February 6, 1991
Dear Everyone:
Cute stamp, huh?
I mean the one on the left.
The one that says “This
But they knew that there were eleventy-million
25-cent stamps already in circulation that would need additional postage
to-be-named-at-a-later-date.
So they came up with this:
The ‘F’ stamp.
It looks like we may not get audited after all.
“Alma” did a wonderful snow job on the auditor assigned to our
case and convinced the woman that there was nothing to audit.
Apparently, the purpose of an audit is to have an independent
observer take a look at how you do business, recognize things that you
might be able to do better, and make recommendations to that effect.
“Alma” had a meeting (alone) with the auditor and
assured her that 1) we had already identified all of our (completely
insignificant!) problems, such as the CRMIS system which hasn’t worked
right from day one, and were in the process of correcting them, such as
replacing CRMIS with a whole other system; and 2) we were going to be
having a complete Records Management Study which was supposed to start
last October and is now scheduled to begin in May.
So what was the point of auditing us?
The general consensus around here is:
This was a last ditch effort by “Chris”, our previous manager,
who originally came from auditing and clearly still has ties there, to
vindicate himself in not ever getting anything done in this department.
He wanted documentary proof that this department is operating on
whim. And we all know who’s
whim that is.
The other consensus is that “Alma” will go to
remarkable lengths to prevent anyone from outside the department from
finding out what goes on inside it.
She has gone so far as to flatly
order me:
“Ah don’t want y’all tellin’
anybody how much work you
have to do!” Heaven forefend
someone should find out.
But the Study is coming.
She can’t sidetrack this one because the money’s already been
allocated and her old boss, “Hubert Sager”, has been selected to be the
Study Team Leader. (This is
the reason for the latest delay—he can’t be available until May 1.)
And, like the ancient Zoroastrians, I have faith that Good will
triumph, not only over Evil, but over stupidity as well.
In other news…
The police have taken down the barricades in front
of our building and the news stands have all made a break for it.
They are now back in their accustomed places, blocking the
sidewalks and getting in the way of bus lines.
As for the barricades, which are actually portable pieces of
fencing that link together, they have been left stacked up against the
walls just in case. You’d
think the police might be concerned about somebody walking away with a
few of these; but I guess it would take a lot of chutzpa to steal a
piece of fence marked “Police Line, Do Not Cross.”
I have received confirmation of our reservations at
the “Cleopatra” Hotel: One
room with a queen bed for “Alice” and “Kelly”; one room with two queen
beds for Mother, “Frankie”, “Jeannie” and me.
Now Mother is talking about changing our arrival date so that we
can have a few days to bum around
Film at 11:00.
Love, as always,
Pete
PS. We
have had rain. Not enough to
end the drought, of course.
Just enough to flood out Interstate 880 during the morning commute.
P.
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