Tower Of Babel

Well everyone, only 1 more day to go of our quarantine!!!!! Are we ever excited! I had a great day yesterday. Spoke with the siblings and fiwi madda.
(Our mother) As well as lots of friends.

One of Dr. D.’s blog entries this week addresses the problem of sexual harrassment on the job. I have never been sexually harassed in the workplace, but I have been abused verbally by my boss.

My past boss aka THE EVIL BITCH is a doc. too, but I am sure that has little bearing of her personality. She had three, excellent workers (myself included) running the office for her. Attending to her every wish and fancy. And I do mean her every wish - we would even hem her clothes for her on occasion!!
We had patients who would blow us kisses when they came in and at Christmas
we got enough chocholates from the patients to last till the following Christmas.

For the past few years she was becoming increasingly more erratic. We were never sure in what mood she would be coming to work. She has always been much like the girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead…. when she was good she was very, very good! And when she was bad she was HORRID! But this increased with her erratic mood swings too. She was constantly putting us all down and often in front of patients. She would say rather loudly that she “had better things to do than be seeing patients today!”

At first we wondered if she was menopausal……she definitely is of age! But things progressed to the point where this was no longer only noticable once per
month, but through out the entire month. Little things would set her off. Like transparent tape on her file folder box….. Now remember, this is a doctor’s office. Where the patients would be sitting right beyond our desk. Where we would be labelling blood work, answering calls from patients or other doctors etc., and the EVIL BITCH, speaking rather loudly, and discontentedly would announce that we had to stop whatever we were doing to get the tape off the file box el pronto.

Whatever went wrong in the office, whether it was our error or hers, she would inform the patients, within our hearing that “her staff cannot remember to do these things….” or some such remark. Yes, I know, the word PSYCHO does come to mind!! She’d tell us to change a particular patient’s appointment, and if they then complained to her, we got blamed for it. The list goes on and on. She had each of us in tears at least once. And then at the end of the day, she would behave as if nothing had happened at all. Of course, there was never any thought of an apology!

I know that we all should have left long before we did, but we all did eventually leave, and all within 1 week of each other. Towards the end of my time there, I had the audacity to ask for an pay increase, she did not speak to me for the entire 3 weeks there after, that it took me to leave.

What makes people this way? Why do some of us think that the world revolves entirely around us? And why to the rest of us put up with it? Do any of you have any insights or have a situation similar to this.

I do have another job now, better pay, and a much nicer boss!!! So far anyway,

I was sitting on my front step this morning, contemplating the 8th day of my quaratine due to the second SARS outbreak here in Canada. It also just happens to be my birthday. One of the restrictions for those in quarantine is that they cannot eat at the same table or in the same room as those family members who are not quarantined. Therefore, this evening Kidlet # 3 and I (the only ones in quarantine, because we had visited one of the hospitals that was later identified as a hot spot for the virus) will have to have our supper in separate room to the Popsy and Kidlets # 1 & 2.

I was at the point of becoming seriously depressed when I started to think of my blessings.

We only have 2 more days of quarantine to go! Kidlet # 3 and I are showing no signs of the virus. And it’s my birthday!!!

I have a husband who loves me dearly. The first of his birthday gifts to me was when he called me from work this morning to confirm when our first date had been. We met 19 years ago, and it took him 9 days to ask me to marry him. We just celebrated our 18th year of marriage last March. That he can be thinking of our first date today is a very special gift. He has been my rock during all of the many curves, hills and valleys that life has taken us through these past 18 years.

Kidlet# 1 - The Princess - is our special needs child. She has physical disabilities. She is a beautify person, both inside and out. A friend as well as a daughter. Her determination and sense of self is inspiring to many of our family and friends. She is going to bake my birthday cake today. I believe this will be the first cake she has ever baked.

Kidlets # 2 & 3 - the boys, are handsome, kind kids. For a mother, there is nothing quite like the feeling she gets when her children feel free to kiss and hug her and tell her that they love her (especially the boys - kissing at their age is definitely not cool). All my children can hardly wait until we can resume our kissing, hugging routine without masks.

My brothers and sisters are wonderful, loving people in their own rights. Our parents gave us their love and very happy childhoods. They taught us to love and respect each other and the world around us. We had always been a tightly knit family, but since the passing of our Father in April, we have become even more close. The connection is amazing! I am also fortunate to have a great “in-law” family, who are supportive and loving and have been so since the first day we met.

My first two birthday greetings (outside my immediate family) came from two friends. The first was from a friend who lives just around the corner from me.
She phoned to wish me happy birthday and to tell me that herself and another good friend had decided to go out to breakfast to celebrate my birthday (had I not been quarantined, I would have been invited to come along) (smile). The second was from one of my best friends from school, who now lives in England. That she would have taken the time and effort to call has made my day!

The sun is shining brightly, the sky is it’s own beautiful shade of blue and the day is fairly warm. The birds are singing and my big, extremely furry, black dawg is outside, barking his head off (smile).

So I have no other course of action, but to decide that I am going to forget about being depressed, get out there in the sunshine and enjoy my birthday! I have gotten dressed in my favourite clothes (later I may even put on some make-up), I did my hair and I am going to have a great day!

and

I WILL REMEMBER TO COUNT MY MANY BLESSINGS!!!!

Have a great day y’all.

OK, it is Friday again, Thank God! How many of you work in an establishment that allows you to ‘dress down’ on a Friday? Literally, this means that you can dish the dress code and dress more casually. Now, unfortunately, I don’t have this privilige, as there is no ‘dressing down’ on Fridays at the hospital. It is really only if I have to go in on weekends that I have this liberty.

So, why dress down in the first place? I suppose it is a way of helping to mentally prepare the staff in any organization for the upcoming weekend after a week of slaving it at the workplace. Lots of folks also meet up with friends and co-workers on Fridays right after work for drinks at the ‘after work jam’ anyway, so having ‘dressed down’ there is no need to go home and change in order to enjoy the good vibes. However, I have seen some folks that take liberty of this and dress down and out if you ask me, including T-shirts and in one case I saw a guy in a track suit bottom! Would that be tolerated at your office?

It is always a pleasure to feast the eyes on the ladies on Fridays as well. Some of them dress down nicely in ways that show off their wares well, one of the nicer things about driving to work on a Friday and seeing the sights on the way!

Anyhow, I have to dress for work (not in jeans and a polo shirt either), so enjoy your weekend and share your ideas about work attire. TGIF again.

Well, I don’t know about you all, but I have found today’s entries in my reads quite entertaining. In fact, I was actually hurrying home tonight in order to log on and post as well as read some more!

Have you been to Jamie’s place today? Man, I tell you, things over at her place are steaming up, seems her ‘oven’ is on fire and Texas T-Bone has put his ‘meat’ into the fire as well. Well, the trusty Doc could not be left out, so I decided to add my ‘physical healing’ to the mixture. You should go give Jamie a visit, but I warn you, this is no PG affair! I actually suggested that she may need to change the name of her blog.

Anyhow, fun and joke aside, in my travels today, I also found Buffy’s post to be quite interesting. She discusses the issue of couples having physically fit bodies and in the case that only one of the partners in a couple could have a hard body, which would you prefer it to be? You or your partner?

Now, as I commented at her site, I am not any Spartan, but at the same time I don’t wish to acquire a belly or ‘wanga gut’ as they used to be called here not too long ago. That has now actually got me thinking about other names for bellies. Recently, Ernie, another bredren of mine referred to his belly as a ‘toolshed’. The implication here is that the larger the toolshed, the larger the ‘tool’! Do you know of any other interesting or funny names for bellies?

Another thought about the gut. Despite the fact that most women that I have come across do not find the sight of a man with a rapidly expanding abdomen attractive, it seems to me that there are a number of kriss women out there with near to perfect bodies, in the arms of a ‘wanga gut’ man. So, is it the money, is it true love or what? Answer me that.

I guess this is really a trivial post and my thoughts are a bit haphazard (and I haven’t had any VX either), but what the hell, sometimes it is good to just go with the flow and not hassle the brain too much to post something thought provoking.

Last but not least, TGIF lurks and it should prove to be a good one. The plan is to meet up with some of the dudes from my high school class at a watering hole tomorrow night. Usually they are good fun, I don’t think we will ever stop being high school boys, as responsible as many of us have become. Have a good Friday, and, keep on blogging!

P. S. I will see what I can do to get Blanche’s story moving along on the weekend.

Why is it that some children are bullies? They all come home from the hospital as cute, little bundles….. Okay, so some of them do cry a hell of a lot…..Okay so most of them do cry a hell of a lot. But they are all cute babes.

Even thru toddlerhood we see more funny and cute sides to them than not.
We send them to school and some are still angels, some are just little kids, not all here most of the time, and some of them become BULLIES !!!

All three of my kidlets have had some incidents with bullies. I must admit, that I have done a slight injustice to my kidlets by telling them to never be mean to others. Because, there sure are some mean kids out there.

I finally had to agree with what Popsy was telling them - go out there and stand up for yourself! We’ve told them that as long as they don’t throw the first punch, they are okay with us. But why does it have to be that way?

People used to think that bullies were mean boys. Well, I am here to tell you that some of the worse bullies are girls! Kidlet# 2 & #3 are boys and they have had girls do and say the meanest things to them. Of course, they were both taught not to hit girls, but I found myself telling KL#2 to hit his she-fiend! I kinda retracted that, and told him that he knew he could flatten her with one punch and to keep that in mind when next she teased him.

My older brother tells me that I should be teaching him other tricks…..like the pin on the chair kind. But poor KL#2 has the worst timing in the world and the teacher would be sure to walk by just then.

KL# 3 is a bit more aggressive than # 2 - the same she fiend was bothering him one day, and threw his hat over the kindergarten fence. The kindergartens were not allowed beyond the fence. He bided his time…. when they had their ice-skating afternoon KL#3, who has been skating from the tender age of 2, quickly realized that she fiend was not the best skater and would wait for her and quickly skate by her, and very gently pushing her down.

She-fiend has changed schools, but when she told her class of her move, the entire class cheered. While it is rather sad that they did this, I can certainly understand their side of the issue. As for the Kidlets, they are all standing up more for themselves now and even more importantly. standing up for each other. I am glad that I have well-mannered, kind, respectful kids, who do know when others are invading their territories.

Hopefully, there will not be many more fiends of any gender in our kidlets years to comes. For those of you who have children, please watch for the signs, and listen to your kids, may they not have too many fiends as well. While teaching them to be good kids, teach them to stand up for themselves as well. Those of you who think there is a fiend lurking in your child, curb it now, because they will ultimately be the losers.

Well, tonight I was thinking of hitting the town for a while, but decided I couldn’t bother. I went walking this evening and feel a bit tired, but I still felt for some rum. So I took up the VX only to find I was out of Pepsi, Ginger Ale and Ting. It was a bit too late to bother to drive out to buy any….10:35 PM and I was too settled in my boxers and all. So I went digging in the bar and came up with a bottle of Bitter Lemon (Schweppes). Guess what? Rum and Bitter Lemon is actually not bad. In fact let me go fix a second. Pause.

OK, I’m back. I guess you can see I’m feeling pretty idle. The real point of this post is to welcome another author at the Tower. Please go shower Ciya with some comments for her inaugural post. We anxiously await more from her. Cheers!

Well, here we are at the end of May 2003. Personally, I’d rather be at the very end of 2003! This year has been a difficult year for my family and myself, but to top it all, now I am in quarantine for Sars - I cannot believe it!!!

I was in Jamaica in April and was highly amused at people who expected me to have come into contact with Sars. You see, I live about one hour north of Toronto and very rarely have to go there. Last week however, after the “authorities in the “know”" announced that Toronto had beaten the deadly Sars virus and controlled the the epidemic, I had to take my 6 year old to the North York General hospital for a surgical consult and lo and behold, 2 days later they inform us of the 33 odd people at that hospital that had come down with Sars!

So now my poor little 6 year old and I are quarantined in our home. We are fortunately showing no signs of the disease. We do however, have to limit our contact with the other three family members. We cannot eat meals with them or share the same room, much less bed!!! (Do I sound a little starved for affection!!!:)

I have to admit that I am rather angry at the way the government handled the situation. It appears they knew of these latest cases from the end of April, but decided in favour of the economy instead of their constituents. I know that I am not alone in feeling this way, as at least 6,000 people have been forced to put their lives on hold.

For my son and I, we are on day 6 (although on day 4 he wondered if the week was up yet) there are only 4 more days to go. My birthday will pass with my little one and I at one table and the rest of the family at another!!!! At least I can still have a Smirnoff Ice or two.

To those of you out there who share my present situation all I can say is take care and try to keep busy, this too will pass - or so they tell me!

Ciya

P.S.
Oh by the way the new Smirnoff Triple Black is also very good!

…and shut the door behind you!

OK, I don’t know how many of you have heard this from a boss or one of the higher ups at work. I suppose if you have, in your mind you say to yourself, “What have I screwed up now?” Actually, mistakes are not the issue here. Next you see the boss moving over to you and he/she starts to touch you in places where only your mate has dared to venture before!

I came across this article on MALE sexual harrassment at the workplace while having my cuppa tea this morning. I think that most of the ideas that it expresses are valid. Most men would really not complain if their bosses (or other co-workers) were to make sexual advances towards them. They would probably just go along with it in the hope of getting some sexual satisfaction. Being a pretty homophobic society, if the boss was a man now, that’s a horse of a different colour.

Having said this, I also agree with the view expressed that were it to happen to a man here and he complained, others (especially his male co-workers) may brand him as a wuss or ’soffas’ were he not to go along with it to preserve his macho image. However, I agree that sexual harrassment on the job is fundamentally wrong. For bosses to use sex/sexuality in order to demonstrate their control over their workers should not be condoned. If my boss (who is female) were to do this to me (and I doubt very much that she would), as much as she is an attractive woman, I think I would cop out. Because I respect her, it would simply just feel wrong and I would lose the respect that I have for her after that. Yeah, so maybe I’m a wuss.

Anyhow, I have never had this happen to me (and don’t think I haven’t noticed that my boss is a good looking woman) and I hope it would not. But, I don’t have much time to labour on this post as I am meeting up with the boss and the rest of the staff for Rounds as usual this morning. What I will do, is ask you to share your views about on the job sexual harrassment (and your experiences if you have indeed been exposed to it…….if you so desire). Have a good day at work, and I hope the boss doesn’t try anything out of the ordinary today!

Nothing like a little self psycho analysis after a long day at work. I have come to realize that we all have an evil streak. DON’T DENY IT! Some of us have little ones, BUT some of us have streaks as wide as the River Jordan.

Sometimes we have some really evil thoughts… like when the bitch in the office got promoted by stepping on people’s throats and you wished she would fall flat on her face…like when some one cuts in front of you in traffic and you wished they would crash into the nearest light pole…

The Bible used to preach “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”…YEAH!!! REVENGE IS SWEET! Cutting the bastard back off, screaming “Fucking idiot!!! Did you buy your licence?!!!! Veins bulging and eyes about to pop out of your head….(Can you tell I suffer from really bad road rage?)

But then, we were taught to turn the other cheek…Hell, sometimes the only cheek I want to turn is the one on my ass! Kiss that!! Speaking of Hell, do you think I should be worrying about spending my next life there? One second….(One Our Father and ten Hail Mary’s later…..)

O.K. we’re human, we all struggle with our conscience on a daily basis. We stifle our rage and our enmity towards the people that wrong us, perceived or real, because we want to be seen as “nice” people.

So how do we deal with it? Some of us chant mantras and babble like crazy people to ourselves “Find a happy place…Find a happy place…Find a happy place!!!” like the starfish in the movie “Finding Nemo” to keep our sanity.

Some of us take our agression out by playing sports…pounding a ball, a bag or ( if we are lucky) somebody else.

Some of us simply lock ourselves away from everybody else, so we don’t commit any murders…Thank God I don’t own a gun….

My personal favourite, is to get out my personal poison of choice to calm the fuck down…I drink, smoke, and vent (read curse like a sailor) to whoever is willing to listen. Not that I care who is listening after I’ve had a few…

Moral of the story is, that most of us seem like nice people on the outside. Looks can be deceiving. Unless I’ve known you for the better part of my life, I don’t trust you further than I can throw you. Jeffrey Dalmer looked like a nice young man…until we found out what an evil psycho he was.

Look into yourselves…How big is the black spot on your heart?

Here is some good morning get up and go humour that you can read while having your tea or coffee…

A lady goes to her priest one day telling him, “Father, I have a problem. I have two female parrots, but they only know how to say one thing.”

After a few minutes, the female birds cried out in unison, “Hi, we’re hookers! Wanna have fun?” For a moment, there was a stunned silence as the male birds did not know what to say. Then Francis looked at Job exclaiming, “Put the damn beads away dude. Our prayers have been answered!”

Sounds like those are some good Catholic birds there! Have a good day.