And it's been awhiiiiiile...

...since my last post. Oops, "p0ast." I keep narrating all these things in my head but being too lazy and/or distracted to write them. I had the flu for the first time ever, too, that kept me busy for awhile. Plus, you know, waiting for some awesome financial updates to blog about.

On the not-so-awesome side, finally came to be pay-up time for the car insurance and stupidclass, blah. I did at least keep the money in the savings account for as long as possible before transferring and paying teh billz, so that I could squeeze as much interest as possible out of it. And although it sucked to pay those things, at least now they will be taken care of and I won't have to worry about them for awhile. Plus this is the last class I have to pay for for my dumb procert program, and then afterwards I will be able to take real classes about subjects that matter, and whenever I want. So there, state of Washington. I am also hoping that completing my procert just prior to the reviews/bonuses/salary increases that happen at the end of the summer will be good timing and will get me lots of kudos with The Powers That Be. We shall see.

In other news, I had to have a yell-at-stupid meeting with one of my instructors today. He showed up 30 minutes late to a 2-hour training meeting last Friday, the third of three that he was supposed to go to and the first one that he has actually shown up for. So I was in the right, certainly, for yelling at him, and I wrote him up and made him sign the paper, which will go in his administrative file. The irritating thing is I was much nicer about the "yelling at" than I actually intended to be. I hate that. And all this weekend, too, I was watching this show called Cashmere Mafia about powerful career women and thinking, "Yeah, I am so tough and awesome, I should be bossing people around like they do and threatening to fire this dumbass for doing stupid crap like not showing up or being late to required meetings and not even calling." But then I have the actual meeting and--while I did still write him up and was clear about what I want him to fix and when--he gets defensive about every criticism (he always has) and I end up feeling like I'm saying things in a "yeah, I know this sucks, but gotta have this meeting for official purposes, blah blah blah" way. Like I'm on his side and I really want to help him and sometimes we just have to get through unpleasantries like having this meeting.

Only that's not how I feel at all. I think it's blatantly rude to miss one required meeting without calling, much less two, much less two AND being late to the third! I called him on it--and it's not like he didn't know, either!--and he's like well I was in the car for an hour and 20 minutes, I was trying, I don't make that drive (it's in a different area) very often, so I don't know how long it takes, blah blah, wah wah.
A). I don't give a crap about your damn whining. I made it there on time. Everyone else made it there on time (except one guy who called and also later emailed and apologized to the person who gave the training).
B). Yes, sometimes people get caught in traffic or situations beyond their control. Then those people CALL to say they will be late. Unless they are jerks.
C). I came from the same neighborhood as you, I left an hour before the meeting started, and I got there with 20 minutes to spare. So you did not leave 20 minutes before me and take SEVENTY minutes longer to get there. You are LYING, sir.
D). Just quit your damn whining!
I also told him he can make up a half an hour of unpaid work this week in exchange for his missing that half hour, and I want him to be productive during that time. Of course then I weenie'd out and told him something like "They're just really watching our admin time right now, and we all need to make a serious effort to get as much done as possible during the time blah blah blah." Which is true. But I still feel like I should have been meaner. Because I was mad, damn it, and he was an a-hole. So anyway he got a copy of the write-up, and one went in his file, and one will probably get faxed to the prez. of the company to keep in his main admin file over there. What I like to think of as his "permanent record" ;) The write-up also said on the bottom that I would like to see this problem taken care of within the week and that he needs to be on campus 10 minutes prior to the start of all his sessions. Which he should already know and which I have reminded him, but which he does not always do. And now I have documentation so that I can fire him if he does not do what I want. Of course then I'd have to be able to replace him, which is always a challenge to do at our illustrious school. But it's still a comfort to know.