I've been replaced

Periodically, it occurs to me that I actually MISS going to work every day. I've said it before, but it bears repeating - I've worked every day of my life since I was a kid. Not having a formal job is disorienting. It's been three months and I still haven't discovered the secret to having a life.

Is that what this is? Having a life? That seems severe. This is more like 'having a different life'. I mean, I had a life when I worked. It was just wildly opposed to the one I'm currently living, right? (Yes, readers, you were just subject to a little stream-of-consciousness conversation there. Sorry about that.)

I'm sitting here with the dog, having my coffee and thinking about the things I need to get done today. Actually, it's all very similar to what I used to do. However, I did that with a full staff and in my office, not with a chihuahua in my sweats.

I'm in my sweats, not the dog.



I miss those meetings, They weren't formal or scheduled. It just seemed like everyone congregated in my office to discuss the day. Or the weekend or the game or the recipe for chicken from the night before. It's what we did. When they were happening, usually all I was thinking was 'you people need to get the fuck out, because I have a shit-ton of work to do'. Now, I'd welcome another person in the house to have a conversation with.

I still talk to the people I worked with. Rather, I talk to the ones who weren't directly responsible for my jumping ship. I still hear all of the shenanigans that the boss gets up to, and still want to call HR to have them deal with it. I know most of my old staff are applying for every job they can in an effort to GTFO.

Yesterday, I got a text message from the IT director there telling me I needed to get back and clean house. I laughed and imagined the shit he's had to go through since I left and apologized to him. Somewhere, I think I've mentioned what I used to do, or maybe it's in one of my drafts, but I handled a lot of our IT items. I've always been a quick study, and I tend to remember how to do things, so I would ask the guys to fix something, ask how they did it, then just fix it myself the next time. I also handled our departments programming, coding and desktop troubleshooting. The only time IT had to deal with us was when new software had to be installed or a computer was literally on fire. Evidently, that's not the case anymore.

The boss hired my replacement about six weeks ago, and the new manager was an elementary school computer teacher. Her line of thinking (according to what she's said in staff meetings) was that this lady has lots of computer experience and that what I did was the same thing.

Um...

Some of you are already cackling like hens over this idea. I want to be, but it's SO, SO wrong! I wonder about the applicants they had. Was this the only woman with any kind of computer knowledge? And, considering what a tiny, tiny part of my job that was, could she not find someone else more appropriate and have her learn that side of it? The fact of the matter is, the boss has ZERO computer knowledge. She knows how to email and how to surf Pinterest and Facebook. That's it. I think she was worried her inexperience would be a lot more visible.

All of that aside, evidently, this woman is a giant C-U-Next-Tuesday. She's hateful to people in the company, awful to guests on the phone and generally just an unpleasant person. She makes demands instead of requests, issues orders and pretentious commands to everyone and then whines and cries when no one does what she wants. My staff (and yes, I do still think of them that way) is completely miserable, nothing is getting done and the whole thing is going to the dogs.

It makes me sad. It makes me miss my old life and the knowledge that I could fix everything hurts my heart.

Then I realize I'm in my recliner, wearing sweats, with a tiny dog in my lap, with hot coffee that isn't from the bottom of the scorched pot and with nothing more on my plate today than a couple of loads of laundry.

Seems like I should be happier.