REALLY GOOD NEWS!!!

Yesterday Martina Johansen sent an email to let me know she will speak with the leader of the Information Commons staff next week and I may then be contacted for an interview or asked for more information.

AARGH!

Today I called Laura at MWC because I seemed to be getting pretty close to being hired at the U of A Main Library and I wanted to find out what sort of paperwork MWC would need.  It turns out that Roger Forrester hasn't done a damn thing since my last post and the Main Library is not a "certified" host agency. 

On my end, Allison Vaillancourt passed me off to Leslie Porter who in turn connected me with the Main Library's HR person, Martina Johansen.  I sent Johansen a cover letter and a copy of my resume and should be hearing from her next week.

MORE ON FORRESTER

I finally managed to contact Forrester and he gave me some good news: The U of A is an acceptable host agency.  Below I noted that I was told that no one at MWC seemed to know ho to contact at the U of A but when I spoke with Forrester, he told me he not only knew Vaillancourt, he had worked with her before. Perhaps Laura didn't know that Forrester knew who to contact at the university.

STILL LOOKING?

I wrote below that Laura of SCSEP told me that the U of A qualified as host agency but I just got a phone message today from Allison Vaillancourt at the U of A that according to Roger Forrester, it's not clear that the U of A does qualify. 

I have been unable to reach Forrester by phone so last week I sent him an e-mail but I haven't gotten a reply.  At least Vaillancourt had the courtesy to give me a call.

SCSEP?!

The week before Thanksgiving, I met with Laura at SCSEP and she said she would look into whether or not the U of A qualified as a community operation.   The week before Xmas I called back and she said it did qualify and George (I think) was looking into getting an agreement between SCSEP and the U of A but the U of A is a large place and this may take a while.  Yesterday  I got back in touch with Laura and she told me that getting an agreement with the U of A was not a "top priority" so I offered to help out.  She again told me that U of A was a large place and SCSEP would like to know who to contact.  I found out that very afternoon and sent Laura e-mail.  She replied that she had forwarded the information to Roger, who apparently is now in charge of establishing a link with the U of A.

I'm a little annoyed that whoever is in charge of recruiting at SCSEP didn't bother to take the time to contact the U of A.

"I CAN'T GET NO SATISFACTION" :-)

I got a training job placement through Mature Worker Connection (MWC) to Armory Park Senior Center and what initially seemed a near-perfect setting has turned into a hostile environment.   My main opportunity there is tutoring seniors on how to use computers and the Internet but the man who rules the public computers, Kent Phillips, refuses to let me add software and files that are necessary to do that.  In fact, he has threatened to remove the internet connection to all the public computers if I make any changes.  Phillips is the head of CALC and is not a city employee, so the center management can't seem to do anything about this.

About a month ago, I told MWC about this and Laura recommended that I wait for a couple of months for a new placement because they just hired a new job hunter person.

MWC - HOME FOR THE UNEMPLOYABLE?

Last week I received an e-mail from the director of Mature Worker Connection and he wanted me to contact the office because the matter couldn't be handled over e-mail. The question: Am I over or under 60 years old?

STUCK IN THE 50S???

I received an e-mail from Roger Forrester, Program Administrator of Mature Worker Connection:

Dear Mr. XXXXX:

Because a new regulation that is related to the Mature Worker Connection, I need to get some supplementary information from you. Please give me a call at 623-3304. It should take me less than a minute to gather the information. I look forward to hearing from you.

I replied that if it would take less than a minute, why not do it by e-mail? Shortly, I called him and hsi burning question was whether or not I was under or over age 60.

I'M DISAPPOINTED

I was hoping to find a job fairly soon through Pima County's Mature Worker Connection program. I applied on line for 2 jobs on the weekend of April 25-26 and I didn't hear back until May 1st. That was an e-mail asking me to call Nancy at the MWC office. I called on Monday and was told she wouldn't be in until Thursday. I spoke to her on Thursday, I think, and explained that I don't have a phone and I would greatly prefer to answer her questions by e-mail. She seemed to understand so I was expecting an e-mail with her questions. Instead, I got this on May 14th:

Steve,

You called in requesting I e-mail you. I’m in the office until 3:30 this afternoon, please call 623-3304.

Nancy

OBAMA HAD MY VOTE

and this is only one of the many reasons why:

WHO GETS WHAT: Stimulus to pad pockets of jobless
Feb 10 01:09 PM US/Eastern
By DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - More jobless workers would get fatter unemployment checks longer in the massive economic recovery package moving forward in Congress.
Helping the nation's jobless has not been a controversial part of the stimulus package. Both the House and Senate versions offer an extra $25 a week in jobless benefits to millions of workers through the end of the year. The current average weekly benefit is roughly $300.

It also would keep unemployment checks coming through the end of 2009 for more than 3 million people whose state benefits will run out after March.

I live in a typical low wage, "right to work" state and collecting only $70/week in unemployment benefits right now and that means I keep having to pay a $15 late fee every month for rent. When this goes through, I'll be able to catch up on rent.

PUSHING BACK A LITTLE

I just sent Tony Parker and 3 other executives an e-mail listing some of Dollinger's flagrant disregard and contempt for the employees. Maybe I'll get a reply.

ANOTHER DOLLINGER EPISODE

One Sunday, Jody wasn't feeling at all well and her face was red and a bit puffed up. She asked John if she could go home early and John told her she would have to get a doctor's note, otherwise she would be fired. She didn't think she could find a doctor on a Sunday, so she stayed at work rather than lose her job.

That was the last time I saw Jody. I later learned that she suffered a stroke or aneurysm on the following Monday or Tuesday and she would not be coming back to work. Perhaps this could have been avoided if John had let her leave early on Sunday.

ANOTHER MYSTERY

Robert, another Gifford's canvasser, has also been fired and I'm very surprised that happened. According to an e-mail I received from him, he was dismissed because he mentioned that on his own time, he made posts on various sites meant to incite the wingnuts. One of the younger canvassers objected to this and told Caitlyn Jensen. In the end, Robert was fired by Kyle.

This seems bizarre because we've been told repeatedly that we work for "Move Arizona Forward," NOT the Gifford's campaign, so even if someone working for Tim Bee found out that Robert was doing work to re-elect Giffords, I can't see how that would make any difference.

As far as I could tell, Robert was by far the most knowledgeable canvasser. He seemed to know the local politics down to the street level.

JENSEN ODDITIES

This is a story about the bathroom at the canvasser's office for the Gifford's campaign. As canvassers, we were told we work for Move Arizona Forward and our checks come from Urban Projects, Inc. which seems to be based in Philadelphia. In theory, there is supposed to be a strict separation between the official campaign and our office, although they are adjacent and we've had Zack, the campaign manager, and Jen (not sure what she does) come in and speak to us. So strict, that we aren't even supposed to use the bathrooms in the campaign office. This is something of a problem because the sink in the canvassers bathroom doesn't have running water. I brought that up to Caitlyn Jensen and she said that there was running water - she apparently turned off the valve because she didn't trust us not to make a mess! This is another symptom of the contempt she has for the canvassers.

This is a story about canvassing protocol. Generally we canvass in pairs and we aren't supposed to canvass separately and are to remain within site of each other. According to Jensen, this is a security issue but there's a definite limit to how concerned she is about our security. A few weeks ago, Mark (Jim) and I canvassed a shady area on the Northwest side of town and when we came back, Mark told her that it was a pretty dangerous place - he saw 3 drugs deal go down while we were there. Jensen replied "that's part of the turf."

I'M OUT $50 AND A TEMPORARY JOB

A couple of weeks ago, I went canvassing near where Houghton Road meets Old Vail Road. Despite the extra time it took us to get there, I managed to get 61 door knocks. A couple fo days later, Caitlyn Jensen, my supervisor, asked me what happened and then accused me of knocking off work at 6:39 instead of 7:39. That's the time stamp the Palm Pilot I had gave to my last knock. I didn't have an explanation other than to suggest that it could've been a software problem. Jensen then said she would have to send others back out to get the "lost data."

The next paycheck, I found that I wasn't paid for that day. I sent an e-mail to the Gifford's campaign about this and other matters and as a result I had a meeting with Jensen and Kyle McNally, the field director for southern Arizona for the Democratic Party. Kyle said he wanted to get the pay issue behind us and told me I would not be getting the $50.

Later, when I talked about this with other canvassers, I discovered the likely cause of the time discrepancy: The Palm was set to the wrong time zone. Kent told me that that had happened to him before and Phillip (the one who has the blue, 4-door pickup truck) told me last night that Jensen knows about this time zone discrepancy. Apparently, Jensen didn't check the time stamp on the 1st knock I had.

Today, I wasn't given an canvassing assignment and Kyle told me that I was fired, mostly because I hadn't shown Caitlyn enough respect, according to others on the staff. I assume that "staff" means other canvassers and it is true that I've asked others about pay issues.

PAY & PARKER

Parker seems to have a hard time getting our hours correct. I've had a few checks that were short and fortunately, I think all but one were made good. Other people haven't' been so lucky. Robin was owed 12 hours months ago and she still hasn't gotten paid. I told her that she should contact the State Dept. of Labor but she didn't think it would do any good. Jody was short about 16 hours a month ago and she only got half of that in a later check. She was upset and asked John Dollinger for the phone number at company headquarters and he refused to give it to her because he said that she had threatened the company!

I suspect that Parker has been shorting people for a while, whether deliberate or not I can't tell.

BEFORE I FORGET...

John Dollinger is a VERY petty person. Perhaps a martinet who makes up the rules is a better term. He seems to delight in ordering us around for nonsensical reasons. Some examples -

- The server was down, we were logged in and John refused to let us go outside for a cigarette. We had to wait the full 2 hours to the 1st break. A year or so later, this wasn't an issue and we could go outside.

- The server drastically slowed down about 35 minutes before the end of the shift and John told us to begin logging out. It took about 5 minutes for each command to be processed and we weren't going to make any more calls, so I plugged in my earbuds and began listening to Matt Drudge. John told me to stop listening to the radio.

- I came in with my winter coat and put it on the edge of the work station area rather than the back of my chair or the floor. John told me I couldn't do that.

- Before the shift started, Jefferey was sitting on the floor talking to Carmen and someone else. John passed by and told him he couldn't block the aisle.

- A few weeks after almost all of us had our hours messed up on our paychecks, John got on the PA and went on a rant. What I remember most clearly was his statement that he didn't have to do anything to help us straighten out our paychecks.

- One Sunday, we came in and the poll wasn't ready. I asked Nancy if we would be paid for the time we were waiting around and she said she didn't know. I asked if if she could ask Birmingham when she next talked to them and she said that Barbara wouldn't know either. A couple of days later, John came by my work station and warned me never to ask about whether we are getting paid or not. He also said the same thing to Naomi, who was only slightly involved.

- I was outside on break and talking with Robin. Joking around, I mentioned to her that cell phones were made for chicks because they like to talk so much. John said something about that and both Robin & I were puzzled about why he objected to what I said.

- Nancy came over to tell me it was break time and we engaged in a little friendly banter. I said something like "Well, I guess I'll have to hack into the servers at Birmingham." After I got back from my break, John took me to his office and said that I had made a threat. I told him that I was just joking around but he seemed serious.

A BAD DAY

There was room inspection today and Eva, the cleaning lady, gave me a demerit because I had some paper in my trashcan. I was also given a demerit for not sweeping and mopping the floor in my room. The first demerit strikes me as bizarre because a few scraps of paper are no health hazard and certainly not messy. The second demerit is a change of the rules. A few months ago, Laverne told me that room inspections only look at the fridge and sink. I admit that I do need to clean the floor and I would've gladly done it if I has known that was the rule.

Laverne also said this was my 3rd infraction and that counts the bogus 2 I received a couple of months ago. Laverne left a note on my door that I didn't see until about 5:15 AM and in it she wrote that she wanted to see me at 8 AM. Now, about a year ago I had permission from Laverne to stay out after curfew because I work the 2nd shift. For that year, during my work week I have regularly been signing back in at around 5:15 AM and that sheet is available to Laverne. Now, I did leave her a note giving her some of the information she requested but that wasn't good enough for her. When I got up, I had 2 infraction notices.

DON'T EVEN ASK....

Last Sunday, the folks in Birmingham hadn't gotten our survey up in time, so we were 15 minutes late. Because we weren't on TPG2, I asked Nancy if we would be paid for these 15 minutes and she said she didn't know. I then asked her if she could ask Birmingham the next time she spoke with them and she said that Barbara wouldn't know anything about it. I then said OK.

On Monday, John came over and asked me if I "had a problem." At first, I had no idea what he was talking about but he provided more information: he was upset that I had even asked Nancy if we would get paid! I reminded John that we once waited for 45 minutes without being paid. I'm unsure what Nancy told him but it was clear to me that Nancy had no idea about whether or not we would be paid. John said that as long as it was in the log book, we would be paid.

This Thursday, there was another problem with Birmingham and this time, everyone was put on TPG2 as we waited for the poll to be readied.

AN EXPLANATION

I was sick almost every day of the 1st Quarter of this year and I have a possible explanation.

Flu wave lightens up after prolonged season of severe symptoms
By Carla McClain
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona Published: 04.12.2008

After an unusually intense attack, this winter's nasty flu is easing its stranglehold on Arizona, finally allowing our frantic ERs to take a deep breath.

But it's leaving behind the highest number of confirmed flu cases in Pima County — at least 782 — since we began counting them.

"This was a very long flu season. It hit its peak in February and stayed there for almost eight weeks — that's very unusual," said Lisa Hulette, epidemiologist at the Pima County Health Department.

"In most years, flu peaks for a much shorter period, maybe two to three weeks. But this was sustained, with a high number of cases. It was a struggle for our entire health-care system, especially the emergency departments."