Blood into Water

It seems my life is doing that oh so grand thing, of not telling me what is going on. About 2 months ago, I was walking down the stairs wearing these cute wedges I love. And if you know me, then you know I’m usually in tennis shoes like my slip on Vans, or boots. Wouldn’t you know, I slip on the stairs, but I caught myself before I thought anything really happened. You know, that little slip and wobble bobble, then righted myself. No biggie. None at all.

Or so I thought.

I had a little pain in my knee and some locking later that day. Made going to the Irish Festival a lot of fun, but that just meant Boyfriend and I took our time walking around and enjoying everything. The next day it continued. The pain was there, slightly worse, no bruising that I could see, or swelling. Though do note, my knees are boney. They make stick men look fat.  I brush this all aside and think nothing of it.

Day by day the fun continues. My knee is locking all the time. No rhyme or reason about it or pattern. Just happens. Pain is an every day occurrence. What else is new though? After all with the Fibromyalgia, pain is always there anyways. Let’s just add more to it ok? Ok!

After about 3 weeks of this, I’ve had enough. I cannot function without it being annoying. I call my handy dandy Orthopedic Surgeon who is almost on speed dial. Just kidding, he is not, that would be awkward, but he is the guy who fixed up my other leg when other doctors told me it was in my head and I was making it up. An appointment was made and the trip taken. He said “Lets try some therapy and see if it fixes it. If you’re still hurting with no improvement, then call us back, and we will see about an MRI.” For now, let’s give you a knee brace. This said knee brace is squeaky. You know when I am coming and going now, even if you are blind.

Want to know something weird? You can feel things grinding in me knee. It’s very random and icky. Yes, it creeps me out.

I just had the MRI today to give you an indication of how well the therapy has been helping. The pain has increased as well. I called the doctor today to ask if there is anything else I can do for the pain. Do you know how hard it is to lie in a big metal tube that is a giant magnet and not move? I twitched quite a bit, at least it was before the testing started though.

I will now have water like blood. 1000mg of aspirin every 4 hours. So far the only thing it’s accomplishing is making me feel ill. Though that could also be the B.C pill I take too. That’s also making me feel nauseated.

So until at least Thursday, I alert all the blind people where I am, take enough aspirin to make water out of blood, and I like Billy Bob Thorton in Big Bang Theory the other week.

Where Were You When I Needed You?

The spam monkey struck again, but so appropriately this time, just late by about 2 or 3 months.

Back story time!

Where I work there was a guy, who is very intelligent. He was over qualified for the job in a way, but was not a bad fit for the team. While he was on day shifts, he was great, working diligently, creating documentation articles on procedures, and very involved in his job. Then something happened. None of us are sure when it happened, or why, but it was definitely over time.

*NOTE: As you know, I’m on night shifts. We have to rotate on night shifts every 3 to 6 months. It’s in the job description and mentioned in the interview process multiple times, as well as working weekends and holidays. Keep this in mind, as it plays a part, as well as the fact that for some reason, the Tier 2 Overnight shift seems to show who can and cannot hack it here. It seems to be a cursed position.

At some point, he gave up, stopped working or only worked half assed if he did. We had to try and find ways to make him work, or just take his work and redo it. On nights, he would not really work much at all. It just became a thing that he was just filling a space we needed. Most others were leaving as soon as they hit nights. Granted, because of the people leaving, he was on his second trip on nights, but we all were getting kicked in the teeth being short handed. Just in different ways.

Eventually he found another job and quit. You can tell as I’m now on night shifts. It happens. It’s in the job description. We all know it’s coming.

Back story end!

Why did I say this? Because of SPAM! I love spam. Spam spam spam spam.

There was another completely random spam email that came in describing an employee that “is going down the wrong path” and what should you do with this individual. The Bad employee’s name? The same as this coworker that left. No joke. I sat here thinking that this came a few months too late.

“XXX” is heading down the wrong path – should you just fire him now, or …

… do what great managers do, transform Rob into a productive team player?

XXX is that employee who under performs and acts out. But you believe he has potential to be a good employee inside him.

Is it worth the attempt to rid him of the unacceptable behavior he’s been displaying, or cut him loose?

The choice is yours. The key – you must do something, fast. Left unchecked, unacceptable behavior will drain you, and even worse, breed an unproductive, resentful work environment for everyone.

Wouldn’t it be more fulfilling as a manager to motivate & coach someone like XXX to better performance instead of another disappointing termination? Here’s what to do …