Brian is replacing me at the office, and because of my control issues I think that the transition has been a little difficult for him.  One of our biggest problems revolves around organization.  We’re like the Odd Couple…I’m the clean, logical, organized one.   He’s Walter Mathau.

Here’s a photo of Brian sitting at my old desk/his new desk:

Holy shit, what is all that crap?!?!  For godsake, I can’t even look at the desk in the photo without a tear forming in my eye.  I’m certain this is what a parent feels when their son comes home and has pierced his nose or dyed his hair pink.  I still love you, desk…but is this what I spent the last few years teaching you?

Quote of the day:

“There are people on hold and you’re in a cardboard box!”

CONTEXT: We had a large delivery at the office today and there was a very large box (bigger than a refrigerator box) just sitting there. So I climbed in and waited for someone to walk by so I could jump out and scare him/her.

Well it took a while, but Brian (the guy that is replacing me and I am supposed to be training) was walking around frantically. I jumped out and said “Boo.”

Brian wasn’t scared by the action–instead he just angrily said “There are people on hold and you’re in a cardboard box!”

I interviewed a young woman named Linay at work this afternoon. These are the first words that came out of my mouth:

Hello Linay.
Right this way.

Then I laughed a little because I accidentally rhymed. Then I added:

I alway talk in rhyme, by the way.

And the bitch didn’t even crack a smile. Come on!  Needless to say, we won’t be hiring her.

And yesterday at work I did an orientation with three new employees.  We usually show them a video about reporting suspected cases of child abuse, but there was a meeting that was happening in the room where the TV, VCR, and child abuse video were…so instead I re-enacted the movie for them.  My favorite line in this video is “I’m glad I talked with Mr. Ramos in the after school program because you want to know what my mom did?  She made the bad man move out.”

I’ll bet you never knew this, but I’ve got an incredible talent that many are unaware of: I make really fucking awesome Power Point presentations.

I started to look through my work computer’s hard-drive today to make sure I’ve deleted anything embarrassing or incriminating and I came across a file of Power Point presentations I’ve made in the past. Here are some of my favorites:

In a meeting today the following note was passed between me and a co-worker:

ME: Your nose is pink. Are you sick or cold?
CO-WORKER: My office is really cold.
ME: Well I guess a pink nose is better than a brown one.
CO-WORKER: You would know

Craig from Puntabulous just posted about the book “Working For The Man” which is a good read that pokes fun at the 9-5 world that too many of us are living in.

The book is written for people that are frustrated with the soul-killing monotony of office life, and gives original ideas to help beat the office blues. Some of which include:

- Survive long, boring meetings with breath-holding contests
- Plot out a “sick day” calendar to maximize time off
- Write your novel on company time
- Create the most pro-worker cubicle to instill a false sense of your total commitment
- Anonymously send your boss a Happy Secretary’s Day bouquet

And Craig gives us an idea of his own:

I’d also like to recommend another one that I came up with myself:

7. Change your company’s logo for your own devious purposes:

I did this over a year ago. And now I have the book to prove that it was probably one of the healthiest work activities I performed.

I really liked the logo idea and decided to spend a few minutes to do the same for my current job:

What do you think?

Read all of Craig’s post here.

I mentioned that I had a job interview in Phoenix a couple of posts ago, but I didn’t mention any of the details.  I can say that this interview was the strangest one I have ever participated in.  Here are some details about the meeting that made me uncomfortable:

• When I got there the interviewer told me “I need coffee, let’s walk to Starbucks.”  And the entire walk was strange because I couldn’t tell when the interview began.  When we were walking he was talking about how he has a puppy and the puppy keeps up up at night.
• When we sat down to talk I realized that he didn’t bring the resume that I had emailed to him, or the resume that I had brought into the interview.
• While chatting he lit a cigarette and proceeded to smoke it.
• When talking about some of my previous experience, I mentioned that I wrote a column for a magazine that was published by the gay and lesbian center and he asked “You gay?”  Which I’m pretty sure is an illegal question to ask someone.

This is the first interview that I’ve had since 2006 when I got the Staff Recruitment position that I currently have.  On a good day I’m interviewing 5 or 6 candidates a day, so it was interesting to sit on the opposite side of the table.

If I don’t get the job, no biggie.  Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.  I’m still thinking of moving to Phoenix…like in January maybe.  It’s a pretty big decision, and I want to have my mind made up this weekend.

I got a job interview with an organization in Phoenix.  If I get this gig, I’ll be moving to AZ mid-November.

I haven’t told many people about the interview for a few reasons:

1. I don’t want to be embarassed if I have to explain that I didn’t get the job.
2. I don’t want anyone here to talk me out of it.

I haven’t even told my mom yet (who lives in Arizona) or my roommate.

Strangely, I did mention it to my boss today.  I just walked in and said “hey, I have a job interview on November 5th in Phoenix.  I just want to be honest and let you know what’s up.”  She thanked me for my honesty and told me that she will pray that I totally bomb the interview because she wants to keep me around.  :)

On Friday (yesterday) a big SUV covered in decals pulled into the parking lot of my office.  Three people hopped out, and came in to announce that one of my co-workers had entered a “catered lunch for my office” contest, and won.

We all got free food from Baja Fresh, and t-shirts, and CDs and we screamed on live radio.  It was kind of surreal.  I’ve heard of such contests before, but I never really imagined myself on the winning side of such a thing.

Crazy, huh?

I started job searching outside of California.

I’m not too sure why I’m doing it.  I’m very happy with the job that I have right now, and I’m generally happy with everything else in my life.

I just worry that I’ll end up digging such a huge hole for myself here in Southern California that I’ll never be able to leave.

Cities on my list include Las Vegas, Phoenix, Seattle, San Diego.