Grrrr...

I am so mad I could spit. Both my husband and I have to work this evening which is pretty unusual. Normally he works the day and I work the night that way there is usually someone always around for our fourteen year old daughter. I work until 2am tonight and I am going to grab Jim once I am finished work so realistically, the earliest that we could get home is probably 3am. When this happens that we are both working thru the night, Sara usually has a friend sleep over to keep her company or she goes to spend the night at a friend's house. One of her friends has had Sara stay with her when her mother is going to be late or sometimes Heather would come to us. Jim having to work was very last minute so when Sara got home I asked her to get in touch with Heather so that I could make arrangements with her mother concerning tonight. For some reason, Lori had decided that tonight was going to be a mother/daughter night and that that was that - not open for discussion I believe were her words. I mean, really. This is the first time that Lori has been so inflexible. I guess that she is back dating Gavin again and each and every time that they reconcile, she starts really acting out of character. Doesn't help that Heather does not like Gavin at all either. Heather is not too pleased with her mother right now and I have to admit that neither am I. Sara has since gone over to her friend Stephanie's but after the weekend, this pretty much was the last person that I wanted Sara to spend time with.

Oops work did it again...

So now on the heels of the contest that management is holding, we have just found out that we have lost one of our biggest contracts because of some legal problems that they are having with Sprint. See truckstop.net. Today 24 people got laid off from that project today until further notice. I think that there are only four left in that department now. So far my position has not been affected by everything that is going on at work. My boss said that my hours were guaranteed and not to worry about anything. To be honest I wasn't really worried about my job security but I am pretty upset about the ones that got laid off. Morale is now pretty low at work which is to be expected. A lot of those that got laid off were students working part time to supplement their income. And it is barely a month before Christmas too. Who cares about the prize money right now?

Another crap afternoon...

I am just about to get ready for work. I am in the middle of colouring my hair and am waiting for the dye to set before I can jump into the shower. I don't have to be to work for another two hours but am stopping at my girlfriend's place first as she wants to borrow my truck while I am at work. She said that she had some errands to finish up and I don't mind when she uses it as she usually puts gas in it and there is always some left when she returns it. I am feeling kind of depressed right now. My daughter and husband are kind of at each other's throats and I am so sick of their bickering with each other. It is getting old really, really fast. The moment she gets in the door from school, the attitude from both of them begins. Neither one is going to win this battle either and the only one that ends up suffering big is me because they both expect me to be on the other's side. As I find this fighting absolutely unneccesary and useless, I refuse to be drawn into it and that just seems to infuriate both of them even more. I'll write more about this later as I don't want either one of them to catch me on the computer whining about my present situation. On another note, I added some of my own graphics to this journal and am pretty happy with the way they turned out.

Watched a really good movie this afternoon called Layer Cake.

My Stupid, Stupid Work

You know, each and every time I go into the office, I am more and more amazed at management's absolute utter stupidity. One of the departments has been pretty slow lately so they have had to cut some hours of a lot of those within the department. A couple of the guys went to management and asked to by laid off so that they could at least qualify for full unemployment benefits rather than have reduced hours and then the risk that their position is made redundant and not be able to collect the maximum amount from unemployment. A lot of this department uses college and university students and pretty much all of them have had their hours cut by about a third. This alone pretty much sucks big but what does management decide to do? Well, definitely add insult to injury. They just sent an email to everyone that they were going to have an "incentive contest" that would last for two months. We are put into teams and the team with the "lowest" score divides a prize of $1200 and the individuals with the lowest score divides a prize of $800. Scores are based on our attendance - perfect attendance means a score of zero. Now this would be a wonderful incentive program had it say, not been announced two days after everyone had their hours cut. Talk about a slap in the face. So, if they have an extra $2000 kicking around why not apply that towards say, I don't know, paying the staff who have just had their hours cut...Duh is pretty much all that I can say at this point. Again, shaking my head in utter disbelief...

The Disappointments of our Youth

I don't know what is wrong with me or why I let myself get into these situations with my daughter but I am right now having to justify my actions with regard to my daughter to my husband and once again I am left defending my 14 year old and feeling like a big chump. I feel so stupid for allowing myself to get into these situations and yet I seem to stumble from one to another with amazing frequency. First of all, Sara was going to a birthday party last night and had to meet a group of her friends downtown at the Galleria Food Court at 5pm. We were also going to pick up Stephanie on the way there, she knew we were coming to get her, but when we got to her house her mother had said that she had gone off with her sister. We continued on without her.

The birthday party was going to Call the Office last night to see a band and then the girls were going back to Sam's for a sleepover. They were all going to split on a cab to get home. Of course, Stephanie had to be the odd one out and go see a show at the Embassy. As I would normally work until 2am on a Friday, Sara volunteered me to pick Stephanie up after the show to run her over to the sleepover but I ended up getting the night off of work so I really wasn't going to be out and about at that time. Sara was having a hard time understanding that picking up Stephanie was not the most convenient thing to do either. I wouldn't have minded had it been anyone else but her as she has got to be one of the most ungrateful kids that Sara knows. Anyway, I said that I would do this as I was left with the impression that Stephanie would be by herself, etc. Now it turns out that Tracey was borrowing the truck for the night so she said that she would pick up Stephanie and then swing by to grab me prior to dropping Stephanie at the party. I called the Embassy to find out approx what time the show would be done and Tracey got there about 10 mins before the shows end. Stephanie called about ten after one and said could I come and pick her up now. I explained that my friend had the truck and that she would drive her here and then to the party. I even said that she was waiting outside right now and to go get in the truck. I don't think anything of it but a half an hour later Tracey calls to find out where Stephanie is. I was furious.

I called the bar and luckily Eadie answered the phone. I explained the situation and he managed to round up Stephanie and her sister who was apparently with her although she failed to mention this fact at any time. Why would she leave Tracey sitting out there for half an hour? How rude and inconsiderate is she actually. Long and short of it is that Stephanie said she felt sick and wanted to go home. Tracey dropped her off at her house and then came to get me so that I could drop in at the sleepover to see what was going on. Unfortunately Stephanie was to supply me with the address, etc and without her I had no idea where we were going so I had to call her. I gave her a few openings in the conversation to say thank you but not once did she offer her thanks. Needless to say, I am pretty mad. My husband is even angrier because he feels that Sara needs to take responsibility for her friend's actions especially when we are doing favors for her and them. He thinks that she is not held responsible nor does she feel enough guilt over the situation as she has just called to see if I could drive two of her other friends home this afternoon. He wants to know where their parents are and why can't they pick up their own kids? I know that he is right but I end up caving into whatever Sara wants me to do and I know that I do not hold her accountable, for her friend's actions or her very own even.

So I am kind of sad now...