Sit Back and Relax

I know I just wrote yesterday, but I need to tell you all about my work situation. It’s quite comical. I think I have written about how slow things move here, but you really can’t understand until you visit and see it for yourself. The word "efficient" does not exist here. (Ask my parents about exchanging money at the bank.)

Before I get into the details, I need to explain my job. I am working for the Trust Department at a Canadian Bank. I work with two other temps that work for the same company I work for. The bank hired us for a 3-4 month project to collect information from their paper files and enter it into a new database. Basically we are pulling files from a file room and searching through them. We have a list of documents that the Trust Officers want to be in every file. So we look through and check it off in the system if the document is in the file. I realize a monkey could do this, but for what I am getting paid, it’s worth it.

So last week we switched to files that are located in the file room on the 3rd floor (we are on the 4th). Because it is so unorganized, we were instructed to email a guy named Randy with a list of the files we wanted. We were instructed to send him 10-12 file requests at a time. When they have located the files, they either call or email us and we go pick them up. I say “they” because 4 full time employees work in the file room.

So we all sent out our initial requests at about 9am. They phoned us at 11:15 to tell us they were ready. Now please realize that they are walking into the file room, going to the shelf that has a letter on it that corresponds to the first letter of the person’s last name. In other words, the files are in alphabetical order on the shelves. They have to reach on the shelf and pull out the file. Then move to the next file on our list.

To explain how slow they are moving…...

One afternoon I needed to take a quick look into 40 files. So instead of having them pull them, I went into the file room and did it myself. It took about 15-20 minutes to pull 40 files. It took 4 of them 2 hours and 15 minutes to pull less than 30. While they are pulling them, we don’t have any work so we just sit. We can email them ahead of time, but if they have more than one list, they get confused.

The next day, we received and email from Randy that we needed to send all future request lists to Yolanda. I think he was just too overloaded. Hours later, I went to check on my request (that was sent before Randy’s email) and they didn’t have it printed. I told them I emailed it to Randy (whose desk is next to Yolanda and in the same room). They said that I needed to email it to Yolanda. I asked why Randy didn’t print it or forward it because I had already been waiting 2 hours. Their response was, “We decided Yolanda should be in charge of the emails, and the rest of us will pull the files.” So I went back to my desk, sent the email to Yolanda and waited another 2 hours for my files. Keep reading, this gets better.

Yesterday, I went down to check on my files. I sent them an email at 8am, it's was 10:07 when they told me they weren’t ready. Why, you ask? Her response was, "We don’t have them ready yet. Yolanda is covering the reception desk this morning, so she didn't print your email yet. That is why we haven't pulled them." So I said, "Would you like me to print it and bring it down to you? or could I email it directly to you?" She said, "No, all emails should go to Yolanda then she will print it whenever she gets back and we will call you when they are ready, maybe around noon." Isn't that crazy? I had no work to do until I got those files.

Today I sent a list at 9am. We hadn’t heard anything at 11am so we went down to check. This is good….. Yolanda is on vacation today. Did they bother to tell us? No. And even funnier, they still want us to email Yolanda, but also print what we email her and hand deliver it to them. It’s like I am working in a Saturday Night Live skit.

My boss just says that is the way it works around here. So I decided to take the next couple hours to email my friends, update the blog, and do the USA today crossword. Unbelievable, huh? They are wasting so much money having us sit around. But just like Travis’s job, they account for that when they budget projects. They know it will take 2-3 times longer to get anything done. They have to have a certain percentage of locals working for them to comply with government regulations. So they just budget more to account for the lack of speed and efficiency.

With all this free time I will probably be blogging more often!!!!!

Great News.......

The Cash Box Kings got booked for the Blues Festival in Lucerne, Switzerland. They actually signed the contract already so it's a sure thing. The festival pays for all the accommodations even for the wives. :) :) :) So in November we get to go to Switzerland for 10 days for free!!! We are soooooo excited!

We are moving to a new apartment April 1st. It has a deck on the ocean and a pool. I am very excited. We will be able to watch the sunset every night at home. It also has a gym, so I am looking forward to using that. We haven't started the Navy Seal Training back up. It was really hard and a pretty big time commitment. So we aren't as skinny as we were. But we are working on it. We have also both started Zyban this week to help us quit smoking. Cross your fingers that it works!!!

Trent, Jean, and Jerry are here. They are having a blast. They arrived last Thursday. On Friday, Travis took them to the beach all day and I met them after work.

Saturday, we took a ride on a glass bottom boat. It was really neat. They took us over two ship wrecks and we saw millions of fish. Saturday afternoon we drove to the East end of the island. We had never gone over there so it was a new experience for us too. We found a great lunch spot on the beach that I am sure we will go back to.

On Sunday, we went to Sting Ray City. We all got in, but after the sting rays started coming near us, Trent changed his mind and headed back to the boat. I was just proud of him for getting in the water at all. I was very scared my first time too. Jean and Jerry grabbed squid to feed them right away. Apparently, the one Jerry fed was especially hungry. They don't have teeth, but it sucked his hand so hard, that it drew blood. It definitely topped the little hickey my mom got. After visiting the sting rays, the boat took us to snorkel in the Coral Gardens. Trent just loved it. He is a real pro. You wouldn't believe that a 7 year old would float around for hours staring at fish. He clears his snorkel and mask all by himself when water gets in it. It's the cutest thing. We did have to head back to the boat when he spotted a hungry sting ray below us. But for a kid from the Midwest, in a huge ocean, he's pretty fearless. He has to be 10 to get a Jr. scuba certification, but he's talking about it already.

Monday, I took work off and drove the crew to Rum Point. We spent the day at the beach and had a picnic. The weather has been so nice for them. Not that it's ever bad, but we haven't had any rain, and very few clouds. They are all getting nice tans.

We have some tentative plans for this weekend. Travis and I both have off of work on Friday and Monday for Easter. So we will find something to entertain them. I will write next week and let you know.

Not much else to report. I am looking forward to settling in to our new place (that, by the way, has a second bedroom for guests....hint....hint...) and getting into a normal routine. We haven't really "settled" because we knew we were moving soon. So it will be nice not to sleep on two twin beds pushed together anymore! I will try to post pictures of the new place and the view once we get a good Internet connection in April. I have tried every night since my parents left to post pictures and it take so long, that it errors. So hopefully I can get a bunch of pics posted in April. Sorry for the delay.

We are starting Scuba lessons on Sunday. So we should be certified by the time we move. I am really nervous, but excited too. It is a lot of studying and a couple full days of training. We are hoping to travel to one of the other smaller Cayman Islands in May because the scuba is suppose to be amazing there. We will have to see how the course goes first.

Hope all is well!