(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....

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, that's bullshit. I mean, there's not much you can do if they're up the chain and they're complaining.

But they're still responsible for checking their own email. Especially since it's not that hard for them to search to find your email to see if you have sent the necessary information.

That's on them.

God, yes, SEARCH.

I am often tempted to say I don't have or I didn't know, but I always search at least three ways before I open my mouth, and sometimes I'm still shown to be wrong. And then I'm really embarrassed, and I apologise.

I am doing it wrong.

I do want to make a point of defending my initial timeliness--if you want to ding me for not following up, okay. But do not ding me for not sending--I want to be punished for the right crime.

I just spent the past hour working on things I've been explicitly told not to work on (as opposed to farting around on the internet, which is what I really wanted to do), but I can't see how to deliver responsibly without being aware of this information or moving forward these tasks.

The people actually involved thanked me for it, but I'm only getting away with it because boss and manager are on airplanes right now. I forget that I can just work around. I don't have to have my way. I just have to get shit done.

Me and another guy have decided that Information Security is the best gig, but problematic--you have to be really bright to get it, but once you do, you don't have to do much. However, if some of the "not much" you do is wrong, you don't get a second chance.