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Friday, September 6, 2024

testing... testing...

Happy first weekend of September. I've got the day off from work and intend to do a bit of decluttering and other mundane things. 

This week was busy despite having Monday off. Tutoring is in full swing - I did end up having a student fill my last open slot - and it's nice to be fully booked. I do appreciate the balance of testing and tutoring. I wouldn't want to do either of them full-time, but a bit of both is nice. 

Speaking of work and balance, allow me to vent just a bit. Last week, I shared that photo that Work Study had us take with her cake, supposedly for our Grandboss. Work Study has been with us for a few semesters now, starting with a typical work study stint of just a few hours per week.

At first, it was great because we were quite short staffed at the time, and her help was much appreciated. We have since become fully staffed since bringing on Mango and having Star transfer from another campus. Meanwhile, WS has somehow greatly increased her work hours. However, we just don't need her for as many hours she "works".

Additionally, she is not cleared to provide most of our services. She can help with student tests, that's it. But we do testing for a whole slew of tests having nothing to do with the college. In short, she gets paid to hang around, take care of personal business, flirt with security, etc.

I think work study is a great program, but I often grumble inwardly, thinking of the abuse of the tax payer funded work study system happening blatantly in front of me. And I know I'm not alone as coworkers have voiced similar thoughts. 

WS was set to finish her program at the end of this semester, but yesterday, she told us that she's looking to change her major, which means another two years at the college. And she wants to keep working milking the system with our department. She went to talk to Boss about it. They were in the office with door closed for quite a while.

Shortly after emerging, she quietly asked me how she could be a better worker. She acknowledged goofing around and wanting to do better. A new leaf turning over, supposedly. She took Sarge aside as well and asked the same things.

Honestly, we struggled to come up with things she could DO better. It was more about things to stop doing - and even then, we were too nice to say much.  Sarge and I both tactfully mentioned that when each of us had work study jobs, we didn't use that time to do our homework and other personal business. In the end, we didn't have much advice to offer. 

We'll see how this plays out. I'd planned to just ride out the semester since WS was expected to move on at that point, but now this new development...

Okay, enough of that. On to the decluttering - one of my fave hobbies 😊.


Oh, and I tried out those [Chatgpt] running shoes this morning for their maiden voyage.

I took a pic of them because I noticed they were "glistening" in the kitchen light this morning - something about the upper material.

But alas, my camera didn't capture the glisten - it must be magic that cameras are unable to transmit. You'll hafta take my word for it. And it was a lovely time in the glistening shoes bought for a bargain price.

Bottom line: Chatgpt did me a solid.
Make shopping easy again.


10 comments:

John Holton said...

Maybe WS needs the money, but that should be cleared with someone, shouldn't it?

Abby said...

John, there's nothing stopping WS from working somewhere she's actually needed. I think she likes getting paid to hang out with us. I don't know why there's not more oversight.

Fresca said...

Oh dear---I hate jobs where I don't have much to do. So boring and slow...
But if there's nothing much WS is allowed to do in your workplace, couldn't (shouldn't) she get a different work study job?
Okay--I hear you--she doesn't want to--she wants to feed cake to security...
LOL
That's kinda dear, but how many minutes/day does that even take?

I loved my work-study job in college--I worked in the big library, retrieving interlibrary loans that went all over the state, and sometimes the country.
I went to many specialty libraries within the system that I wouldn't have even known about! So cool--except for Government Docs, which were a total headache (but even then, I learned a lot).

I can imagine your shoes sparkling. They certainly have the CLEAN new sheen anyway.

Abby said...

Fresca, my thoughts exactly about WS getting a different job! I personally don't want to be getting paid where I'm "dead weight". If she's honest about being a better worker, she would find a different position.
Sounds like you had a fun workstudy role. I actually worked two workstudy jobs - peer tutor, and assistant to one of the instructors. I remember cranking out tests and worksheets - on the duplicator machine! Ancient much?!

Bohemian said...

Even tho' I couldn't see your new Kicks glistening, they look comfortable and attractive. My Kiddos give me shit about mine, they're Nike but very loud Neon colors. *LOL*

Abby said...

Bohemian, be as loud as you want to be!

Liz Hinds said...

Sounds as though Boss had a quiet word with her. It's so annoying when sparkly things don't show up as sparkly. What does "Chatgpt did me a solid" mean?

Abby said...

Liz, yes, I think Boss maybe laid down a few rules.
"Chatgpt did me a solid" - I used Chatgpt AI to find me new running shoes. I literally ran with the top recommendation, and am very happy with the choice. "did me a solid" = did something helpful. Youthful slang?

The Happy Whisk said...

She sounds young and untrained. Are you guys able to stop her when she does homework and tell her not to do that? She sounds like she needs training. And that's on your boss for allowing her to do non-work things when getting paid.

Abby said...

Happy Whisk, you understand perfectly! She's not even that young, just a bit "immature", I'd say. She's stepped up her game this week... so far.