Thread 7 - TalkLair: “In fact it’s an oblate spheroid”

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 6).
The new lair of JTT escapees is all cosy and homey; we have truly settled here. Outside, the garden is blooming with spring flowers. Inside, the hearth is glowing, pictures are up on the walls, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them).

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

I'm late catching up with the thread, sorry about Phoebe.

Also what elderberry said, send the email to that chap and let him know he will need to follow up. The End.

I’ve forwarded email to colleague. I hope that will be enough to push the problem out of my sphere, but there is a genuine likelihood it will come back to me because I made the original booking and have now been the one to accidentally bring the issue to admin attention 🙄

In a very slight defence of non-internetty colleague, much of our institution’s booking and purchasing procedures are positively Byzantine. Event booking has to go through one portal involving a semi-detached agency, purchase order processing for non-standard things has to go through another internal portal, both have to be approved by higher levels, etc. Not everybody has been through the special training sessions required to navigate the process. Even those of us who have, often end up scratching our heads and wondering which thing needs to go in which field.

Sometimes, I really don't miss work...

If anyone looks crosswise at you state very clearly that you have not been given the proper training for this as indicated by your doing the right thing and getting the wrong outcome (emphasise your professional competence, your difficulties are caused by their system, not your capacity).

You may consider suggesting colleague gets training too.

amen

I agree with Elderberry - email both sides saying it's all getting too 'send three and fourpence', and they'll need to talk to each other directly because you don't know enough of the details to help.

Colleague has escalated the query, forwarding the email to the line manager above the line manager of the admin person. I’m expecting a SHTF kind of afternoon to come 🙈 I’m preparing my defence of “Nobody told me the dates were restricted, and the bookings were approved at the time” 🤷🏻‍♀️

Remember:

'I agreed to help Alphonsus because although neither of us have been given training I did manage to use part of the system duting project X earlier in the year. Clearly that experience was not adequate preparation. Will you be running training soon?'

Copy it to your Union rep as well as everyone else.

Do not get suckered into being fair to Alphonsus - any concession could be twisted to blaming you (see my defence of the Ian Craig position on the Archers thread over the last week).

Whatever you say, say nothing.

Words to survive by.

Oh, I have had the training, which was why Alphonsus asked me to make their booking in the first place. And also I had been involved in the original organisation of the Things. I’d done the Thing bookings for myself and immediate team members. So it wasn’t altogether unreasonable for Alphonsus to ask me, despite not being a direct team member.

The problem, as I understand it, is that Alphonsus’ chosen date for the Thing, being this summer, is outside the allowed date range. But nobody flagged this when I made the booking. And now they’ve finally noticed.

This is why I prefer doing lab work. People just cause bollocks to happen.

okay, slight change of wording 'I agreed . . . . because Alphonsus has had no training and I had some in September 2020. Unfortunately that is no longer valid as the system has changed, as demonstrated by this problem (which even the office have only just noticed). We all need refresher training. Can you please organise it before Big Project in October this year. And in the meantime, rewrite your forms so that they let applicants supply the information you need. The current forms are obsolete. Thank you.'

Rewriting forms is an essential part of admin work. If capable and intelligent users have difficulty with your system, it's because the system is incorrectly configured.

Garbage in, garbage out is a very misleading concept - some admit systems are garbageisers.

It sounds as though both you and Alphonsus are being shafted because someone in the admin office didn't do their job when you first applied. Definitely keep the line managers and the Union in the loop.

And resist the temptation to be fair to anyone except yourself.

All work online systems suck balls.

dodgeball

sorry, brain fart

Bloody hell @Kucinghitam. How infuriating. And what an incompetent colleague.

I have completed 1 of 2 exams on infectious diseases this morning. It wasn’t too bad, fairly virus-heavy which is my favourite type of pathogen so hopefully I did OK. Second one tomorrow morning and then it’s over.

Yesterday was 'DeanElderberry's bedroom fills with bees forcing a migration downstairs with bedding, clothes and everything else, to sleep on a sofabed' day.

Today, amazingly, is 'bees all gone' day and I've migrated back upstairs. Am now recuperating from all the stair climbing by watching a DVD while I eat lunch, hence the brain fart, which related to the current episode of Warehouse 13.

The cats are massively disapproving of all the gadaboutery. They aren't bad animals though, they were refreshingly uninclined to eat the bees yesterday - I wonder does experience bring wisdom?

I just hope there isn't another buzzy invasion later.

Shampoo, that's one thing that's still downstairs. I'd rather not remember that when I'm in the shower tomorrow morning.

Word!

Was it a migrating swarm @DeanVolecapeAKAelderberry?

In my teens, we lived in a crappy rented house in the 'burbs. A colony of bees moved in to the roof void in the kitchen extension. The landlord entirely failed to do anything about this.

For some unknown reason, almost every morning around 6am, a whole lot of the bees would emerge and swarm on the kitchen fluorescence tube light (didn't matter if it was switched on or not, so they hadn't been attracted by the light or the buzzing). One of those "proper" swarms, with bees dripping off the bottom. We learned to carefully check where we walked and where we put our hands, while preparing breakfast. Even DDog learned (the hard way) not to eat bees. I did, in my floppy teenage way, unfortunately sit on a bee when I grumpily trudged down to breakfast one morning and got rewarded with a sting on my posterior.

Other than that, wee happily coexisted for a couple of years, then one day there were no more bees - I think they just moved on.

Best wishes for a good exam @CyanCrystalViolet and for a bee-free environment @DeanVolecapeAKAelderberry

@DeanVolecapeAKAelderberry how horrible! reminds me of that film ‘The Swarm’

For at least three years in the last six, swarms have moved into the old wall in the front of the house - they only survived the winter once, probably because it's a north-facing spot. My bedroom windows are just above the accessible holes and some bees fly in the windows - I suspect others find cracks in the internal wall. There were hundreds of them outside yesterday afternoon, and dozens in the bedroom, but they must have found a better location. Hooray. I'm fairly pro-bee, but happy for them to be happy somewhere where I'm less likely to walk/step/get into bed with one of them.

I'm firmly pro bee, but not in the house.

We've got a Bee Tree just outside the kitchen and get swarms in it every year, some of which we've collected and hived or given to a bee keeper friend. Apparently when a swarm lands in a tree, they leave pheromones behind which attracts other bees to stop off there, so they're known in the trade as Lucky Trees. A couple of times now I've been in the middle of the swirling mass and it's exhilarating.

Crikey. I like bees but I'd be afeared if I had to deal with a swarm of them. I have had periods of too many flies in the house, around the same time every year. I'm hoping it won't happen here back in urban.

In other news, I have a bizarre infection. My whole forehead feels as though it's one big bruise. It started out as feeling like a small bruise, then spread down to my eye sockets along with a very attractive angry red rash. I've been told that it's some variety of dermatitis, can't remember which one. I have antibiotics. I'm such a freak when it comes to bloody odd medical shit that happens to me.