Day 29-BA5 takes the lead
Life Admin today…
7/20/22. Wednesday
6:30-8:00- Today is a Life Admin day. I lie in bed and listen to Be Wealthy and Smart.
8:00-8:30-I drag myself out of bed, put on a pleated short skirt and T-shirt, wash my face, and put my hair up.
9:00-9:45-I take the dog for a walk first thing in the morning, before it gets too hot, and listen to Citations Needed. After;
10:00-12:00-I post course content for my two, Summer online, courses. Then;
-I continue to pare down the excessive amount of paper I have in the lower drawer of my 2-drawer filing cabinet that’s built into my desk. I discard multiple retirement documents, performance evals, and Adjunct information that is no longer relevant. I listen to What a Day as I move through the drawer.
-Kitchen duty. I unload and load the dishwasher.
There are several irritating tasks hanging over my head that need to be accomplished so I get started on them:
-I watch a You Tube video to learn how to install a C02 canister in my Sodastream.
-I email photos of the Italy/Greece vacation to Mom.
-I email L. the Audio lecture that she needs to transcribe.
-I check the Schedule of Classes at College #1 for Fall Semester 2022. Specialty Class 1A is fully online and is going to run. I’ve never taught this class as an Asynchronous, online option before, which means the entire syllabus needs to be reconstructed. I pull the previous Specialty Class 1A F2F Syllabus and an online Core Class, 16-week Syllabus, from College #2 and compare the two. I need to reconcile both versions into one Syllabus, but it’s complicated. I will sleep on this…
-Bad news! That 7:00-10:00, F2F, Core Class those Admin. f—kers forced me to teach (because I dared to demand a separate online course) is actually going to run! I’ve barely made enrollment, but it’s enough that the class will remain on the roster. Maybe a few students will change their minds? God, I hope so. WTF is wrong with these students?!! Why on earth would you sign up for a F2F class that meets at 7:00 pm on a Thursday night when you can take the class online? Son of a bitch! I can’t believe this is happening…
I do NOT want to drive to College #1 every Thursday, teach from 7:00 to 10:00 and return home at 11:00 pm, only to get up at 5:00 am the very next day (Friday morning) so I can make it on time to my College #2 Gardena High School class. This schedule is a complete disaster! I’m in a horrible mood.
-Mr. Cooper, my mortgage company, continues to overcharge me for an escrow shortage that I paid in full last month. I go through my online checking account, find the check that I wrote (it was cashed), and print it out. I need to contact Mr. Cooper yet again to resolve this issue. This is so irritating!
-L. surfaces and helps me dismantle the light kit under my ceiling fan so I can clean the glass globe. She stands on the couch and holds the base while I stick my arm inside and wipe the interior with a dust cloth.
-I pull the covers off the office and dining room couches and put them in the washing machine.
-I hang the last two vacation photos on the stairway wall.
-I pull down my suitcase from the overhead shelf in the laundry room, insert my newly created master packing list - complete with photographs of the clothes I packed for this vacation - and add two EU chargers that I ordered after I returned for next time.
12:00-1:30 - Food prep. I fry a pack of bacon for this week, boil some eggs, and prep celery. I sauté the last of my mushrooms in the bacon grease and have them for lunch. I eat my breakfast burrito leftovers while I’m doing food prep. and listen to True Crime Garage.
1:30-3:00-I do a second round of stripping fronds from my two yucca trees in the backyard. Then, I pick up dog poop.
-I water all of my plants. It’s incredibly hot out here.
-I drag the mini tree from the garage to the backyard, where it can have some sun and fresh air for a while.
-Another succulent died in the garage/art studio so I discard it and wipe down the pot.
3:00-4:00-I read How to Win Friends and Influence People (a gift from T., L.’s previous boy friend), then switch to Things We Didn’t Talk About When I Was a Girl.
4:00-4:45-I make an applesauce cake, clean the kitchen, and put it in the oven for 25 min.
4:45-5:15- I create a false sense of urgency [25 minutes or the cake will burn] because it will force me to take a fast shower. I jump in, wash and condition my hair, wash my face, soap my body, and rinse off. I wrap myself in a towel and run downstairs to pull the applesauce cake out of the oven. I listen to Death, Sex, and Money throughout all of this.
5:30-6:00-I finish blow-drying my hair. Lotion. I dress in Athletic Housewife attire.
6:00-10:30-I lie down for a minute and, again, don’t wake up until 10:30. Long Covid? The BA5 variant? This ain’t jet lag…
10:30-12:00-L. surfaces and is furious that Tucker, her boss in Membership, is trying to sabotage her. On the down low, behind L.’s back, Tucker told Maria, L’s colleague and friend, that the meeting he scheduled for Friday allegedly concerning their software program, Hubspot, was merely a ruse so he could be certain L. would attend. In actuality, he and his assistant, Lauren, are going to blindside L. with new rules about when she’s allowed to sign up prospective members. He told Maria that L. is “too eager” and this needs to be addressed. Sidebar: By “too eager”, Tucker means “too competent” because L. is selling him under the table. She works less than Tucker and Lauren yet has managed to have more sign ups than the both of them combined, for this month. And now, Tucker is trying to sabotage L. so she doesn’t make him look bad. L. and Maria are friends so of course Maria called L. immediately and told her everything.
L. and I have a long discussion about how best to prepare for this so-called meeting. I give her a few pointers and we strategize about comments Tucker might make and how best to respond them. Specifically, I tell L. to:
1) Wear eye liner. You look like a bad ass when you wear eye liner, in addition to looking older and more polished.
2) Don’t cry. Let rage be your guide. We don’t get mad, we get even.
3) Ask for written guidelines. Tucker is making up rules on the fly to further his own personal agenda. If he says he doesn’t have written guidelines, use the “broken record” technique, wherein you repeat your request until you eventually get what you want.
4) If there is conflict and confusion during this meeting, repeat that you need written guidelines clearly defining your role in Membership - that way, there is no confusion. If Tucker says he’s too busy to create a job description, tell him that you’ll be happy to draft the “Policies and Procedures” yourself and that you’ll present them to him for signature. That way, you can create your own job description and this gives you the power.
5) Whenever possible, redirect the conversation back to Tucker by saying things like, “This isn’t really about me, Tucker. It’s about the fact that your other job is getting in the way of this job and you’re overwhelmed [Director of Membership, at The Club].”
Early on, I suspected that Tucker was either an alcoholic OR had a second job, because he a) routinely misses appointments and/or doesn’t bother to show up for tours with prospective members that HE scheduled [he doesn’t even give them a courtesy call - he just doesn’t show]; b) disappears and doesn’t tell anyone where he’s at; c) is late or doesn’t bother coming in. Little did I know he’s both an alcoholic AND he has a second job. When I shared my suspicions with L., she was able to research Tucker on the internet and confirmed the fact that he does, in fact, have another job. He’s some sort of broker at an agency that sells commercial real estate.
I told L. to say things like, “Tucker, it’s impossible to work two jobs simultaneously - you need to pick ONE.” OR say this: “I know that you sold cars at your previous job, but selling memberships at a health club is vastly different from selling vehicles.” Making this comment will tip off Tucker to the fact that L. knows everything about his prior work history, i.e., he’s not qualified to work at this job. L. found out that Tucker got a college scholarship to play golf, graduated, and then started working at a golf club, trying to sell memberships. That didn’t work out so he moved to cars, specifically a dealership in Lancaster. L. and I speculated that Tucker probably met Ken, the owner of The Club, when he sold him a car and gave him a good deal, at which point, Ken probably returned the favor and offered him a job in Membership.
Ironically, L.’s experience working at the Art Studio and selling memberships there is more useful and relevant then Tucker’s previous experience selling cars.
6) I instruct L. to ask Tucker what her specific title is. To date, L. does not exactly know her primary duties because Tucker doesn’t want her to know. He deliberately keeps L. in the dark so he can make up arbitrary rules that keep L. from getting commission. L. has asked this question before - it should elicit an easy response - but Tucker won’t directly answer the question.
7) I tell L. that as soon as she knows her actual title, to have business cards made immediately for her and Maria. That’s another thing: Tucker refuses to order business cards for them. I’m certain it’s because he doesn’t want the girls to pass out their cards because prospective members will contact them, INSTEAD of him, and Tucker will lose prospective commission.
8) Tucker might win this round, but you’ll get him in the end.
12:00-1:00-I write a Covid essay.
1:00-2:00-Blog post.
2:00-2:30-I post tomorrow’s course content for my two online classes.
2:30-3:30 - Nighttime routine. Bed.