Life's irony

[Eleonore Beaudoin]

The week I tried to d the best of....Hmm.
Would say it still was wprth it, all in al....

Good grief.

I reported an error message on my pc on Monday. It had been there since
the Wednesday beforeand all worked fine, but still...Te emssage was about
a drive where I had inf I did not want to lose, production data and
important file,s if a few. I normally never saved on that one, and this
time was nice and saved it there instead of on the C drive....In case the
pc would crash one day.

So. I report this and next thing I know, a guy from the tech team invades
my office, works on the pc aroundthe clock.
By Tuesday end of day, I leave and happen to be with the boss and
assistant in the elevator. I mention almost being sorry for calling the
LAN team, because all still worked fine, and I had a mad week this week
and the next, to try and get things back to a more normal pace after the
website team had the entire 70,000 decisions I have to revise shut down
temporarily while they transfered the site to a new ststem. I then had
over 2000 judgements piling up, and was burried in piles of true copies
and the likes and all translation orders to check for complete delivery
and upload. The site finally was back on last Friday and so that was to be
done this week, to rid of the backlog asap.
I then elarned that the assistant had that error message on her pc since a
while, but since all worked fine, did not report it.
So the next day, taking to the LAN guy on my pc all day again, I mention
that others seemed to have the same message and to not report it. And he
tells me that yes, he had two more on our floor with the same problem,
naming them. Assistant,s name is not among....
But he keeps working on my pc all day, attimes leaving for hours to get
things don elsewhere then being abck, with me trying to use whatever
fucntion s elft on the pc to get whatever task I can done and out of the
way. can not save anything, to not risk losing important legal
documents...So I try and check the uploads on the website. But each time
the favorites are gone and all common links where finding them again is a
battle. I anaged through mnay web searches, and rekeyed them in, only to
se them all gone after the LAN guy woudl work on the pc. ARGH.
In the end, he called the prblem fixed. I no longer ad the error message.
BUT. The printer no longer woudl acept the usual command/info; my keyboard
could not be switched to any other anguage and was on one never used, the
default on it not wanting to come off. A new error message said that there
currently was no one logged on that pc. Tables in varous drives had lost
lines of info randomly. The legal database was nowhere to be found on my
pc, etc, etc.
ARGHH!
I put in a new call. I then learn what it was al about. They used MY pc to
work througgh to fixeveryone's problem they never bothered to report -to
not see their pc data flushed with it I presume:(. I.e. to avoid seing
those guys "repair" anything.

Guy comes back in near the end of the day. Dismisses all probs as
inignificant, says those can be fixed i a second. But he can not getthe
printer back on either. He sees I meanwhle managed to get my own office
printer on nd I can read on his face that I shoudl not bher with the
other. Squeeze me, but I need a laser printer, and a color one at it, too.
The bubble jet is for drafts only. I make do wiht it meanwhile, to getwork
done, but ne4d to wait t print the finals and send them out, ad ths is
slowing down the entire team at the other end, for translation, uploads,
you name it.

In the meantime, whatever work I can geout of the way I madly try to. I
email the persons in charge of corrections for links and the likes when I
find a mistake, but someoe worked reakl hard after the wesite switch:
there are very very few of the tech kind. One f them is a mistake in a
name spelling, though, so I emailto have it corrected.
I get a reply back that is showing foul mood, and am glad the LAN guy
happens to walk in my office again to interrupt me from sending the reply
I spontaneously wrote about not being born to run files for other people,
delte the most of it and only sed the forst short paragraph that says that
I alread checked in eh original, if the data system was gone from my pc,
if I had no accents to use, wrote using a russian keyboard, ran to fetch
the original at te file room where it was not, got hell from a
receptionist for asking her to please check onher data system to tell me
who had thatfile, went to thatperson who was nasty askingwhy I was darign
toa ddress her, informed me it was in another office, went tere was
received as "ncely" got the file, checked the name findng a place where
the claimant signed his name himself, thengot back to her to give her the
info. Her eail had been about how she did not have th files *in her
office*, as if I did....Sigh....At her end, she asks someoen and they brig
her the friggen files.

LAN guy uses the pc again. Still can not get the printer and keyboard to
work. But gets the legal data system back on. He had deleted ti thinking I
did not need it. Ba, why woudl a legal editor eer need that stuff anyway;-)
In fsct rarely use it, but when I do, it is a defiite absolute must. I
prefer to find te info in the files themself each time, since I saw
mistakes in there as well before.

LAN guy says he now is dne save for the printer. I check andsee that my
keyboard is now wwith two languages, noen f which are used by anyone in
Europe nor North America.
I catch him before he elaves, working at the receptionist's desk installing
more music or soemthign of the likes.
I smile and apologize for interrupting and say that I am sorry but the
keyboards still won,t work, so to please not leave before coming back to
my office...?

I gte back to my ffice and get a call from the translation coordinator.
The only oen who seems to be figurgn out that I do so much work thatit is
madness. She then starts with lil nicties,and asks me if I can tracedoc
xxx123. Not out to e published yet, but shoudl be any minute. Wha about it?
Soemoen wrote to her t remove a word in there. Some dude is mentioned on
it as bei a pedopile and that info needs removed to not be on the site.
???That is hER job, not mine. Mine si to send the complete true copy,
always. We can not have a data system with the complete file info then
another with half the info. This is a court office. Not a website frill
office....But I see her point. Yeah, t avoid mistakes woudl bebst of it
was not even sent to trnslation, replaced with "XXX"when I sent it. But we
aveto keep true coies here, and inf actwork very hard making sure nothign
is changed on the electronic versiosn we send them for that reason. All we
change is then saved as the true copy for future purposes. Woudl I not be
thdre some day, soemone mgight not know what wrod was there before...
-Fien the. If you *don,t want to do it*.
-Its no t a matter of wanting to or not. Tell yu what. I'll ask the boss.
If she gives me authorization, no prob, hey, I,ll gladlydo it. But
otherwise, hands are tied. She normally woudl go "NO WAY!", bt woudl she
go yes way, no problem.So long as I am cleared and cover my back....
I,ll see with ehr and call you back.

Boss went "NO WAY!"
-Yeah, told ehr so, she said to firget it if I did nt WANT to do it...I
explained it was not a matter of wanting, she insisted, I said if I got
your authorization I would, else I'd call her back.

Call the other one back.
-"NO WAY" was he answer.
-Of course, Why woudl I think it woudlchang? Been thsi way the alst 17
years, why woudl it ever change:(:(
...sorry, but can,t do....Sorry again.
-Whatever for? Not your fault. Nah, it's the way it always went:( Why
did I ever hope it woudl be different this time... It,s just that for once we
caught it ahead of time...
-What I can do is let you know when I send it ut. I have the doc in my
hands nw to send to translation tomorrow. So I can then send it, get the
order number and send it to you so you can cath it before the Quebec
office and either xxx it out then or tell the coordinator at that end to x
it out. Another option woud be tatI put in the comments box to please
contact you before sending to translators...
-Nah. Thanks for your effrts, C, but it will never change.
-Still want me to let you know of the order number, though....?
-Yeah, thatd be appreciated. Thanks for your efforts..
-Hang on, boss is here now...Yes, boss? The file number for that case? xxx123.
I have the true copy here in my hands if you want to see it...Rather than
run in the file room...
-Nah, I'll get the file to check on the whole info. Is it D on the phone?
-Yes...
-Tell her I will email her soon about that one.
-D? Boss says she will see he file itself then email you about that one.
-Yeah...I sure can guess that much:(.
-....Will let you know tomorrow as soon as I have the translation order
number.
-Thanks again, C, fr your efforts. I know you run the entre thing on your
own. Used to be five doing that job...
-.....I see...
-Don,t wanna get you in trouble.
-Thanks:).

Boss was already out. Email comes in. fight with keyboard to tel
corrections coordinator that say, if my emailing her corrections is of no
use to the, just say so, I will gladly leave te defective links alone.
-Nononono, keep sending them! do I then get for a reply. Thought so. But
she better ease off that one....
-I,ll come back tomorrow, tries the LAN guy.
-No! I mean I am done, there. Sorry, not easy to answer afranco in a
russian she coudl try and comprehend. They are getting annoyed. Sorry,
x...Donlt wanna sound capricious but ėI need this keyboard to work with
the tree languages I mentioned, not b caprice, but cause my job is to
correct all sorts of mistakes in txts, including those who made
apostrophes using...a russian keybard, say;-). Canlt correct thsoe with a
russian keyboad myself.
-Just tell em which you need.
-Same as yesterday: a, b and c.
-But I cna not get those on!
-Which si why therre is a problem....Sigh. Had this problem once years ago
here, and they had to reimage the entire pc. If I rememebr correctly the
problem was with the keyboard istelf, and when they changed te very
keyboard, then the languages woudl remain set.
-Some pepelarejinks with pc.
-Dont even mention that!: But not this time around, it worked fine when I
last yused the pc, ten wham, it was gne when I mecxt coudl use it. Unless
you are jinxed too...?:)
(Trries again) Can,t get it done. Use the alt keys.
-....I...
-WHAT?
-Listen, donlt mean o sound rude but I will not type in four jeys to gt
one accent on one character!
-Tell me whatyou need!
-I need a French Canada keyboard, the multilingual, and the US English
-Canlt put three!
-Sure was there before...
-Do liek everyoen else and sue the English one!
-....(God give me patience. If you gave me strenght, I dunno who Id
srangle first)...Tning s, I am aprofessinal editor. I need those to do my job.
-Do it using te same thing as everyoen else, period!
-(!!!!!!!!!!!). Will not. I dunno how t communicate this...It is not
caprice, X....My job is t correct errors, typos, accents put using other
keyboards that oem out as lil cartoons on teh website, etc...I need those
keyboards to function, to do my job.
-Everyoen lse works with the Eglish one.
-...Unlilingual anglos who still toch their biligual bonus maybe. But not
bilingual people. Even the recetionist has all three on her pc, I amsure.
-I,d liek t see that!
-I am sure she woudl be glad to show you.

Ran fadfter him before he made up a moutian f it.
-J, coudl you tell em whatkeyboard settigns you ahve, what anguage?
-USEnglish, French Canada and mulitlingual liek everyoen else, why?
-Eh, there you go, X.
-?%$.
-Why?
-Oh, just that we can not get them on my pc and I am stuck with russian or
soem other stff of the kind.
-Oh, I know hwo to set thse!
-Tanks J but....soemthign is wrong witht he pc terefore the settigns will
not change,. I managed t ge them back but they do not stay. I get a pcl error.
-But I know hwo to set the languages.
-(gnn...So do I what do you know!)) Thanks...Nice f you. W tried and did
it all but it won,t stay. Only, x hetre thought we only needed US eglish
and wanted me to do the rets using te alt keys all te time.
-No keybard has all the haracters for French.
-I kind of figured thatoen out myself, but that s why we all use two in
renmch, and instead of doing four alt key+numbers eachtime, we switch from
oen to the next and type the caharcters we need on the other. ne jey
instea dof 4 each time. We still need to use the alt keys for a few, btu
it minimizes the extra work.
-Then jst sue te alt keys, what can I say.
-Oh but she can not, we all need those keyboards, went J.
-*&?%
-Eh. Heard it from the hrose's mouth now, I guess;-).
(Receptionist si Dolly Parton look alike, i dark brunette model, so wowie
does she get service and is she ever titsy intelligent, where anything
say is stupid and all she says woudl be bright to those dudes).-Well I can
not do it, it is not feasable. ,ll get soemen else to check that and the
priter later, cause the prtner wonlt work again. I coped the info from her
pc and it still will not work.
-Hm.....
-No oen cna remove the default, it does not exist, a way to remove it.
-(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)...................................
-Well what, ca,t help it, defauts can not be removed on those.
-(oh amah gawd, this dude worked n my pc???)
-.....
-&?%?& snd soemoen else.
-It,s okay it is not you, X. Iti a problem bilingual people run into all
the time. It seems t be the hardest thign to getthrough someoen usign nl
anglo keyboards thato thers exist and are used daily. Microsft is to
blame. Why they never asked a frnaco to tell them what they need ona
keyboard beats me.
-(actign cmletely pissed off)
-Sorry...It is not caprice, it rally is needed in my work even more than
at a reception desk. No offense meant, J. But my work veing what it is....
-I know....
-Well let soeoen else try if they want to.
-(sigh...I will haveto fight to make anoter understad tomorrw that we need
those keybaords, and thatall of us use threeal the time. We work in
both languages, and that is why we get the 800 bonus a year.

He leaves...
I mess about and find a betterkyboard. I removed the default no probemo,
but each new option I made would flck and remove itself i the middle of
typing....
I went ut of my way with a busy nusy sceduel t allow him to work using my
pc to make his life easier. Now I get crap for a result. Everyoen else has
no more error message on their pc and I am blaed for ne now beign a mess.
Cause an anglo worked on it and made the keyboard fit his unilingual habits...
Grrrr.

I managed to again getto d the only task I coudl tat reqired no saves.
Writing down by hand file numbers and all that t latr key in the table,
once I spotted all the missing lines in the 8,000 entres to hunt for them
later. Next week.
Was fed up with tryign to catch up on them 2000 files and not beign able
to switch task, always runing my eyes ad gttgn a tendinitis from costantly
ccking each doc eight times minimum to get to check he links, and get hell
for any needed correction I reported, then be shouted NO WAY and be given
a ectire by the bss wenI report on beign asked to xx out part of a
judgement on the true copies....and the coordinaor all annoyd and telling
me I justdon,t wanna do it...Riiiight. Dump on me when you are not strong
and I'll be your friend...unless you an,t stand russian LOL:)

I have about 200 docs left on the 2000 to ed the pile.
Almost there then.
Then I hae to hunt for the electrnic versiosn of the new ones to get ready
to send, witht he two other bnches of thewkee already prepapred and ready
to be send. Then elt the coordinator know f that order number. End the 200
t check on the website. Then send a conratulation word to the team cause
they really did a grat job thsi time around, The lastw as with so many
mistakes, it was insane! They ahte me for sending them too much work.
What can I say. No one else is there to send it, and it has to be done.

When the pc guy was working lst on my pc, I went to run for files. To then
give up. Got the girl who does the filing tocome with me and find this
file to see what I mant.
-Got it! Why d you ask?
-ee 3what number is by it?
-!! That does nt belogn here.
-No kidding. Now look at the oter ed of thatrow.
-WHAT?
-Heh. So glad you see thattoo. I was startign to think I was dead ad no
one told me and I woudl be in some "nothing works" never-nerver land:)
-...what...?
-Don,t midn me.Lste, I spent an hour sittng on the floor sorting all these
bottom rows so far,. but all I needed was one file I found....Nice to be
nice and help, but...I just wodnered f you had started a new system and no
oen told me and I woudl be ruinignit all by puttign the files back where
they belonged.
-What te heck is that mess all about....
-New carpets, maybe...?
-Oh!! Ofcourse!
-Yu^p. Yey ha to remove all the shelves...Mst have been hell for these
guys. So far seems like they removed the lower shelves and did not put the
files back in order.
-Oh sh*t.
-Exactly my reaction:)
-I'll tell my boss....
-(whatever for...she will tell yuto refie, wil she not? ten why wait for
her to say the obvious....Of course, cause f she is not there, yu can g on
playng that tic tac toe game....)...Glad it is not my brain beign
completely fried, anwyay:). I feared for a mment I ahd undone tyhe new
filign system no one woudl ahev todl me about:). I did those three rows....
-All lower shelves...
-Seems like it. Fel on no other yet thawoudl be emssed up anyway.

In that office, anyone reporting somethgn not working is shot. Shoot the
messenger.
And so none of them reported the error they had on their pc. None of them
ever looked for a file this week, you'd believe.

Wnt back to my pc, tried t ed the dang backlog...Boss walked in and threw
a file on my desk. Just trned around and smiled, not even seign what she
droped on my desk.
I just fet a waewhere she was seemign surprise to see me working, doing
actual work. Like I ever did anythign else. Earlier she had reacted when
I qwas on the phoen with D showign annoyed util se heard e tell the oter
to wait, that incidentally the boss was in my office now askign about
thatfile number. The boss the coudls ee thatwas nt atall a personal phoen
call I guess andas she went "Oh!..." hearigfn me tell the other oen that,
I felt a waveof surprise in her. Everyoen else is always on the dang phoen
or doing anythign else but work in that office.
Befor4e I elft I ad a lok at the file. Rejected erratum. Bah, not
surprising, that one Figured she woudl reject it cause the mistake
corected woudl just make the claimant be lost. The had called an
overpayment whatw as in fact a penalty. But the claimant woudl most likely
not give a toot about the difference since he still had to pay back.

But this mans I tomorrow will have a long list of errata to prepare and
get ready to send to translation, sicne she got to approve the rest.
She is off tomorrow. I do hope hat she will sed the list before, else the
docs will land on my desk Monday witout beign ready to send....I will hae
to hunt fodown eac single file....

To type the revision productin and keep it gog, I printed a the errat I saw
were freshly online, alf apage normally, teyc an be doen fast, and still
need doen. o I do thsoe when I have maddening weeks and motns, to keep the
production numers going;-).

If I coudl do 20 of thsoe today, I;d be happy.
One thign I know....I;d rather be atsome other pc when the tech guys come
back, if they do at all. Woudl not be sprised the request wodl be said
closed toay and I;d have to sed ina seperate one fr the printer and
keyboard, so thatthat makes it be randomly gven to any oter guy who can
not possibly know what his colelage ever did to the pc to start with.

Thank God for the long weekend coming.
I need to sleep s bad....
Cold got worse ths week with the lack of sleep and the skpped unch tiem to
try adn make do and accommodate the lan team thatwoudl arrive atany odd
time, including my lunch.

I know they ave a maddenign job....
But d they ever cosider oter peoplecan have at leas as maddenign for a
daily life?

Meanwhile, who knwos what the colleague working from home will come up with
for invntions to pretend her productin was sky rocketing high....
She already used the production of thelast three eyarsto repeat and
pretend it was done last month,w iht the boss not even realizing so.
But how long can semoen stretch such "luck"?

Lawd have moycy.

Thank God I picked tis week to try and make the ebst out of each day.
Cause wthout it, it wudl have been one hell of a week.

Mpft.

C