A week without Pecker

I wait in complete anticipation for weeks like this week.

Pecker is out of the office and on the road. It only happens every six weeks so next week the next count down will begin. It’s not that I hate him, feel like he’s a horrid human being (though I have heard from others that he is indeed a horrid human being), or anything like that. It’s just that he’s beyond fucking annoying.

The way he answers the phone, the way he’s constantly spelling out his name (which is one of the easiest names of our department to understand he does not NEED to do it), and how fucking LOUD he is. HIS VOICE BOOMS across the entire department. If anyone around his area is on the phone he gets event LOUDER, as if he has to talk over them too! He already talks over the people he is on the phone to… it’s just an everyday aggravation. And now that we have all shifted cubicles thanks to a layout change… I’m even CLOSER to the source of the annoying noise that is his voice.

I’m just overall irritated by him.

But when he’s gone…. And the office is silent…. I hear other shit going on that pissed me the fuck off. Now, I’m not MODEL employee. But I get my work done, I don’t keep others from getting theirs done, and I’m nice to everyone. And yet, these women bug the living SHIT out of me. They come in at 7 am so they can leave early at 4. Phones are on from 8-5. So while the rest of us are here during that time and a little longer they get to be off the phones for a total of two hours every. Damn. Day. The rest of us work 730-5 or even 7-5 so that ONE day a week we can come in late or leave early…. These women, who are the RECEPTIONISTS, IE THE PEOPLE YOU SEE WHEN YOU WALK INTO OUR SECTION… are GONE for the last hour of the day. When they are here in the morning… they are sitting the aisle between their desk CHATTING. No work being done. I came in a few times at 7 to get work done before Pecker got in so I could work in the silence… but no, those two are chatting it up for up to an hour some days!!!! None of the bosses are here til almost 830 and they do knock it off once an authority figure gets here. But how fucking rude. You see that I’m back here WORKING and you’re seriously going to sit there and chat about someone’s wedding. You take fucking break together, which they should not since someone needs to man the front desk, talk about it then! ON TOP of them talking I have a ditz on the other side of my cubicle wall who will chat with Pecker and call her sister to talk and then her son to give him the weather report. I don’t think she even does WORK until 9 am… but she’ll be here at 7 so she can leave at 4… more time off the phones.

I’m just a little pissy today. Cause it seems like everyone is getting away with shit and my manager who I love dearly does not seem to want to lay down the law and enforce that this shit needs to stop. Get to fucking WORK. I realize we’re all state employees and work is not synonymous with that… but c’mon. There are three more of us here that answer the phones, work, get our shit done, and still have to make up for your lack of work… and it’s bullshit. I don’t get paid enough for this crap.

Thinking of switching over to the DOT since they’re actually honest about the little amount of work they do. 

Camping in the rain

Memorial Day weekend was great, even with the rain and wind and sickness and … ok so it wasn’t THAT great. But here’s what I remember

S’MORES

BBQ dinners

S’MORES

Eggs in a cast iron skillet

Hershey’s chocolate

Random walking and following turkey vultures

Touring Custer’s House

S’MORES

Running around and climbing in the “blockhouses” on top of the hill

Marshmallows both “raw” and “BURNED”

Touring a Mandan village and mocking Lone Man

Driving ten minutes home to shower in MY SHOWER!!!

Playing cards in the tent

Making a video about our last memories while under a tornado watch

And more S’mores

Basically we went camping at Fort Lincoln which is like ten minutes from my house and 11 minutes from a liquor store. So we had a good time. We figured it was easier to pack if showers were just done at home, cause then we could dress there too. It was MUCH easier. Wasn’t REALLY camping but compared to the other people there, we were roughing it.

We learned that “camping” in ND involves at LEAST one RV if not an RV AND a Trailer.

We were the only ones in the “primitive” camping area… ie… just tents no serious hook ups. It was madness.

We saw a bunch of stuff while were there and it was fun, all the way through the rain. We were touring the Mandan Village and someone working there said “whatever you’re going to do, do it now, we’re under a Tornado watch until midnight”. So we rushed to Custer’s House. We did the tour, bought some gifts, mailed out some postcards and heading back to the camp site.

Since A’s tent was the biggest and shaped more like a circle than the others we just piled into that tent. All EIGHT OF US. It was cramped to say the least. But we passed around s’more fixin’s and a lighter and had a blast anyways. Though one of the girls got sick and wasn’t doing too well. She toughed it out like a champ and hung in there while we played spoons with the marshmallows.

And then the winds came.

You could actually HEAR the wind coming down the valley before it actually hit the tents. It was strong wind to say the least. But nothing bad happened.

Until Chris’ tent broke.

We all dispersed to our tents around midnight, once the rangers came by to let us know that the tornado watch was over. But around 2 am Chris in his one man tent was SOAKED. His rain flap BROKE under the pressure of the wind I guess and just soaked EVERYTHING in the tent, including him. He ended up going to the boys tent and asking for keys to ANY car and went home for the night. He came back in the morning to pick up and drain out his tent. We thought it was hysterical.

We were there for two nights and the total cost per person was like $12 for the entire time, that’s even counting the cars coming through.

Not a bad time and we’re going to do it again soon, this time without the rain hopefully.

A and I came home to clean up and set out the tents to dry and FINALLY met our neighbors.

At least we finally met our neighbors to the east. Nice older couple, bunch of kids that are out of the house with almost as many cats as us. J We’re getting there, my goal is to know all the neighbors by the end of summer.