Lots of Random Thoughts

Lots of random thoughts, mostly observations made at work, presented in random colors.

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother coming in to the office early (7:30 or 8). I have not even 2 minutes to breathe as at least two of the people in my team are already in office (I think they get in at 7 or earlier?) ; I liked having a boss an hour time zone behind me and who came in late (although it meant I had to work many late nights to accommodate her schedule). I don’t even have time to have my computer on and log in to my email before I’m being asked a question that is also awaiting me in my email. Gggrrrr. I am awake in the morning at home, I enjoy the morning, I enjoy reading on the commute, I even enjoy the leisurely walk from the RER to the office. But as soon as I sit down, tiredness and lethargy sets in. It's as if my body suddenly thinks it's 3 a.m. and it was rudely transported from bed to desk.

I know people are allowed to have changes of opinions, and it’s actually a good thing, but seriously? I think some in my company have done full 180s in opinions this past year, some even doing 360s, and 540s. Fine to do that, but don’t then pretend like your first opinion never existed and that instead it is some error in logic on my part! (i.e. I create a presentation/analysis based upon your point-0 assumption ; you then change your mind to point-180 and tell me my numbers are all wrong. Umm, they were your idea in the first place!) It wouldn’t bother me so much if point-0 was incorrect, but 99% of the time the difference between point-0, 180, 360... is just due to a change in company politics rather than some sort of underlying fundamental business reason.

My co-workers in Portfolio tell me I have the best desk in our office ; but even though I tell them no and the reasons why, they don’t believe me. My back is to the window and I can see the door and sort of through the venetian blinds that are in-between the double windows in the hallway. Fine. But, (a) all morning I have a horrible glare on my screen, at some points so bad that the only part of the screen I can read is the part that is in the shadow of my head (b) I cannot see outside as my back is to it (c) I get to see everyone who comes in, and then see them try to mask the disappointment on their faces if I am the only one in the office. And, this also points to the fact that people will naturally goof off a bit at work – who cares who can see your computer screen if all you’re supposed to have on it is work stuff anyway?

Why do others get huffy that I have my keyboard settings set to English? Let me explain... I have a French keyboard (AZERTY, along with a lot of other changes), but in the Control Panel settings I set it so it types as if it were US. I don’t have to look at the keyboard when I type. And, there is an icon in the menu bar down by the clock that says EN, you can change it so it is FR, and voila you have a French keyboard. So if a co-worker or two on my team is at my desk and we are working and then they want to type, they get all flustered and annoyed that it is EN. I point out that I can change it with one click to FR and they decline. Well, if you decline then deal with it.

Why did the IT guy who installed my new laptop, and supposedly is the point of reference for our business unit, tell me to call the company IT hotline to have a program installed? Like I want to do that? It’s a program I had on my old laptop. It’s a program that the company created and has the license for it. Why couldn’t he call when he was here? Why couldn’t he have it pre-installed on my laptop as I had identified it as one of the programs I use. Cripes.

I have a daily French phrase calendar, by Living Language. Why must co-workers feel the need to tell me when there are errors? And not like they are errors, but more ‘this is how you should say it’ – like if an English calendar had ‘To whom did you give the book?’, and I was the smart-ass who says, while that’s grammatically correct, people actually say ‘Who did you give the book to?’ Give me a break. I feel like they are berating me and not the calendar.

Why does Windows Vista NOT have a lot of options already in Auto Correct? Older versions of MS Office did (which , it’s a frightening list – go to Tools, Auto Correct – then look at the words. Some are easy to see they are corrections for people who type too fast, i.e. adn instead of and. Others are corrections of misspellings and these are horrific!)

It looks like, more than a year after the merger (which was in discussion for 2 years), that the London offices of the two companies will combine at some point this year (or next). Our side of the group, the much much smaller side, is complaining. Oh boo hoo, you have to move across town and your commute is longer? For what, all 30 of you? Really? You’re complaining about having to transfer Tube lines? You didn’t have to move to Europe like some did. Or have to move to Houston like others from Boston did. Or get made redundant. Buy a book and enjoy the commute.

Why do my French coworkers all say Salut to each other but Bonjour to me? (Hi v/s Hello // Informal v/s Formal)

Why does everyone else think Chartres is so stunning and beautiful? It’s not the best cathedral I’ve seen.

In Excel in the new MS Vista, if you are saving it as an older version of Excel so the rest of the world can still open the document, you get the warning message of : ‘Minor loss of fidelity’. A loss of fidelity? Really?

What is the H1N1 outlook where you are? Are people all terrified? ‘50% of the US will get it’ is one thing I’m hearing here – that’s like saying 50% of marriages end in divorce. So what, that means 50% don’t. All these contingency plans for working from home – fine, sign me up, I’ll do that now. We (expats) are trying to get the French to stop all this hand shaking every morning – you know not everyone washes their hands between Metro and office.

Ok, now I know how the French stay skinny .... A co-worker had English class today, so missed lunch. I gave him the bag of almonds & cashews I have in my desk drawer. He had some and said thanks, that it was better than nothing, even if it was junk food. JUNK food? Nuts? He said, yes. There is salt. And that cashews are the fattiest nuts. Seriously? Ok, I know that, but they're not laced with chocolate and caramel in a candy bar!

And how can Le Monde, the leading French newspaper be in our mailbox in the office by 3 p.m. when it is the next day’s paper? This means it had to have been printed by noon to be delivered to the office and then distributed. It’s not even a late edition for the same day, but the NEXT DAY. I guess I do find out the news before it happens!

And, I am much sadder about Ted Kennedy's passing than I am about Michael Jackson's.