What were they thinking must be contagious.

Yesterday I found out I will be getting a new boss (This sucks, I finally got the last one trained to do things how I want him to do it.) (And, it takes a long time to train a boss.). My boss’s title is Senior Instructor of Bus Maintenance Training. He will be swapping jobs with the Senior Instructor of Rail Maintenance Training. So my company is swapping both Senior Instructors into jobs that they know nothing about. So, not only are we getting someone who doesn’t want to change jobs (I’m assuming the new guy is as mad as my boss (I’ve heard that swearing was involved in the meetings)), but someone who doesn’t know anything about what we teach (yea!).

I was told the reason my boss was given for this move was that our department runs well and works well with our customer (Bus Maintenance), and the new guys department is as dysfunctional as a family wedding between first cousins. I can smell the leadership from here.

I almost didn’t survive the last bad boss (I refer to him as the Shade Tree Manager). Three of the instructors at the time left our department (voluntarily) while the Shade Tree Manager was the boss. If this guy is bad enough to be moved, I might want to update my resume. No good can come out of having a boss that doesn’t want to be there, doesn’t understand what you do and is such a bad leader that he is being moved.

If a person can’t do a job well, you should re-train them or fire them. You shouldn’t inflict them on a working group that is doing a good job. What were they thinking?

More what were they thinking?

I went down to Florida for Thanksgiving. My mother, a brother and a sister live down there. I drove down Tuesday with my 2 dogs, and this started my, “what was I thinking?” moments.

First- I drove ten hours in a car with my 2 dogs. What was I thinking? Allie doesn’t settle down when we travel. She stays in an excited state for days. She will not sleep much. And, she will annoy the heck out of you by not letting you sleep (I guess she feels if she can’t sleep, why should you?). I was lucky to get a nap by sleeping on the couch with the TV on (I guess it makes her feel more at home, considering I often nap with the TV on. (Remember, I’ve said more than once “I’m a big fat lazy guy”.)).

Second- I put all the dogs in the backyard while I took a shower. What was I thinking? I forgot Allie is the big brown Houdini of the dog world. I guess because she is older and can’t climb fences anymore; I thought she would be fine in the backyard. Boy was I wrong. She found a hole in the fence, and pushed under the fence. When I went to let the dogs in, three came in and Allie was missing. I rushed out front to call for her and found her standing in the middle of the road. She was looking around as if thinking, (“None of these houses look right; where the hell am I? Damn this Conway memory”).

Third- My brother-in-law and I took both of my dogs for a hike at the Savannah’s State Park. What was I thinking? Allie is old; although the mind is willing, the body isn’t. We had gone a mile and a half when we realized that if we didn’t turn around, one of us would probably be carrying a 90lb Chocolate Lab. Our total hike was two and a quarter miles and Allie panted for 3 hours after the hike was over.

After the hike I took the dogs over to my mother’s condo. While over there the dogs found that big cold water bowl located in the bathroom. This will often freak out non-dog people, like my mom. When they came out of the bathroom, my mother made it a point to try and shoo them away from her. I found this very amusing, because non-dog people don’t understand that when you talk to the dog and wave your hands at them; they think you want them in your lap, and if you want them in your lap, you must want big sloppy kisses (and they would be sloppy, because the just finished drinking from that big cold water bowl located in the bathroom). It was fun to watch.

Fourth- On the way home, I gave Allie a doggie sedative for the trip. What was I thinking? The sedative relaxed her too much. She didn’t ride standing on the console the whole trip, but for part of the trip, every time she wanted to reposition herself she would bark (LOUDLY), because she was having trouble getting up. If you’ve never experienced a Lab bark when you didn’t expect it, you are lucky. I am lucky I didn’t have a heart attack or hit another car from being startled. (Although, she always barked after I had settled down. She might have been doing it just to mess with me.)

What Were They Thinking?

Last weekend Golden Retriever Rescue of Atlanta had its monthly hike. It decided to go to Piedmont Park (in the heart of Atlanta), and I wonder, what were they thinking? I know it was a very central location for people to attend, but it’s not a hike; it’s a walk. You shouldn’t call it a hike if you’re just going for a stroll through the park. I also understand that having the group hike at Piedmont Park gets us a lot more exposure to the public. I’m sure a lot more people asked questions about the group than we would get in North Georgia, but this was the only hike this year that we might have been able to see the fall color change.

I’ve heard that the walk was very successful, and everyone gathered for a drink at the Park Tavern after it.

It's Been a While

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, so I will update you on the randomness that is my life.

• Ever since the corporate run my knee has been hurting me. I’ve not gone to a doctor because I’m a guy, but I did go to Foot Solutions and bought a set of inserts for my sneakers. There are two bad things about this: 1) although the insert has helped my knee, it hurts my feet as I get use to them (the salesman told me not to wear them more than a couple hours a day and slowly increase the amount of time I’m wearing them) (this means when my knee feel good, my feet hurt. And, when my feet feel good, my knee hurts). 2) the cost of the insert was as much as my sneakers. I hate spending that kind of money on an activity I don't like to do. It sucks to get old.

• I went to a hockey game the other day, and our team played like they never played with each other before. The Thrashers need to tighten up. Atlanta is a fair weather town, if you are not winning they hate you, but if you win they love you. (I like the Thrashers either way, winning or losing, but I want to see them play like a professional team not a minor league team.)

• I finished my last Photoshop class. It was a 8 week class at a local high school, and it was well worth the money. One of the class assignments was to make a logo. I decided to make one for the department I work for. Below is my department's new logo.

• Ever since the phone incident, Buddy has been a well behaved dog. That all ended last week when he chewed my glasses. I guess that shoots down the theory that he grabbed the phone because it rang. I think he has expensive taste. (mmmm should I chew on this bone or that chew rope or even that 20 dollar universal remote? No, I’m going for the $150 dollar cell phone or the $250 dollar prescription glasses. I bet they will taste so much better than any of these toys on the floor.)

• I volunteered at Cocktails for a Cause the other day. This was a fundraiser at the Goldfish restaurant for Golden Retriever Rescue of Atlanta (GRRA). The president of GRRA is a pimp. He put one of our attractive volunteers (not me) into an “I Love Cold Wet Sloppy Kisses” t-shirt, and sent her around to tables with men at them. Her job was to sell t-shirts and get donations, and she did well. More than one guy, who bought a t-shirt, told us they probably will never wear it. (They said it was to girly, if you don’t have a dog.)

• Next week I am heading down to Port St. Lucie, FL for Thanksgiving. I am driving down (11 hrs) with both of my dogs. This should give me plenty of fodder for upcoming blogs. We are only staying three days (after 3 days fish and guests stink).

• The other day my boss had to go to the termination review committee (I work for a quasi government organization, so you can’t just fire someone) and justify the termination of the guy who failed my class. They upheld that the termination was valid and had us send him a certified letter telling him he is let go. (This doesn’t mean he is necessarily fired yet. This is a union shop, and the membership could vote to have an arbitrator hear and rule on this case.)

• In two weeks I start teaching a new class. This will be the first time I’m teaching an Electrical Class. Because we are short staffed, I’ll also be teaching an Air and Brake class a couple of weeks after that. We are hiring 2 new Instructors, but by the time they will be ready to teach I’ll be pretty burned-out. I feel sorry for the students I'll be training when I get burned out. I have a very low tolerance for stupidity when I'm burned-out, and my company has a tendency to hire stupid.
  

Well I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.

My Week has Been Messed Up

Last week I finished teaching an Air and Brake class (I had 4 students fail the final). This week I was supposed to start preparing to teach an Electrical class. Because I had four students fail, I’ve had supervise their re-training/study time and re-test them. Their re-training/study time has consisted of watching training videos of the air system, completing an interactive CD of the air system, and self study of their hand-outs. On Wednesday I reviewed with them in the morning and tested them in the afternoon. All but one passed.

Thursday morning I went down to my boss’s office to assist him (if he needed it) with the termination of the student that failed. Now I don’t want to see anyone lose a job, but you should not take a job you’re not qualified to do. The student’s argument for not being terminated is he was not told he would be tested when he was hired. If he wins this argument, it will mean that we will not be able to check a person’s knowledge of repairing a bus.

I glad my mother lives in Florida and doesn’t ride the bus.