That first link wasn't there anymore, ita. But I followed them!

It's a review of a book I haven't read, so my knowledge of the specific character being discussed is nil.

Oh, I hoped it was an actual person and you could find out they were the Undersecretary for Belgravia or whatever. In general, I think the well-read American would know what it means.

Maybe say cabinet minister to clarify? If that's even right, but maybe some sort of specifying adjective would help.

OK, that's good to hear. Maybe I'll keep it for now and see if my boss trips over it whens she reads it.

Timelies all!

Yay for house, Dana!

Jesse, sorry--tried to pare the attributions too far: [link]

They might not be a cabinet minister, Kate, but they are a government minister, in the most general of senses.

I love this comic [link] because that is just perfectly awful.

Heh. That's perfectly awesome.

I have many thoughts on gender, and lots of them even conflict with each other. My brain is a complicated place.

Are ministers also diplomats? Because that might work.

At the end of the day boss lady got grumpy and agitated over an old volunteer bringing up an old volunteer session (Monday Morning Men's Work Crew) that has been defunct for over a decade, and those dudes were old back then. We both resent the pressure on this topic (Mondays are not a good day to have to supervise volunteers, especially now that there will only be one of us on the grounds then). I told boss lady to just clock out and not deal with anything in the house until next week, and she moaned about all of the administrative stuff she had yet to do (since she'd spent precious time picking rocks and sticks out of the dirt pile instead earlier today). 15 minutes later, she walks past me and another coworker in tears. Apparently she'd confronted the ED about the volunteer crew.

God, she is her own worst enemy. Why would she open that can of worms at 4pm on a Friday? I don't need her getting herself fired for being aggressive and confrontational and unyeilding with the ED, and I don't need her constantly going into tailspins because she's aspiring towards the unattainable standards of perfection and timely completion of projects.

She's starting to go crazy in her controllingness, to where she's giving me and herself assignments that will double our workload (I wasted three hours on Wednesday putting down grass seed when we will be purchasing sod in the coming weeks. She wanted to topdress construction fill that we will have to spend days digging out and replacing with actual top soil, just to make it pretty for a board members daughter's wedding tomorrow, saying we could rototill it in later). So yeah, now she's being her control-freak selk, but is giving out irrational and illogical directives, which is putting me in the position of "yes-ma'aming" or having to constantly talk her out of her craziness, which is putting me in the position of being an unruly employee who second-guesses her every decision.

I've been here six years, survived two bosses quitting in a huff (under far more dire circumstances), we've both been through two terrible nor'easters, I think we're in a great place and she's panicking. I don't know what to do with her, how I can help without pushing her into a defensive position or overstep my position. So frustrating.

Also, there's something that makes me incredibly relaxed when someone else is clenching. Is that a thing?

Sorry, new iPhone user.