The Bad, Part II

(I know, I know . . . I took another hiatus! Shame on me!)

In part one I kind of introduced you to The Villagers (that's usually how we refer to them) and their sheer hatred of meters. And also their belief that we are fixing all the wrong things first. Case in point, I just had a gentleman in the office who was on the Board a few years ago who wanted to know "what hell was wrong with the generator" and why we have to spend money to fix it because "there's nothing wrong with it - change the oil and put a new battery in it". The generator in question hasn't run in a number of years and needs several things fixed. But I politely told the gentleman that I personally have no idea what may or may not be wrong with it, but that the guys would look it more in depth before winter hits and figure out what it needs.

That seems to have placated him for the moment.

As he left, another Villager called and spent the next 20 minutes telling me exactly who started one of the many rumors about those of us that work for the water company. We apparently need to make sure to wear our suits of armor because one of them is a "midget (I think the PC term is Little Person) with severe mental illness, who carries around a sword and a nigger-beater" and that her "husband/current boyfriend is a murderer" and that "they are both drug addicts". She believes that they've killed her cats because they accused her of doping their dogs when she took care of them after they over dosed on whatever drug of choice.

This has been my Friday afternoon.

And believe me, this is far from the worst of anything.

It began slowly, with Boyfriend talking to people about wasting water and issuing fines for doing so. A couple people started spouting off that Boyfriend has a bad attitude and he's menacing and harassing customers.

We took that with a  grain of salt. I mean, seriously, Boyfriend comes to town in the middle of the worst drought on record and tells people they no longer have "unlimited" water and that they can't wash their car in the street or water the road or drain their pool because they thought it looked crooked (yes, someone actually did that) or flood alley ways. Of course some people aren't going to like him. Duh.

The Board of Director's continued to tell Boyfriend to do his job and that if any customer gave him shit, to tell that customer that they could talk to the Board.

Part of this begins in May, when one Board Member resigned. According to our By-Laws, should a vacancy occur on the Board within 90 days of the annual shareholder meeting, then we have to hold an election. BUT, if the vacancy happens to occur more than 90 days from the meeting, then the two remaining Board Members can appoint someone to fill the empty seat. The appointed person would be confirmed at the next annual shareholder meeting.

One Villager expressed interest in being on the Board. The Board Members discovered that they lived outside of the subdivision and cannot be on the Board. In the end they appointed someone else. So this Villager comes to a meeting of the other water company and accosts us when we leave. He kept telling us we "can't do this to an American citizen". I think he thought that one of the reasons he didn't get on the Board was that he's a Cuban immigrant. We kept trying to tell him that the we had nothing to do with the decision and that he can come to our Board Meeting the following week and bring it up to the Board. Finally this Villager tried to push Boyfriend; when he didn't budge, the Villager then flopped himself against the wall and fell on the floor and claimed that Boyfriend assaulted him.

We both stood there like, "WTF? Are you serious??"

I lost my cool and said, "This . . . this here, is bullshit." And we left. And called the sheriff's department.

Later in June, Boyfriend and our other employee tell me that about 20 empty chemical buckets were stolen from the company. And not just from any part of the company - the wastewater treatment plant. My first question is, who in their right mind breaks into a wastewater treatment plant??? Boyfriend had kept the empty bleach tablet buckets to use for random things - carrying tools, hauling soil, or covered tomato plants so they wouldn't freeze. He had looked all over and couldn't find any evidence of forced entry to the treatment plant, which meant that someone must have either scaled the fence and made it over the razor wire or they had a key.

Of course, we're still dealing with the typical "you can't shut me off, so I won't pay my bill" customers; the "I pay my water bill so I can use as much water as I want" customers; the "You're gouging us customers to put money in your own pocket" customers; and my personal favorite, the "we're not in a drought" customers. You know, typical.

To be continued.....



The Bad, Part I

I alluded to some bad that has happened during my hiatus. Actually, a lot. First, here's some basics and a tiny taste of some of the negativity.

As I've mentioned, Boyfriend manages a small water company. It's a "mutual" so that means that all the customers "own" a piece of it. It's been run by the "good ol' boys" club for the past 40 years. They've never had a licensed operator to run the place and somehow managed to get away with it. Nothing was updated or upgraded. Band-aides were put on only when forced. Being so small, the state turned a blind eye. Until the last couple years. And the band-aides aren't working anymore.

Last year, the state finally inspected the surface water treatment plant and found some deficiencies - because it's 60 years old. Because of these deficiencies, when we have to use the river and run the treatment plant, we have to issue a boil advisory, per state law. Due to the drought, we've had to use the river to since March, about 4 months earlier than normal. We have 5 wells that, up until now, have provided adequate or near adequate water supply. But they are slowly running dry; two of them are dead in the water. One is consistent, and two are intermittent. If we don't get any rain this winter, by the first of the year we could be forced to use the river as our only supply. By law, we can only pull so much out of the river in a day; plus our plant is only designed to handle that maximum amount in a day. Any more than that and it just overflows and goes right back into the river.

Another problem is that when Boyfriend started, none of the customers were metered. Everyone pays a flat rate for what they believe is "unlimited water". No one has ever really been able to show these people how much water they waste. Earlier in the year, we instituted a strict water waste policy (well, strict for these people anyway), where if water was in the street, it's waste and fines are added to their account. We even made sure to take pictures to prove to people. They would argue about it while letting it continue to run in the street that they "pay their bill and therefore can use as much water as I want". Seriously.

A lot of changes have happened in a very short period of time. Boyfriend started last December, I started in April and the three Board Members have only been around a year or less each. They are all learning and have been surprised to learn how bad of shape the system is. They agreed to updating the water waste policy so that there were fines attached; they agreed to changing the due date (it used to be the 10th of the month and I suggested the 15th or 20th, they chose the 15th) and agreed that the due date should be enforced; they agreed to do public monthly board meetings, even though as a mutual, we don't have to; they loved the idea of a newsletter to go out with the bills; they want the water company to become a non-profit so we can pursue grant funding; they want meters installed.

All of us are aware that a lot of our customers have lived here for 20, 30 or even 40 years and they aren't used to the changes. They don't like and they don't want it. As one customer shouted during a special informational meeting about becoming a non-profit, "WE DON'T WANT METERS! WE DON'T WANT THEM!!" The anger over meters shocked the shit out of our panel. We had invited our attorney, our drinking water engineer from Ca Dept of Health, our waste water engineer from the Regional Water Quality Control Board, and a gal from Cal Rural Water Association; who are all in favor of us becoming a non-profit.

So what are people concerned with? Rates. That's it.

They associate changing to a non-profit with rate increases. They associate meters with rate increases. They associate grants with rate increases. They associate loans with rate increases. They believe we are fixing the wrong things first. They believe we're spending money where we don't need to.

They want an all new system with a guarantee of zero rate increases. They want us to replace the distribution system first because the pipes are old. However, our drinking water engineer says that is one of the lowest things on their list to fund, while things like new surface water treatment plants, new wells, new storage tanks - those are priorities.

We actually had some guy who, even after the difference between a grant and a loan were explained, said he didn't want to pay back a grant and would rather pay back a loan. He believed that it's fair that he pays $40 a month for water and two people live in his house, and a few houses down there's a house with 10 people living in it and they only pay $40 a month of water. He didn't believe, however, that his bill would go up at all in order to pay back the loan(s).

We have people that tell us that meters are a complete waste of money and they are inaccurate. We've installed approximately 35 meters. In July, we found 12 houses that used nearly 1 million gallons of water. One house alone used 240,000 gallons; the previous owner's son tried to blame that on the water company - that my guys installed a meter and broke pipes and refused to fix them. But Boyfriend didn't some looking around and discovered that someone had purposefully set the toilet to run non-stop. Meters have also shown some people just how much they actually use. One guy, who has one of the nicest and greenest yards was shocked to see that in two weeks he had used nearly 30,000 gallons. After that we noticed he cut back a bit.

We have not decided on a rate structure; that will probably happen sometime next year once meters are completed. We've been using a nearby water company's rate structure as an example since they are smaller than us. We've discovered that some people's bills would actually go down; some would stay the same, and yes, some would go up. But we're finding there are people who don't think it's fair to pay for the water that they themselves are using.

While this is just some of the negativity, there is more. Much, much more.

Facebook Asshatery - Over Cute Dog Pics - Seriously

So, I went onto Facebook and was informed of my "notifications". Four of those notifications were for the water company's Facebook page (it took about 3 months, but we're finally getting a couple of likes). So I went and took a look at these comments from some random person whose name I didn't recognize.

The first one I went to was a post that I put up on Tuesday. I had a picture of Libby and was being a bit silly with the post and in all honesty, who doesn't enjoy a random dog picture? Apparently the woman commenter doesn't. (I'm dog-sitting for my parents this week while they are away for their anniversary).

 

Come on, who doesn't love a cute dog pic once in awhile??

"Libby's Random Water Fact: There are over 59,000 community public water systems."

This woman's comment was, "Dogs Like Water Toooooooo......."

Well, yes, they do. Just like us they need it to survive. I was a bit weirded out by her comment but I moved onto the next. The next post she commented on was from earlier in July when I posted a friendly reminder about a board of director's meeting that night.

"Friendly reminder - our regular monthly Board of Director's Meeting is tonight at 7pm at the Community Center on Blah Street."

Her comment was, "Is everyone invited? Maybe not......"

My response was, "The regular monthly meeting is open to the general public for comments, questions or any concerns; however, business and any voting is done by shareholders. The next meeting is August Blah at 7pm."

Now, prior to the current board/staff, not all board meetings were public. They also weren't always posted publicly. For the record, as a Mutual, we are governed slightly different than a normal water company. I've done some homework. It appears that anyone who wishes to attend a public board meeting is supposed to RSVP. Seriously. They are supposed to call in advance and let us know they plan to attend. Also, we don't have to have public meetings. However, we want our residents to be better informed of what's going on. They all believe they know more about the system, how to deal with the issues, how to replace the 60 year old infrastructure and in what order, yadda yadda yadda. What they fail to realize is that they are part of the problem. In the past 60 years this system has been around, no one has ever invested anything in the infrastructure. Anything that was repaired or replaced was done because they were absolutely forced to - as in, they had no other choice. Here's another picture: For the past 15 years (or more) one of the two river pumps has been broken. They've never replaced it because they had a working one. What they failed to realize is that if that good pump had failed, they wouldn't have been able to deliver water to their customers in the summer. Also? Similar situation with one of the two pumps at the treatment plant - one works well and the other one leaks oil like crazy, so we can't use it. If the good pump failed - again, no water would be delivered to customers in summer. We've replaced both. Well, one of them is at a pump shop, but the one is already replaced and working well.

Anyway, only shareholders are allowed to conduct business at the meetings. But we do open the regular monthly meeting to the general public so they can ask questions, share any concerns they have, or comment on what's going on. And, the agendas for the meetings are now posted one week in advance in 4 locations, plus it is now in the newsletter I started up and began putting in with bills in July. Can't tell me people aren't notified.

 Moving on, the next post she commented on was the one the day after the board meeting. The meeting got a bit out of control.  The meeting had garnered a lot of interest as I had started putting a newsletter in with the bills, we'd made some changes to the rules, and we were enforcing the rules. This had ruffled a lot of feathers. Residents kept interrupting with their questions so that it was difficult to get through the agenda. When we tried to move on, people would shout out, "We have questions!! We should be able to ask questions!!" Seriously. Even when we explained that would get to them at the end where it says, "Public Comment" at the end of the agenda. Then we'd quickly get off topic because one question would lead to another that would lead to another and so on. Even I had to shout to get people to be quiet. Once more than one person starts talking in that room, you can't hear anyone - it echoes horribly. Trying to decipher shit from the recorder was very interesting. Anyway, here's my post:

"We would like to thank everyone that came to the Board Meeting last night. We had an excellent turnout - approximately 25 people (which by the way is a huge turn-out as we usually have zero). While we understand all the topics discussed were "hot items", we would also like to remind everyone that those who come the meetings should always be respectful to everyone at the meetings - Board, Staff and Customers alike. All of us care very much about the Water Company and want only the best for it. Please remember that. We are happy to talk with any of our customers who have questions or concerns about any of the changes or problems with the Water System - but again, please be civil and respectful. Rudeness helps no one."

My reason for such a post was that folks were quite rude that night. I spoke with a couple customers the day after the meeting who were upset by how the meeting was handled - by everyone involved. I told them that yes, it could have been handled better and that I would speak with the board members about some basic rules of conduct for meetings and such and that hopefully, we can all learn from that meeting and move forward. They agreed and we very happy that I took time out of my day to meet with them and hear their concerns.

Her response was, "Civil....Respectful....I think that considering the circumstances a little rudeness may be appropriate here. I live in NC and already am aware of the lawlessness involved in the way you run this company. Go back on disability for heavens sake and give your community a chance!"

My response was, "We are not "lawless" as you claim. We're attempting to make up for things have not been done for 40 years. By getting things accomplished, we are ensuring that we can get grant funding to upgrade an ailing and aging system. We realize that all of us (board and residents) could have handled our last board meeting better. We can only move forward and hopefully become better. None of us are "going back on disability" because we weren't on it to begin with."

It took me a few minutes to wrap my head around this comment because the last bit really makes absolutely no sense. Firstly, I totally understand that the residents at the meeting had every right to be upset. What no one enjoyed was them trying to run the damn meeting, talk over each other, yell at all of us for something that happened two years ago when none of us were employed or on the board at that time, attempt to throw us under the bus for things previous board and staff did or didn't do, or tell us how to do our jobs. Now, not everyone was a "Negative Nelly", we did have supporters in the crowd. But the naysayers were the loudest. Granted, members of the board could have handled things differently . . . or better . . . but like I said, it's something that we can learn from and hopefully improve. The last dig about "go back on disability for heavens sake and give your community a chance!" - that's what is confusing. If we "go back on disability" (which ain't gonna happen), and leave, the company will go under. Without a licensed operator (Boyfriend), the state will more than likely step in and take over and their rates will quadruple at best. The board has told me that more has been accomplished in the 7 months since Boyfriend's been employed than in the history that they know of. They same the same to me about me in the 4 months I've been at the office. But just up and leaving, we risk condemning the company to utter failure and ruin. And we care too fucking much to let that happen. Also, the "lawlessness"? I'm the one that discovered our company had been operating without worker's comp insurance for a year and a half - previous board/staff allowed it to get canceled due to non-payment. I had to haul ass and fix that shit fast. We're covered now, just an FYI.

And my personal favorite. I had posted this on Monday - again, I'm dog-sitting and often when I have the dogs, I will take them to the office with me so they're not stuck at home all day (except for Wednesday, because I had to go to the other water office and I couldn't take them with me, plus I had to run to town for deposits). They make me get up every couple hours to take 5 minutes or so for a quick walk outside, but otherwise, they don't disturb me and prevent me from getting my work done.

 

Sleeping on the job. But they're cute.

"I have office buddies this week! So far, Libby has been a good "alerter" of knocks at the door, but otherwise, they're both kinda sleeping on the job! lol "

Her response was, "Hey W (meaning Boyfriend), or your girlfriend or your mother......Is this really what Lewiston CA residents pay you to do? Time to get back to business. Do you not realize or appreciate that your community is in crisis? Ummm...."

My response was, "Office buddies or no, things are getting done - business was not interrupted. If you're curious about the things that have been accomplished, we'd be happy to let you know. You're welcome to email us at abcwatercompany@email.com or give us a call."

I had warned Boyfriend of backlash from the community for hiring his girlfriend to be the office manager; although, she's not currently in the community. All of us (board, Boyfriend, me) were concerned about nepitism, but overall, it's turned out well. Boyfriend spends very little time in the office, so I'm alone much of the time to work at my pace. I've accomplished a lot in the office, even though some days it feels like I don't. About the mother bit - the office pays my mother mileage once or twice a month tops to come up and help me learn some of the ins and outs of running a water company; it's cheaper than paying her $20/hr. She's an excellent contact being that she worked for a water company for nearly 25 years. She's been a big help!

Now, I did a bit of digging. I didn't recognize the woman's surname, and by her own admission lives in North Carolina. So, unless she's from here and knows folks here, in our service district, she wouldn't know much. So I clicked on her friends list. And there it was - the office gal before me who up and quit in January with absolutely no notice. The same person who couldn't answer anyone's questions without changing the subject or crying or getting angry. The same person who flatly refused to work in the office and keep any kind of business hours. The same person who didn't want the company computer at the office, but instead she wanted to keep it at her house. That's where she's getting her information from. From someone who doesn't see the big picture and hates Boyfriend. From someone who makes shit up and spreads the word (people 'fess up that they've heard it from her).

Now it all makes perfect sense.

But I'm still pissed.

And some days, I just really want to tell folks what I think of them. Some days, it just makes me want to cry.

And then I remember what a PR nightmare that shit would be, so I keep my mouth shut.

It looks like I have my weekends back

Life has been crazy busy. However, as of this week, it will be slightly less crazy busy. I received an email from the company I work for on weekends, saying that Pro Plan, the pet food that I have been representing for the past year, has decided to suddenly cut back on their Pet Nutritional Consultant contract they have with the company I work for. Effective July 12, over half of the PNC's are technically out of a job. Myself included.

Since I had taken Saturday, July 5th off for a wedding and Saturday, July 12th off for a family BBQ, my only day to work would be Sunday July 6th. Payroll ends on the 5th, so it just wouldn't be worth it to get only $60. So I emailed my district manager and said that I wouldn't be working on Sunday. Basically I tendered my resignation after technically being laid off.

Either way, now I will have my weekends back. For the first time in a year, I will have my weekends free to do whatever I want. Pretty sure I'll be cleaning house or baking cookies or hanging out on the lake.

I had been contemplating quitting the weekend job for at least a month as I've been spread so thin between it, the two water companies and my grandparents publication. And at least half of what I made from the weekend job went to gas.

So now, I have my weekends back.

Also? Boyfriend put an offer in on a house. Eeeeeekkkk!!!!

And what did we do with my first weekend off? Drove to Fall River to see my cousin get married, bummed a night in my parents 5th wheel, had "brunch", drove to my parents house to visit with my aunt and cousin from Georgia and Granny, got groceries, came home and put groceries away and promptly went to Lewiston Lake for a couple hours before coming back home and cooking a yummy dinner of BBQ chicken, beans, garlic bread and salad. 

It was a good weekend. :)

Oh What A Week It's Been

Seriously. What. a. week. The phrase, "stick a fork in me, I'm done!" seems fairly accurate.

My last post was about the new kitty I adopted. I had been eyeing her for a month at the Humane Society kiosk inside Petsmart - every weekend I grew more fond of her. I finally convinced Boyfriend to agree and we managed to get our landlord to agree as well. We knew our other cat, Wyatt, missed having Harriet around and could use a playmate. The Humane Society had named her "Starla", but Boyfriend and I both agreed we needed something else. After a few days, Boyfriend came up with a name that I think suits her, and we both like it. "Lacey" is her new name and it's taken two weeks to come out of her shell, but she's a happy cat. Her favorite place is usually under the spare bed; if not there, then the window sill in the "cat room". She now comes out around the house, plays with Wyatt (and usually kicks hiss ass a little, too), and is showing her sweet side.

The weekend that I adopted Lacey, my Nana and Mom both came down with a horrible flu-like bug. Terrible, horrible. One you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy. Wednesday night, it hit me. At 1:30 in the morning. Fortunately I had been forewarned regarding all that happens, so I wasn't surprised that I had to immediately jump in the shower. I figure I lost close to ten pounds in two days. While I was physically sick for one day, I didn't eat for nearly two and lost a lot of fluids. I went to work Friday morning simply to do payroll, to ensure it got done the way I do it.

The weekend I wasn't feeling well, I called in sick to my weekend job. I just didn't have the strength or stamina to stand/walk for four hours at a time. We made a quick stop at the Peddler's Fair, where I found the gal that makes the soap I love, and bought soaps. Then, we took the boat out on Lewiston Lake, and putted around. The speed limit is only 10mph on the entire lake - the lake is actually a very large river, really. When Trinity Dam releases water from Trinity Lake, it flows into the original riverbed, which was never dredged; and flows to Lewiston Dam where water will be released into the original Trinity River, which goes to Whiskeytown Lake. Yeah, I know, confusing. Basically, Lewiston Lake is barely a lake, it's more a really big river. There I started my tan. It was a nice, relaxing day.

Monday brought a busy work week as I'm trying to figure out our worker's comp insurance, retyped the Rules and Regulations, paid a bunch of bills, and began working on a updated 2014 Budget - with actual figures for the first half and better estimates for the rest of the year. Next up will be working on a budget for the beginning of 2015 and then maybe try to work out a 5 year budget. We'll need that sort of thing for future grants anyway. Plus we had a board meeting and I had to get everything ready for that. Also? We are in dire need of replacing our second river pump - most water companies have some sort of "redundant" system, so that if one pump fails, we still have another to pull water from the River (which is our back-up source in the summer). One of our pumps doesn't work. It hasn't for 15 years. Looks like it will cost a minimum of $15,000. We were hoping to get emergency funds from the State to reimburse us, but since we have some money socked away in a CD, we won't get reimbursed. It's all on us. Bleh.

Wednesday brought a headache in the form of a water pipe buried TWELVE FEET. Why someone would bury it that far down, I'm not sure. But Boyfriend tore up the pipe because he couldn't see anything from the backhoe and the hole was muddy and had water in it. The school, which is where they were digging, has had no running water since Wednesday. Boyfriend discovered that it's a copper pipe and had to order parts. Then he discovered it wasn't 2" pipe, it was 3" pipe, which evidently 3" copper pipe is practically unheard of. While the students are out of school for summer, admin staff are still there and have no water. They are livid, even though, Boyfriend is moving as fast as he can to get parts to fix it. All this to install a meter. *sigh*

We got GREAT NEWS on Wednesday, too. The grant I applied for three weeks ago - just heard back that we are among 8 companies selected to receive money!!! It still has to be approved by the Policy Review Committee, but at least we are in the running. I actually got teary when I read the email.

Thursday night, Boyfriend and I went to see the Eli Young Band in Redding. It was a good show. :)   And don't let my camera fool you, I could actually see his facial expressions, although my camera makes it look like I'm far away. lol We had pretty good seats.

In the middle of the night, Boyfriend woke me up - he was sick. He is sure his is actual food poisoning and not the weird flu-like bug that resembles food poisoning in how quick and violently it hits you. In in the middle of this, he's making phone calls to somehow get running water back to the school since now we can't get parts until Monday. If the school doesn't kill us in our sleep, we should count our lucky stars.

And now, I'm starving, so I think I will have some leftover fish tacos I made a couple nights ago. Pretty sure Boyfriend won't eat anything; food poisoning or the flu will kill whatever appetite you have. I'm hiding in the bedroom while he's sleeping in the living room. I don't want my typing to disturb him. However, dinner will. It's a catch 22. Oh well. I just hope next week is better.

 

Just Keep Swimming

And that is exactly what I've been doing. For the past two weeks I have been buried in work. 

About a month ago, my Board of Directors wished me to fill out an application for the IRS to change our company's status to Non-Profit. One of our Members had filed an extension on our taxes, saying we had to wait for our tax preparer to be less busy after tax season; the reason I mention this is that the application required the finances for the current year, and the previous three years. So in order to complete it, I needed our 2013 taxes. And I have never done corporate taxes before, and I honestly believe it's best for a CPA to do them. About two weeks ago, I got a notice from the IRS saying they had rejected our application for extension. I automatically called our accountant and was informed that the deadline for corporate taxes was March 15th. The Board Member didn't mail the extension in until April. *sigh* I then asked her about doing our taxes and mentioned I was told we had to wait until she wasn't as busy with tax season. She seemed a bit confused about that. The next day I got her the information she needed. A week later she called to say they were done. I picked them up, got ahold of said Board Member to sign them and I will take them back on Tuesday for them to be submitted. Now, here's the thing: apparently last fall, a board member and the previous office gal had submitted a grant application to the California Department of Public Health, for planning funds (for upgrading our 60 year old system). The CDPH will not award funds to a For-Profit company. This Board Member knew about this for the past 6 months or so, and has been twiddling his thumbs and sitting on his ass. I show up and have it completed rather quickly, especially once the taxes were done.

Before this whole fiasco, I had typed up all the answers into a Word document so that I could copy and paste my answers into the form online and then print it out so that I could send it in. Now, pause this application for just a moment.

Also, two and a half weeks ago, Boyfriend asked me to go to a seminar that he couldn't make it to, regarding planning and funding. I agreed to go, believing it would be a snooze-fest. Oddly enough, it wasn't and it was super helpful on top of it. I learned of a grant that our company could apply for. As a For-Profit company (still), we are very limited in grant funding; only one agency will even consider it. And as it happens, this is one that did. Unfortunately, it was due in two weeks. I have never written a grant before, so this was going to be fun.

For two weeks, I have thought of nothing but this grant. I decided to not work on the Non-Profit application until the grant was finished. I had hour long phone calls with a gal who was my contact for assistance with the grant as she answered my questions and explained things. I lived and breathed this thing. Holy shit those things are hard! And this was a fairly "easy" one. I spent hours putting together supplemental documents and trying to track down agencies that would write a letter of support at the last minute. The grant was from Prop 84 funding for drought preparedness. As most know, California Governor Jerry Brown declared a State of Emergency due to the extremely dry winter we had. And previous not-so-went winters as well. Our little water company needs money to install meters on our customers. At the rate we can afford, we might be able to install two meters a month. That would take us a minimum of 6 years to complete. Our customers are on a flat rate for "unlimited" water and we have no way to enforce conservation. Our well production numbers are declining and we had to turn on the river pump a least two months earlier than normal to meet customer demand. Should this drought continue, it's possible our wells will start drying up and if the river  is too low, we won't be able to use it, either. We'd be up Shit Creek without a paddle. Hell, without a raft as well. We'd just be in Shit Creek. Installing meters is a very important first step for us - once we have meters, we can do a proper rate study to see how much water each household is using, come up with a new billing system, and we can enforce conservation. With grant funding, we could have all the meters installed in just a few months.

Last Monday, I got a call from a Board Member that he would like to take the Non-Profit application down to our contact at the Department of Public Health Drinking Water in Redding for review before sending it to the IRS. He was going to Redding on Friday and would like it done before then.

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!

I juggled the two for the week. On Thursday, I finished up the Non-Profit application and made copies of all required documents that had to be sent in. After lunch, I worked the rest of the day on finishing up the grant application. I wanted to send it in early, in case there were any issues. The deadline was 5pm on the 26th, which for those of us in the States is a Federal Holiday - Memorial Day. The gal I needed to email it to (the gal whom I had been in contact with) wouldn't be at the office. Just before 8:30pm on Thursday, I emailed the grant in.

I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders. I hadn't realized just how stressed I had been for two weeks. I actually cried a little. And I was suddenly very tired.

Friday morning my grant contact called me and said we needed to fix a couple things. I fixed (hopefully) the issues and emailed it back to her.

Our contact at the Department of Health Drinking Water emailed me Friday to let me know that at a cursory glance the Non-Profit application looked good.

It's now out of my hands.

Talk about acquiring new job skills. I can now add grant writer to the list of things I can do.

I've learned that with this job, it's sink or swim baby. Deep end only. No shallow end and no kiddie pool.

My grant application. At least an inch thick.

The Non-Profit application. Right around an inch thick. On top is an "expedite letter" so that hopefully by telling them the one thing holding up grant funding is out status.

A - Z Challenge: eXample and Yuck

Since I haven't read any books that begin with the last three letters of the alphabet (at least none that I can remember lol), I'll be winging it from here.

X can be for "example". As in, for example, I now work for a teeny tiny mountain town water company - I am the office gal. It's amazing how terribly the place has been run for the past 50 years. And no, I'm not joking. For example, apparently no one has enforced the Rules and Regulations very well. Like people who haven't paid their water bills have never been shut off. Totally serious. No one has ever enforced water conservation because no one is on a meter - it's flat rate for unlimited water use and this town uses like three times the national average (roughly 250-300 gallons per day, which to a third world country would be considered outlandish waste of water). Seriously? You bet. And since we're in a major drought at the moment, you can bet that's going over real well. For example, their billing statements have no due date listed even though technically the due date is the 10th of each month (according to the Rules and Regulations). It's never been enforced, so payments trickle in all month long and late fees have only been added if a payment isn't received by the next billing cycle. Crazy? Yes. Truth? Of course.

Y can be for "yuck". As in, it's a yucky situation for Boyfriend and myself because we're now enforcing said Rules and Regulations and in fact, today (Tuesday) is shut-off day. We're happy to work with customers and create a payment plan (no interest, can't beat that shit) and have them sign a contract. There are about five people who keep telling Boyfriend that he can't shut their water off; I think they think that he's bluffing. Unfortunately he's not bluffing. They don't pay, they get shut off. And a few people want to take their matters and feelings to the Board of Directors. I wish them luck because the Board is semi-new within the last year and they want action, which exactly what Boyfriend is doing.

Another yucky thing is that the system is so old (50 years) and there are actually a handful of houses that we can't turn off. And the homeowners know it. Slowly, Boyfriend has been renting a backhoe and digging up people's yards to put in a proper service so that can be shut off. And no, they weren't nice yards, either, so the water company digging up their yard was actually an improvement. Seriously.

Oh the fun.

 

A - Z Challenge: (My New) Quest

Okay, so this isn't a book review. I haven't read anything that starts with Q. So, I am taking a tiny break from my book review theme of the A - Z Challenge.

My new "quest" can also be called a part-time job! I believe I've mentioned before that Boyfriend manages a tiny water district in a tiny mountain town. He started just after Thanksgiving. Well, the office gal they had up and quit in January, leaving the water company high and dry. She cited in her resignation letter that Boyfriend had his own personal agenda and she couldn't just sit there and watch it happen. No one knows what the hell she was talking about because Boyfriend is trying to get the water company back into good standing with the state and trying to get grants to redo the systems. I digress.

For a month Boyfriend pestered the board of directors to hire me as their new office gal. All of March they himmed and hawed over this until finally, two of them said, "We really need someone! When can she start?" They were unsure of hiring me because I am living with Boyfriend and that is considered nepotism. Those two finally convinced the third board member to agree to hiring me. Oh to live and work in Small Town, America. lol

Since April 2nd I've been slaving away. It's supposed to be a part-time job, just a few hours a week. Five or ten hours, really. I've been working so hard and way more than ten hours a week. The last office gal who is supposedly also a "bookkeeper" sucks at filing. I have been filing papers from the last ten years that have just been "swept under the rug" so to speak and shoved in a random filing cabinet. The board members took over receiving customer payments and paying bills.

I've been thrown in (actually I kind of jumped) into the deep end, never having worked for a water company before. My quest or goal is to make them run more efficiently and with fewer errors. Today alone (I'm writing this on Wednesday) I spoke with three customers regarding errors on their accounts. Two had sent in nasty notes on their statements, but luckily for me they were very nice and understanding when I explained my situation and were so appreciative that I had taken the time to call them to let them know I had fixed the errors. One customer showed up in person and was so happy that someone seemed to be keeping "office hours". We discussed her past due amounts and she happily agreed to sign a contract stating exactly how much she would pay each month until her account was paid in full.

Then I had a guy from a bank call me regarding a lien on a property due to lack of payment as the house had evidently been repossessed. I explained that I was new to the water company and asked him to list exactly what he needed from me. He gave me his email and phone to give him the information and to let him know if I had any questions.

Mom came up on Tuesday to teach me how to do payroll taxes. I've never done payroll or their taxes before. Mom's a good teacher, and she got me all squared away. She even offered to come up to help me get the office running like it should. She worked for a water company for over 20 years and knows this stuff inside and out. Thank God for my mother!

It's been an interesting two weeks with the new job, I can tell you that. And I plan to edit their billing statements, get them using Quick Books for more than just the basics (because I know it can do so much more), the filing completely caught up, accounts payable and receivables properly lined out, the office clean, and make them more efficient overall. It's going to take some time.

 

I get home each day and even if I've only worked three or four hours, I am so mentally drained . . . I'm exhausted! But I am accomplishing things little by little. And that makes me happy.

How to create a cluster-f*$#

Step 1. Be scheduled to work your part-time job on weekends.

Step 2. Work Saturday.

Step 3. Decide on Saturday night that you wish to not work on Sunday because you and Boyfriend need to go cut a Christmas tree and also to see where Boyfriend now works. And also to learn a bit how things operate. Not to mention you've been working seven days a week for four months and you need a break. (also not to mention, I rarely do something like this.)

Step 4. Call the store on Sunday morning and tell them a simple story of, "I tripped in a gopher hole on the way to the chicken coop that was still covered by two inches of snow." (totally feasible).

Step 5. Email your manager to let her know the same story, saying, "All will be well by next weekend." Keeping the story the same just in case the store is audited by the company I work for and trace it to my district managers.

Step 6. Enjoy the day off with Boyfriend, spending a few hours watching him work and learning in the process. Cut down a Christmas tree that is only 13 feet tall, even though you've told him several times that you really only need a 5' tree. Enjoy the setting up of the tree - discovering that it's too big for the tree stand and instead have to use an orange 5 gallon bucket.

Step 7. Go to bed, tired and happy after a nice "play hooky" kind of day spending it with Boyfriend.

Step 8. Receive email Monday from an HR person at weekend job saying that she's sorry to hear about my "twisted ankle" and that I've been put on medical leave until a doctor releases me back to work since my job requires standing and walking for four hours at a time. Email back and forth with gal, trying to reason with her that a doctor visit will cost me $100, which I don't have. Nope, doesn't work.

Step 9. Scrimp and save and try to find time for doctor appointment. Call around to walk-in clinics only to be told the same thing - the price is over $100 just to have a doctor sign a piece of paper. Between the holidays, my (so-called) full-time job and trying to get a spare $100, it takes 3 weeks to find the time.

Step 10. Face the music, visit doctor, pay $107 for a physician's assistant to sign a piece of paper. At least she thought it as ridiculous as I did after I explained them forcing me to go to a doctor when I hadn't been hurt on the job. Go back to work the next weekend.

And that, folks, is how you create an award-winning cluster-fuck.

Lesson. Learned.

Here's One Way To Start the New Year

And it's definitely not the way a person would prefer to start out their new year.

Unemployed.

No fucking shit.

My boss called me into her office on Thursday after the other gals went to lunch.

Apparently they are eliminating my position due to lack of work.

I have been forced to leave early most days for over a month because I don't have enough work to do. In the back of my mind I worried something like this would happen. Because I can understand a few days here and there, but nearly every day?

I cleaned out my desk and left. I deposited my final pay check.

And I drove to my parents house as I knew they'd be home. I spent two hours crying on their shoulders.

Then I drove home. Boyfriend's Grandma and mom were there and I told them. They were shocked.

Boyfriend got home about an hour later and upon seeing me home early (yet again), he jokingly said, "That boss of yours needs a talking to."

I replied with, "What boss?"

The look on his face was priceless. It took a few minutes for him to wrap his mind around it.

He gave me a big bear hug and told me everything would be okay.

He gave me a margarita and had me split help him split wood.

I am so thankful that I had the brains to keep my weekend pet nutrition job and of course writing for my grandparents paper. It may only be a few hundred dollars a month that come in from them, but it's enough to keep me afloat.

And on top of this.... I managed to get whatever nasty stomach bug that is going around.

Thank you New Year for kicking a girl while she's down. Not only did it hit me while I was out in town, but I had to have an embarrassing time in the bathroom at Macy's.

It is apparent that 2014 and I are not getting along very well as of yet.

2013 Year-End Review

How is it possible for a year to fly by and simultaneously drag on? Because that's what 2013 has been like. A weird trick on the mind. The last few months I feel like I just haven't had the time to blog like normal, nor keep up with reading everyone's blogs. No . . . wait. That actually happened. I strive to keep up in 2014. At least better than I have as of late.

Boyfriend is currently snoozing on the couch after a long day at work, while I'm sitting in my recliner after a long day at work. Our dinner was random leftovers, and I'm wanting cookies for dessert - but I already ate them all. Must mean I need to make more. That's what I'm going with.

So, here's my 2013 Year End schpeel. Let's see what happened:

The start of 2013 found me working for a veterinary office that turned out to be a horrible fit for me. I was so unhappy it actually physically affected me. I literally felt ill driving to work every day. I had also signed up for online dating again (at my mother's urging to "give it another whirl"). I met a guy named Dan and it turned out he had zero personality. I gave him 3 dates to make sure, but nothing improved and it just fizzled on it's own.

My birthday (I turned the big 33) started the Pam Tillis song All the Good Ones Are Gone playing over and over in my head. I emailed a guy from the dating site and we made it to the phone call stage and he neglected to call on his turn. After a week I emailed him to politely let him have it and of course, never heard from him again.

March brought on a whirlwind of changes. I "separated" from the vet's office that I was so miserable at. The Office Manager, or The World's Biggest Bitch as I like to call her, fired me, stating that she had "taken too many chances with me". No matter what I did, I could not please her because she thought I was something I wasn't. She thought I was a licensed tech, which I told her I wasn't before she hired me. I couldn't answer the phone correctly.  My personality was all wrong. Everything I said was inaccurate. Nothing was ever clean enough when I did it. No matter what it was, I did it wrong. I'm surprised she didn't tell me I did the whole breathing thing wrong. Right about the time I breathed a huge sigh of relief and left that hell hole, I "met" another guy online. We quickly began texting during all waking hours and even into the sleeping ones. We texted all. the. time. Mom started playing "Where's Waldo?" as he was truck driving and we never knew where I'd find him the next day. I also began the extremely fun step of getting unemployment and the incompetence of it all.

On April 1st, I met Boyfriend for the very first time. We met up for lunch and wound up spending the entire afternoon together (which I've never done with anyone I ever met from online dating). I finally had to break the day off as I had to cook dinner for Mom's birthday. That weekend he was back in town for what ended up being 9 days and we were totally inseparable. He went back on the road for a week and quit his job. He hasn't left my side since. (insert adorable "awwwww" here)  I also found part-time work thanks to a cousin who ran a wedding rental business. He also gave Boyfriend a job for the summer, too.

May brought about my parents 5 week road trip to baseball parks and national parks. I managed to not burn the house down and Boyfriend and I got a taste of actually living together. 

June brought my parents back home (finally!). I continued the job hunt for full or part-time work to no avail. Job interviews led to rejection letters. Boyfriend and I killed time and relaxed on the lake(s) on the boat, also escaping some of the horrid Redding heat. Oh and the douche-nozzle that neglected to call me when it was his turn? Guess who emailed me with this, "how's miss sexy j.day?" Are you effing kidding me? I emailed him back and told him I had met an awesome guy. Which was totally true.

In July, Boyfriend applied to the City of Redding and the City of Sacramento for water jobs. My hunt still continued. Breakdowns from the stress of it all were on a fairly regular basis. Regular lake visits were made. I took Boyfriend on a road-trip to Burney Falls and the Subway Caves, showing him where I grew up. I also took a trip to the Bay Area to see BFF and attend her county fair and a concert. Boyfriend and I also attended the wedding of the cousin who gave us part-time jobs.

In August, Boyfriend had three interviews and wound up getting rejected from all three. I started my weekend Pet Nutritional Consultant job and I had an interview at the end of the month which resulted in a full-time job - with benefits. Celebrating in the kitchen followed. We found out that Mom's dad, Papa D, was not expected to live much longer. The medicine that had helped to keep his heart pumping had done a number on his kidneys and there was nothing else the doctors could do for him. Mom and Dad went up to say good-bye. K told me that she didn't want my last memories of him to be like this.

On September 16th, I started my new job. On September 17th, Papa D passed away. Boyfriend started looking for places for us to move to. The Clover Fire decimated 8,000 acres; the evacuation line about a mile from my parents house. I met "Bubbles."

In October, we finally got to say good-bye to Papa D by spreading his ashes on his ranch. His beautiful, beloved ranch. We finally got to meet one of his sons from his first marriage and his family. I met cousins I didn't know I had. We had a lovely time sharing stories - surely making Papa D smile. I am now Facebook friends with my new cousins and aunt. Boyfriend found places for us to look at. One of my good friends was also married this month. The weather forecast for weeks leading up to it called for no rain whatsoever. Mother Nature decided to throw out a random and powerful downpour for about twenty minutes.

November 1st, Boyfriend and I moved into a 3 bedroom house on a few acres. He bought chickens on the first day. While putting  the water bill in his name, he was told of an open position for a water district west of Redding. He looked into it and is now their Operations Manager. We hosted Thanksgiving for both our families. We also discovered that our neighbor across the street is an asshat who rewards bad behavior in his dogs. And Mom and I bought new phones - spending three hours at the Verizon kiosk in the mall. Boyfriend and I went to see Catching Fire - awesomely done by the way.

December has brought some ups and downs - details will have to come later. But they include a restraining order, court, slashed work hours, increased work hours, learning how not to call in sick, having a moment of knowing how an extreme couponer feels at the register, Boyfriend hiring a guy at his job who happens to the husband of an ex-girlfriend and of course, the trials and tribulations of having Boyfriend's grandmother as a room-mate, and of course the holidays.

Oh The Tangled Webs We Weave

Wednesday seemed to go about like any other work day. Except there was a training meeting via phone conference for about an hour or so, starting at 8. Rather boring and until we start the new process, we really won't have that many questions or really understand the whole thing. 

Bubbles was her normal self - her utter cheerfulness infecting all those around her. Meaning the complete opposite of course.

I did my work throughout the day, finally coming to a point about 4pm where I didn't have anything to do. I had been working on doing some clean up on my "schedule" (pestering people as to why we haven't received payment), and had walked back in and heading to my desk when L asked me what I was doing. I replied that I was working on my schedule. She wanted to see what I had, which wasn't much as I've been keeping a close eye and it's been only one page long (when I started it was 3 pages) and I had addressed anything over 5 days old. I told/showed her and then asked her if she had anything I could help her with as I was pretty much done for the day. She said she had a project for me. Made me happy as I like to stay busy and didn't want to told to leave early if I didn't have anything to do.

I went to my desk to put my papers away and went back to L's desk so she could show me what she wanted me to do. She was looking to clean up our inventory online and make sure it matches what he physically have. As she's going over all of this, I saw an email notification pop up in the bottom right hand corner of her screen.

Now I'm not being nosy, as I was there for a reason and staring at her computer screen for the same reason. I was not snooping  or accessing anything I shouldn't.

The email was from Bubbles. The notifications also include the first couple of lines of the email. And since the notifications only pop up for about 10 seconds, I don't remember it verbatim. 

However.

What I do remember is this: "Dang! . . . . hope she'd go home early!"

I think the part I'm fuzzy on was something about me being done for the day or not having anything else to do.

Now, here's what bothers me. Bubbles sent this to L. I like L. She and I get along well and she's a good teacher. L is also the assistant office manager.

I will let that last bit sink in.

How fucking inappropriate is that? Only tons. My last hour of work I was really pissed off, but I didn't show it. I sat down with the printouts from L and set about matching what's in stock physically and online. Now, I know Bubbles and L are "friends" to a point. I believe they started at the company about the same time, and they take their lunches together. Well, to be honest, L, Bubbles, and T get to take their lunch at noon. I have to wait until 1. My boss typically doesn't eat her lunch until 12:30 or 1 and she usually eats at her desk.

So basically speaking, I am (in a sense) ostracized from the group having to take my lunch after everyone else.

Also, from day one, Bubbles has (for some reason) been quite hostile towards me. I have been chalking it up to her personality and that our personalities don't "mesh well". I am aware that  not everyone gets along, and I don't go to work to make friends. I do, however, expect civility and I don't believe I really get even that. Either that or her version of civility is vastly different than mine.

I talked it over with Boyfriend - saying I may need to talk to my OM on Monday when she gets back. As the whole situation is inappropriate and creating a hostile environment. However, if I complain, Bubbles will get talked to, and she knows exactly who will have complained. There are only 5 of us in the office, including the OM. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Boyfriend suggested I start documenting everything instead of going to my OM. Which I will start doing. Besides, either way I still take the brunt of it. If I leave it be, Bubbles will continue to exude her contempt for me. If I make a complaint, it will only make it worse.  So really, I'm screwed either way.

Also, Bubbles repeated a comment about having to fix stuff on her "schedules" and that those problems are due to other people's incompetence and laziness. She repeated it at least 3 times. If she's referring to me, I don't know what "problems" she's speaking of. She mentioned a few weeks ago for me to watch something and I have been. I even went to my OM to verify if I was following correct procedure. So I took measures to make sure to not make the same mistakes. If there are other mistakes she's referring to, I have no idea what they would be as no one has said anything. And if they are my mistakes and they aren't telling me about them, there is no way I can stop making said mistakes. I can't learn and grow if you don't inform me and teach me.

Oh. And that laziness bit? I'm not sure you could consider me slacking on the job. I do the deposit every day, process any and all dealer trades and wholesale transactions, process contract cancellation requests, and work on my "schedule". And when I run out of stuff to do, I ask L or the OM if there is anything I can help with, even if it's just filing. I even took on the dreaded task of shifting all the deals in the filing cabinets to make room. Me? Lazy? Doubtful. She may be referring to just our company, however, seeing as I'm getting the hint that she believes I'm incompetent and lazy, I'd like to say this to her:

"You think I'm lazy? I work three jobs, seven days a week. Three weeks in, I'm still unpacking and getting settled in my new place. I'm preparing to host my first Thanksgiving. Most every night I get home about 5:30 and do stuff around the house - clean, laundry, dinner, dishes, ironing, stack wood, go cut more wood, unpack, move shit around, write stuff for my grandparents magazine, do online training for my weekend job, and spend some quality time with Boyfriend. You're only 22 years old and you have a shit-ton of things to learn - one of them is basic civility. And trust me, you're not perfect either and you don't know everything. You are not entitled to anything so you can shelve your 'I'm better than everyone else' attitude. Also? Involving the assistant manager in your hatred of me is highly inappropriate work place behavior. So fuck you and the horse you road in on. Bitch."

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to do some more unpacking before I go to bed.

Lazy, my ass.

Humpfh.