job update

The job seems to be going okay. I have fun most of the time and my bosses still seem pretty human. For some reason I've spent the last four days with people who deal in precious stones. I don't usually go into jewelry stores, so there's been some culture shock, walking into businesses that have on display an inventory that is probably worth two or three times as much as my house. Or ten times as much. I have no idea.

One customer is a nice guy--bit of a nag, but he's nice about it. I heard he was in one of Hitler's camps and has the tattoo to prove it; in my book that entitles him to be as anal as he wants to be.

Another--eeesshh. Has ten phone lines in a hunt group. Wants every line to ring on every phone, even those that don't have enough buttons. I fixed it (thanks for the tip, Jason!) by setting up an incoming line group, which in effect grabs buttons just as they're needed. Now it's too abstract for him. Before, it was "Why can't we do something about the phones that don't have enough buttons?" (other than buy new phones, of course, though he could probably afford them). Now it's "So what are all these extra buttons for?" Hoser. After talking with him for half an hour I have to remind myself that I got hired not just for my understanding of Nortel phone systems but for my ability to spend hours dealing with annoying people without biting their heads off.

My employers have all the work I want to do, and more, and don't seem to mind too much that I refuse to work full-time. I'm throwing in a tad more hours than I promised them initially, so it evens out. Tomorrow I program the hoser's voice-mail system.

(no subject)

Saw Confessions of a Burning Man last night, and came away with mixed feelings. Some of the things it depicts looked wonderful--the art, the organic organization of the event. Some looked boring, pedestrian--like the suburbs of Black Rock City can get as sterile and boring as any other suburbs. And only one of the four people it followed throughout the event was actually interesting; two were so banal and narcissistic they literally gave me a headache, and the fourth was simply a nonentity--after the film ended I couldn't remember a thing she said.

The interesting one of the four got off one of the best catty remarks I've heard. A taxi driver, he said he often has exchanges like this:

"Driving a taxi, you must meet a lot of interesting people."

"No, most of them are just like you."


The film itself is pretty good, I think, though I would defer to those who've actually been to Burning Man. It didn't make me want to go there, but I don't think it was meant to.

(no subject)

Sum up your opinion or impression of me in one word, leave it as a comment in this posting, and then post this sentence in your own journal, please.

(Meme courtesy of deedeebythebay.)

I'm doing this meme partly because I would never do it. I'm not much of a meme-sheep anyway, and I rarely bother to ask for people's opinions or impressions of me, because I usually get all I need without asking and usually take them far too seriously. But it's good to run against type now and then.