July 10, 2002
Dear Everyone:
Well, I’m back at work and back on schedule… Sort of.
My “regular” schedule has me in Company Park (CP) Monday through Wednesday, in “Livermore” on Thursday, and back in CP on Friday. The excuse for working one day a week in “Livermore” is that we (“we” being Global Records Consulting) have a number of contractors working in “Livermore”, since there is room for them there and no charge for the space they take up. These contractors occasionally need a little supervision, or at least someone of whom they can ask questions.
Example: Last week one of the contractors informed me that she had “a box of horrors”. This turned out to be a box of folders with no printed labels on them. Thus, the contractor had no way of knowing what she should type into the system for these folders. It took all of five minutes to figure out that all the folders pertained to the same lawsuit and that someone had even taken the time to hand-write an identification of some sort (i.e., “Authorities”, “Notes”, “Depositions”, etc.). So it took relatively little time for me to type up some labels for the folders so the contractor could get them indexed. Peace of mind all around.
Of course, should something really important come up, I can leave CP and be in “Livermore” in about a quarter-hour. Conversely, I have been known to travel from “Livermore” to “Grey Farm” (just around the corner from CP) because other contractors there needed some help. I generally go wherever I’m needed. But for the most part, CP every day except Thursday.
So around
I’ve even figured out a way to attach my purse to the case, so everything just rolls along behind me. Then on Thursday afternoon, the laptop goes back into the case to return with me to CP on Friday.
So what have I been using said laptop for lately? Well, in the wake of Enron, Arthur Anderson, WorldCom, and even one of our software vendors who suddenly announced a revised financial statement and the immediate resignation of both CEO and CFO, the company has come down hard on the side of Business Conduct & Ethics Codes.
They’ve put an abridged version of the Policy Manual on the Intranet Web and directed everyone (in my Operating Company, at least) to review it and take a mandatory “quiz” online. By the end of this month. We found out about it this week.
Also, Information Protection. This consists of 11 “modules” about various aspects of protecting Company information, mostly computer security measures. Add to that some additional “modules” that I had to take because of being a System Administrator. (I thought for a moment that I could get out of this one, since I’m no longer the Sys Admin for the Records Management Software; but then I remembered I’m also Sys Admin for the facilities software that we use for managing large office moves. This is the same software whose vendor is suddenly on tumble dry because of their financial situation.)
All of this training and testing can be quite time consuming. Especially when you consider that this is time that I cannot charge to any of my customers (although I do get to claim it as “Professional Development”, something I’m supposed to spend a number of hours on each quarter).
However, if you’re like me and learned some years ago the rudiments of designing a Web Page, you know how to go to the source code and read “behind the scenes” to see which answers are the correct ones before (or while) you actually take the quiz. Cyber-crib notes, if you will.
Oh, and we also have to take some sort of “CBT” (computer-based training, meaning you take the course on your computer instead of in a classroom) on how to recognize what constitutes “harassment”. (This from a company that had to be sued before it would admit that women in the Bay Area were being paid less than men in “Hobby”, all of whom were doing exactly the same work.) But I think that one’s not due until October, or at least the end of August. And it does count as more “Professional Development”.
Either way, I don’t have to have it done before
“Alice’s” Family Reunion in
Love, as always,
Pete
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