If my bosses ever decide to move our operation to a new location again, I swear I will simply walk out the door and not look back!
Yes, we have moved to a new building. The move was made last Friday (April 1 - go figure) and we are still in the unproductive-post-move state. (It is now Wednesday, April 6 - in case you hadn't noticed the date on the blog entry.) I suppose we have been productive in some ways, since we've gotten everything unpacked - more or less - and things are straightened up - more or less. However, if I have to meet with one more janitorial service, one more locksmith, or one more anyone else, I think I shall go mad! And I swear if anyone comes up to me and asks me to order one more new thing for the new office, I will quite cheerfully - and forcefully - stuff them into one of our sparkling new garbage bins!
Oh, and did I mention that we have been without internet access since Friday? At the last minute, it was decided that we needed to keep our internet access at the old location for a couple more weeks, as we have data collection equipment there that had to be kept operational as it couldn't be moved on time. This was mainly due to someone not setting the move of the equipment up on a timely basis, but enough about that. At any rate, due to the fact that we were not able to give our internet service provider and the telephone company (don't even ASK me how much fun it was dealing with the phone company on this move!) enough notice, we were not able to have our high speed internet connected at the new location until April 7. We do have dial up access, but trust me, it is pretty much useless for most of what we need to do.
However, all this ended up being a moot point for me, as our accounting system crashed - quite spectacularly, I might add - on Monday. Well, it could have happened on the weekend, but I just found out about it on Monday. And no, it had nothing to do with our move - it is all located in our head office, which is in another city. So we couldn't have done any work on the system even if our high speed connection had been working.
Oooooh, and did I mention the bugs? There is an abundance of insect life in our office - thankfully mainly one kind of insect. However, it is one of those kinds of insects that I absolutely detest. Okay, so those who know me are well aware that I detest pretty much any insect. These ones, however, are almost at the top of my list. They are called sow bugs. Harmless really, although they breed like rabbits. And they are ugly as hell and hell and have FAR too many legs. (Actually, I think it's just little hairs or something that grow out around the sides of their bodies - but it LOOKS like a bazillion little legs!) Our receptionist and I ran across (and killed) 9 of them in space of about 15 minutes yesterday morning. We run across them constantly throughout the day, but that 15 minute stretch had to be a record!
AND - I think this is the last "and" - our receptionist applied for another job because of the move. She hadn't heard anything from them, but I've felt all along that they would call her. Sure enough, I came in this morning to find out that she is leaving at noon tomorrow because she has an interview. She was one of most upset people on staff about the move, but she has now decided that she doesn't mind the location, or the drive, and she is not really wanting to leave. However, this new job is closer to home for her, and if they pay enough, she will take it. So I am crossing my fingers that the pay is shitty and that the job is not what she wants. Well, I am crossing my fingers for my sake - she's almost trained to the point where she can take over my job so that I can actually take holidays. And I DO NOT want to start over again with anyone else. Besides, we all really like her, and she fits it - we're an odd bunch (but fun!) so it's not always easy to find someone who fits in so well right off the bat! However, since it is very close to home for her, which would be ideal, I hope for her sake that it works out and she gets the position. (grumble, mutter...)
The good news is that the accounting system is now back up and running - albeit somewhat sluggishly, I am told. And the better news is that no data was lost, which is a HUGE relief because originally it looked like several months' worth of data had been dumped. Our IT tech told me that once the system was back up and running, I'd have to check to make sure everything I'd entered was still there. My response was "I won't remember what the hell I entered, so how will I know if it's there or not?" Ah well, fortunately that is no longer a concern...
When we originally found out about the new location most of us were less than impressed with the area. For one thing, it's a somewhat scuzzy area, and for another it pretty much doubled the travel time for everyone. However, I must admit that so far I am not minding it. The building is basically being gutted and renovated, so our space is quite nice. (Although I firmly believe that men should have no say whatsoever in the design and decoration of any space - especially after seeing a few of the dumb decisions that were made by my boss.) The drive hasn't been too bad yet this week, so other than taking longer, at least the traffic has been okay. The area is still scuzzy, but it's reasonably quiet, so fingers crossed that there will be no problems. Overall, it's not so bad. Much as I hate to admit it.
Now if only all these people I've been meeting with all week will get all their quotes in to me tomorrow morning, so that I can make decisions, hire janitorial staff and locksmiths, and then actually get some work done!
Oh yeah - and please cross your fingers (and whatever else you can) that the high speed internet hook up goes off without any glitches tomorrow, because if I have to deal with the phone company again - or even the internet service provider, for that matter, I will most likely stuff a few choice people from both companies in our shiny new trash bins...
