him get out of my vehicle to look at the city. I can’t work my own camera, as is quite obvious from that photo above. There were two nice guys up there with a fancy camera and a tripod so I figured they could take a decent photo. Of course I walked up and asked them to set my camera up so that I could capture the scene and they went one better, using my camera to take photos of us.
(Thanks, strangers!!)
We were starving and Nobody wanted a steak while I wanted a beer so we headed down to the Church Brew Works. It is an old church that was slated for destruction until a wonderful guy with a vision purchased it, spruced it up and turned it into a microbrewery. I haven’t been there since another blogger was in town entirely too long ago and I think my tastes in beer have changed since then. Today I was in love with a porter they had (special brew, not normally on the menu). I did a sampler, then bought a pint of the tasty porter. Nobody drank the closest thing he could get to a Budweiser, a brew I used to down in large quantities. I tried to be artistic and failed:
We both had cold mashed potatoes and veggies with our steaks so the waitress gave us free dessert. Oh my fuck, was it tasty. This photo doesn’t even begin to cover it.
One thing that was pretty funny about the whole adventure was that Nobody’s coworkers were all freaked out about him meeting a female in another city that he didn’t know. They were so worried about his wife. (Don’t worry, she knows that we were gonna hang out! She is way cool and had no problem with the fact that I rescued him from the hell they had him trapped in.) I mean, when they came to the Sharp Edge for dinner, I was at the bar with Cinderella and Doodle and the coworkers would not even look at us. As they were heading for the door I hollered good night or goodbye or something and only one of the two turned around to half wave. Either they are way antisocial or they have some deep loyalty to Nobody’s wife. I am trying to give them the benefit of the doubt!
Regardless, I hope Nobody brings them both to the Hofbrauhaus tomorrow for happy hour. I’ll only fuck with them a little bit.
Ξ February 11th, 2009 | → 12 Comments | ∇ work |
I want to be open to change at work, but I think that I am struggling. Seems I get a tad possessive. And frustrated. But I am working on it.
Guess I could write a whole bunch more on the subject, but I am kinda tired. Will have to circle back to discuss. Soon.
Until then, I want to share this photo that I love. It kind of fits seeing as how some days you are the hunter and some days you are the hunted. Check out the look on the face of the fish!
(Found it while mindlessly surfing the internet. Seems Stumble sent me a bunch of websites that they thought I might appreciate. Guess they were right! Sorry that I don’t know who to credit for the image.)
I have never understood why *I* have to do my own annual review (which is then reviewed by management and discussed with me). In my head, you are my boss so you should know how and what I am doing. Seemed like laziness on their part.
But a few weeks ago I realized what my true problem with doing my own annual review actually is. Seems I have to say nice things about me. Turns out as freely as I give praise, it is difficult to praise myself. Don’t get me wrong, I think I am pretty great and I love me and all, but trying to put it to paper for someone else is rough! It would be so much easier if I could just say, “Dude, I rock. Gimme a raise.”
Yet that is frowned upon. The review form has actual questions which ask probing things such as what my strengths are, what unique things I am bringing to the company, how I can improve, etc. Fuck. What means the most to my employer? In my mind, my loyalty (I have turned down some pretty damn exciting jobs over the last 10 years so stay with my company) should be a big deal, as should the fact that I am dedicated (and will do whatever it takes to make our company successful), but the first thing that pops into my head is the fact that I don’t have a college education (something that means something to some people).
I struggled for days. Agonized. Stared at the white spaces on the review form. Shoved it aside. Saved it for the last minute. And then still didn’t know what to say. What makes me a good employee?
At the last hour I wrote a bunch of nice things about me. It wasn’t easy, but I filled up those empty white spaces and had something to turn in.
This past Wednesday my new boss sat me down behind a closed door and gave me the review he had done for me. He has only been with the company less than six months. Don’t you know he found it very easy to say terrific things about me? Even told me how easy it was to do my review. Said so much nice stuff that I shifted in my seat and blushed a little. I was thrilled.
And baffled. Why is it so rough for me to hear great things about me? Constantly I don’t hold back praise of others. It is so easy for me to tell a friend how smart they are, how funny they are, how gorgeous their eyes are, how I appreciate their intelligence. Put me in a professional position and have someone say nice things about me? Can’t handle it.
I really must work on that. As confident as I am outside of the office, I need to carry it over into the professional setting. Sure, I think I am good at my job, but since it comes easily and naturally to me it isn’t difficult. Somehow I need to realize that I was born to be in a marketing position and that a job doesn’t need to be physical labor (where one can see the progress I have made) or sales (where it can be measured in actual profit to the company) to mean I have done it well.
Who needs a New Year for resolutions?
Ξ December 12th, 2008 | → 9 Comments | ∇ work |
Out of town sales reps have been in our headquarters for the past few days. Lots of meetings and training going on. Not really bad stuff, either. I learned a bit yesterday.
After I get through Friday’s day of being cooped up in our gorgeous conference room, our company Christmas party is tonight. Yay!
Thankfully it snowed a bit (maybe an inch?) yesterday. Might get some more today. Feeling a bit more like Christmas.
Happy Friday. (You might wanna call it Fuck Me Friday, but considering who I’ll be around all day, I’ll skip on that.)
The annual Pitt – WVU game will be played here in Pittsburgh at noon. I will have been tailgating and drinking since 7 or 8 AM. To stay warm, of course. Bourbon (Maker’s Mark, naturally) and ginger ale. Maybe some beer. Club level seats afford us the pleasure of continuing the boozefest during the game, even though usually one cannot purchase alcohol at a college game. I will be with incredible people and hopefully Pitt will pull out a win.
The funny thing is, as much as I want the home team to win, it doesn’t exactly matter. I mean, one of the best times I ever had at the Backyard Brawl was in 2006 and I can’t even tell you who won. That year my company purchased about 40 tickets and I had the pleasure of planning the tailgate.
Yes, I brought my gnome. And used glass, marble, crystal and (ready for it Britt?) Longaberger baskets. At home I don’t do a lot of entertaining, I tend to get invited too many places for me to have to bother with having folks here, so it was fun to not use plastic.
Guillermo actually turned out to be quite the hit with drunk people. And Pitt cheerleaders.
Those two WVU fans were with me. The one on the left, Steve, came all the way down from New York to hang out for the weekend and do the game. We had met through our jobs a few months previously, and were instant friends. I was looking forward to trying my hand at matchmaking by setting him up with a good friend, however I was shell shocked two months after this picture when I received a phone call telling me that he was killed in a car accident. Makes it easier in my head to always picture him happy and supporting his beloved Mountaineers.
The drunker I got, the more I wanted to take my picture with everyone I was with. First it was handing the camera over to someone else…
Until they were too drunk to be trusted… 
After that it was me just holding the camera out and taking the traditional drunk Becky photos…
One of my favorite WVU fans: 
That is Roger. Poor guy was so drunk he lost himself at the half. He went to smoke and simply walked out of the stadium and was unable to find his way back in. Just called his wife and said come pick me up. They live an hour away. As she approached Heinz Field she called and said, “OK, where are you?” All he could say was, “I am at the game.” His reply to wanting to know what his drunk ass was looking at was, “Heinz Field.” Hehe. She calmly told him to turn around and tell her what he saw. Eventually she found drunk boy. Miracle.
While we are on the subject of drunk people, I met these nice drunk guys who insisted on posing with me. Too funny.
Although I have to say, my favorite photo is me with the owner of my company. Gotta love a guy who lets his marketing queen get plowed with the company guests and then takes pictures of everything. Who doesn’t even mind if she is too drunk to take a decent photo.
This year the my company isn’t putting on the killer tailgate so I don’t have to be on “good” behavior. Not sure if the photos will be suitable for posting. Hell, not even sure I will take the camera. This game has fall down potential.
Enjoy your day after Thanksgiving. What do you have planned?
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