Work Notes, and a Question or Two

Rude or Not Rude?
As I walk around my new job, when I pass people in the halls, I look at them to see if they'll make eye contact, so I can smile or say hi. If they don't make eye contact, I assume they're thinking of something else, and go on my way untroubled.

Today I was walking along when a man came out of the men's room just down the hall. I looked at him to see if he was going to make eye contact, and he looked over me at the woman who was walking behind me and said, "Hi, Joanne." (And it turned out she was considerably shorter than I am, so trust me when I say, he looked over me.)

I don't mind if people don't make eye contact, but somehow ignoring me while greeting someone else bugged me. He could have nodded to me while talking to her and I would have been fine with that, but he acted as though I wasn't there: consciously ignoring me, which made it feel more personal than the looking-at-their-feet types.

What do you think: was he rude, or not rude?

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Because my new job is a temporary position, I am actually an employee not of the company where I work, but of an agency. And getting signed up with this agency has been maddening.

I started on May 17, but due to some snafu between my boss and them about the "requisition" they needed to start processing, I didn't actually hear from them until May 24. I had to access their website (which is a total PITA itself but that's neither here nor there) and download forms to send in to them--because of course they're not local, that would be too easy.

And though my first impulse was to scan and e-mail the documents, it seems the only scanner in my area at work (that anyone knows how to use, anyway) is a flat-bed hooked up to a computer, so you can put in a memory stick and get your scans. Um, PITA much for 20 pages? Also, memory stick? I had to ask for a ruler. I don't have scissors, a highlighter, or more than one pen. So I faxed, how old-school.

The e-mail I got told me to return one form within 24 hours (and I sent it on 5/25, check), and then listed the ten other forms to return within a week. Several are multi-page, one needs to be notarized, the usual fun. I got it all together, liaised with a notary, and faxed the pile in on 5/26.

On the following Monday, 5/31 (you know, the national holiday?), I got an e-mail that the form I faxed in on the preceding Tuesday, the "urgent" one, needed a correction (and that's my fault: I thought they filled out the whole top section, but they only filled out part of it). I re-sent it on Tuesday 6/1.

On 6/2, they asked me for another form, one that wasn't on the list to return. It's related to benefits, which I thought didn't need to be sent in at the same time (because, you know, they weren't on the list). She said I needed to send in this one form specific to Massachusetts. I looked at it and questioned her, since it seemed to me that it was for waiving benefits (something about the way it said, "You are completing this form because you have declined to participate..."). She said no, that's not what it meant (silly me).

So I read that form again, and it wants to know if I'm accepting the health insurance (yes), and what about the "Section 125 Cafeteria Plan"?

The what?

Maybe you know this, but I'd never heard of it. And though I asked the agency, they never explained what it is, or why there was no mention of it anywhere else in the paperwork. It's a flexible spending account. I had to ask Google. Jeez.

So anyway! Are you sick of this story yet? I sent in the form, and promptly got a call: your form says you want health insurance? Then you have to send in that paperwork now, please. Though that wasn't on the list, wasn't mentioned, and I'm not eligible for coverage until July. These people are not good communicators.

All this was before lunch, and I finally, finally got the e-mail with directions for logging in and putting in my hours so I'll get paid. It came ten minutes before I left for the day, but it came, and if you don't think I put in my hours for the last two weeks and submitted them before I left, well. I did. I want to get paid next week. This job is better than my last job in so many, many ways, but still, I won't do it for free.

Which makes me wonder: Would you do your job for free, if you didn't need money to live? Can you think of a job that you would do for free?

For me, off the top of my head, I would read books (that I wanted to read) and review them for free. I would knit (things that I wanted to knit) for free (tendinitis permitting, dammit). I would take pictures (of things I found interesting) for free. I would play with babies, and yes I even mean changing diapers and cleaning up and the messier side, for free. I can't think of much else, though.