my tempered and well reasoned feelings about some things
Today was not so awesome. I had to be at work by 9am for a "town hall" meeting with the CEO. I work for a large, non-profit, mental health agency that has been recently maligned in one of the local newspapers. Not naming any names here, of course.
In addition to a print article riddled with misstated facts and total falsehoods, there was an online version of the story which featured about 300 (maybe 400, by last count) comments, most of which were NAAAASTY. Some claimed to be from disgruntled former staffers, disgruntled current staffers, and many just came from assholes with opinions.
Anyway, many of these comments were actually personally insulting to our CEO. Now, I'm no big fan of business, but I'm not an idiot either and our agency (as wonderful and non-profit as it is) is obviously a business, with an enormous budget and uncountable obligations to clients, insurance companies, and every effing branch of government, not to mention private funders and the community at large. And, I'm not ashamed to say it, I think our CEO is a good person doing a good job. There you go.
In response to the article, but mostly motivated by all the nasty comments that seem to have come from staff, the CEO decided to go to all the sites, one after the other, and hold "town halls" for people to come and ask questions, air grievances, and help her to set up the kind of atmosphere where people feel heard.
Listening to the comments and questions today, I can only say that the woman must have incredible patience. Some of those people were just plain retarded. I am obviously biased, here. Biased against ignorant, knee-jerk hippies who say stupid shit like "why did you have to close down Site X last month, why didn't you at least try to save it," or "why don't we put some effort into getting grants to run things?"
Hello, Ricky Retardo, WE'RE DOING THAT STUFF. You obviously aren't even aware that a portion of the work you do right here in this building is funded by an enormous United Way grant that your boss's boss managed to land. You want a union because you think the bosses are all pigs, but guess what? You don't work at Wal-Mart or Ford Fucking Motor Company, you work for a non-profit mental health agency during the last throes of the Bush Administration. Even if our bosses wanted to be pigs, guess what? THERE'S NOTHING IN THE TROUGH!
Good for you, though. Be an activist, that's great. But maybe go change something that needs changing. Or get some goddamn information before you walk into the meeting and make an ass out of yourself by forcing the fucking CEO (who is an awesome, no bull-shit, mental health warrior) talk you through the most basic shit that would be obvious to anyone who pulled her head out of the union's ass long enough to find out what's *actually* going on around her.
Oh but christ, don't get me started on the union...
Anyway, you should know, at the end of this little rant, that a lot of it is fueled by the fact that I'm SICK. The kind of sick that keeps you near the bathroom. The kind of sick where you have a headache but you can't take anything for it because you won't be able to keep the painkillers down. The kind of sick where you try to take your mind off the discomfort by watching Weeds on DVD, and even though it's an AWESOME show and Mary-Louise Parker is unbelievably hot, you still feel like shit. The kind of sick where you leave work early and have to cancel on your girlfriend whose dad you were supposed to meet tonight. The kind of sick where you cry a lot and lament the fact that you're a loner scorpio and your only real friend is in Africa for six months leaving no one for you to call and ask for a delivery of pepto bismal. (And when you mention pepto bismal to your girlfriend, who is getting ready to go out with her narcissistic dad who only visits once every several months, she tells you pepto is bad for you and won't help. BUT IT WILL HELP!!!)
Ok, now write sympathetic comments. That's what I love about blogging when I'm sick. The pity... I mean, the sympathy.
In addition to a print article riddled with misstated facts and total falsehoods, there was an online version of the story which featured about 300 (maybe 400, by last count) comments, most of which were NAAAASTY. Some claimed to be from disgruntled former staffers, disgruntled current staffers, and many just came from assholes with opinions.
Anyway, many of these comments were actually personally insulting to our CEO. Now, I'm no big fan of business, but I'm not an idiot either and our agency (as wonderful and non-profit as it is) is obviously a business, with an enormous budget and uncountable obligations to clients, insurance companies, and every effing branch of government, not to mention private funders and the community at large. And, I'm not ashamed to say it, I think our CEO is a good person doing a good job. There you go.
In response to the article, but mostly motivated by all the nasty comments that seem to have come from staff, the CEO decided to go to all the sites, one after the other, and hold "town halls" for people to come and ask questions, air grievances, and help her to set up the kind of atmosphere where people feel heard.
Listening to the comments and questions today, I can only say that the woman must have incredible patience. Some of those people were just plain retarded. I am obviously biased, here. Biased against ignorant, knee-jerk hippies who say stupid shit like "why did you have to close down Site X last month, why didn't you at least try to save it," or "why don't we put some effort into getting grants to run things?"
Hello, Ricky Retardo, WE'RE DOING THAT STUFF. You obviously aren't even aware that a portion of the work you do right here in this building is funded by an enormous United Way grant that your boss's boss managed to land. You want a union because you think the bosses are all pigs, but guess what? You don't work at Wal-Mart or Ford Fucking Motor Company, you work for a non-profit mental health agency during the last throes of the Bush Administration. Even if our bosses wanted to be pigs, guess what? THERE'S NOTHING IN THE TROUGH!
Good for you, though. Be an activist, that's great. But maybe go change something that needs changing. Or get some goddamn information before you walk into the meeting and make an ass out of yourself by forcing the fucking CEO (who is an awesome, no bull-shit, mental health warrior) talk you through the most basic shit that would be obvious to anyone who pulled her head out of the union's ass long enough to find out what's *actually* going on around her.
Oh but christ, don't get me started on the union...
Anyway, you should know, at the end of this little rant, that a lot of it is fueled by the fact that I'm SICK. The kind of sick that keeps you near the bathroom. The kind of sick where you have a headache but you can't take anything for it because you won't be able to keep the painkillers down. The kind of sick where you try to take your mind off the discomfort by watching Weeds on DVD, and even though it's an AWESOME show and Mary-Louise Parker is unbelievably hot, you still feel like shit. The kind of sick where you leave work early and have to cancel on your girlfriend whose dad you were supposed to meet tonight. The kind of sick where you cry a lot and lament the fact that you're a loner scorpio and your only real friend is in Africa for six months leaving no one for you to call and ask for a delivery of pepto bismal. (And when you mention pepto bismal to your girlfriend, who is getting ready to go out with her narcissistic dad who only visits once every several months, she tells you pepto is bad for you and won't help. BUT IT WILL HELP!!!)
Ok, now write sympathetic comments. That's what I love about blogging when I'm sick. The pity... I mean, the sympathy.
posted by reasonably prudent poet at 10:35 PM
6 Comments:
oh no sweet heart...... i am so sorry that a bottle of Pepto Bismol is not right there on your shelf... did you try the Po Chi pills??? do you have any of those left... so good for the tummy.....
augh..
sorry Leo is not nearby, for sure she would fly over there ....
excellent blog by the way.....
hope you are feeling better...
Poor thing - I feel your pain! About being sick AND the whole ignorance of some people. I used to work in local government and we used to get hit with hostile and ignorant citizens daily. Some people just want to rant things they never took the time to understand.
Feel better! And Mary-Louie Parker IS hot!
oh my god - that's the worst kind of sick ever. EVER!!!! I hope you feel better soon and that M comes to her senses over the Pepto. The gut wants what it wants!
In other news, I'm going to go laugh for a few minutes over "Ricky Retardo". Hahahaaa! Thank you.
i do hope you get better from being sick. sorry you had to deal with stupid folk, especially while feeling bad.
thank you all for your supportive comments, i knew i could count on you. :-)
and roro, you can thank my mom for the whole "ricky retardo" thing. and i'm pretty sure she stole it from her brother. i come from very politically correct stock.
I'm sure shopping for ingredients of any kind is the last thing you want to do but any kind of ginger-like thing works great for me...hope you feel better, you're still my favorite blogger! :)
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