Absolute Muppets!

I have my good days and I have my annoying days... which I suppose could be considered as bad days. I am quickly learning that my social skills and social expectations of work do not correspond with those of the nerd variety.

Yes, I Blog and I know my way around a computer just fine. From time to time I am able to help people out with their questions and I generally can logically think things through. For that I think I could be considered somewhat of a geek. Sure, admitted... it's fine.

On the flip side though, I LOVE to party and interact with people. I like to go to the bars, clubs and be out in the sun. I like to play sports. I enjoy bunking off of work early to go sit on a patio and oggle lovely girls while guzzling beer.

I have trouble believing that the guys I work with enjoy the same thing. I have trouble believing that the whole non-retail conglomerate of IT people enjoy those things. Like I was ranting on Saturday... I was expected to stay in the office until 6pm on a Friday afternoon before a long weekend.

Today, was a pretty decent day. Jason and Justin were showing me more stuff to get along with in my job and a lot of it was the technical bits of sales and ordering, which is fine. I don't have any problems with the logistics of the job. I was getting along okay. They were showing me things, I was learning things and I was implementing what I was learning as well as asking some questions along the way. All part of the learning curve.

At about quarter to six, the two of them come into the office and all of a sudden I was being asked how I was finding the job and they were telling me their concerns. Now, like I said... I get along well with the logistics of the job and they agreed. My quotes are fine. My ability to search for parts is good. The technical parts of the job were fine.

But...

But Jason was still hesitant on giving me customers to work with. Guess why... 'cuz I "disappeared" on Friday afternoon around 5:30pm.

Well, I didn't exactly "disappear," I had notified Justin that my ride was leaving town and well... it's my ride to the middle of nowhere. It's not like I can walk and there are no buses. Lay a fucking guilt trip on me, why don't ya.

So, I told them... the job is pretty good. I enjoy the work, but I'm not a big fan of these hours. All I got were blank nods and stares... "so, what can we do to help you? We know you get dropped off early, but how does it look to customers who rely on you if you're not there?"

Now, the office opens at 9am... I'm not expected to work until 9:30am and then expected to leave at 6pm. Now this wouldn't be a problem if I was self-sufficient at transportation, but I'm not... yet. This sort of brings me back to my nerd point that I started with... 9am to 6pm. What kind of hours are those? They're nerd hours. They don't get out of bed until who knows when and they don't know that there is a world to live in until the weekend... where they just spend the time coding and playing games in the basement until who knows when or until they have to back to work on Monday.

So, these nerds will work until 6pm or later... because the rest of them are. Jason said to me in this meeting this afternoon, "most of our customers make their orders late on Friday, because they're stragglers."

I'll tell ya, my head was just filled of sharp nerd jabs I could have hit back with, but it isn't quite the best idea to insult the guy who signs your paycheques when you don't have another job to fall back on.

You've got to be kidding though... who makes orders after 5pm on a Friday? Seriously... who in their right mind, especially if it's a gorgeous Friday afternoon before a long weekend. I couldn't care less how much the phone would be ringing... all the sales guys I've ever known were probably doing something else other than selling in those times of great leisure. Nope... not at Millennium.

I worked through lunch today... just 'cuz. I could have gotten something to eat and sat with them and talked about whatever they were chatting about... but nah... I just don't really relate to them at all. They don't talk about sports or good times with friends. Not even the news crosses their conversations.

Tomorrow, I'm heading over to the cafe that I go to in the mornings for my half hour. Dad made a good point, I really shouldn't stick it out in the office through lunch. I need my time away. Granted, I might get some sort of speech about it. I only say that, because I found a rough copy of the resignation letter of the guy who was doing the job before me. On it he said that he wanted his demands met or he'd be forced to resign. The reasons were as follows:

• He wanted $3,000 take home a month.
• To be able to leave the office during lunch.
• He would like to work earlier hours... he would come in early to work it out.

It doesn't seem to me to be too much to ask... except for maybe the money. I am beginning to wonder what I'm truly up against and I don't think I'm the only one who has had this problem with this company. This Brayden fella probably was made of the different social cloth that these nerds were cut from and wasn't able to justify the work through the demands of time.

So my concerns were met with blank stares and not much resolution. The difference between philosophies does concern me greatly... and something needs to be done. I really wish some of these Graphic Design jobs would have called me back still. I'm still willing to listen! The more and more I think about this sales job, the more I dislike what it may get me into. The work is fine, but it may start killing little pieces of my resistance until I am a nerdy drone and enjoy working more hours than I should.

There is a little piece of me that hopes that they find this Blog, get offended and kindly ask me to pack up my stuff. I wouldn't even ask for a reason. I would just assume and walk out with some diginity. But until I have something I can jump right into, I don't think I'll be burning many bridges just yet. I wonder if they could see that in my eyes or in my haste to get out of the office tonight.

With this meeting, I was another 10 minutes late to get out of the office. My ride was waiting outside, when he's expecting to be gone when he gets there at 6pm... after he's spent an extra hour in his office to accomodate me. Talk about guilt. He also made a good point... what if I was asked or had to stay later than 6pm to accomodate a customer. What then? Are they gonna pay for a taxi for me to get home? Are they gonna drive me to the middle of nowhere? Probably not. They asked what could they do to help me out in this sort of situation and I said well, if you're not gonna buy me a car, then probably nothing. The humour and cynicism went straight over their heads.

Absolute muppets, they are. Will someone please find this Blog and sign me to a liveable book contract? Please?

In other news today... I am so glad that Markus Naslund signed back on with the Canucks today. The Canucks still have lots of cap room and I'm hoping for Scott Niedermayer to sign on... or perhaps another talented forward who can quarterback the power play. Paul Kariya comes to mind. There is still lots of talented scoring wingers out there too... Teemu Selanne, Ziggy Palffy, Peter Bondra and John LeClair are out there. A big center like Chris Gratton would be a good grinding fit for the team. With Bertuzzi still signed on, Naslund back in the fold, the Sedin twins waiting for their new deals, Jovo on the blueline and Cloutier in goal... the Canucks are the contenders from the West, I have to believe.

But the Flyers in the East have done themselves a lot of good during the first few days of Free Agency. Peter Forsberg, Mike Rathje, Derian Hatcher, Chris Therien... all are huge quality signings for a team that already has a punch with Sami Kapanen, Keith Primeau, Joni Pitkanen and the soon to be departed (allegedly) Jeremy Roenick. The Flyers have put a lot of expensive eggs in their basket, but it could be a good mix. They do have the Bruins to contend with in the East, I figure... they're building a good team. Once Joe Thornton is re-signed and the possibility of Alexei Zhamnov in as well... the additions of Brian Leetch, Brad Isbister, Shawn McEacheran look pretty good.

It's gonna be a fun year! I can't wait. Anyways... I could talk hockey for just about ever, but I won't. Those are my two cents tonight. There are probably some other things to do tonight before I hit the hay... like start sending my resume out again. And probably fold some laundry. Yeah, that's it.

I should also be getting my new Chelsea shirt tomorrow! Woo hoo! There will definitely be a picture if it is here for sure!