We are a small company...a small company. We cannot play with the big boys yet on the ground, why do my bosses want to try in the office?I need them to get real and get a clue.

Simplifying things, solving 75% of our paperwork issues? Training would do that, but it would require our sales manager to actually go in the field and train these people. She cannot be in the office 3 days out of the week and expect her people to pick this stuff up by osmosis!

But, noooo, let's not do that. Let's try and dummy-proof the system instead.

I'm not saying it wouldn't be a good idea, but there is no way they are going to want to spend the money to set up the kind of integrated system needed to link us to the field and include automatic updates and data carry-over.

I repeat - we are a SMALL company!

Well, I'm having to work today since it is year-end and we have closings. I can tell I'm not happy about it because I'm being a bit short with people.

Our sales manager came up while I was making copies at around 10:30 or so. She asked if I had a bunch, and I said "a handful". So then she asks if she can slide one in. Okay, to me, "a handful" is five. This is not too long a wait - at least not to my mind. It's not like I said "a stack" or something.

It's probably an over-reaction, but then again, I've been here since 7 am working on year-end stuff. I live an hour away, so I had to leave home at 6. She lives 10 minutes from here (tops - she lives in the same city as the office) and got here less than 15 minutes before this happened.

My reply might have been a bit "snippy" as she put it, but it's a bit annoying that she just sweeps in that way. It probably wasn't her intention, but it certainly felt that way.

Okay, please explain to me why a woman who lives in the same city as the main office and is in the main office 3/4 of the week needs a car allowance? If she spent most of her time in the field, I wouldn't have a problem with it - at all! We're spread out and that costs money, so cool. I don't have any issues with the guys who have one because they are always in the field - they office out of their trucks.

She lives ten minutes from here, spends 3 out of 5 days here, 1 day out of the week she is nearby, and gets a car allowance.

WHY?

I know our controller is going to bring that up at the next budget meeting. He drives at least an hour to get here every day, and so do I. We both do courier work for the office from time to time. Neither of us get a car allowance.

I don't want to mess with anyone's money, but I'd like it to be a bit more fair. If she's going to be here the best portion of the week, she doesn't need money for gas unless we all get money for gas.

Perks are one thing - ludicrously unfair is another.

Okay, maybe it's just me, but if you turn in a bid for your work, you shouldn't go through adding pennies to everything when you bill us. I've got one vendor who has been arguing with me about their invoices.

First off, I've got two houses - exact SAME plans - getting the exact SAME amount of wrought iron on their staircases, but one of the houses is $200 more than the other? Then I've got another houses getting $1000 less in material since there is less WI going in, but the labor cost is the same?

Somehow between bid and installation, I've gone from 29 doors to 28 doors...somebody can't count?

And this is just one vendor!!!

Would someone please explain why I'm being defensive when I try and explain why I don't know where a formula came from and why I feel justified in being unhappy with a vendor when they've been accepting the formula for 6 years without comment?

I like my boss, I do, but when I try and explain things, I get told to calm down, he's not blaming me, and I don't need to be defensive. He interrupts to tell me this.

Am I being defensive? Maybe, but I do feel I should be allowed to finish my comment before he decides I'm just being defensive. I think I've got a right to be unhappy when they haven't said a damn word about the formula for SIX years and suddenly today it's a problem???

I can't even vent because then I'm being defensive.

Sorry, I've been gone so long, but October has been a completely insane month! AND I'm about to make my trip to Israel, so I'll be offline from Nov. 4th - 13th.

I'm going to try and be online a bit more this week, and I'll have to rejoin all of my groups because I never quite got the chance to go on hiatus. That will wait until after I get back.

I have worked almost every weekend for the past six weeks as well as working late trying to keep up with everything and get it ready for me to be out of the office for 7 days. I seriously do not want to see my desk when I get back. Hopefully it doesn't collapse under the paperwork. I think my bosses found someone to handle the phones, but if not its their baby! I've been planning this trip since January and reminded everyone in Sept. & Oct. I'm going and not feeling even a little guilty!

Just wanted to drop a quick note to state emphatically - YES, I AM STILL BREATHING!!

Warning - ranting, griping, and all-around "poor me" syndrome ahead.

Okay, so I started off today with two buildings not fitting on the drawing the way they are supposed to...I work in home-building by the way. My boss, and my boss' boss, are both being mental about the whole thing...why aren't we doing the plots upfront? Why are we waiting on the foundations?

Because that's the way we've always done it and nobody bothered to tell me to do it differently?!? I do NOT read minds!! They were in such an all fire hurry to do this stuff and then get pissy when little things trip us up.

Now, I get a call from my builder. The paperwork he turned in for a 6-unit building is fine...except for the engineering stuff. The foundation and engineering letters all show a 5 unit building, in complete disregard of my original order.

Part of this is definitely on my shoulders as I should have checked before sending it to my builder. But also, why wasn't it caught by the engineer when doing a double check or the builder when looking at it before turning it into the city? My job is to push the paper. I place the order and I get the copies out to the builder.

The problem with being the "middle man"? I've got the bosses unhappy in one ear, the builder and city in another, and it's my mouth having to take all of that and throw it at the contractors.

There are days were I really just want some piddling little job somewhere that doesn't require this crap. I like my company most days, but it seems to be happening more and more often that I'm getting this "why the *bleep* did that happen" vibe like I have an answer.