well still no childcare. the lady I offered it to is concerned about the hours (I am requesting she stay until 7pm). Thing is I do not get home until almost 6 every single day, and if I am going to get full-time help I want the ability to work a bit later if that is required. hmmph, we'll see.

That's too bad, msbelle. I know in Rochester it seems impossible to get someone over 25 to work after 4 or 5 pm as a regular schedule (we have been looking for administrative assistants and IT help people to work later and have been having a really hard time)

I have done one task! It was not on the list, but it was weighing on me, so I am happy. And it was pretty big, because it was revising a marketing letter for someone.

(I am requesting she stay until 7pm).

Yeah, that's a tough get. We had that with Matilda's first daycare but that was notable for being so unusual. Anything after 6 is iffy or costs a lot extra.

I don't know what the market is like out there, but that would be hard to find in the Bay Area.

msbelle,

do you need one person to fulfill your needs, or will 2 people do it? I am wondering if a college student (or grad student) might be able to do evenings, while the woman can do a shorter period during the day.

I need an experienced person to be with mac. while 90% of the time he is very little work, the other 10% is extra special and requiring homework getting done will draw out that 10%. The issue with 2 people is not many people through the agency looking for partime work.

Daycares are usually a 6pm pick-up, but I am hiring someone myself out of my house, I want more flexibility.

My email this morning is a huge wave of Things That Are Not My Job.

Some of them are Things I've Been Told Are Not My Job, and others are Things I've Said Pointedly Are Not My Job.

But, either way, FUCK OFF.

It was only two weeks ago or so I was so mean to one of the developers she said she'd never ask me a question again. I took that opportunity to tell her "I'm not a developer, I don't know the answer to your developer questions".

Might as well have been an internet flounce, for all its permanence. The "how do I query the search engine from the console?" question is just sitting there, staring at me, making me want to cry.

It's not that I'm asking her to know (although it would have been nice if she remembered what she'd been told). I am just asking her to do her own fucking research and leave me out of it.

This last week worked out so much better than I'd expected, I guess I should have guessed this one would start out with a clusterfuck of me not doing anything right.

You can start asking for read receipts on everything. It's still putting the onus on you to make sure someone reads their damn email. But on the plus side, it's super annoying for the recipient to get the "this individual has requested a read receipt" every time they get something from you. It might help them recognize how silly this all is?

Oh- I hate read receipts. It makes me never want to read email.

In other news- what the heck is up with Joey Potters hair in the picture [link]

In other news- what the heck is up with Joey Potters hair in the picture [link]

Look at her little babyface and loose fit jeans! Stay away from the Scientologists you young thing!

The hair is inexplicable. Gary Oldman as Dracula Tribute Day?

You can start asking for read receipts on everything

I have never sent a read receipt since I started working here. The software gives me a choice, I say no. I won't rely on them from other people, especially if they're triggered by actions that don't actually involve paying attention to the email.

Twice in about a week I was reprimanded for not sending stuff on time. Both times I pointed out I'd replied within about an hour, not days later, when they checked, but the only reply I got to that was "I'm really busy--you expect me to keep track of what I have to do?"

Yeah, I kinda did. You're really busy because you can do that. That's been my entire assumption up until you have now told me you won't do stuff unless you're nagged. I will build in a nag.

Thing is--he wasn't supposed to do something for *me*. So I had no idea he hadn't read my email and moved onto the next step. He had to do something for someone else, and I thought my bit was done.

There is a guy, outside my team, senior to me, who has owed me something since Friday, and I keep walking by his desk and smiling at him, and he makes me promises and then breaks them...I'm not doing that to someone who signs my cheque, though....