Again, I am no Marlin Perkins.

Those of you who remember when my cat 'Oscar' had kittens are already aware of this fact. But yesterday, my gerbils, Jay and Silent Bob, became the proud parents of three.

And another thing...

For those of you playing along at home. Another possible sign of the apocalypse.

The boys father said these words, unprompted. "Do you and your mother need anything?" and then promptly passed over the child support.

Don't buy any green bananas.

My boyfriend's back!

The Boy is back.

That little experiment did not go well. The boy was not happy there, and it showed. Although the father did nothing to make it more enjoyable, he was upset that it didn't miraculously work out.

I called him from work last night. When I asked him how it went, telling the boy he would be moving home, he said, "It was the hardest thing I ever had to do." And God help me, I felt sorry for him.

Despite the fact that, for the last 14 years, that man has been treating me like I punched him in the face yesterday, I found myself saying, "At least you tried, everything will work out." (did I just say that?) I told him that spending more quality time together, just the two of them, might turn out better than trying to live together.

I also steered him away from blaming it on the fact that the girlfriend and the boy did not get along. "You can't expect her to, out of the blue, have to deal with a 14 year old that is not hers." (You know the boy has said, at least once, "Your not my mother.") There is a lot more to it but I really hope they don't let this episode come between them.

Anyway, I hope he can keep up the quality time. Right now, they are on their way to work together, just the two of them. I think this will work out better.

Sympathy vs. Empathy.

We have signs all over the place that say, "Remember Empathy". It does not, however say, look it up in the dictionary. That said, I will explain the difference between Sympathy and Empathy.

Sympathy is an emotional affinity in which whatever affects one correspondingly affects the other, and its synonym is pity. Translation: I care about what happens to you and it effects me deeply.

Empathy is a feeling of concern and understanding for another's situation or feelings. Translation: I know what your going through....I just don't give a shit.

Deal with it.

Get in my belly!

Just had to post this.

On my way home from work, I picked up a donair. For those unfamiliar with the product, it is spiced beef on a pita with sweet creamy sauce. And this one is as big as my head.



MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

Update

This took me 3 sittings to consume. I think I am good for at least a year.

Bat Shit!

Ever hear of someone going bat shit? I have heard of it but until tonight I had never personally witnessed such a thing. I suppose you can't really say I witnessed it, since I was the one doing it.

Me and the boy were watching a movie, when out of the corner of my eye I see a small moving shadow. At first I thought it was a fly, so I swished it. Then I saw it again. This is when I went bat shit. I looked up and saw this circling the living room.



I quickly pulled the blanket over my head, informed the boy of the intruder and promptly left him in the dust as I bravely dove into the bathroom. I then proceeded to heroically instruct the boy from a crack in the door. KILL IT!

I felt just like George Dubya.

After the boy did hand to hand with the beast for a few minutes, I thought of opening the door so the thing could escape. Much preferable to the boys plan of beating it to death with a fly swatter.

Floating. Sounds better than it is.

I am on a new shift now, the evil geniuses at the Undisclosed Customer Service Center? have shaken up the whole shift preferencing thing so much so no one knows if they are getting screwed or not. There are some crazy shifts, different start times, different days off. Crazy for the people with kids.

Speaking of which, the boy is starting to think that maybe living with the father is not such a good idea. He is here 3 or 4 times a week. And its not as though they have really made him feel welcome, they haven't let him decorate the tiny room they gave him, won't let him have cable in the room, hell, they haven't even given him a key to the house. Took him home the other night and the door was locked. This was after I had called to tell them I was bringing him home after the movies. The good news is that my sister has basically moved in with the boyfriend, so his room is available. We will see how long he can hold out.

My new shift is 5pm - 1am 'floating' days off. Sounds like fun, don't it? Not so far. Can't really plan anything too far in advance, and that includes vacations. I never know from week to week what days off I have. It's always a surprise!(one way to look at it)But I guess I can't complain, at least I have a job, for now.

I think I might apply for a TM position on the new project, but there is no way I am going frontline for less pay. They don't pay me enough now to talk to these crayons, I don't want to have to talk to sick crayons.

The evil continues.

They continue to stir up the pot. They closed down a number of cubes in the tech department. And the most evil ploy of all? They brought in Pizza!

It is an ongoing joke at the Undisclosed Customer Service Center� free food is a harbinger to bad news, and hot food means certain disaster.

We are all just biting our nails waiting for the chafing dishes to appear in the lunch room.

A well oiled machine?

A lot happening at the Undisclosed Customer Service Center�. I will nutshell it for you. Huge push for new hiring in the tech division. Sounds good, right? Then they tell us in Pro that they are changing our job classification to part time. They may, at some point, have to reduce our hours, so this is in preparation of that. This of course has nothing whatsoever to do with hiring a group of pro agents in India. HMMMM? But hey, we can transfer to tech, that would guarantee us full time. They save money, and fill the tech void.

That was last week.

This week, there is a new client for the Undisclosed Customer Service Center�. An 'exciting' new opportunity. Ya right! Start off on the ground floor of this new project. Oh, did I mention the pay is at ground floor too? Ten minutes later, the tech group is cutting hours. They are over-staffed 75 agents. HMMMM? But you can transfer to the new project. Coincidence? They need 200 people for the new project. Plenty of jobs to go around.

Here is where it is evil genius. You need 200 people for a new project, at base pay. Scare the shit out of the agents you have, make them think they may be losing their jobs, or at the very least, their hours. They panic and jump to the new project at reduced wages.

Then, "OH, I guess we really didn't have to reduce the workforce in tech. My bad." Hire off the street at base wage to fill the spots left by the transfers. Fill the new project, save a shitload of money. The end.

Like I said, a well oiled machine.