Wednesday was my last day at work. It really hasn't sunk in yet that I don't have to get up and go to work on Monday. I get to stay home, sit on my ass and watch Jerry Springer. Woo hoo! That will I'm sure get boring eventually, but a few days of inactivity will be a refreshing change.

Hope everyone that celebrates Thanksgiving had a lovely Turkey Day. And if you don't celebrate, well, I hope you had a nice Thursday. We went to the in-laws, gorged ourselves on turkey and dressing and brought home a bunch of stuff. His mom is a florist, so she always gives us plants. This time I scored another african violet, and a plumeria. Plumeria are the plants that are used to make leis in Hawaii. Gorgeous, fragrant flowers. Hope I don't kill it.

This is a friend and former co-worker, who was asked by a zoo in China to help them learn operant conditioning to train their pandas for various behaviors. Behaviors can be as simple as opening the mouth on command to check dental health or standing up on the hind feet to look at the underside, to as complicated as asking the animal to stand still for injections or blood collection.


The caption on the email said: Apparently Yong was doing what was asked, but Jay was having a little problem with other distractions.

I turned in my resignation letter on Sunday, my direct supervisor (the one I'm having problems with) isn't in, so I gave it to her boss. He didn't say anything about it, but I imagine he wants to speak to her first. I know he read it because the envelope was opened and the letter was face down on his desk when I dropped some paperwork off in his office. So we'll see what happens.

I mentioned the afghan I was knitting. Since I find the repetitive motion of knitting very therapeutic, I'm almost done. This is from one of the recent issues of Knitters, it really caught my eye with the big blocks of color that are made using either short rowing or intarsia. I am making it with the suggested TLC Amore, it was easily obtainable at my local Micheal's and I love the way it feels, soft and fluffy. Better yet, it's cheap enough that I'm not going to care if the animals borrow it to sleep on.



I only have two blocks and a few rows left to do. Here's a closeup of the angled piece, made with short rows.



Not only did I get to perfect my short rowing technique, I also perfected the art of knitting backwards (and a little purling backwards on the ribbed border). It also reminded me that intarsia work isn't the devil, and that I can stop turning the page when I see a pattern I like with a little bit in it. I'm not ready for Kaffe Fassett by any means though, more than three or four colors would make my eyes cross.

I haven't posted lately because I'm somewhat depressed. I'm having a really rough time at work, and my supervisor is not at all sympathetic.

We're extremely shorthanded since one of the technicians is out on maternity leave. That gives us two techs, and three veterinarians. Even with the third technician, that ratio is skewed, since optimally there should be more support staff than veterinarians.

With one on leave, there are four days a week when one of us has to be by herself. We rearranged the schedule as best we could, to get optimal coverage, but the vets have just changed their schedules because of the new shorter winter hours.

The vets don't seem to understand that when they schedule procedures, they have to take into consideration, not only the length of time of the actual procedure, but also the set-up and clean-up time. They don't do that part, so they don't think about it. They get pissed when the place is messy and the equipment isn't ready for immediate use, but they don't give us a chance to clean up. Each vet gets a paperwork day, but they stagger them so at least two are usually wanting to do procedures, and the techs don't get scheduled paperwork or catch-up days.

I made the mistake of asking my supervisor why the vets were planning a long and complicated procedure on Thursday next week, when I'm going to be the only tech. I wanted to know why it wasn't being planned for one of the days when we had more coverage. She basically exploded on me, told me that I complained too much, that the other girls did just as much work as I did, and that she was tired of all the bitching.

I tried to explain to her that I am burned out, with all the days alone, the constant emergencies, not being able to take a break and catch my breath, and feeling extremely pressured to get everything done. She again said everyone else does just as much work as you do. I told her that I didn't feel valued as an employee, I didn't feel like I was being listened to, that I never got any positive feedback and that I was unhappy.

All I really want is for her to say that she knows I'm doing my best, that she's sorry that I'm overwhelmed, and maybe give me a time frame when the third tech will be back from leave. I'm so tired of only hearing when something bad happens, it's all about placing the blame, instead of thanking people for doing a good job.

I don't know if there's anything I can do about it either. I'm thinking about taking to the head vet, since he's her supervisor, but he's not very approachable so it makes it very difficult. I'm seriously considering quitting my job.

I forgot to mention that we were given the option of hiring a fourth technician last year, but my supervisor said she didn't have time, and that they'd only take the position away. They eventually took it away for the remainder of the fiscal year because she didn't fill it. It was given back at the start of this fiscal year, and my supervisor says she still just doesn't have time. Perhaps if she stopped micro-managing everyone else and did her own job, she'd have the time.

I started crying at lunch today, and Dave told me that I should just go ahead and quit if I'm that unhappy, and we'll make it work however we need. I'm really sad about the idea of leaving the zoo, I really love working with all the animals, this is what I've wanted to do since I was a child. I guess though, it can't be good for me to keep working somewhere that makes me cry everyday.