measi's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- my new theme song is... Pressure... either the David Bowie/Queen version, or Billy Joel. They both seem to fit, depending on the circumstances. I have decided that since I have to do most of the work for the HR department as it is, perhaps I should just go back and get my master's in Human Resources Management. It astounds me how our HR department just doesn't do anything. And of course, when you see the two girls (and yes, I consider them children, since they act like it) in the cafeteria at lunch, they just give these angry, cliquish stares at everyone. In the immortal, juvenile Bill & Ted vernacular words of my youth-- ooh, like... I'm so totally scared of you now! Cripes. I start to wonder why we even have an HR department, anyway. After all, the administrative assistants need to do all of the timesheets, handle and track all paperwork, send out all reminders to update W4s and I9s, keep track of all sick days (even though we don't actually have access to run reports on the payroll system), handle phone and computer services for new employees, and do the majority of the orientation, save things about medical benefits. So why the hell do we have an HR department, anyway? They don't actually DO anything. And they certainly aren't a resource. Everyone comes to me because I'll actually answer them. And other than medical benefits and the actual classification of particular job codes, I seem to be able to give them the answers. I should go and find the information on the benefits packages, just to piss HR off. It's one of those standards that I keep trying to forget, but keep running into-- because I do competent work, people notice, and give me more. So to keep up with the workload and save myself time, I do more research so I have answers. Which makes me more competent, which means more work. I take pride in my work. I really do. Not so much for the company as for self-gratification. I'm such a lazy-ass outside of work that I need to have something worthwhile to my name. For the second year in a row, I'm the only administrative assistant (cross-site... I'll give an estimate of 700 employees here) named as a nominee for the "Way to Go" awards at work. And I'm proud of it, even if it means I will get embarassed by having my name read next week in front of people I don't know from Adam. I do my work, I take pride in it-- but oddly enough, I almost selfishly only want the self-satisfaction, and for others not to make any big deal of it other than the occasional passing comments. Someone said that you only really notice a secretary when the work stops flowing correctly. I think they're right. I keep wondering if I should relax a bit. But then I'd probably slack off completely. So I'll just keep that monotone rhythm from Bowie and Queen going in my head to keep me plugging, and occasionally vent with a bit of Joel when I'm over my head. Have I rambled enough to procrastinate for a few minutes now? Cool... 3:26 p.m. - 12 September 2002 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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