Four Weeks In

Deep into training now. Getting used to the breaks. Like clockwork 10:00am, 12:00pm lunch, 3:00pm. Then 5:00pm end of day. It's been nearly two weeks since my last post. I hesitate to get into a lot of detail on this public space. Minding my Ps and & Qs, you see.

A Cold, A Heatwave and A New Beginning

I've been hesitant to update this blog for several reasons:

A) I've been very busy. What with the 8AM to 5PM every weekday, getting the kids to daycare (Doreen spearheaded getting good daycare for the kids), getting food at the store, cooking it. And, B) A wonderful new head-cold.

My first three weeks into this job exposed me to all different kinds of viruses and bacterium...

Oh and people, too.

The first week was "job shadowing". This had mixed results. In some cases, it was very educational. One fellow had been on the job for 37 years! Holy crap! All I could say to him was, "Wow." He was very calm and sedate, humorous in a quiet way, and somewhat detached. I felt like a dumb sea-bird circling a surfaced blue whale. The blue whale had surfaced from the ocean of bureaucracy to share knowledge with the sea-bird who can't fly too far from shore. When the job shadowing was done, the blue whale submersed back into the ocean, leaving the sea-bird find its way back to shore.

Not all the workers I shadowed in my first week were blue whales. Some were slow-crawling sand-turtles. Others were like those Galapagos lizards that sun themselves on the rocks for hours to get their body temperature up, then leap into the sea to feed. Most were kind and welcoming. Just a few were indifferent, bordering on rude (like a reptile: emotionless and cold-blooded). One in particular was resentful. I don't have an animal metaphor for this one.

I was trying to be polite: "Whatever you can show me would be great. If you are too busy, I understand. I don't want to be a bother or interfere--"

"WELL, YOU ARE!"

"I'm not choosing to be here--"

"WELL, YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO TAKE THE JOB."

Shocked silence.

"THERE'S A LOT TO IT, YOU KNOW."

I was truly stunned by this animosity.

Hyena. That's the animal metaphor. The hyena is an animal that waits for other stronger, higher-on-the-food-chain animals to hunt their pray. The hyena then gathers its pack-mates to scare away the animal-hunter so that they can feed. I don't know if this particular worker was aware of my radio work and thinks I have ego in abundance. This worker perhaps was assuming something about me. It was very disturbing.

But most of these county workers were friendly and welcoming. The one illustrated above was the exception. This wrapped up a week of mostly good job-shadowing. Then onto two weeks of training. That's for the next entry.

It's supposed to be 110 degrees today, 111 tomorrow, then cool down a couple of degrees for the weekend, but stay in triple digits into early next week. My vehicle has no air-conditioning.