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2007-11-14 - 7:38 a.m.

So, it's been a week and I figured I'd better update. It's so hard for me lately because my life is really mundane. I mean, when the most exciting thing I did over my lonnnnng five day weekend was rearrange the livingroom......

Need I say more?!?

Oh. Wait. I forgot about Thursday night....

Moving on......

Today marks the anniversary of when I got the O F F I C I A L call from the FAA asking me if I wanted the job. Actually, if I still wanted the job. See, they originally called me at 11:10 on June 15th of last year (2006). I was excited and called Ben immediately to tell him the good news. I happened to be online with my gfriend, Alicia and my other close gfriend, Patty happened to call when I got off the phone with Ben so I told the 3 of them.

Good thing I didn't tell anyone else!

Two hours later, the woman from HR (Sue) called apologizing profusely saying that a mistake had been made and that the FAA wasn't going to be hiring for at least 4 to 6 weeks.

I was pissed! I went from elation to devastation. All the air had been let out of my balloon. I called Ben back and told him. He was pissed off, too.

It wasn't until FIVE months later (one year ago today) that they called me back. In the meantime, I heard nothing. Thank goodness I hadn't started a job somewhere else!

My first offical day was November 27th (well the pay period always starts on a Sunday so for their records my first day of gainful employment was November 26th). I have certainly come a lonnng way in the last year. My first week I was terrified to answer the phone! Now, not only do I enjoy answering the phone, but I can park 2 lines and answer a third!!!

All the programs that I know how to operate have been learned on a trial & error basis. And, lemme tell ya that darned CRU-X program is a bitch! It's not near as horrible as the dreaded GovTrip, but it's not too far behind.

Speaking of CRU-X (the software that we use to track our time & attendance), yesterday was the cut-off for turning that in. I'm the T&A Clerk (I know where your mind just went!) and therefore, every other Monday it's my responsiblity to check the LDRs (Labor Distribution Report) within the CRU-X program to make sure each employee has properly and completely filled theirs out. Then I have to approve them. When I finish that I go to a separate screen called "Time and Attendance" and verify that each employee has 80 Regular Hours and then if they have any overtime, that number in the TOS Hours column. Once that's complete then I can transmit to another software program called CASTLE. Within CASTLE, I have to click a radio button for Approval and then Submit and I'm done.

Well... yesterday Was. A. Nightmare.

First, because Monday was a holiday I had to get the CRU-X done no later than 2pm---that's the cutoff from accounting in Oklahoma City. Well, because EVERYONE and they're brother's sister's uncle's niece was on trying to accomplish their T&As, the server was very slow.

Then it actually LOCKS up and I have to call the trouble desk. (This is after 5 times of signing out, logging back in and finally my last attempt I actually rebooted my entire computer.)
Turns out that last week when they consolidated all the regions into one big Eastern (not Easter!!) Services Area, they also deciced to put ALL of us on O N E server.

Now, I'm no I.T. specialist but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that all of us can't be on one single server without making any changes. So, what did they do when the trouble desk became overloaded with complaints of slowness and lock-outs??

The brainiacs higher up the food chain decide to SHUT DOWN THE DATABASE!! Yeah. Shut it down. This was at 11am. I had 3 hrs to get my T&As done and submitted. Finally, at 12:30 they opened it back up but with l i m i t e d access. Basically, let's say there's room for 100 people. If all 100 people are "on" then you have to wait until there are 99 or fewer people on to get a spot. Yeah.

Believe it or not, I got in at 12:45-ish. I thought I was home free until I saw that 9 of us (including myself) had more hours in the Regular Hours column than 80. There's no way to work more than 80 *regular* hours in a paid period. So, then like finding a needle in a haystack, I had to go back a few screens to find out the issue. Turns out that when they did the conversion last week that they deleted some people's assigned break. (Lunch time) Fortunately, that was the issue and wasn't too difficult to fix.

Long story a little longer, I managed to get everyone's T&A squared away and approved with 45 minutes to spare! I couldn't believe it. By the time I was done, however, I was mentally exhausted. My brain was mush... just total and utter mush. I decided to give myself a mental break for the next hour.

But, I managed to make it through my day and today I have to finish the other paperwork that I normally do on "Mondays" (even though yesterday was Tuesday, I had Monday paperwork).

Thank gawd I have a 3-day work week again! Whew!

Anyone have a brain for sale?!?

Until next time... peace, love & HEALTH!!!









Getting Back Into My Vortex | 2011-09-08

No, It's Not A Mirage | 2011-09-06

No More Mommy Exclusives on FB | 2010-07-06

My Personal Challenges | 2010-06-23

The Golden Rule Equals Epic Fail | 2010-04-06





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