Cubicle Cultures
3 Walls, plenty of stories
Journal for the week of 6/5/17
0807 — In.
0834 — Meetings from 0900–1130. Yay for me…NOT. After all that my day is free.
From the cubicle: A great but surreal weekend. My wife’s cousins had a gravestone unveiling for her uncle (step-mom’s brother) and the ceremony was beautiful. What was interesting, and fun, was they had it catered. The foods were the favorites of her uncle and it was all planned by his widow. Although I barely know her, it’s easy to see that she is a very strong woman and loved him fully. Their son was there and in good spirits and was grateful for the turnout. It was the first unveiling of it’s kind I’d ever been to, same for my wife. What a wonderful way to honor the memory of a great man. I only met him once but from the stories, turnout, and love exhibited, it was evident that he was a beloved husband, father, and friend. God bless him! The surreal part is that the weekend ended with the death of my wife’s aunt. She was 92 and in failing health so her passing was expected. Her aunt is one of 4 sisters, my wife’s mom is the youngest and last remaining sibling. Luckily my mother-in-law was there before her sister passed and was able to support her niece and other family. These losses are always tough. Both my parents are still living, dad will be 81 this year, mom will be 78. As my generation gets to our age (mid to late 40s and above), folks start dying off. It hurts beyond belief knowing that we are losing family so quickly. My wife’s family is a bit older than mine, just by a few years on average so there’s an expectation she’ll be losing more family sooner than I will but you never know. Longevity runs in her family, her dad is 86, step-mom just a bit younger, and most of her siblings are older than me. I have a sister that falls, age-wise, in the middle of her siblings (6 total) so it sort of makes me and my wife’s youngest sister the babies of the bunch. Mortality plays a part in all these situations and I don’t like to think about it but forced to when things like this happen. I’m grateful for every day above ground and can be here to support her through all this. One bright spot was we didn’t get into any fights in the car. We don’t travel well together but working on it. The trip up was a bit long, about 6 hours thanks to traffic on a Friday night in the DMV. It only took about 4.5–5 hours getting home where a couch was waiting for both of us to rest. We found out of her aunt’s passing after watching an episode or 2 of House of Cards. After making some calls, the reality set in and emotions starting taking over. I love my wife and don’t want to think of being without her but the end of life is inevitable. I say that I’m not worried about dying and that my mind and soul are prepared but we’re all scared in our own way, me included.
NOTE: DMV — D.C., Maryland, Virginia. It’s really just a nickname for a small circumference of area that surrounds D.C. We live in the DMV about 30 minutes outside of the city on the Virginia side. We love D.C., Maryland is a shithole IMO.
1023 — Still on the conference calls, probably will be until 1100. I’ve had a couple of colleagues ping me regarding a JCL (Job Control Language) program that was setup to generate a help ticket then trigger an email afterwards in case a report has missing info. Neither the ticket nor email were created which is actually a good test, failure is always a valid result. The fact that nothing was generated is where, apparently, I come in. Not being familiar with anything having to do with this project, it’ll be a challenge to find out why. I enjoy doing a bit of drilling down into code and processes. The knowledge is valuable in case things like this happen in the future and having a possible root/cause analysis available is good to have on record.
1355 — I found the info my colleague was looking for earlier. It wasn’t a JCL issue. The ticket they thought wasn’t generated by their code changes was actually generated and sent to our SQA team (which is what they wanted), they were looking in the wrong spot or didn’t know where to look. I found that all the prior runs of the application were being forced into the same ticket instead of breaking it out into multiple ones. The program works as designed…just a little too well. Back to the drawing board for them but I’m impressed that they got 2 very different systems talking to each other and processing their output.
From the cubicle: Verizon customer service strikes again! I was trying to switch my current plan that ends on 6/19 to the unlimited plan. The numbers sounded great but the call got dropped. I got a text apologizing for it and the rep (or whoever) would call me back. I called back twice trying to get a rep that could finish the work but then I got emails congratulating me on switching. I DIDN’T AUTHORIZE IT!!! Then I had to call back again saying don’t let it go through and spoke to a very nice lady that gave me markedly different numbers (costs) than the first rep did. So far I either have a savings difference of $250 or $200. I want the former! I’m uber pissed! So the last rep I spoke to moved me back to the plan I had in the beginning of this mess and it’ll come due on 6/19. If it weren’t for her, I would have lost it. I FUCKING HATE GETTING A RUN AROUND BY PEOPLE THAT ARE “HERE TO HELP”! Not the way to end a Monday. Now…I have to be home by 1630 to wait for a repair guy to come service our air conditioner and start this process over again. All the while, we need to go food shopping. My toothbrush broke just now (I brush in the middle of the day and was late) causing bristles to get stuck on my teeth and I used my finger to at least spread the toothpaste around. Murphy’s Law is in effect!!! RUN. LIKE. HELL. Fuck Mondays. One bright spot: My contractor is coming on Friday morning to start putting in the new floor in the basement.
6/6/17
0751 — In.
0900 — Meetings for the next hour. I’m only on them to listen, hopefully no need to say anything.
From the cubicle: Found out last night that the father of the lead singer in the band died yesterday. I’ll be sending my condolences in a little while. I don’t know if it was sudden or expected by my heart goes out to her. In the interim, the rest of us have been emailing with tunes we can sing. Me…I’m not a singer but there are a few tunes that I can pull off that don’t require much talent. I have a strong feeling this is going to be more of a blues setlist than a more diverse one. Having a female singer is always a good thing; it increases the diversity of the songs that any band can do. Two other bandmates can sing and I prefer to get relegated to background vocals but we’ll see. Too many people dying these days and it’s hit home 3 times in the last 4 days.
1012 — Meetings over. Didn’t have to say anything. I don’t enjoy having to go to meetings at all, especially ones that I really don’t need to be at but the boss overrules my disdain. I wouldn’t want to let her down anyway, she’s cool. Got another from 1100–1300 for some ATM name changes. Shouldn’t be too bad.
1156 — A break in the action. We got the ATM programs updated, waiting till after lunch to do the rest. Although just a name change, we have to check to make sure every program is hit and the new name is spelled correctly…not easy for someone like me that can’t type well. We have been using the programs from the last time this was done for examples. Makes things easier and lessens the anxiety for now.
1319 — Testing time. Code changes worked and now screen shots…a shit ton of them. Taking a breather before starting. This whole thing is so tedious that it should be intern work. But I opened my big mouth again and volunteered for it. WTF was I thinking? Oh well.
1442 — Testing done and documentation sent to my teammates. Once they’re happy I’ll publish it. Took WAY too long and I need to think of ideas to automate or make it quicker. Too many manual keystrokes for all this shit and my eyes are hurting.
From the cubicle: Third acupuncture appointment today. Hasn’t really done much but I’m hoping it will start at some point. I’m on with Verizon customer service…again. The bill and plan can’t be fully explained at all and I’m already getting pissed. Stay tuned.
6/7/17
0806 — In.
From the cubicle: I finally got the Verizon mess done last night. The final rep I spoke with called me back at 1930 and answered everything perfectly. Moving to their unlimited plan will save me ~$150 a month…I’ll take it. She was awesome! She was also the last of 5 people I talked with and the only one that did any sort of legwork that was worth a damn. My acupuncture appointment never happened. It was scheduled for 1645 and the office was closed. I knocked on the door till 1700 but no answer. Then I called the office number and got the answering machine. The doc called me back and apologized for missing it. He’s been battling a nasty cold and didn’t want to be around people and I thanked him for that. We’ve rescheduled for next week.
0835 — Not much on the schedule today so I’ll be taking care of small things. Just need a quiet day with no emergencies.
1053 — Ok. So the monthly report I’ve not finished needs to be done today. Just found out that, in order to get the correct numbers, I have to do a search on every individual on my team. One. At. A. Time. There’s no other way to search for things en masse since I’m the Lead a few teams. The PM that helps me said it takes her about 3 hours to do hers. Now I know what my afternoon will be filled with: intern work.
1258 — Sent the first draft of the monthly report to the PM for her perusal. I’m hoping there’s not much that needs changing. Tedious bullshit is all this report really is. Again…this is intern work.
1336 — Today’s company treat…cupcakes! 1/3 cake, 2/3 icing, 3/3 diabetes. They’re pretty good but one is enough. Monday/Wednesday/Friday this week are “Summerfest” treats. Monday was these massive chocolate chip cookies. I couldn’t pass up having 2 of them. Sue me.
6/8/17
0805 — In.
0850 — Meetings from 0900–1130. It’ll give me a chance to catch up on other things. Other than that, all is well so far.
From the cubicle: My dad called to let me know my uncle fell and broke his back in 2 places. He wasn’t found for a full day until his neighbors called the police. They broke in and found him on the floor in his bedroom. Apparently, my uncle is active each day with walking dogs and being seen so they thought it unusual to not see him. For now, it looks like he’s paralyzed from the chest down and no sign of recovery. Pretty sure that tests will keep happening but it doesn’t look good. Luckily he’s retired military and doesn’t have to come out of pocket for any of the costs. I think he’s going to be transferred to a local VA hospital so they can continue treating him. I barely know him. He was married to my dad’s sister who I also barely knew. My dad’s family, even the siblings, weren’t close. There was some communication between them in later years but probably not much. This particular aunt and uncle were fairly distant from the rest. Last time I saw them was at my grandma’s funeral back in 1990. My other uncle (dad’s younger brother) died a couple of years back, my aunt died not long after…maybe a year. So dad is the last remaining sibling. He’s the oldest of the 3 and in his 80s. A very stoic man, he doesn’t show emotion even during these situations. I know he hurts but just doesn’t let it out. He also jokes about living to 100 and then he’s done…dry humor is his thing and where I get it from. The phone call was shocking but I don’t feel much of a loss which is a tough thing to say. Since I barely know my uncle, it hurts a bit but I’m not feeling overly emotional. My uncle has 3 kids, 2 daughters and a son, who will help take care of him. The 2 daughters live near him, I’ve no idea where his son lives. Hell, until last night I couldn’t even remember one of the daughters’ name. I feel for all of them for what’s going on and hope there is some healing for them soon. The oldest daughter and I are FB friends but, again, distant. She’s a hardcore conservative and I don’t appreciate her overly right-wing (bordering on racist) posts so I unfollowed her as well as her dad and brother. But this is different. Regardless of politics, we’re still family and showing our support is still most important. My own family unit growing up (parents/sister/me) weren’t particularly close especially me and my sister. I’m the youngest of us 2 by 8 years so there wasn’t really opportunities to bond or whatever. We’ve softened our relationship over the last few years and it’s been good. She’s the webmaster of my site and does beautiful site building for several companies. We’ve all mellowed some, especially my parents who’ve been battling health issues for years. I have a feeling they’ll outlive all of us…tough couple of people. Mom is a Southern girl, dad is a NY boy from small towns upstate. Both are staunch republicans, so is my sister. All 3 are good people and stand by what they say and believe which I respect even if I don’t agree with them on much. Come what may.
1429 — Hellish day. An ATM is problematic and our SME is unavailable. A colleague and I have no clue how to handle it and, so far, nothing has been done. I don’t want she and I to do the wrong thing. It might cause ripples down the line that would be bad…BAD! It’ll sit till I get on with the SME and figure it out.
1503 — Still no word from the SME and I’ve reached out to another colleague that should be able to help but it doesn’t look like he’s in. This is getting more frustrating by the moment. I don’t have anyone else to tap but still looking.
1625 — Out.
6/9/17
0800 — In.
1109 — I’m about to send a carefully worded email to the team. It has some reminders to do things like documentation, job shadowing, knowledge transfer, and meeting attendance. The last one is the worst. One of my guys didn’t attend a required meeting that involved a job that gets run each week. To his defense, he was on a critical issue and couldn’t break away. But…he didn’t tell anyone and, since no one was alerted, his ticket for the implementation wasn’t approved. The shit hit the fan with our AVP, trickled to the Service Manager, then to me since I’m the team Lead. Had I known, I would have represented but shit happens sometimes. So the email I’m putting together will mention to alert me that they’re required to attend so I can be on the call. The meeting is run by our Change Advisory Board (CAB) and if you get an invite for it, you MUST attend or have a proxy. Well, now I’m proxy for everyone. I don’t mind in this situation, got to cover my team wherever possible. The CAB is pretty strict and there’s no way around them. They have had issues in the past where they simply didn’t ask if anyone on the call was representing for a ticket, etc. and just moved on assuming all was well and approved it. This happened to me last week. Now they have to ask for every one of them which puts this meeting at a high priority.
1315 — Late for a meeting. I had to go to a branch for a deposit then a quick visit at home to see the progress of the flooring. The floor looks beautiful and should be done later today. ALL THE CARPET IS GONE!!!
1553 — No big crisis’ this afternoon, just busy work. Found out that I have to work Sunday at 0530. Thanks for nothing project manager!! I really hate them. It’ll take me about 30 seconds to do my part but we HAVE to be on a conference when we do it and I’ve not set up my computer at home yet to dial in so this one’s on me. Then I’ll be up all fucking day thanks to yard work…but my wife offered to go out for breakfast and I won’t argue with that.
From the cubicle: Using office supplies can be tricky depending on the type of use. Especially if it’s for personal use. This will get me in trouble but…I had to do some printing that wasn’t work related. My work for the day is legitimately done and it’s almost time (1615) to go. I won’t have time to go home after work before band practice so I figured I’d do it here. Probably not the best of ideas but I caught the print out before anyone was near the printer so my nerves can settle now. We have 3 printers on my floor: 1 near me that isn’t working, 1 on the far side of the floor, 1 around the corner. Each has a designated name and the only one I know is the one near me because I don’t need to print to the others for any reason…except today. It was a crapshoot at best to find which one I sent the jobs to. Watching me jog around the floor must have been hilarious for others. I’m a bit overweight so no doubt my tummy was bouncing a bit. Awkward. One of the printouts got stuck in the middle of someone’s planning doc and I was amazed that I even thought to look in it. The other 4 copies were on the other printer. This shouldn’t be so hard!! Either way, I know I shouldn’t have done it but I’m in a bind at the moment so…adapt and overcome.
1626 — Out.
Thanks for reading all of this! If you enjoyed this piece please click the heart below and comment if you wish. I’d love to hear your experiences no matter what they may be. Also, I have two books available on Amazon that I advocate you to buy, Manku and Manku Too. For more about me and what I do, here’s my website.
