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Tired. Lately I’ve been tired…both physically and emotionally. Work has really been getting the best of me. Many changes going on (not always for the better) and a recent reaffirmation that I want to start looking for work elsewhere.

This past week brought some interesting events to our workplace. Our new (company) president was back in town last week after spending time at one of our other office locations. One morning, after requesting that some certain projects be completed, and the projects were not up to the president’s standards, the president proceeded to punch a hole in the drywall in the office. Later that day, the president also destroyed several custom laminated boards (which are used to chart data), that I had created a short time ago. These boards were also created at the president’s request. Kinda makes you wonder? (the post was kept intentionally vague so I can keep my job.)

Adding insult to the injury of this past week at work, my car battery died Friday. I drove to work as usual, nothing out of the ordinary. As I parked my car at work and cracked the window a bit, I noticed the power windows were a bit lethargic. Around noon, I went out to my car to start it, thinking maybe the battery was going down. Just as I had thought…nothing. Not a crank, no turnover…nothing. I wasn’t too surprised though, from experience living here in Arizona. Car batteries just don’t last. No matter what kind/brand you buy, you’ll only get about a year or so out of your battery (if you’re lucky).

Back when I lived in the Midwest, at least you were offered a warning of sorts when you started your car. Also, your battery usually only went dead in the middle of winter. Not here. No warning, just a little "surprise" for you later. It was no big deal really, I got a jump from a co-worker and purchased a new one on the way home.

Well, yesterday was a rather unnerving day at work. Along with the recent departure of our CEO and COO stepping down, it was another day of the "restructuring" kind.

Now for a little background. The company I work for has 2 main locations, one in the west and one in the east. Out here in the west, the median age of our group is somewhere between 25-35. We are thinkers, do-ers and will try about any idea that seems like it could work. Out east, it’s a different story. The median age is close to 45-65 and they more of the "but, we’ve always done it this way" variety. Even though the company preaches to be one as a company between both locations. We are treated more as the red-headed step-child to them, when we are really a parent to them. Not even to mention that produce the same amount of product and sales if not more, while staffing 1/3 to 1/2 the amount of employees their location has.

Anyway, today our newly-appointed President (from the other location) came out with several other members of management for a little restructuring session. Let go yesterday was our General Manager and President of our location (also my boss), the CFO, the CIO and another CIO/Special Project Manager. This was a means to boost the bottom end and make the company profitable in the 4Q. We also had one of those "will all employees please report to the large conference room" meetings to assure us that no one else was scheduled to be let go. Of course we HAVE had meetings like that in the past where they cut the entire inside sales department with the drop of the hat.

I just have a hard time with a lot of the procedures and believing what we’re told to be true. So many times we’ve been told that the changes made were in the best interest of the company. It would help relations between the two locations to gel as one. But on the other hand, whenever there are changes in management or positions the norm seems otherwise. Rather than move up someone from our location, they would rather hire internally at their location, or hire from outside.

Another problem or possible coincidence brought up by a (female) coworker was the new managment recently put in place with the changes. The four management positions that were disolved all happened to be male. The new managers? All female. I’m not pointing fingers or anything and this is not a problem. It just bothers me a bit to know that all of the previous positions had been interviewed separately, at different times by different people and were picked as being the best person for the position. This new crew consists of the new President and other positions which she moved people up from previous positions within the company, all at once. One would assume that if "person A" leaves, then the next person in line for the position would be "person B". This isn’t the case in a few of the positions, which makes me worry. It’s not a problem of having a woman in that position, I worry about who the person is, male or female, and are they the best choice? Are they really the best qualified person for the position, or were they moved up for convenience?

*whew!*....So now, where does that leave me and my co-worker? Boss-less? We were informed of our new manager and that we would be keeping the same duties in the Graphics Department. We will have to just wait and see how this turns out. My thoughts are, that it is the beginning of the end. Until then, I am remaining pessimistically optimistic.

I came into work today to find a bit of theft at my desk as well. Maybe not so much a theft as a mischievous prank. While retrieving morning email, I noticed that all the vowels on my keyboard had been pryed off and rearranged. The A was on the O, the O was on the U, the U was on the A. The I and E keys had just been reversed. Good thing my typing skills are past the "hunt and peck" method, otherwise I would have really been in trouble.

Did I miss something on this? Is it "National Prank Day" somewhere?

"you can expect this blog to be rather dull from now on, as the only thing that is going on in my life right now is CENSORED". Angela deals with work getting in the way of her work.

Fired over MP3s. Carla Tomino, a secretary at NorthWestern University, says she was fired July 23 over accusations that she had stockpiled some 2,000 music files on her work computer in violation of a policy that bars personal use of company resources.

Hmmm? 2000 MP3 files on your work computer? Don’t ya think that’s a bit excessive?